Dear Judy,
I have Stage IV ovarian cancer, and my doctor told me I have one year left. I also have a mortgage, and I can’t imagine being able to work much longer. Do I notify my mortgage company of this fact? And if I don’t, what is the best way to put them off as long as I possibly can?
With the terrible state of the real estate market, I can’t afford to sell my house below the amount paid — I wouldn’t have enough cash to find temporary housing!
Please help. I’m desperate.
Peggy
Dear Peggy,
I asked Marc Levine, a well-known and highly respected Bethesda, Md. estate attorney, to tackle your difficult problem. This is his response:
“While I can’t counsel anyone not to pay their mortgage, the process of foreclosure should certainly give some insight.
“First, in this environment you might consider talking with your lender. Getting something in payments is certainly better than getting nothing, and a lender might be sympathetic. But there is no guarantee that would work, and it may flag the account for particular attention. You also might speak to a bankruptcy or real estate lawyer.
Second, look into a reverse mortgage to see if you qualify.
And third: remember it can take from 30-120 days of non-payment for foreclosure to begin — and from foreclosure proceedings to actual foreclosure sale, it can take from 35 days to 2 years, believe or not, plus another 6 weeks after the sale for eviction.
So if you can stay less than 60-90 days behind in your payments, making sure you pay every other month or so, you may be able to keep foreclosure at bay (although collection letters and calls will definitely come).
this is a great post — thanks!!
Just wanted to say HI. I found your blog a few days ago on Technorati and have been reading it over the past few days.
great post! i especially found it where it stated.
Thing is that people need somewhere to live, it’s not like luxury items that people can avoid in a recession…
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.