Need Advice!!!
Find a Conversation
| Tue, 05-27-2008 - 8:15am |
My husband and I are getting separated (My idea). He has some substance abuse problems etc... It's kind of mutual right now. We currently own a home through Rural Development. Basically we have a subsidized loan according to our income. We lost our subsidy last year because I took another job with a substantial increase in pay. He is currently on disability and works 2 days a week as a subcontractor.
We cannot sell the house at this time because of the market. We will loose our shirt. He wants to stay in the house and I want to move out. I can afford an apartment on my own (along with my 15 year old daughter). When I move out he will qualify for subsidy again so the mortgage will go back down pretty drastically. He wants to try and afford it on his own and if not we will then try to sell.
Are there any precautions that I need to take at this time in order to cover my butt? Many people are telling me that if I move out I am basically giving up all rights to my house. Is this true?
Thanks for any advice you can give me!!
Laurie


Hi Laurie,
Although you should proceed with caution, I don't see how your ownership of the house would be affected if you're on the deed. Have you consulted with a lawyer?
Just a quick note since I saw you went thru Rural Development for a mortgage. My husband and I did this 17 yrs ago. We had the subsidy payment help for the first 4 or 5 years and then didn't qualify anymore. Didn't think anything of it at the time. When we refinanced the house--according to the mortgage statements it showed we had about $6000 equity. Found out that somewhere in the fine print, Rural Development came back with us having to repay what they'd paid on our mortgage--we owed them about $10,000. Meaning after 16 years, we owed $4000 more than we'd started out with! Thanks to the mortgage agent I went thru they got it down to what the original mortgage was. The company stated they did this as a service since I wasn't selling it but keeping the house. If we were to sell it, we'd have had to pay that extra $10,000 back to them. They'd neglected to tell us that when we purchased the home--guess it was in the fine print!
Reason I'm telling you this? In case you decide to sell it, find out if it'll be the same for you. The bank I went thru said this was pretty common with govt mortgage loans!