Finding out my home's value? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

FEIGN · 10-20-2004, 09:35 AM

Can anyone please help?

I am trying to find out the current value on my home. I am looking into a refinance or possibly a second mortgage to help pay off some unsecured debt. If anyone has any advice on this please reply.

I would also like to know if my unsecured debt was too great to pay off, and I decided to claim bankruptcy, can I file for bankruptcy on only my unsecured debt, without affecting my other debt, i.e. mortgage, car payment etc... which have manageable payments?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Feign

corktop1 · 10-20-2004, 04:26 PM

Couple of thoughts. You could actually hire an appraiser but there is obviously a cost associated with that. Another possibility is to ask a local realtor for a market analysis to find out what he/she thinks the property could be listed for. There should not be a cost for this service but obviously the realtor is offering this service in hopes of getting a listing (something you don't appear to be interested in doing at this time). There should be no obligation, however, and who knows whether you may want to list for sale in the future.

Bankruptcy can be tricky so it would be wise to try to get a referral to a lawyer who has a bankruptcy practice (you'll probably find lots of ads in your local paper or yellow page directory - bankruptcy is an area of practice where there is heavy advertising by lawyers and the fees are very competitive. Often these lawyers have free information by phone (sometimes by way of recorded messages). There is something called reaffirmation which may allow you to reaffirm secured debts and keep your home/car, etc. so long as there is reason to believe that you have enough cash flow to make that happen. Generally lenders don't particularly want the home/vehicle back so there is a desire to see you stay with the program. Also consider the options available with a Chapter 13 (wage earner plan) where you would basically typically pay back a percentage of your unsecured debts over an extended period of time (to take the pressure off) and could probably reaffirm on the secured debts to keep that going. You can probably get a pretty good deal on the filing costs for this and some lawyers will accept installment payments for fees.

Good luck.

jenjen · 10-22-2004, 01:26 PM

Another way to get an idea of the value is to see if your county has a website where they put up sales of local homes in your neighborhood. You can also go to htt://www.homegain.com and put in your address, and it will value it for you for free.

10-20-2004, 09:35 AM	#1 (permalink)
FEIGN Upright Location: NEW JERSEY	Finding out my home's value? Can anyone please help? I am trying to find out the current value on my home. I am looking into a refinance or possibly a second mortgage to help pay off some unsecured debt. If anyone has any advice on this please reply. I would also like to know if my unsecured debt was too great to pay off, and I decided to claim bankruptcy, can I file for bankruptcy on only my unsecured debt, without affecting my other debt, i.e. mortgage, car payment etc... which have manageable payments? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Feign __________________ Remember, where ever you go, there you are.

10-20-2004, 04:26 PM	#2 (permalink)
corktop1 Upright	Couple of thoughts. You could actually hire an appraiser but there is obviously a cost associated with that. Another possibility is to ask a local realtor for a market analysis to find out what he/she thinks the property could be listed for. There should not be a cost for this service but obviously the realtor is offering this service in hopes of getting a listing (something you don't appear to be interested in doing at this time). There should be no obligation, however, and who knows whether you may want to list for sale in the future. Bankruptcy can be tricky so it would be wise to try to get a referral to a lawyer who has a bankruptcy practice (you'll probably find lots of ads in your local paper or yellow page directory - bankruptcy is an area of practice where there is heavy advertising by lawyers and the fees are very competitive. Often these lawyers have free information by phone (sometimes by way of recorded messages). There is something called reaffirmation which may allow you to reaffirm secured debts and keep your home/car, etc. so long as there is reason to believe that you have enough cash flow to make that happen. Generally lenders don't particularly want the home/vehicle back so there is a desire to see you stay with the program. Also consider the options available with a Chapter 13 (wage earner plan) where you would basically typically pay back a percentage of your unsecured debts over an extended period of time (to take the pressure off) and could probably reaffirm on the secured debts to keep that going. You can probably get a pretty good deal on the filing costs for this and some lawyers will accept installment payments for fees. Good luck.

10-22-2004, 01:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
jenjen Tilted Location: Oregon	Another way to get an idea of the value is to see if your county has a website where they put up sales of local homes in your neighborhood. You can also go to htt://www.homegain.com and put in your address, and it will value it for you for free.