Yesterday in bankruptcy court the docket had over 50 "Motions for Relief From Stay" to allow the lender to foreclose on homes. That's one of two judges, and they each have this docket every two weeks.
The lawyers representing these particular debtors are ones who send letters to people facing foreclosure. In Virginia, the foreclosure process is a public sale after publication of the sale in the newspaper.
I don't get my own clients that way, and in my own experience there are a lot of people out there who don't understand that they're better off letting the bankruptcy court approve the sale which gives them a tax break they may not get otherwise. The lawyers who get these clients that way are really helping them avoid making some serious mistakes.
By the time my clients are coming to me, some of them already gave back the house, which means they probably owe income tax due to an arcane tax law which most people don't know about, not even real estate agents.
Last week there was an article about it in the newspaper which I tore out to show to people who don't believe me, but most of them believe me, listen to me, and are waiting for foreclosure notice before they file.
Some have stopped paying their mortgage months ago and still no foreclosure notice!
And yes, Countrywide is seriously involved.
We have our own mortgage with Countrywide but we're prime borrowers, and put down 30% in 1999, refi at 5.25%, and my husband's been working for the federal government for 20 years so we expect to come out OK, but it's still worrying. As long as he has his job we can afford to live here, and I plan to die here, so no reason to worry about home equity now. We still have plenty but even if we don't we are not depending on it. If we have Great Depression redux we have room for both sons and my mother, and more too. |
