I just now heard of a deed in lieu and i asked my mortgage company but they said it was to late so if you hvae any info that would help me please send thanks keith

just read the other persons comment on a mortgage company saying that it was too late to do a "in lieu of" on their home. I was told that this program through countrywide was through Jan1st, 2009 in MI. Which is true? Also, in reading who qualifies to do a "in lieu of" you mentioned that only those who DO NOT have a second mtg. Well, what if my second was done when I did a refi on my house and the 2nd is also with countrywide? We lost our son, our jobs and now…our home. We cannot afford our residence and are being forced to begin life anew. We are either upside down on our home or right close, but not with the economy I just want out. I can't take the pressure any longer. please email me asap. thanks….trina

Very sorry about your losses. It is really disheartening to hear about what you have been through.

I can say that many folks have contacted me and gotten a fresh start and it seems that many times they are happier than they expected to be. Hang in there. I think you could do a short sale. I would try that probably. Consult a competent person who can advise you. God bless.

warmly

–Richard

Who told you that it was too late? Have you sought help elsewhere. We have been told that an "in lieu of forclosure" is our only hope as well.

Anxiously awaiting your reply…..Trina

if the mortgage company says that the entire amout of the loan is forgiven, when issueing a 1099 will the complete portion including portions refinances honestly all be forgiven. When filing income taxes will I end up owing anything?

Hello, I am going through a Divorce, my ex has been given exclusive use of the home, and was supposed to make the Payments. She did not and the court order the huse listed for sale. It has been 6 months and no offers have been submitted. during a recent mediation hearing she has requested that I sign a loan Modification and a Quit Claim deed to her. Since I am the primary on the loan, she has no obligation. Can I do a Deed In Leiu and just let the Bank take it back. I do not want to be tied to her or the house for another 30 yrs. I just want out ! Thanks.

I have a deed in lieu of forclosure with CountryWide. We did it last year with a home that was not our primary residence. We had a first mortgage and and home equity line of credit. All of the money went into the building of this house. None of it was for personal use.The entire mortgage was for $210,000. At the time of the signing of the Deed in Lieu we were told that the house appraised for $215,000 so they agreed to take it back. The appraisal was more than the mortgage. This year the house was sold and we received a 1099 for over $180,000. On it it stated that the appraisal was worth $205,000. My accountant told me that according to the 1099 we owed income tax of $45,000. Now how is that when the house was sold (not sure for how much but according to this it looks like the house was sold for about $30,000 if the remainder of the loan was $180,000. My question is this. If they agreed that at the time when we signed the deed in lieu that the house was worth $5,000 more than the mortgage, when we gave the house back, did we not give them $215,000 whether or not it was cash or property? If so , then how can they charge us if they agreed they were getting back more than what they let us borrow? How are they allowed to charge us the difference when they decided to sell it for less and they agreed at the time of the deed in lieu that they were getting all of their money through property plus $5,000. How can we dispute this? I just found out about it today and my husband is on the phone right now trying to talk to them. This is after I called 6 times, got six different people, and they would not talk to me because I was not on the loan and even though I have sent them paperwork that proved I was "power of attorney" and they could not find it. I just got off the phone with my husband and he said that they are telling him that even though we did a deed in lieu a year ago that they did not put it through util it sold in february of this year. How is that legal? He said it will now be on his credit report. It seems that Deed in lieu is no different than foreclosure. You are responsible still for the money lost, it goes on your credit report for a long period of time , and I don't see how this is any better. They also told him it was sold at a tax sale. I don't know what we can do as he is losing his job this friday march 13, 2009. We are going from $90,000 a year to $0 in a few days. Is this legal when they agreed they were gettng back $215,000 when we signed the deed in lieu and how can they hold off on it for over a year?

It is a bummer indeed.

Deed in lieu is often no different than foreclosure. I've been writing about this for the last 18 months and unfortunately people don't know this stuff. UGH!

I am so sorry about your income being lost. Did you have a formal agreement for the deed in lieu? There is an approval letter that should be there, with the terms in it.

warmly

–Richard

This is a continuation from the post I have above. I just found out that even though we signed a Deed in lieu of foreclosure last year with countrywide they did not put it through until the house sold this year. How is that legal? We were also told that the house sold at a tax auction so it could have very well have been sold for $30,000 even though it was appraised at $215,000 when we signed the deed in lieu. They said are reporting their loss as income to us to the IRS so they can get it as a write-off. Now that is government. They take bailout money from us tax payers, we gave them a $215,000 house that was worth $210,000 (they gained $5,000), sold it for $30,000 and charged us with the remaining balance so they could get it back through the government while we are stuck with $45,000 in income taxes we have to pay so they can get that in the next bailout. And to make things worse, They say they are doing it to everyone who does a deed and Lieu. No exceptions (my huband is losing his job). So if you are looking for sympathy for CountryWide, you are looking at the wrong people. They will cut your throat and take your money from both ends. so far it looks to us that a deed in lieu is no better than a foreclosure as you get the same results; bad credit and debt you can't pay and finacial ruin for many years. I don't see a way out of this as we have already lost all our 401K , equity in our own house, and depleated our savings. Bankruptcy from what I understand does no excuse you from tax debt or school loans. Any advise out there?

CW just approved DIL with one condition that i have to come up $3K as cash contribution. I was told that they will 1099 me for the remaining of the balance. I havent received documents from their attorney's office yet. Do you know if the condition of forgiving the remaining of the loan will show on these docs? have any seen deed in lieu docs before?

You have to insist that they release you from future liability. They may not do so. Often they do not. And they could come after you later. So it is essential you get a release of liability.

warmly

–Richard

Hello, My husband and I bought are first house and then eight months later my husband was offered an amazing job offer across the state…so we took it. We now rent an apt in the new town where my husband took the job. Our house has been on the market for a year and 2 months. We have had 3 price reductions and now are below the assessed value of the home. We have had no formal offers. We barely get by each month but we do make out mortgage payments and make them on time. But we just feel stuck…we are stuck in this apt and barely have enough money at the end of the month for groceries. We have even switched our realtors but nothing is improving. We contacted CW and they mentioned the option of short sale to us and deed in lieu. So I contacted my uncle who is a lawyer to get his opinion on the options. We then went back to CW for some more information my uncle suggested. They then told us that deed in lieu is no longer an option through CW….is this true???

Erica, lenders HATE deed in lieu. They will do it in some
cases especially in states that have a very difficult judicial
foreclosure process. But mostly they do not do it.

I can't tell you it will for sure. But it has worked in places
like Vallejo, California, some of the hardest hit parts of
the US in this housing crash. It very well might work
for you.

warmly

–Richard

I own a home in Las Vegas. I owe $235,000 now and I believe fair market value is about $180,000. My company moved to Austin Texas 1 1/2 years ago and I had to either go with them or loose my job. I moved. I tried to sell my house, but shortly after putting it on the market it had flooding and required extensive flooring repairs. I paid for the repairs and got the house back in shape, but by the time that was all done, the market had fallen so fast that I was upside-down on the mortgage. I decided to rent out the property and try to wait out this storm. The property was rented quickly, but is costing me $600 per month even after receiving the rent. I have fallen behind intermittently and caught back up each time. Now I am behind again, but my company did across-the-board pay cuts recently and I don't believe I can catch up this time. Can you PLEASE tell me my options. My mortgage is with Countrywide. There are no second or junior liens. It is a standard 80/20 mortgage. Thanks.

Ugh, renting out at such a negative cash flow…what's the point? You can try to get a loan mod. Since you bought the property as owner occupied, they may mod the loan and lower the payments. The other alternative is a short sale. I like that option as it gets you out of this entirely in this situation. You find a buyer at whatever price, submit a good package to Countrywide, and they accept an amount lower than the loan as full payment. Get a release from them so they forgive the rest of the loan. There may be tax consequences but there may very well not be any taxes due.

warmly

–Richard

me and my husband have a mortgage with so called Countrywide. We are currently 4 months behind. We have sent paperwork over to countrywide a month and a half ago and no response yet. I called them and said they do not have any status for me yet. Me and my husband are debating whether or not to try and do a DIL or just walk away from our home. What would be the difference?? I know our credit is hurt either way?? Can you please give me some insight as to what to do. We are currently paying almost $70,000 more than what our home is really worth. Please Help answer some of my questions. I sincerely appreciate it. Thanks Gen

short sale is far better than walking away. Why not do a short sale? Deed in lieu are hard to get accepted in most states except those with very difficult foreclosure laws (court foreclosures with long redemption periods) and bad for your credit.

Short sales are a great way to get out from under.

warmly

–Richard

genevieve!!
just so you know youre not alone, i began the process you did back in november and as of today (april 20, 2009) im still waiting to be processed!!! and i called last thursday and they couldnt even give me a clue as to when i might get an answer, any answer!!!
jen:)

OK, we have not been able to pay our countrywide mortgage for 6 months. I am self-employed, my wife is a skilled nurse who lost a great job over a year ago because her supervisor was killed in a tragic accident. She is working again, but took a severe cut in pay. We had to file bankruptcy as a result. We bought our house over 7 years ago. Although it looked fairly nice for a house built in 1963, we soon realized that alot of the so-called repairs were band-aids over the problem. The main issue is our foundation. Since foundation repairs can cost upwards of $20,000, boom.. we're upside down in our home. Since we can't possibly try to repair the foundation, we have been saving our money towards another place to live. We have paid the deposit on a brand new rent home, which by the way is yet to be completed. We are sceduled to move in sometime in the first week of June of this year. As I have been reading, seems we're not the only ones who cannot get a response from countrywide. The last time my wife spoke to them, they said they sent out a letter stating our options of what to do about the house. That was supposedly mailed in March, never received it. She spoke to them recently and they told us if we did'nt receive anything by April 21, let them know. Today is April22, still nothing. We will probably try to reach them again today. We were suggested to try a short sale by a realtor friend, then decided to do a dil. Now, after reading the above posts, I don't know what to do. We are moving the first week of June regardless. So if a dil is treated no differently than a foreclosure, would you consider trying a short sale in our case? And if this old house with it's problems takes forever to sell, will countrywide try to foreclose even though we may have already moved?
Best regards,
Kenny, Ft Worth, TX.

Hi there.

My hubby and I bought a new construction condo and within 6 months water damage showed up. The builder did not repair it correctly. More damage and then mold developed. We have kids with life threatening metabolic disorders and all of us in the condo were experiencing many health problems. Once we moved out we felt better but still highly allergic to mold. We have documentation of the elevated levels of mold and visual inspections as well as letters from doctors, etc. We were trying to get the property bought back by builder given our situation but yeah right. So now we are probably going to be foreclosed on so we requested a deed in lieu instead because it seems that was the better option. Some of the stories I see here scare me honestly and I am no sure what to do since we don't have 20 thousand dollars to sue the builder and they are refusing to remediate the mold and it would have to be remediated throughout the entire building since it's a condo.

We have submited all possible documentation. I have read some things online where an uninhabitable home like ours may provide for a different kind of situation given that our inability to pay the mortgage is due to having to move out for health reasons. I am not sure how they could sell it or even if they would want to take it back. We can't live there and we can't sell nor can we pay the $40-$50K it would take to minimally repair it.

I wonder if there are cases of precidence like this with lenders and IRS.

Thanks for your thoughts.