The Tale of Two Foreclosures (part 2)

Though the Pinson Foreclosure is going extraordinarily well, the same can't be said for the foreclosure in North Birmingham.

Ironically, this home would not be in foreclosure if the bank hadn't called the second mortgage due last year for no reason. The months we fought that, coupled with the tenant moving out, the property needing some TLC (which equates to an influx of cash we didn't have) to make it move-in ready, caused a snowball affect we just couldn't recover from. If only one of those items had happened: the second loan being called due or the tenant moving out, we probably would have fought our way back up.

This particular home has a first and second mortgage with the same bank. At the same time we decided to let this one go as well as the Pinson home, the mortgage company came to us and said, "We have agreed to modify your loan. Yay you."

Last April when I explained to the Asset Manager it was too little, too late, he gave me my options: have a short sale with the agent of our choosing or let the home go into foreclosure. He assured me a foreclosure was a very, very bad choice and I would be better off going the (cough-cough) short sale route. But it was my decision.

As we were talking that day last April, he told me he had just pulled up Marty Sunshine's credit and was shocked we were making the decision to let the home go. He explicitly implied (can one explicitly imply?) that we must have money somewhere and why don't we act like grow ups, suck it up and pay what we owe and keep the house. I told him we would if we could. And perhaps if his bank had not called the loan due, or even modified it months earlier instead of repeatedly asking for the same documents, we could have pulled it off. But by then, we were out of money. Our home was vacant and we did not have the capital to make it rent-ready.

Since then, the Asset Manager's name has been changed to the Bigoted Ass. Manager. Which, by the way, he is. Kirby was our agent for this short sale. The Bigoted Ass. Manager told me I should find one who understands the neighborhood better and "the kind of people" who would want a home like I had in "special neighborhoods."

Kirby worked his buns off and brought in four cash offers. The Bigoted Ass. Manager's imaginary committee said they would only consider one of the offers if Marty and I brought several thousand dollars more than our loan obligation to the table. They asked us to sign a promissory note--which I suppose we could have signed, but we didn't have the money to pay it anyway and didn't want to take on that debt.

We then asked to do a deed in lieu of foreclose. The Ass. Manager sent me an awe shucks e-mail saying we really didn't want to do that and gee whiz, he didn't know how to do one anyway. So, no.

At that point, Legal Owl told us to ignore the bank. They would eventually figure out we weren't paying. She also said to pay the taxes and insurance on the property, but I am not sure that's a good idea. We paid the insurance last July. In my opinion, the Bigoted Ass. Manager took that to mean we were playing games with the mortgage company. We were just trying to be responsible.

Last week we got a letter from some attorney who is representing the bank. The letter went on to state the bank is starting a judicial foreclosure process. It seems silly to me, but whatever. Marty Sunshine called the attorney and asked her if we could just do a deed in lieu of foreclosure. It would be faster and cheaper for all involved. After all, we are happy to cooperate and they can have keys at any time. The attorney agreed and asked who we had been working with at the bank. Marty cheerfully supplied the attorney with the Bigoted Ass. Manger's contact info.

The attorney called us back yesterday, absolutely floored. Not only would the Bigoted Ass. Manager not agree to any easy way to make this end, apparently this guy is trying to stick it to us. He told the attorney unless we agree to pay what we owe or sign a promissory note, they will just do a judicial foreclosure. She didn't say it seemed personal, but that is what was explicitly implied.