Foreclosure on Rental Property Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh, PA Viewed 505 times. Posted about 1 year ago in Foreclosure

I am attempting to provide as much information as possible, forgive me if I am giving you too much. I live in Ohio, but I have a rental in Pittsburgh, PA that is heading for foreclosure. I have the house up for sale and it has been up for sale since May 2008. The realtor ensured me that it would sell quickly if we priced it right, so we priced it low. It originally started at $99,000, and I slowly dropped the price to $74,000 as of about 6 weeks ago. We got in an offer for $62,000, but they also want the piece of land I have next door that I own out right. I owe $52,000 on the rental. If we sell it for 62,000, I will be lucky to leave with a few thousand and they get the empty lot next door for free (pretty much). Now, the realtor is telling me this is not a bad offer - so I am really confused. What are the reprecussions of a foreclosure? I put every last cent in this home after I evicted a bad tenant that destroyed the property - I fixed it up to sell it. Is it better to leave with nothing and give away my lot next to the house to avoid the foreclosure on the house? I owe several thousand dollars to family members who loaned me money to fix up the house to put it up for sale. The neighbor on the other side of the vacant lot is interested in buying the lot for $10,000.00 but won't have the money for some time. I am so confused. If the house does get foreclosed on and the bank sells it for less than the loan, can they come after me for the rest? How long does it take for the bank to foreclose? I only have a first mortgage on the house, but I originally bought the house for cash, gutted it and then took a loan out on it after the remodel. The mortgage company is Homeq and they are not willing to work with me AT ALL, because it is a rental (not my primary residence) and I have it up for sale (no income from a tenant). If I rented it at this time, I could cover the mortgage payment, but I would never get caught up on my payments that I am behind on. And I have no money left for repairs or anything like that if something happens with a new tenant. I am just wondering how bad a foreclosure would be? My credit is wrecked so that is no longer a concern. I would appreciate any help. - Is this your question? Add additional information

Answers (1)

Margery Ellen Golant

This attorney is licensed in Pennsylvania and 1 other state. Posted about 1 year ago.

Foreclosure in PA is judicial - that means that the lender files a lawsuit against you and you are served with a Summons and Complaint. That is how the process starts. If you don't have an attorney to defend the suit, it goes pretty quickly.

You might have a couple of options. If rentals would cover the future payments, and you would just need time to catch up the delinquency, a Chapter 13 proceeding might be the solution. Or, it is possible that a good foreclosure defense attorney might be able to trip up HomeEq enough to get you negotiating power to get a better deal. Servicers tend to make many errors. One other possibility if your loan is less than three years old is that you might have an extended right of rescission available to you.

If you do nothing and the lender forecloses, in addition to taking your property, it has the ability to come back for a deficiency judgment, equal to the total debt plus interest costs and attorneys' fees, less the amount they were able to sell the house for. Not a great deal for you.

The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization. NACA maintains a web site at www.naca.net where it lists geographically consumer law attorneys all over the US. If you don't already have an attorney, please look there for someone in your area who specializes in foreclosure defense and bankruptcy to review the details with you and advise you.

National Association of Consumer Advocates