Just filed chap 7 a few days ago to get a stay so we can stop foreclosure today. don't know our future. help!

[SuperJumbo-still hanging]

Hello,
I am new to this site and forum. I was self employed but both businesses went belly up so we got out in 2009. Needless to say we couldn't afford our mortgage. My husband and I have been trying to get a loan mod for a $1.7M mortgage for 18 months now. We were granted a forebarance in 2009, (we were up to date with mortgage at that time) and then after three months, they demanded us to pay all of our forebared amount and interest in the amount of $30K. THis was not possible at the time so, we decided to get a loan mod but we were told we must be behind on payments so we stopped paying. (our lender is WAchovia/Wells fargo). WElls fargo tried to foreclose on us in 2009 so we hired two organizations to help us, the first was unsuccessful, so then we hired an outfit in LA to replace the first one called Home Law Credit Center. They have attys so they claim they can stop foreclosure if they need to...so we hired them and they have been representing us now since early January. Just recently we found out they dropped the ball (didn't submit our papers and didn't respond to bank requests) and we just learned we had a sale date in five days - which is today. We didn't have any choice so we filed bankruptcy, Chap 7, to get a stay. We didn't qualify for the 13 and 11 is too expensive and difficult to get. We just heard that we got a stay from the court so our property should be pulled off the auction list today. My husband and I have decided we will represent ourselves since we have relied on so called professionals to do it for us for 18 months and they have failed miserably.

I am terrified. We love our home...it is upside down now - our orig loan is $1.7 but now with arrearage and fees it is at $2M. But it is different. It is registered historical home in a very affluent city but was dilapidated when purchased it 12 years ago. It is still not completely restored, electrical, foundation and plumbing is still not finished. We cannot walk away from it...we put so much hard work and sweat and even if we are upside down we want to keep it. It is protected by our City, meaning it cannot be demolished if it is sold so a very limited market for it.

My concern is that Wells Fargo will not negotiate with us because we file chap 7. Is this true? We have some bargaining leverage...we can pay some of the arrearage now from my husband's retirement but we still need for the bank to lower interest rate for us to at least 3% (we are at 7% with a pick a loan payment) so we can afford it, and we don't even mind doing a 40yr, etc. What has been the experience with internal mods of people with Wells Fargo in California? ANyone similar to us out there been successful? Please share information withme...Cat, have you heard of anyone being successful that was in our similar situation? Thanks everyone for your support.

[SuperJumbo-still hanging]

You are right, chap 7 doesnt force the bank to work with us, but we didn't qualify for a chapter 13; otherwise we would have filed that way. But it takes our sale date off and gives us the chance/time to work with our bank to negotiate.

[SuperJumbo-still hanging]

Thanks for the 4% tip, rgdeliverguy. Yes, your are right they can file immediately...but my husband just spoke to them. It will take them 4 weeks to lift if they file immediately, but maybe they will keep it off longer if we are negotiating with Wells fargo. So, I feel like we have have hope yet. Yes, we can afford to make the payments now with the chapter 7, even at the 4%. Shall we ask for 3% first? We don't want them to just walk away if they don't like what they hear. Thanks so much for responding so quickly.