Fire Sale Update

I know some people out there may be interested in the house I just wrote my last post about. Some may have been following my story since I met them at the HGTV home selling message boards, I met some really great people there. Here's the latest as well as some information for people who may be going through this process and want to find out some more info. Please feel free to ask me any questions you have. We underwent this process in MN so it may be different in other areas of the country.

As you may be aware, our old house in BL was sold at a fire sale last year. As owners, we are never made aware of this information about the sale, so I only found this out the other day.

We were given a six month redemption period after the fire sale before it was finalized so my mom continued to live there until last November or so.

We were made aware of the fact that we could contest the transfer of title out of our name being sent official papers with the time of the "trial" and everything. This happened in June this year. It may have been interesting to go, but it was a long way away and my nerves are still really raw about all of the effort we put into that house and trying to sell it. It was best to make a clean break, so I didn't go. I wanted it to be over as soon as possible.

If I could have saved them the attorney fees and just handed the house over to the bank, I would have. Apparently MN has a law that says you can not do a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" on a home you are not living in. We tried every possible route that the bank suggested but apparently nothing but foreclosure worked for us in MN. It really was too bad since we had no interest in holding onto the house.

The house was listed in the court papers as being sold for $125,550 on 7/18/08 so I guess someone must have bid on it then. That is a far distance from the $230,000 we were told we could sell it for when we first contemplated the possibility of moving over three years ago!

At the end we had it listed for $124,900 (dropped from the original listing price of 197,000) but in all we only had two offers in total. Crazy for such a wonderful home on a corner lot so close to the lake. With our main competition being foreclosures and new construction we really had an uphill battle to try to win.

I tried negotiating with the first person who made an offer before we really knew that the housing market was in a virtual free fall. This right after we signed up with our second realtor. I am sure she would have sold it if she had been our original listing agent, if we didn't have a messy renter who refused to show the house or do the agreed on lawn care, and if the floor in the family room hadn't gotten so badly damaged. I would have owed more than the first possible buyer offered in September of 06 and thought I needed to take out a loan to cover the rest of the money I would have owed the banks and realtors. She wasn't willing to up her price and ended up walking. I really don't think she would have sat still for a short sale anyway since she was in the process of getting a divorce.

Our second offer got held up on a bank negotiation deal since we held both a first and second mortgage. After waiting forever those buyers also walked. I have found myself wondering if the final purchasers are those second people or not. I guess maybe I'll never know. I suppose it really doesn't matter. I am out from under that burden and I am not going to look back!

We were notified of the outcome of the court proceedings by mail. They sent a list of all transactions on our house including all of the times we refinanced, when we bought the house, second mortgages, fire sale, and other filings. It is now completely final and I could not be happier to be able to move on free and clear.

I hope the new owners enjoy that house as much as we did, it really was our dream when we lived there. Who knew my dream house would change so much when we moved here? I used to only want to live in town and have lots of kids for my kids to play with and be close to shopping. Now none of those things are even on the radar of my dream home. If our relatives and friends lived closer I'd have to say that the house we live in now would be my dream home.

I am also glad that living through that ordeal didn't end up breaking up a third marriage as it did the marriages of the first two pairs of owners. The neighbors shared the divorce house story with us after we moved in. The second couple only lived there for a year! I'm sure it very well could have broken us up if we had let the stress of the last few years overcome us. We've gone through a lot of loss, pain, and difficulties over the last three years.

Now we are a better, closer family than ever and I feel ready to conquer the health battle that lies ahead.... I hope! God help us.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy