Renting is the greatest! I wish i was a renter again!..No more taxes, association fees, maintenance, and Insurance costs! What a waste of money. I need help.
Dont know what to do. Need help.
If you bought a home/condo on an interest only mortgage and you could barely afford the payments it sounds to me like you bought a home that was too expensive of a home for yourself. Homeownership can be a wonderful experience when you are not stretching yourself so thin financially that you have to live paycheck to paycheck. Unfortunately property in Florida hit a big bubble quickly because of the ridiculous appreciation levels that were happening down there. Everyone saw this coming except for those buying up real estate thinking they were going to make sooooo much money so quickly because of the 20,30 and 40 percent appreciation rates in Florida. Now everyone is stuck with property that is overpriced and they are having a hard time selling . You are not alone down there in Florida as this same situation is arising everywhere. Trust me the bank is not just sitting back waiting for you to miss some payments so they can foreclose on the home. They are going to lose a lot more than you if they have to foreclose on your property. That is the last thing that they want. My recommendation to you is to put your home and you land up for sale immediately if they are not already up for sale. Find a Realtor that is knowledgeable in the area of "short sales" and have the Realtor contact your bank about having them agree to letting you do a short sale on your property. A short sale is where the bank will agree to accept less than what you owe on the home, if you are unable to get enough to cover your mortgage. Obviously, there are limitations to what they will accept and once you have a bid you can make your request for the short sale from your lender. Best of luck and I hope it all works out for you soon.
You yourself turned the American dream into the American nightmare. You bought on interest ONLY ? Oh wait. Let me guess. You just KNEW that you would gain equity because property values would continue to skyrocket forever. Apparently you had no intention of developing equity by reducing the principal amount you borrowed. And you bought land because that would continue to skyrocket in value as well. Hmmm.....
Those who were naive enough to think that the bubble would never burst are now paying the price.
You are now in a very ugly situation. Your options are to continue paying or to let the lenders foreclose the property. If you choose the latter, good luck finding a place to rent with a badly tarnished credit history. And next time, assess your financial moves a bit better before jumping off the bridge without a lifesaver handy.
In order to be successful investing in real estate, you have to be able to hold onto it if need be, which means you have to be able to make the payments no matter what. This usually takes a lot of sacrifice in your daily lifestyle, no extras because you have to maintain your investment(s). It is a lot like the stock market, once you put money into it, you have to ride it out for the long haul to make money most of the time. If you can afford to hold onto the properties they will appreciate in time. If you can't afford to do so, you need to lower your asking price to the minimum in this depressed market. You may need to work with another realtor who has a better handle on the changing market as you are probably overpriced, and see if you can find a finance company that can offer creative financing for your parcels, such as lease to own. Also you have to make sure that your condo stands out from the others, it should be staged, spotless, and any upgrades ( even paint) you can afford should be done. This is a bad market but in the long run the properties will increase in value. Renting is the ultimate waste of money, the problem is that some rip-off predatory lender let you get in over your head, they over mortgaged you without your best interests in mind, all they care about is their commission. Fortunately laws are being created now to stop this nonsense, as too many folks are stuck with a bigger mortgage than they can afford. There are re-fi's out there that have no fees at all, such as one offered by DiTech, if you search diligently you can find one that has no out of pocket fees, they do exist. This may help to get you back in line with your monthly payments. Also you may consider going with a realtor that charges a flat fee, such as Help-U-Sell, where you aren't losing such a big chunk of change to the realtor. Best of luck to you and hope this helps.
This is what happens when you buy at the top. It will now take you years to just break even, that's if the bank does not take it first.
I am very familiar with your situation, especially around Tampa Bay. Margie was right - you need to be investing for the long haul. The "flippers" had short-lived success, and many of them got caught with properties, like yours, that they can't sell when the market changed so abruptly. The condo market dropped over 40%. My first advice, do everything possible not to go into foreclosure. Your credit will be ruined for many, many years. You may qualify for a short sale in which a realtor, short sale consultant, your lender, and you will work together to sell your property. Certain criteria must be met, but it will save your credit. Please investigate these possiblities. You will not make any money on the sale of your home, and the cost in selling will be minimal.
As far as renting, it does serve a purpose but does not build any kind of equity or wealth. I understand that you got burned in purchasing, but you've learned a valuable lesson the hard way! It won't happen to you again because the knowledge you've gained has opened your eyes to the bigger picture of real estate investing. Best of luck to you!
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