My question involves bankruptcy in the state of: California


About two weeks ago, I went to my meeting of creditors in Riverside, CA. I was going through a typical CH 7 BK up until the point where the trustee asks me how far behind I am on my mortgage payments.

I informed her that I'm quite a bit behind, at least a year behind but that I'm trying to modify my loan and waiting on Chase to decide. All the paper work has been submitted to Chase, I'm just waiting for an answer.

The Trustee tells me "no, we're going to have to short sell your home. We're going to appoint John Doe in San Diego County as your real estate agent."

I'm sitting their baffled, as is my attorney. I chime in that I'm still waiting on Chase to answer, but she says that I'm gonna have to a short sale nonetheless. My attorney asks to speak with her, and that he'll speak with me outside.
He comes back out and says he's going to have to work on my case and get back to me, as he's never seen this before.

A week goes by, and I don't hear anything. Then yesterday, I'm bombarded with phone calls from other realtors that want to see my home. I ask them how they got my number. They tell me that it's been listed as a short sale, and my name and number are the contact information for the home, and I'm the person that's going to show them the house.

I call my attorney, who is obviously dodging my calls. Today, his paralegal calls and says that the home might not even be in my name. They're working to clarify that. Two years ago, my wife paid $3K upfront to one of those companies that helps you modify (or doesn't, as in my case) your mortgage. Evidently, the papers we signed MIGHT have authorized to put their name on the house and remove ours. At least, that's why I'm being told by a paralegal. Paralegal says she's going to work on this further and get back to me. When I ask her what happens if the house is in the name of that crappy company that we naively gave our money to, her response is, she doesn't know either way. Doesn't sound like my attorney has an idea either.

After that phone call, I was served with documents saying that basically the Trustee appointed John Doe of XYZ Realty to short sell my home. I have 10 days to respond.

I dropped my attorneys office with the doc's I was served, but he was too busy to see.

What do I do? Am I SOL?