My question involves a foreclosure in the State of: Ohio
Hello...I have posted before, but circumstances have changed as well as my questions.
Here is the situation (hopefully not life story)
We owe close to $400,000 on our home between a first and second mortgage. Our situation is somewhat unique in that we owe MORE on the second than the first. We lost our business this year (we owned a mortgage company - how ironic) We have paid down our first by about $60,000 additional principle in the last 4-5 years. We took out a second for use of home remodeling, but instead, used the money to chase the chances of keeping our company open. Bad move...but that's in hindsight.
The first has started the foreclosure process. Our attorney has anwered, and stated that we wish to keep the home. In our county, it seems as though foreclosures are expedited and the normal time from the first foreclosure letter to sherrif's auction is about 6-7 months. We owed $197,000 on our first, now owe about $220K due to penalties. We are filling bk (chapter 7) because the unsecured debt we took out to establish our company was taken out in my husband and I's personal name, not business. We never transferred those accounts to the company. We are doing a business/consumer bk. We have not filed yet, due to that we really want to find a way to keep our home, and need to work with the banks. I guess if you file during this process, it does not go to loss mitigation, it goes to another department and loss mit cannot work on your loan for you as it is not in their department.
Our home is way over valued in this market. The houses in our neighborhood are selling from $299K - to $315K, after sitting on the market for 18+ months. There are so many houses for sale right now, and noone is getting anywhere. I don't see the second coming after us, as they would want the first to pay expenses, right?
My questions and intentions are as follows:
1. The first mortgage is the one filing foreclosure, although we can make this mortgage payment. We have not due to the fact that for a workout plan with Countrywide, they have stated we needed to be 90 days past due. Strange how they cannot help BEFORE this process starts. At 91 days, they filed foreclosure papers on us. Is it possible to get them to go back to the orginal amount owed at $197K before the penalties, if we are able to pay all the back payments?
2. How is this going to work with the second? Is it possible to offer the second around $50K to get them to settle on the account? I have a family member that would be willing to give me this money. I understand that they can come after you for the difference, but wont that go into chapter 7 bk? Then we could afford our home.
3. Our bk attorney is too expensive to hire for this, although is advising us on our best possible solutions. He thinks all of this is reasonable. Who do we hire to do this for us? We need to get started now...but don't know how to do this. Is there a program out there to help us with this, or do we need a specialized attorney? We don't trust anyone out there, as we are getting "scam" letters daily.
Any information will be extremely helpful!!! I, like you, I am sure, have lost countless nights of sleep due to this. I have 3 children who love their school, friends, and neighborhood, and cannot even begin to imagine what they will go through. Please help...and God bless everyone going through this and more in this country.

