The Personal Side of Repo Homes

Posted on August 28, 2008
Filed Under Repo Homes |

Lost in the mass of facts, figures and statistics is the reality of the personal side of foreclosures. All over the country repo homes have reduced many, directly or indirectly to dire straights.

From MSN Real Estate a real-life story brings into focus the reality of what foreclosures are all about.

Life was a ball for Kerry and his wife. He was computer technician working in a national bank. The couple bought a house that had been built in 1911, on St. Paul Minnesota for $129,000 around 2003. In due course junior Kerry appeared and things started moving. The couple went in for remodeling – making additions and alterations with a yearly income of $105,000.

Suddenly in the end of year 2005 divorce reared its ugly head. Kerry became grief stricken but things got worse when he found himself faced with money problems. The house had been bought jointly well below the market value but to make renovations they had dipped into the equity. Kerry had taken the loan without thinking twice about it at that point of time. All the other loans too (credit cards, auto loan) were in his name. His wife walked out leaving him with 100 % of the debts and 40% of the household income!

Unable to manage alone the monthly mortgage of $1,089 Kerry put the house up for sale. It was a disaster. The foreclosure crisis was raging and within stone’s throw distance of this house there were 13 other foreclosed houses begging to be sold. Kerry was at a disadvantage because of the house being half redone. He began to stumble on his mortgage. Kerry had no alternative because otherwise he would have had to miss out on child-support payments. Threatened with foreclosure he contacted his lender – Wells Fargo. But one peep at his income level made the bank back out. The house remained unsold. Within eight months, with his life in shambles Kerry started appointments with therapists and taking anti-depressants.

In July he got the foreclosure notice. In September Wells Fargo bought the house in a foreclosure auction for $157,000. It was $10,000 more than what he owed the bank. How much he will actually get after paying fees and charges when he is evicted in March is unsure. What is sure is that the foreclosure will gift him a bad credit report. Kerry is thankful that the positive side is that a bad chapter in his life has ended.