Need Advice! HELP!

[Whites376]

So I posted my Chase story previously. To sum it up, we attempted for a DIL on our home, it had to be vacant according to Chase, so we moved out then had the DIL denied. We were then told by the short sale department at Chase to try and sell our home because the value is so low they may not foreclose on the property and just leave it in our name. Fast forward to today....we have filed CH 7 bankruptcy. We are surrendering the home to Chase. The lawyer tells us yesterday that until Chase actually forecloses we remain the property owner and must maintain grass, etc. We are not liable for anything on the inside and to just carry liability insurance. This we don't even have a problem with until they foreclose, but we are afraid and concerned that they may not foreclose. After two-three years, if the property taxes are delinquent, the property would go back to the county - but I read somewhere that sometimes the banks will pay the property taxes so they house isn't taken for back taxes and still not foreclose..... I don't know if Chase was using that as a scare tactic or what. Our house has dropped in value almost 75% - our particular area was hit real hard with foreclosures.....the lawyer suggested we quit claim deed the property back to the bank and take the deed downtown to have it recorded then send it to them.....I don't know. I can't imagine the bank would just let the house go and not take it back. Does anyone know or have they heard how common this is? We made the decision to leave the house now instead of later..We had a baloon payment and would have lost it later anyway - as we wouldn't have been able to come up with the 22,000.00 for the balloon....

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated......

[BobandArlyn]

What city/state?

Owners of record in our city are held responsible for keeping up the yard no matter where you are. If you disappear and you are not located with letters trying to get code compliance (2-3 letters), then we file a notice of non-compliance on the property to dirty the title. Depending how bad the violations (homes broken into, not boarded up properly, etc.), your case may be taken to Administrative Hearing with admin fees, violation fees, etc. It then goes to Council for a Special Assessment Lien and it gets recorded onto the property taxes. When/if the property sells, sometimes the banks will actually pay the property taxes, sometimes new owners do. There are so many variables. But, until it is sold or deeded over, it is Property Owner of record who is held responsible.

[Whites376]

Originally Posted by BobandArlyn

What city/state?

Owners of record in our city are held responsible for keeping up the yard no matter where you are. If you disappear and you are not located with letters trying to get code compliance (2-3 letters), then we file a notice of non-compliance on the property to dirty the title. Depending how bad the violations (homes broken into, not boarded up properly, etc.), your case may be taken to Administrative Hearing with admin fees, violation fees, etc. It then goes to Council for a Special Assessment Lien and it gets recorded onto the property taxes. When/if the property sells, sometimes the banks will actually pay the property taxes, sometimes new owners do. There are so many variables. But, until it is sold or deeded over, it is Property Owner of record who is held responsible.

The property is in Redford, Michigan. It just gets better and better.....so our BK attorney mentioned we could keep our house listed for sale and if we received an offer to let them know. So we have a cash offer submitted today - my realtor sends information to Chase short sale department with comps for approval. I call the attorney and he says because our BK is pending the Trustee owns the house at this point and we cannot sell it unless we ask the Trustee to release the property. So basically the offer will not get accepted. We are just going to wait and see what Chase does with the offer at this point. With this new information we have removed the listing on the property. We are going to have to wait and once our BK is discharged start the whole process over again with Chase - we will relist the property and keep it listed until it sells (which it should this is the second offer in 6 months - there are alot of investory buying up these houses in Redford because they are so cheap). Worse case scenario if it never sells, we could always rent out the property. Chase still says because the DIL was denied and with the home value being so low they may not foreclose and the BK means nothing to them really. I understand the property is ours until an actual foreclosure or other transfer of title is done. If we relist the house for sale, eventually another offer will have to come thru and the bank should accept.

[Whites376]

Originally Posted by BobandArlyn

What city/state?

Owners of record in our city are held responsible for keeping up the yard no matter where you are. If you disappear and you are not located with letters trying to get code compliance (2-3 letters), then we file a notice of non-compliance on the property to dirty the title. Depending how bad the violations (homes broken into, not boarded up properly, etc.), your case may be taken to Administrative Hearing with admin fees, violation fees, etc. It then goes to Council for a Special Assessment Lien and it gets recorded onto the property taxes. When/if the property sells, sometimes the banks will actually pay the property taxes, sometimes new owners do. There are so many variables. But, until it is sold or deeded over, it is Property Owner of record who is held responsible.

If this happens, what does dirty the title mean? Our lawyer stated we are not responsible for any damage to the property and to just keep liability insurance on the house. We have had so much misinformation at this point I don't know where to turn anymore. I have read on other websites if you filed bankruptcy to only keep the liability coverage on it.