Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
Aug 14th 2007, 7:58 pm
#16
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 15,455
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
Heres the problem, we are desperate to leave here, but the houses arent selling. Some near us have been for sale for years. We have to sell up to get out of this loop we are stuck in. We dont want to be here another day never mind a year.
Someone told us of an English guy that just gave his house back to the mortgage company and left, as he had enough of being stuck here because of his house.
Is this possible in an emergency? Im thinking we might need to put a time limit on how long we are willing to stay and can afford to pay the mortgage.
Im worried it will affect our credit hsitory though, the banks in the Uk will take our credit here, but if we had to do anything this drastic it would be after we have moved back, so I dont know if they would even be interested after our credit has restarted back there.
Theres enough equity in the house for the mortgage to still make plenty on it after fees etc.
We are just getting pretty desperate :'(
Thanks
Someone told us of an English guy that just gave his house back to the mortgage company and left, as he had enough of being stuck here because of his house.
Is this possible in an emergency? Im thinking we might need to put a time limit on how long we are willing to stay and can afford to pay the mortgage.
Im worried it will affect our credit hsitory though, the banks in the Uk will take our credit here, but if we had to do anything this drastic it would be after we have moved back, so I dont know if they would even be interested after our credit has restarted back there.
Theres enough equity in the house for the mortgage to still make plenty on it after fees etc.
We are just getting pretty desperate :'(
Thanks
Aug 14th 2007, 7:59 pm
#17
Re vera, potas bene.
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: Cape Cod MA..Davenport FL
Posts: 2,405
Aug 14th 2007, 7:59 pm
#18
Account Closed
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 15,455
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
Ours was...but its really down to the amount you borrow in FL...we were not told that so paid off the house...now my tax money is making interest in my bank account not the loan companies....I hate escrow accounts...in FL they can make your loan payment huge...they wanted to hold $2k of my money in their account ...even with a low home loan we could never catch up on the escrow payments...our loan was going up $150 a month every year...even when there was still a grand in the account after pay outs...I was always throwing money at them...
Aug 14th 2007, 8:07 pm
#20
Re vera, potas bene.
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: Cape Cod MA..Davenport FL
Posts: 2,405
Aug 14th 2007, 8:20 pm
#21
Former Floridian
Joined: Mar 2006
Location: Back where I belong
Posts: 574
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
I have just given my house back to the bank earlier this year (in Florida). I couldn't afford it anymore, so they offered me a "deed-in-lieu". I gave them back the deed, they didn't take me to a forclosure court, and it was all done very quickly, only took about a month.
Not all lenders will do this, and you may need to be behind on your mortgage to do it, so I'd check with them to see what options you have. My credit will show the DIL, but as I understand it, your credit is seperate from the UK files anyway. I don't ever want to own a house again, either, so it's no big deal for me.
If you go that route, you avoid paying a deficiency that you would have in a foreclosure, so you don't need to worry about being harrassed for it. However, you will probably receive a 1099 tax form next year which is the difference between how much you owed and what the bank sold it for on the open market, and the IRS considers this forgiven debt. Unless you have more liabilities than assets when you file your return, you would have to pay tax on that difference.
Not all lenders will do this, and you may need to be behind on your mortgage to do it, so I'd check with them to see what options you have. My credit will show the DIL, but as I understand it, your credit is seperate from the UK files anyway. I don't ever want to own a house again, either, so it's no big deal for me.
If you go that route, you avoid paying a deficiency that you would have in a foreclosure, so you don't need to worry about being harrassed for it. However, you will probably receive a 1099 tax form next year which is the difference between how much you owed and what the bank sold it for on the open market, and the IRS considers this forgiven debt. Unless you have more liabilities than assets when you file your return, you would have to pay tax on that difference.
Last edited by katesbackagain; Aug 14th 2007 at 8:23 pm.
Aug 14th 2007, 8:27 pm
#22
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,397
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
Ours was...but its really down to the amount you borrow in FL...we were not told that so paid off the house...now my tax money is making interest in my bank account not the loan companies....I hate escrow accounts...in FL they can make your loan payment huge...they wanted to hold $2k of my money in their account ...even with a low home loan we could never catch up on the escrow payments...our loan was going up $150 a month every year...even when there was still a grand in the account after pay outs...I was always throwing money at them...
Are lenders not literally passporting money through? Or, as I always wondered are they actually making money on your anual tax liability too?
Aug 14th 2007, 8:29 pm
#23
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,397
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
Yes your mortgage lender pays your council taxes. Your monthly mortgage payment includes council taxes. This is to ensure the council gets their money...ie you can't get away with just paying your mortgage to keep your home you have to pay the council too. Like I said before if you default the council have first rights to your property...well they do in NJ.
Aug 14th 2007, 8:38 pm
#24
Re vera, potas bene.
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: Cape Cod MA..Davenport FL
Posts: 2,405
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
They must be making money on it...we were told we would have to take out a new loan with them to drop the escrow....when they got the letter asking for a settlement figure...then they said they could drop the escrow account...oh yeah right....
Aug 15th 2007, 1:11 pm
#25
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 144
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
Thanks for all the replies.
Its on for a good price and we dropped it. Our neighbors have been for sale since Febuary, our other neighbors were on for 18m and a house nearby has been for sale for 2 years
They just dont seem to sell.
Im wondering about going back and we can only pay the mortgage for so long and then we would have to give it back to them if its feasable. Im concerned that as we have to use our credit and mortgage history from here in the Uk, that giving it back will affect it.
Im not sure if they would want to check we still had a mortgage, or get up to date details on it. We were told to take a copy of our US credit history back with us and a copy of the mortgage history. If they take our Uk credit from when we go back we might be ok to give the house back after we return.
Does this make any sense lol
Its on for a good price and we dropped it. Our neighbors have been for sale since Febuary, our other neighbors were on for 18m and a house nearby has been for sale for 2 years
They just dont seem to sell.Im wondering about going back and we can only pay the mortgage for so long and then we would have to give it back to them if its feasable. Im concerned that as we have to use our credit and mortgage history from here in the Uk, that giving it back will affect it.
Im not sure if they would want to check we still had a mortgage, or get up to date details on it. We were told to take a copy of our US credit history back with us and a copy of the mortgage history. If they take our Uk credit from when we go back we might be ok to give the house back after we return.
Does this make any sense lol
Aug 15th 2007, 4:42 pm
#26
Just Joined
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Ohio USA
Posts: 13
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
Heres the problem, we are desperate to leave here, but the houses arent selling. Some near us have been for sale for years. We have to sell up to get out of this loop we are stuck in. We dont want to be here another day never mind a year.
Someone told us of an English guy that just gave his house back to the mortgage company and left, as he had enough of being stuck here because of his house.
Is this possible in an emergency? Im thinking we might need to put a time limit on how long we are willing to stay and can afford to pay the mortgage.
Im worried it will affect our credit hsitory though, the banks in the Uk will take our credit here, but if we had to do anything this drastic it would be after we have moved back, so I dont know if they would even be interested after our credit has restarted back there.
Theres enough equity in the house for the mortgage to still make plenty on it after fees etc.
We are just getting pretty desperate :'(
Thanks
Someone told us of an English guy that just gave his house back to the mortgage company and left, as he had enough of being stuck here because of his house.
Is this possible in an emergency? Im thinking we might need to put a time limit on how long we are willing to stay and can afford to pay the mortgage.
Im worried it will affect our credit hsitory though, the banks in the Uk will take our credit here, but if we had to do anything this drastic it would be after we have moved back, so I dont know if they would even be interested after our credit has restarted back there.
Theres enough equity in the house for the mortgage to still make plenty on it after fees etc.
We are just getting pretty desperate :'(
Thanks
We actually found a new realtor who offers an opportunity for them to sell the house, a co-broke and a FSBO option. We do our own open houses and internet marketing etc in hopes of finding our own buyer and then we pay our realtor a flat fee if we find the buyer to handle the close rather than commission. It has helped us to lower our price for those willing to come to us with out realtor representation.
Showings have been pitiful to say the least, but we are getting bites at our current price and even second showings. We even have the house listed on the classifieds on this site as we would love to make a deal with someone heading this way if possible.
The longer we are in the house, the longer we can't save for our move. The house being for sale so long is a major stressor in our lives.
However, what we have decided (don't know if this helps you at all) is that we will lower the price as much as we can and take the hit. It is certainly going to get worse here before it gets better. I would rather loose a few grand now rather than a lot more later. We are turning to family to borrow the few we will need to close out and be done with it.
Then we will move into an apartment, have another baby (hopefully) and save save save for a year and then make our move. DW is a high risk pregnancy and we have a close relationship with her doctors, the hospital and stellar health care... so we feel we need to finish family building here before we leave. But that is just us.
It may be worth looking into how you could just sell for as little as possible and make up the difference if you can. I would think NJ has a better market than here but I guess it depends on where you are. Things are selling here but you have to be a bargain. We are currently listed below are appraised value for tax purposes. They are going to have to reappraise here because we are not getting anywhere near our tax appraised value if we are lucky enough to sell.
Good Luck!
Aug 15th 2007, 6:05 pm
#30
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Joined: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 367
Re: Getting rid of commitments in USA so we can leave?
We are in Cleveland OH and the market here has been declining for the last 3 years... we actually have negative equity for the last 2 years. We have had our home on the market in hopes of returning to the UK for nearly a year. The recent housing news and the fact that several lenders won't even give mortgages here because we have the highest foreclosure rate in the country has made it VERY difficult. So we feel your pain.
We actually found a new realtor who offers an opportunity for them to sell the house, a co-broke and a FSBO option. We do our own open houses and internet marketing etc in hopes of finding our own buyer and then we pay our realtor a flat fee if we find the buyer to handle the close rather than commission. It has helped us to lower our price for those willing to come to us with out realtor representation.
Showings have been pitiful to say the least, but we are getting bites at our current price and even second showings. We even have the house listed on the classifieds on this site as we would love to make a deal with someone heading this way if possible.
The longer we are in the house, the longer we can't save for our move. The house being for sale so long is a major stressor in our lives.
However, what we have decided (don't know if this helps you at all) is that we will lower the price as much as we can and take the hit. It is certainly going to get worse here before it gets better. I would rather loose a few grand now rather than a lot more later. We are turning to family to borrow the few we will need to close out and be done with it.
Then we will move into an apartment, have another baby (hopefully) and save save save for a year and then make our move. DW is a high risk pregnancy and we have a close relationship with her doctors, the hospital and stellar health care... so we feel we need to finish family building here before we leave. But that is just us.
It may be worth looking into how you could just sell for as little as possible and make up the difference if you can. I would think NJ has a better market than here but I guess it depends on where you are. Things are selling here but you have to be a bargain. We are currently listed below are appraised value for tax purposes. They are going to have to reappraise here because we are not getting anywhere near our tax appraised value if we are lucky enough to sell.
Good Luck!
We actually found a new realtor who offers an opportunity for them to sell the house, a co-broke and a FSBO option. We do our own open houses and internet marketing etc in hopes of finding our own buyer and then we pay our realtor a flat fee if we find the buyer to handle the close rather than commission. It has helped us to lower our price for those willing to come to us with out realtor representation.
Showings have been pitiful to say the least, but we are getting bites at our current price and even second showings. We even have the house listed on the classifieds on this site as we would love to make a deal with someone heading this way if possible.
The longer we are in the house, the longer we can't save for our move. The house being for sale so long is a major stressor in our lives.
However, what we have decided (don't know if this helps you at all) is that we will lower the price as much as we can and take the hit. It is certainly going to get worse here before it gets better. I would rather loose a few grand now rather than a lot more later. We are turning to family to borrow the few we will need to close out and be done with it.
Then we will move into an apartment, have another baby (hopefully) and save save save for a year and then make our move. DW is a high risk pregnancy and we have a close relationship with her doctors, the hospital and stellar health care... so we feel we need to finish family building here before we leave. But that is just us.
It may be worth looking into how you could just sell for as little as possible and make up the difference if you can. I would think NJ has a better market than here but I guess it depends on where you are. Things are selling here but you have to be a bargain. We are currently listed below are appraised value for tax purposes. They are going to have to reappraise here because we are not getting anywhere near our tax appraised value if we are lucky enough to sell.
Good Luck!
My last baby I was in bed for 16 weeks as I went into labour at just 20 weeks, so I am high risk too. With no family or friends around I promised myself that if I did it again, I'd make sure I was in the UK, especially with a toddler to care for this time too.
I think we will have to put baby making off for a bit but I can see that you have good reasons to go for it - anyway I wanted to say that I related to your post and good luck with everything. I hope your house goes soon.