Retired military, decided not to foreclose...now what?

[thatvoodoo]

Hello all, just found this site, wow so much information here, thanks to everyone who participates!

Here's my sob story, would love to use smarter people than I as a sounding board:

Bought home in California in 2004, it's now worth maybe $230,000. Ouch!

Main lender is BofA, small lender HELOC is the military bank USAA (and USAA apparently has a rep for playing hardball too...tried to short sale in 2008, had many offers but USAA shot down every offer so no short sale accomplished).

Divorced in early 2011, and ex-wife is also on the loan. After marriage was falling apart I moved out to rent about than a year and a half ago, and last month the ex-wife relocated to small apartment for a job change. So now the house sits empty.

I retired from the military 7 months ago after more than 20 years of active duty service, and will have a fairly high military disability rating after all the medical red tape is cleared through Veterans Affairs (which takes a long time). Yup I picked up a few medical issues along the way, I blame the blowing sand in Saudi Arabia (sorry, military humor).

It took me an entire month to wake up and wonder, why am I renting when I am technically still a homeowner, with my home sitting empty? No payments have been made on either 1st or 2nd loan since May 2010. I called BofA the other day to ask about a potential foreclosure timeline, they said the account has not been marked as foreclosure and they have no idea about a timeline. "Could be tomorrow, could be a year from now." That doesn't really narrow it down!

But now, with the house empty, I have decided I want to fight for it. No property taxes have been paid in almost 2 years so I don't know where to turn in my situation. I really love that home, the divorce was a major bummer but I do miss that cozy feeling of home ownership, and it's a wonderful neighborhood too. It was really difficult avoiding eye contact with the neighbors when I was moving out, what a horrible feeling. The past couple of years have been awful really.

I realize there are different types of home loan modifications and such. Just so many unknowns, all I know is that I want to keep the home. My credit is already shattered, I have little money, but I don't really care....I love that home!

So this is a tangled problem, eh? Let me try to rehash:

-- Ex-wife on the home loan (and she would love to have her name removed if possible)
-- Unpaid property taxes of probably $10,000 or so...what about this?
-- $430,000ish debt on 1st loan with BofA
-- $90,000ish debt on 2nd HELOC loan with USAA
-- Huge unknown of not knowing if and when foreclosure process will start
-- Should I move back in, spend money on home repairs, and return to home ownership?

My wished-for scenario would be me moving back in, and working with 1st loan BofA to drastically modify the existing 1st loan into something affordable. My income is my military retirement only, which is less than $2000 per month at this point though it will be higher once the military disability rating is accomplished. And then trying to settle with the 2nd loan with another drastically reduced settlement. Am I dreaming or is this doable? I miss that home!

Thanks for any advice. Felt really good to type that out and say "help."

[cali92262]

I would suggest reaching out to the Loan Mod Help Center for some direction. They have been very helpful to many folks on this site,

and see what they have to say. You can find there contact info on other threads here, such as Rest Report or Find Out If you Qualify.

Good luck and best wishes to you! And thank you for your service to this great country!

Hello all, just found this site, wow so much information here, thanks to everyone who participates!

Here's my sob story, would love to use smarter people than I as a sounding board:

Bought home in California in 2004, it's now worth maybe $230,000. Ouch!

Main lender is BofA, small lender HELOC is the military bank USAA (and USAA apparently has a rep for playing hardball too...tried to short sale in 2008, had many offers but USAA shot down every offer so no short sale accomplished).

Divorced in early 2011, and ex-wife is also on the loan. After marriage was falling apart I moved out to rent about than a year and a half ago, and last month the ex-wife relocated to small apartment for a job change. So now the house sits empty.

I retired from the military 7 months ago after more than 20 years of active duty service, and will have a fairly high military disability rating after all the medical red tape is cleared through Veterans Affairs (which takes a long time). Yup I picked up a few medical issues along the way, I blame the blowing sand in Saudi Arabia (sorry, military humor).

It took me an entire month to wake up and wonder, why am I renting when I am technically still a homeowner, with my home sitting empty? No payments have been made on either 1st or 2nd loan since May 2010. I called BofA the other day to ask about a potential foreclosure timeline, they said the account has not been marked as foreclosure and they have no idea about a timeline. "Could be tomorrow, could be a year from now." That doesn't really narrow it down!

But now, with the house empty, I have decided I want to fight for it. No property taxes have been paid in almost 2 years so I don't know where to turn in my situation. I really love that home, the divorce was a major bummer but I do miss that cozy feeling of home ownership, and it's a wonderful neighborhood too. It was really difficult avoiding eye contact with the neighbors when I was moving out, what a horrible feeling. The past couple of years have been awful really.

I realize there are different types of home loan modifications and such. Just so many unknowns, all I know is that I want to keep the home. My credit is already shattered, I have little money, but I don't really care....I love that home!

So this is a tangled problem, eh? Let me try to rehash:

-- Ex-wife on the home loan (and she would love to have her name removed if possible)
-- Unpaid property taxes of probably $10,000 or so...what about this?
-- $430,000ish debt on 1st loan with BofA
-- $90,000ish debt on 2nd HELOC loan with USAA
-- Huge unknown of not knowing if and when foreclosure process will start
-- Should I move back in, spend money on home repairs, and return to home ownership?

My wished-for scenario would be me moving back in, and working with 1st loan BofA to drastically modify the existing 1st loan into something affordable. My income is my military retirement only, which is less than $2000 per month at this point though it will be higher once the military disability rating is accomplished. And then trying to settle with the 2nd loan with another drastically reduced settlement. Am I dreaming or is this doable? I miss that home!

Thanks for any advice. Felt really good to type that out and say "help."

[Jeffrey L. Shurtliff]

I agree Rest Report is the answer in your case. You have a complicated problem about income they can help.

[BustedBrokeBeaten]

Just chiming in to say thank you for your 20 years of service. Sad that you have medical issues but glad you are alive and able to share your story. Hang in there.

[UNDERinLV]

I'd say that you are so far under, and principle reductions are few and far between, that you might just want to walk. You could move in until the actual FC happens, but then move on after that. I did a refi on an upside down home last year and now regret ever trying to save it. Wasted a lot of time and money.... In order to get your wife off the mortgage, you might have to refi in your own name...thus, buying your home back at it's old inflated value. Why do that?

Unless you can get it for the $230K you think it is worth, I'd just leave it behind.... just my 2 cents...