xynie

I'm at the end of a long journey, but have a question that maybe can help others in the future. Here is the story:

• House purchased for $479,000 in 2005 - 80/10/10 Loan
• Home refinanced due to some issues in 2006 to an 80/20
• Market crashed in 2007, due to unforeseen circumstances I am forced to relocate in 2010 to another state, then overseas.
• House goes for sale May 2010 for $425,000 (I owed about $470k, FMV at this point is around 390K)
• Receive a Short Sale offer for $370,000 (enough to cover the first loan, but short the second) - I agree to full deficiency to the second bank as I am not delinquent at this time - but can only give 30K up front, would have to pay the rest in payments.
• Banks sit on the offer for 9 months, buyer gets tired and moves on
• House relisted in mid-2011, new offer from buyer #2, $325,000 (still near updated FMV)
• At this time I am no longer paying my mortgage, unable to keep mortgages in two states simultaneously. Mortgages go into default.
• Buyers move in as a condition of waiting for the short sale - after about 11 months, they move out and purchase another house. Second short sale failed.
• Short Sale offer #3 in June 2012, $260,000. Both banks have finally accepted all negotiations, including deficiency. Closing is set for September 18th, banks have a drop dead closing date of the 20th to get this done. Thankfully the buyers are still onboard, hopefully no more issues arise.
  
• Side note - Notice of Foreclosure received August 2012, hoping that my lawyer is right and it will not effect the sale this month.

I have been lawyered up the whole time, they did all communication with the banks and between the parties. I never felt neglected by my lawyers, I had to update documents constantly, but it just felt like the banks stalled like they never wanted to get it done. At the end of the day, they are taking an offer 100K less then what this would have been two years ago.

My question, is there anything that could have been done legally to push the banks along to get this done in a timely manner? Is there any recourse? I read about legislation that was supposed to mandate short sale processes taking set periods of time.... what happened to those? At one point my first lawyer wanted to take the banks to court to try and force lien release. Think that may have been worth it?(This was in NJ, by the way, I chose not to go that route)

As someone that can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and hopes daily that it arrives soon, I don't envy what you do.

Thanks for your thoughts! Hopefully any insight you give can help those in similar short sale situations, either as buyer or seller.

I often return to the classics...

Pitfall, River Raid, Fishing Derby, Combat, PacMan, Missile Command, Asteroids, and many others.

If not Atari, still love me some 8-bit NES action as well. Now where is my Double Dribble cart?

The media reports you lost over 50lbs, congrats for that, it shows. Care to give any insight on how you attained your fitness success?