In 2006 i sold my home due to hard times and we were behind with our property taxes.
Question: I had a mortgage with the Bank since Dec of 2001. In 2006 we were behind with our property taxes. I decided to sell my home to downsize but before doing this i called the bank and i told them i had gone bankrupt in 2005 and that i had been thinking of selling my home to downsize and because of the bankruptcy would i be okay to do this. The lady from the bank told me there wouldn’t be any problem . So i sold my home in no time and then i called The Bank to asked approximatley the price of homes i could begin looking at. My heart sunk when the woman told me there is no way i would get a mortgage with them as i had went bankrupt. I even went straight to the bank in tears and asked to talk to the manager, although he was very sympathetic he couldn’t help me. Well it is now three years later and i have been renting a house for 1100 mth. when my mortagage was 800 mth. i have never gotten over this. Could you please tell me if the bank should be held in anyway responsible for me losing my home?
Answer: Obviously the bank misinformed you, but it is virtually impossible to fight a bank and get anything from them.
However, your situation is not as bad as you may think.
First, although your mortgage payment was only $800 per month, you were also paying property taxes and repairs and maintenance, so your total housing costs were probably the same or more than what you are paying in rent.
Second, since 2007 house prices have fallen substantially in every area of North America, and they will probably continue to fall throughout 2009. In hindsight it may actually be a positive development that you did not own a home during this declining market.
Rather than worrying about the past, it is probably best to focus on the future. House prices will probably continue to decline, so perhaps you should set as your goal buying a house in 2010 or 2011, after the market has bottomed. You will be able to get a great deal on a house, and that gives you even more time to save an even larger down payment, which will keep your mortgage payments as low as possible.