I need help, someone help me see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[Cybertech]

I am in need of some financial advise and im looking everywhere i can for some sort of resolution.

Let me explain, in 2007 my Wife and I finally decided to buy a house, i graduated highschool in 2001 and got a great job at a web hosting company and since i was living with a roomate, it made it easy to save money.

From 2001 to 2007 i managed to save $42,000 So when me and my wife were looking at houses we decided to get something reasonable with a large down payment, we figured we could make the mortgage payment each month with no problem. We put all $42,000 down on the house and were very happy with the $100,000 mortgage and the monthly payments.

Well, in august of 2009 i got laid off. I got on unemployment and finally found a job in December of 2009, but for less pay. Money was very tight but we seemed to be able to make the payments, bills etc.. on time.

My wife decided to go back to school. So i saved as much as possible by canceling cable TV, canceling cell phones, etc.. and paid for her school, which brings us to now. My wife cannot find a job at all, property taxes raised and now my monthly payment is almost $160 more a month. At that point i had ZERO extra cash coming in.

June's in Oklahoma are HOT, im talking 107 degrees in the shade hot. After my Wife almost passed out from the heat we turned on the good ol' ac. Come the end of june i got my electric bill, my $287 dollar electric bill. Having absolutely zero way of paying it i called the company, i got a payment plan going and voila! i only owed $50.

Well, July's in Oklahoma are even hotter. $237 bill, no way to pay and already on a payment plan. in an attempt to lower my debt i called the mortgage company and got on a loss mitigation program that they will lower my payment. Well come to find out im in the first stages of foreclosure.

That brings us to present. I owe $2100 on my mortgage, i have a $200 electric bill that HAS to be paid by monday. I have a telephone bill, gas for work, food, all sorts of things i need. I currently have $158.86 in my bank account, So i went to DHS, i tried to qualify for food stamps. I make too much money they said. Every single government program i tried to qualify for, i make too much money.

So i thought hey ill just sell the house. Well if my house is on the market then wells fargo drops me from the making homes affordable plan and i proceed to owe $2100 in 2 months or i get for closed on. If i dont sell, i wont need to worry about this months mortgage, but i still owe all my bills, and the tax is getting too high.

The only other option is "short selling" basically selling the house for the amount i owe on the loan. But if i do that i lose $42,000 that i worked so hard for and saved. So thats where im at now.

I am looking for some advice ANY advice i feel stuck. If anything else unexpected happens, i will lose everything. I need help i have no one to turn to and neither the gov't or any bank is willing to help me out, Im too rich for government assistance, too poor for a loan.... WHAT DO I DO?

[tulog]

Here are some ideas.

1. Renegotiate with the bank. Due to your changed financial circumstances, you want to continue paying your mortgage but at a lower amount. The best way for this to happen is for them to redo the loan at a lower amount. If they cannot accomodate you after you provide them evidence such as increased property taxes and utility bills, and lower income paystubs, then they will certainly lose even more money if they foreclose.

2. Property taxes: home values are going down almost everywhere, but your property tax went up. File a request with the tax assessor's office to reduce your home's valuation to a more reasonable market value. This should adjust the amount you pay for property tax. Request a refund of overpaid tax.

3. You invested $42,000 into your house, and you have a $100,000 mortgage. What is the market value of your house if you were to sell it today? How much would a buyer pay for it - short sale or not?

If the market value supports it, you could consider whether a third-party investor would value your equity. If you can get the equity out of the property, you could consider putting that money into a safe place where it would not be touched by foreclosure-related problems. What state are you in (is your loan a recourse or non-recourse loan?).

4. You could sell your friends or relatives part of your house. Sell your best friend a 5% stake. Have your cousin take another 5%. Include an option for you to repurchase the equity if you decide to do so. Use the proceeds or the income from the sale to help pay your mortage and bills. When your wife gets a job, and your financial situation improves, you can purchase back the equity.

[mdcrim]

Can your wife pick up work babysitting, walking dogs, mowing lawns, cleaning houses, anything? Even a little bit will help you.

I agree with trying to renegotiate your loan. See if you can get a rate modification or a longer loan term to lower your payments. Pull together all your docs so you have them ready.

Good luck!

[Debt Relief]

Unless you live in a VERY small town, there are almost always jobs out there. They may not be the kind of jobs your wife wants or the pay she is expecting, but at this point even slinging burgers at McDonalds would make enough to help. Another $600-700 per month in take home pay could make a huge difference.

[broncofanfromia]

I'm still in college, but for a whole year, I worked at both my current job, and a weekend job at a menards store. Also mowing and doing little side jobs.

There is work out there... If you know your neighbors, ask them if you can mow their lawns, work at McDonalds as suggested, pick up a bartending gig. Basically, just sit down with your wife and talk about what you guys are ready to do in the next 6 months. It could be both of you picking up an extra job + a weekend job.

[woodie96]

I'll also join in on talking to the bank to re-negotiate the loan. Looking at the numbers, if you originally took a 100K loan out in 2007, and now only have 21K left (your post says 2100, but I think that was a typo) on the loan, you must have been putting all of your eggs in one basket, literally.
Typically home mortgage interest is one of the lower rates people have, compared to the unsecured lines of CCs, cars, etc.
Be careful sinking all your money into the house if they refo the loan. Had you not paid so much in the house and socked some away for savings, you probably wouldn't be in such dire straits. Hindsight is 20/20 though.
IMHO

Good luck, hope you can get the house re-done!

[maat55]

I live in Oklahoma and find it hard to believe that you would have lost that much in equity. You should be able to sell quickly and maybe loose a little equity, but still have funds left to catch up your bills.

Do you live near OKC or Tulsa?

[savelikedave]

Some possibilities:

1. Stay in the home on the making home affordable plan until the market goes back up and you can sell for a profit.
In the mean time- recalculate your budget to cut everything to the absolute minimum. Increase your income by delivering pizzas at night part-time. You could make about $1000 /month working part time if you include tips. At least this would temporarily keep more income coming in.

Also, could your wife take a break from school to work for a while to help bring in more income?

2. Short sell the house, cut your losses and move somewhere less expensive. You would be under a lot less stress. ALOT of people have lost ALOT of equity in this housing market.

Once you have more income and are out of debt, you can always buy a reasonably priced house in the future. Especially if your wife is done with school and is also employed.

Things will look better on the other side of this!

Good luck and God bless!

[Eric80]

I think that you should consider all your options before you short sell - i think you should go and seek advice from a professional to see what they advise.

[riverwed070707]

Do you have family nearby? Anyone you could live with for a while while you rent your home and get back on your feet? Do a 6 month lease so you have the option of moving back in after that amount of time. I'm not sure selling is the best option since you're right, you'd be losing all that equity you put into it and from what i can tell, your situations seems like it could be easily improved by your wife getting a job. Is she not working at all? Tell her to suck it up and get what she can take until you're in a position for her to be picky.

ETA just realized this is really old...

[Shewillbemine]

Originally Posted by Eric80

I think that you should consider all your options before you short sell - i think you should go and seek advice from a professional to see what they advise.

I think you should look at dates of old posts before bringing threads back from the dead.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Shewillbemine

I think you should look at dates of old posts before bringing threads back from the dead.

Yep. I wish there was some way to stop this from happening. New posters are especially notorius for dredging up threads from months or years ago.

[bjl584]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Yep. I wish there was some way to stop this from happening. New posters are especially notorius for dredging up threads from months or years ago.

We could lock the old threads Steve. But, it would take forever, and Jeffrey may not take too kindly to that.

[ProjectX]

Haha, Yeah, this tread is from back in 2010.

Does anyone know what happened with CyberTech?

[bjl584]

Originally Posted by ProjectX

Haha, Yeah, this tread is from back in 2010.

Does anyone know what happened with CyberTech?

Nope. He only posted once. He probably got an answer that he didn't like, so he just moved on. It happens a lot on here.

[charlieh]

I would take in some tenants in the house. Would there be someone who could rent a room from you for a few hundred dollars a month?
Also, there must be some job out there for your wife. This is not the time to consider your egos and only consider that something must be done to protect any equity that may be in your house and allow you to move on in the future with your credit and finances in tact. Again, this seems the problem of income and nothing else so that must be resolved first.