Kenny

I think I should also add that I previously had excellent credit. I was with the same construction company for 13 years and was laid off in March. My pay had decreased approx. $16,000 a year from 2005 to 2006 and even less in 2007. We completed building are home in June of 2005. The housing market seemed to tumble the day we moved in. I have a co-signer if needed. I would rather not use him, but if this is the only out to buy a home at a decent interest rate that is what I will have to do. I wanted to give you a little background on me so you did not think I was a deadbeat that bought a house I could not afford and am now blaming everyone else. I blame noone but myself. I did not buy into a ARM loan or anything like that. I had a 30 year fixed at 5.75%. I now work for our local school district with excellent benefits and $50,000 a year. It is still alot less than we are used to making but our baby is now 14 months old and my wife will be back to full time teaching next year. She is a part time assistant now. Thanks again.

Kenny - Wed Nov 12 2008, 10:02

I just completed a short sale on my home. I signed a promisssary note for $15,000 with Countrywide to be paid back in $100 monthly increments for approx. 13 years. There is no penalty for an early payoff on the note. Countrywide assured me that my credit report would read "settled" similar to a settled credit card debt. i did not make payments on the home for about 10 months so obviously that will hurt my credit, however, at last check (3 months ago) my credit score was 686. I have never been late on any other payments (credit card, car payments, insurance, eveything). If anyone has anything to add I would appreciate your knowledge. I want to know when I will be able to buy another home, with or without a co-signer. Thank you very much.

Kenny - Wed Nov 12 2008, 09:50

I owe 224,000 on a house I paid 289,481 for in June 2005 not including at least 20,000 in upgrades that count ( granite countertops, 500 square foot brick paver patio, etc.) I know there is some extreme cases out there, but if I am upside down at all on the house which I doubt then it can't be much.

I am not staying in the house and riding it out. I was referring to August of 2007, that was my thought process then. Like I said I have a house in St. Charles Illinois that my family and I are living in now and a small house in Lake Geneva Wisconsin. My point was I have options its not like I'm living on the streets because I left this house vacant!

My original question was should I continue to pay the HELOC eventhough I am NOT paying the mortgage ever again. I owe 14,705 on the HELOC $291 a month. WHAT SHOULD I DO? - Sat Jan 26 2008, 21:03

I dont know where the post came from today but I do know that a short sale shows up on your credit as a "settlement" much like a credit card that was not paid for years then you decided to settle with them and paid the settlement price. - Sat Jan 26 2008, 19:22

We decided to take it off the market and stay in the house and try to ride it out. I am in the construction industry and when the bottom fell out of the housing market the bottom fell out of my job as well. When I decided to leave the house it was on the reccomendation of a friend and owner of a well established realty firm in St. Charles. In hindsight it would have been the thing to do is list it as low as possible to get it sold, I agree.

Now to the other poster Tman. Everything other than my mortgage payment the last 2 months has never been late.My credit will take a 250-280 point hit with a foreclosure and an 80 point hit in a short sale. While I know neither is good I also own a house in St. Charles and in Lake Geneva. My credit would conceivably return to 750 within 2 years. - Sat Jan 26 2008, 18:13

One more thing when I had the house listed we had about 12 showings all with very positive feedback, however the people that were looking were also looking in the 370,000-400,000 range on the golf course in Mill Creek. If you know the area it is very hard to compete with Mill Creek, It was really just bad timing and the market dropoff. My realtor who also sold my last house in 2 days is very active with open houses and newspaper listings and everyone that looked at the home had a DVD to take home and look at later in addition to the listing papers. I can't blame the realtor even though I'd like to blame someone.

PS- When my house was at 337,900 we were the fifth lowest priced in the area with about 40 listed. We were priced to sell! - Sat Jan 26 2008, 17:37

When my house was listed with Remax it was listed at 337,900 and lowered to 317,900. When my house was listed on my own through local papers and craigslist it was listed at 239,000 which is what I owe total with the HELOC. My house was listed from February to August with Remax on Robinson street Im sure you can find on the MLS. - Sat Jan 26 2008, 17:28

My house is in Elburn (Blackberry Creek). It was built in June 2005. It is a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath with full unfinished basement. Wide open floor plan with a 2 car garage and 2860 square feet (not including basement). - Sat Jan 26 2008, 16:36

Thanks Ted, I am not looking to save the home. I put 58,000 down when I bought the house and put an additional 20,000 in upgrades in the home after we moved in. I am not paying the mortgage anymore and let whatever happens from here take its course. I wrote Countrywide 4 letters explaining my situation. I sent 2 letters in with the mortgage payment receipt (without any money of course), and I sent 2 letters to there customer service. The first letters went out November 17th for my December first payment. I have had no contact with anyone from Countrywide. In the letters I explained I would no longer being paying on the house and I paid my six previous payments on credit cards at $1749 a pop. In my hopes of getting out of this mess I dug a deeper whole for myself. I did list the home with Remax for 6 months between February and August of 2007 and had no luck. I listed myself for what I owe on the property and the HELOC a total of 239,000 and had no luck. - Sat Jan 26 2008, 15:44

My partner and I have been in the kitchen and bath industry for a combined 36 years. If you can help fill any of your remodeling needs let me know. We are not the HVAC/Plumber/Electrician guys, we are kitchen and bath, cabinets and countertops. - Sat Jan 26 2008, 14:27