Here's a dumb question which I should have asked earlier but don't really want the answer to.
I included a home in bankruptcy back in 2009. The mortgage company hired a lawyer to have the stay lifted, I agreed to the lifting of the stay to allow foreclosure to take place. The judge suggested that I move out of the home because the foreclosure could occur at anytime. I left the home in May 2009, never to return and moved out of state.
Fast-forward to now, and I received a piece of mail last week indicating that the home is still owned by me and referred to a foreclosure attorney. The home had an escrow account for the insurance and taxes. I haven't paid them because I was of the understanding that the mortgage company was just taking back the house years ago.
How likely am I to be sued for the taxes and insurance premiums? The home was included in the bankruptcy discharge, not reaffirmed. I've heard the home has since been vandalized. I left it winterized, but, an old friend of mine drove by it and stated it looked like it'd been broken into.
Anyways, I guess my question is, am I still screwed? Is all this credit rebuilding going to be for nothing when they hit me with a judgment that I can't afford to pay?
Starting Score: 615 EQ (03-15-2012) 600 TU (03-21-2012 Barclays app) USAA Fako 598 Vantage 639 (03-15-2012) Transrisk 616 (03-15-2012) Ch.7 discharged 5/2009
I find the whole thing heartbreaking. We put so much work into that house, new roof, new bathroom, new flooring, new water heater and furnace; and now it's just sat there empty for three years with the windows busted out of it according to the neighbors. Unfortunately, we weren't from the area and the area hated outsiders. Our immediate neighbors were nice, but we had to hire repairs out to people from outside the area. We were never able to connect it to running water because the connection fee was $500 for locals, but $10,000 for us which we didn't have by the time we'd done everything else. There was only one guy allowed to connect by the local agency and he quoted us $10,000 but our neighbor was only quoted $500 for the same distance. I was really hoping someone would be living in it by now. All that hard work was for nothing and it still isn't foreclosed.
It's too late now, but you should have stayed in the house until the bank actually took the title back. Could have been living mortgage/rent free this whole time.
As for the arrerages, no. You don't owe the money if you surrendered the house in BK. You may have to file a suit against your lender to get them to take responsibility, but ultimately, they are the ones who are choosing not to foreclose (transfer title) on what's rightfully theirs... they can't obligate you to pay anything on it (taxes, utils, HOA, insurance, etc).
-SM
