Can you rent the house out?
Did you inherit the mortgage? If you did do some investigating into how it was written. A friend in a situation similar to yours discovered after a year of making payments that his mom had taken out an insurance policy that paid the balance if she died. While this may not be the case it doesn't hurt to dig around.
It's still in my moms name after all these years in fact. I would change it as I have the information and the power to do so. Should I get a lawyer to look into it?
Check their fees first, of course, but it could save you a lot of money and grief in the long run.
i. hear. a. sound.
I've always been a big believer in looking into things myself first and then getting a lawyer if I need one. But if you are more comfortable with lawyers and have one that you trust by all means go that route, although it will cost more money and this is just a shot in the dark. Try to find all the documentation for the house and really look at it.
Zzzzzzzzzz
It's certainly worth checking into. I know that the bank we had our mortgage with in Wisconsin insisted that we carry a mortgage insurance policy — a life insurance policy that would pay the mortgage in the case of death.
Another possible option, if you want out from under it more than you want money, is to look into putting it up for sale on an "assume payments" basis.
edited 7th Nov '11 8:10:20 AM by Madrugada
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Nemesis
If the thing's still in your mother's name and you never signed anything with the mortgage company (i.e. it's her loan, not yours), I suspect you might be able to just walk away from it. Depends on your state law and exactly what your dealings with the company have been, of course.
I'd do my research and then find a lawyer; at that point, you know the subject well enough to be able to tell if the lawyer actually knows what they're talking about. Some won't.
A brighter future for a darker age.
Silently Honest - What you have is called negative equity. It's grim, and you have my sympathy.
I would speak to a lawyer if you can afford it. In England, putting the house in your name on the register would involve the executor(s) of your mother's will signing an assent of it to you and this being registered at the Land Registry - but that's in England, not in your state, although there may be similarities.
"Well, it's a lifestyle"
@ blackcat Yes I think I'll try getting through myself before speaking to a lawyer, however getting any information from Suntrust Mortgage is a hassle.
@ Morven The Mortgage is in her name, the actual home is in mine.
@ Madrugada It's an option I'll look into. What exactly does it entail?
@ Captainbrass There's lots of names for it, being upside down, Underwater... actually those are all the names I know for it.
edited 7th Nov '11 11:32:49 AM by SilentlyHonest
Zzzzzzzzzz
In a normal sale the purchaser pays you and you use that money to pay the mortgage-holder. In an assume-payments arrangement, the buyer doesn't give you the money, and you don't pay off the mortgage. Instead, the mortgage company moves the existing loan into the name of the person who's buying the house — they have the same payment and balance as you currently have, you don't have the house anymore, and they do. I know that some car loans can be sold that way (or could, anyway); how feasible it is with a mortgage is what you'd need to find out.
edited 7th Nov '11 12:48:07 PM by Madrugada
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Yes that's definitely an option.
Zzzzzzzzzz
Just curious: have you solved this?
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
So apparently if I sell my home after I pay off the Realtor the mortgage, the closing fees, and other things of the like, I'll actually owe #$9,000 dollars out of pocket. Who has $9,000 dollars lying around?
So I find myself paying a mortgage that is not in anyway affordable to me. My other options are simply walking away and never being able to buy a home again ever, or a short sale which will leave my credit only slightly scarred Oh about credit I just got that, two months ago.
Don't take me for an ingrate, but it's just that I never wanted the house to begin with. I inherited it when my mother passed away, kinda derailed my plans; moving out of the home then and renting and apartment of my own while going to school. Now I had a house, but the damn thing is far to much work to maintain and far too much money continue living in, that and I hate having a lawn.
Eventually old wounds healed and I made new plans. I decided that life was passing me by and I wanted to move far, far away from here, up to another state where many my friends and some family have gone. Called in someone for an appraisal and realized real quick that I ain't going nowhere. Turns out my small dream of leaving was only a dream after all. I have no power in this situation.