Free Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer Advice – How Bankruptcy Affects Your Home and Foreclosure
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Posted On :
Jul-11-2010
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Article Word Count :
1044
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Every Phoenix bankruptcy lawyer hears it and they are often asked about how filing for bankruptcy affects your home and foreclosure. Let’s take a look at the question, in the state of Arizona, will filing bankruptcy stop a foreclosure?
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Every Phoenix bankruptcy lawyer hears it and they are often asked about how filing for bankruptcy affects your home and foreclosure. Let’s take a look at the question, in the state of Arizona, will filing bankruptcy stop a foreclosure?
Yes it will stop a foreclosure. In Arizona, foreclosures occur when you haven’t paid 90 days of your mortgage payments and you’ve been sent a Notice of Trustee Sale. That will indicate to you that within 90 days of receiving that letter, your house will be sold if you don’t catch up on the payments.
Those payments they are looking for are a lump sum. They will need both the mortgage that you’ve been behind on as well as the penalties and fees that it’s caused both yourself and the lender to bring that sale.
You can stop that foreclosure process by filing bankruptcy. If you file a Chapter 13, you can actually file and catch up on your payments. For example, if the lender is looking for $22,000 in back payments and you don’t have that, you can file your Chapter 13 and that will allow you to make a monthly payment towards that $22,000.
For people that have seconds on their homes, those seconds can be removed as secured debt from the house, and you can pay a portion of that back as unsecured debt in a Chapter 13.
So you really have an opportunity in a Chapter 13 to sort of move around your finances and bring things down to their actual value. The biggest factor in filing bankruptcy is to hire an experienced Phoenix bankruptcy lawyer.
You can choose to file a Chapter 7, and that’s different from a Chapter 13. In a Chapter 13 you are repaying a portion of your debt back to your creditors, whereas in a Chapter 7, you are saying, “I don’t have the ability to pay anything back.”
With a Chapter 7 what will happen is you will file it to stop a foreclosure. You will not become current. And for four months while the bankruptcy goes on, you’ll reside in the home without making payments. Then after the bankruptcy is finalized in that fourth month, the creditor will then set the home up for sale. So another three months will go by.
With the help of a Phoenix bankruptcy lawyer and good bankruptcy planning, you could remain in that home for seven months after filing and not make a mortgage payment. Maybe you could put those phantom mortgage payments towards other bills that you have.
So the answer, in short, is, yes, it will definitely stop it. And it gives people an opportunity to really re-evaluate whether they want to keep that house or not.
Upon hearing this answer, people typically then ask, “If I file in Arizona, can I keep my house if I’m behind?”
Again, depending on which Chapter you’re filing. That’s such a crucial question right now in our economy, especially in Arizona. A lot of people have suffered enormous depreciation in the value of their home.
For example, maybe I bought my home for $300,000. But now I notice that my neighbor’s home and the house down the street and even online databases like Zillow.com and Cyberhomes.com are telling me that my home is only worth $150,000.
I really need to question whether I should be holding onto that house. Is that a good idea? If it weren’t my home … it were just a credit card, and I was making payments on $150,000 debt … and I knew that I wouldn’t have the ability to pay off, it’s probably better if I let go of that house.
If I file bankruptcy and I’m behind on my house payments, but I’ve done the analysis and I know that maybe my home has some equity in it, I have a decision to make. Say, for example, my mortgage is $300,000 but my house is worth $310,000 or even $350,000, I should be holding onto that home. I should be choosing a Chapter 13 because I want to become current on those payments.
But again, if I’m behind and I have a lot of negative equity, I could remain in the home for seven months after filing. I’d be filing a Chapter 7 and I would release the home after that seven-month period.
So to go back to the question, it depends on which Chapter I’m really filing. As we said before, also consult with a qualified Phoenix bankruptcy lawyer.
If I’m behind, I should choose a Chapter 13. If I’m behind and I want to surrender the home but maybe take advantage of the fact that I need to remain in the house, (maybe my children are in school in that school district), I need time to find a rental. I could use those mortgage payments towards car repair or medical issues, even utilities. I still have the opportunity to stay in the home, pack, and plan my life while I’m in my bankruptcy.
So each type of bankruptcy filing, whether Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, has advantages, depending on where you are in the situation and what you actually want to accomplish.
It is always best to speak with a Phoenix bankruptcy lawyer directly because they can point you in a specific direction, targeted to where you want to be at the end of the process.
Bankruptcy is an amazing financial tool, especially in our economy right now. In Arizona, as well as around the country, many real estate values are dropping. Just a small 9% drop is substantial when you’re spending several hundred thousand dollars on a house and your home is your biggest purchase.
You really have to look at whether you think it’s appropriate to hold onto that house, especially when you have other creeping debt. So for people who have a home that’s dramatically upside down, a good Phoenix bankruptcy lawyer will do a lot of financial planning for you to make sure that, when they file your bankruptcy, you get the fresh start that you really need.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Free Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer Advice – How Bankruptcy Affects Your Home and Foreclosure_25094.aspx
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Author Resource :
And now I would like to invite you to take a free online bankruptcy evaluation. Just visit our site at http://arizonalegaladvocacy.com/
With this free evaluation we will be help you decide what option would be best for you.
From Christy Thompson your Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer
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Keywords :
Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer, Bankruptcy Lawyer, Phoenix Bankruptcy,
Category :
Finance
:
Debt Consolidation
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