Blood, Sweat, Tears in California...

[b6731]

My wife and I purchase the home of our dreams in southern California and REFINANCED in October 2005 to pay off "HER" student loans, vehicle and credit cards. Seemed like an okay decision at the time. We both have stable government jobs with no change in sight. The Interest Only loan, for The First Ten Years, seemed like a reasonable option to PULL equity from the residence and pay her bills off? After the bills were paid in full she changed employment (In 2007) and left me holding the bag. For the first year after she left, she continued to pay half the mortgage. The house was listed with real estate since the inception of the divorce, (About Two Years) without a single offer. (No Short Sale Offers Either)My ex-wife stopped helping with our (Intrest Only Affordable Payment) and I was left to TRY AND SAFE THE HOUSE. I rented out rooms, and have been eating top ramen soup since. My roommates have since moved out and I net about $4000.00 per month. My interest only payment is $2,934.51 with COUNTRY WIDE per month. I am still current on my payments. (Unknown How Long I Can Hold On) I called CW after my EX stopped helping (April 2008) and was told, “Sorry Sir There Is Nothing We Can Do."

The house won’t sell, wont short sale, and is worth less than I owe…I feel fortunate to have found this site and have gathered the necessary documents to content CW for a possible loan modification. This is the third house I have owned and put all my savings into it. Guess I know, after reading everyone’s stories; bring on the Country Wide headache.
ADVISE PLEASE ANYONE
Blood, Sweat, and Tears in California

[plantlvr]

I'm not sure this is the best advise but this is what I did [also part of divorce, what fun huh?]
I filed chapter 7 bankruptcy and included my mortgage. I'm also with cw and before the bankruptcy i tried to work something out with cw, no help. So far I've been living in 'my' home with no mortgage payments for 7 months, don't know how long this will last, as BofA is taking over cw. Now with no debt, i'm hoping I can keep my home, we'll see.
Hang in there, with the huge amount of foreclosures in Ca. I'm betting that things will get better!

[Moe Bedard]

Hi b6731,


Welcome to the forum and thank you for joining.........

The contact information and eligibility requirements for the Making Home Affordable modification program through CW are located here in this link........

Countrywide Financial - Real Estate Mortgage Lender - Home Loans - Equity Loan Mortgages



Please keep us posted on your progress...........

[rozuki]

Same thing happened to me...bought house in Nov 05, gut renovated it, dumped all our savings into it....cost overruns screwed up our credit, then refi in 07 to deal with all the contractor bills, etc....then in Oct 08 hubby said he hates the house and doesn't love me and wants a divorce...oh, joy...what a time to do this!

I tried with CW since 10/08 for a loan mod....they send bs loan mod agreements....I have gotten 3 so far...lowering the outrageous 10.55 mtg to 8% is not going to do it - so I am going with NACA...attending a workshop this Saturday. I did not pay my mortgage for March. I was a day late with February and did not pay the late fee.

I just got a very nice letter from B of A letting me know they are taking over CW and how much they value me as a customer.....and haven't heard a peep from CW about not paying the mtg. I hope they haven't dinged my credit yet as I am going for a car loan refinance right now, too!

[Irish Gal]

Hey b6731,

Sorry to hear of your divorce and mortgage hardship. Hang in there. You found the right place for support . CW (now BofA) is one of the most difficult lenders to deal with. Is keeping the home your primary goal (you mentioned it's your dream home)? If you decide you would foremost like to pursue a loan mod, you might want to try NACA (free, non-profit org). They have an excellent track record getting better deals than borrowers get going it alone w/ the lender. NACA's contact info is on this site somewhere, you'll have to do a search. You have to have patience with the process as it could take mos to get a good mod through NACA. You are in so cal, and there is an office in L.A. If you want to research / pursue all options (foreclosure, deed in lieu, etc. as you said the home was listed for a long time with no offers), you may want to read the Deed in Lieu / Foreclosure thread. LOTS of good info there, esp from Prof Shays who is a foreclosure expert. I would also encourage to read, read, read, know your rights and get informed as much as possible. The good thing is you have income and a stable job. If you go w/ NACA, they will get you the best deal they can. If you go it alone, be prepared to get several bogus offers from CW / BofA. Many CW folks here get the same bad loan mod offers over and over again. Don't get duped into a bad loan mod offer. If you're ever unsure of anything, keep asking your questions here. Someone will step up to help you. Good luck !

[b6731]

Thanks everyone for the advice, we'll see what happens with this mess. Time will tell, and hopefully BOA helps the american people by assisting them keep their homes. Ill keep you all posted...Danny

[b6731]

I live in San Bernardino County and signed up for a County sponsored home retention seminar, Saturday, May 30th. The group is called Inland Empire Recovery Corporation. It’s a HUD sponsored program. Lenders / servicers are also attending. You must register, complete a HUD counselor form and take all your documentation. (W-2, pay check stubs etc) Web site is WWW.IEERC.ORG Ill let everyone know how it goes. Hopefully COUNTRYWIDE will attend. Has anyone for the Inland Empire been???