When it makes sense to keep an underwater home

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS
Produced by Inman News
January 23, 2012

Sponsored by Lowe's
When it makes sense to keep an underwater home
REThink Real Estate

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson
Inman News®
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Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series.

Q: At the top of the market, I owned three properties: my first home (in a marginal neighborhood, now about 100 percent upside down), my own residence (a big fixer in a great neighborhood), and a triplex I bought as an investment (an OK neighborhood, needed some work, fully rented, but now upside-down by about 30 percent).

When the market turned, I had a couple of bad tenants in my first home and the triplex that set me way back financially, and I was unable to borrow the money I needed to fix the house I lived in. I did a short sale on the fixer, got temporary loan mods on the other two, and moved back into my first home.

Problem is, they're both so upside-down and don't seem likely to come back up anything soon. I'm 45 years old and have a great job, but I don't like the neighborhood I live in now and I can barely ever save anything because these properties -- which I thought would help fund my retirement -- eat me alive.

Also, I just got word that my loan mod on the triplex is going to expire in January. Should I just sell everything and start over?

A: First, know this: You are not alone. More than 25 percent of home mortgages nationwide are upside-down.

While the majority of Americans have held onto homes with declining and stagnant values in the hopes that the market will recover to avoid locking in their losses, the data is clear on the fact that those who own homes worth less than they owe are the borrowers most likely to fold, short-selling, strategically defaulting or negotiating a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" with the bank.

I don't think data exists on this point, but I suspect these are the borrowers most prone to give up on the excruciating and prolonged path of home retention efforts the most easily. "Why throw good money, time, energy and emotions after bad?" they wonder.

A few years ago, I would probably have fallen into the cheerleader camp, exhorting "Hang on! Hang in there!" Now, though, going into the fifth or sixth year of this real estate recession, depending on whom you talk to, I'm more jaded and realistic.

As I see it, you have two different scenarios that make up your dilemma, and there are a couple of different ways to think about them. First, let's limit the scope of our conversation to the situation on the home you actually live in. Next week, we'll look at the broader constellation of issues you have, including both your residence and the investment property.

My advice to people in your situation is to always go through the preliminary step of getting clear on whether their personal residence still works for their lives as a personal residence.

If you own a home that works well for your life, is affordable and seems like it will continue to be a good fit for your life and your finances in the foreseeable future, I'm generally inclined to advise homeowners to avoid making market-based decisions about whether to continue to hold on to it, whether or not it happens to be upside down.

On the flip side, I've seen numerous situations in which families have expanded or shrunk or need to relocate, rendering the upside-down home a serious mismatch. In these cases, it makes sense to more seriously consider whether to divest.

I'd encourage you to ask yourself that question -- "Does this home 'fit'?" -- regarding your personal residence. You mention the neighborhood weighs against that finding of fit; you might also be thinking that the neighborhood could prolong the "value recovery" timeline.

Take a more holistic viewpoint and make a decision about whether the home overall still works for your life or not -- outside of the context of it being underwater. Whether it does or does not, this knowledge will get you started down the path of cultivating the clarity you'll need to put a full action plan and decision-making process in place. We'll discuss what the rest of that plan looks like next week.

Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of "The Savvy Woman's Homebuying Handbook" and "Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions." Tara is also the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com. Ask her a real estate question online or visit her website, www.rethinkrealestate.com.

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Copyright 2012 Tara-Nicholle Nelson

Buy and Bail

Advice from Craig Bohall, Mortgage Lender.

Buy and Bail = Buy a new house and Bail (walk) on the one you are currently living in!

or

Bail and Buy = Bail or walk on a home that 1 spouse was obligated on and then buy a new home using only the 2nd spouses credit.


This has become a huge issue in the country as there were rules a few years ago that allowed you to buy a home and not have some things checked out . Not any more. Fannie, Freddie and the Govt have closed every loophole they could find to stop all related tactics.

These situations have become more prevalent with the decline in market values.

Buy and Bail - They are usually at a high risk of occurrence when:

1. A borrower is moving to a new home in the same market and keeping current residence, especially when they owe more on their current home than its current value and they can purchase a similar property or larger size home for less. This risk still exists when a borrower is not purchasing in the same market.

Investors are cracking down hard on mortgage companies that don’t sniff this out ahead of time and there are huge penalties for lenders who loan money to people and then those people bail on another home!

Bail and Buy – These are at a high risk of occurrence when:

1 A non-purchasing spouse (#1)is in default/foreclosure/short sale on the property currently serving as the primary residence of the purchasing spouse (#2).

These transactions also show up when the non-purchasing spouse has had a previous foreclosure/short sale/deed-in-lieu within the last 12 months on any property that our borrower was party to either due to occupancy of the property or by marital knowledge (borrower was married to non-purchasing spouse at the time of event, property was indicated on joint tax returns, etc.)

So just because your spouse is not on this new loan but he/she had a foreclosure/short sale / deed-in-lieu recently does not mean that “nobody will find out” - TRUST ME they find out everything!

Without getting into the 50 new guidelines and rules and ways that information can be gathered on your residence, home, mortgage, history, tax records, IRS files etc……. just pleeeeeeeeeese believe that trying to buy and bail or bail and buy will likely not work because there are thousands of underwriters, guideline writers, govt officials and bank auditors, and govt policy writers who all combined have thought of all the ways you can possibly think of to sneak past the system and they have 20 systems that you don’t even know about.

Don’t do it!


Craig Bohall

Your “Safe Harbor” Lender


480-344-2852 – office

480-374-6946 - e-fax

craig@myazmp.com

www.myazmp.com


5304 E Southern Ave #101

Mesa AZ 85206

NMLS 233903

MB-0904081