Legal Question in Banking Law in California

home repo's

we bought our home 2 1/2 years ago. My husband is active duty military and is being seperated out(he was injured). Our home has been on the market for 1 year and in that time only one person has looked at it! The realtor said their were 132 3 bedroom listings just like ours....we cant afford to keep this home and move to another state and pay rent. If we rent this house it can't stay on the market. If we should let this house go back to the back how much would it effect our credit? We have okay credit now..but after moving, with no jobs it is sure to drop. What can we do???


Asked on 8/06/01, 5:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

C. David DuMond Law Offices of David DuMond

Re: home repo's

First contact the Army, maybe starting with the Judge Advocate's office, to make sure you know all the benefits available from the army so far as moving and other expenses are concerned. And you said he was injured; if it was service related, he should be eligible for monthly disability payments plus other on-going benefits. If the Army people don't seem so helpful about this, contact some Congressperson or Senator; they love to help out on things like this. Second, confer with another realtor or two about your house and the market in your area. Maybe you have priced the house too high. Or maybe your current realtor is just incompetent. Anyway, like baseball teams, change the realtor; changing managers sometimes helps, even with the same players. Third, consider renting the property if it can be rented for enough to cover your out of pocket expenses for mortgage, insurance and taxes. And if you decide to keep the house, apply for a property tax reduction with the county assessor before you move out of it, so your taxes are based on current values should those be less than your purchase price. California real estate has been going through surges of up and down values for many years, so if you can hold on to the property without it costing you out of your cash flow, you will probably benefit. Finally - a home repossession will be a black mark against your credit, almost as bad as a bankruptcy. Good luck.

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Answered on 8/07/01, 5:37 pm


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