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Foreclosure for Some is Rent-Free Living

Date:June 1, 2010 | Author:Diane Tuman | Category:Foreclosures

The start of foreclosure can be scary — that is until you figure out it could take weeks, months and possibly years to be evicted from your home. Today’s NY Times reported the some homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgages have stopped paying, are done worrying, and are living rent-free in their own foreclosed homes.

Morally, they blame the banks for their predicament and legally, they have lawyers to keep pushing the eviction dates back. According to LPS Applied Analytics:

The average borrower in foreclosure has been delinquent for 438 days before actually being evicted, up from 251 days in January 2008.

Read the article. Quite fascinating.

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Responses (10)

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David S Freid 12:08 PM - Jun 1,2010

Hi Diane,
This does give me some relief and I really appreciate the information. However, I would add that using this time to evict to look into alternatives. Life does go on and starting over can be tough should you do the wrong things. We were lucky. We contacted Metropolitan Realty Group out of Bothell WA. The firm was actually recommended by the agent we bought our house from in 2006.

No matter where you are… If you are facing disclosure I recommend contacting a company specializing in Short Sale Real Estate. If you are in Seattle area I can recommend Justin or Kirk at Metropolitan Reality. (888) 940-9777
Bob Stahl 5:27 PM - Jun 1,2010

It’s so crazy and sad what’s going on out there these day’s. With the market being so low, going into foreclosure and living in your own home rent free for a bit doesn’t sound all that bad. That is if your really needing to move. Everything has it’s pro’s and con’s, keep that in mind.
Marc Knight 2:24 AM - Jun 2,2010

I agree, everything has it pro’s and con’s and this is certainly true for living in your foreclosed home.
John P 6:06 AM - Jun 2,2010

I can offer up an even more outlandish scenario than this–a friend of a relative living out in California had been delinquent on her mortgage payments for well over a year and to our knowledge never even received a single notice regarding foreclosure. It’s as if the bank forgot her loan even existed. She ended up packing up and leaving, essentially abandoning the house
Troon Real Estate 9:17 AM - Jun 2,2010

We see this a lot in Arizona. People now know how to “game” the system. Everyone knows that you can stop paying your mortgage and save that money for something else. You can live rent free for 4-6 months with a normal foreclosure process, 6-12 months if you have a phony short sale process (which a lot of people do). It is very irritating for the rest of us who actually pay our mortgage.
Las Vegas Short Sale 11:49 PM - Jun 5,2010

The foreclosure process is so backed up in Las Vegas that it is common for someone to be able to stay in the house for a year after they stop paying their mortgage.
Cathy 6:29 AM - Jun 17,2010

I have been trying to sell my home for going on 1 year now, and for 6 of those months at a “short sale” price (BPO from bank = Best Price Offer) that they will accept. There’s nothing “phony” about it. It’s a living hell trying to keep my house in a constant condition to have strangers come through it for 15 minutes and never hear from them again. I’ve been divorced for over a year now, lost over half of my house-hold income, was left with the mortgage and all the debt, and cannot pay my mortgage anymore. I am not scamming anyone. I simply cannot do it. What exactly else am I suppose to do for those of you who are so “irriated” because you have the luxury of being able to live in your perfect little lives and pay your mortgages? On top of it throw the stress of every single waking moment (and not sleeping) because of the situation I am in. Not everyone is “riding the system” – some of us are just screwed.
Alice 2:07 PM - Jan 27,2011

Bullshit Cathy. If you know you couldn’t afford it, why buy a house. I make more money than most people, but as a single person, I still can’t afford it. People want to live like the Jones’, but can’t. I call it BULLSHIT!
John P 2:20 PM - Jan 27,2011

Alice, did you even bother to read her post? She said that she was living in a house with a mortgage that she got stuck with after a divorce. It’s safe to assume that when the house was purchased, she AND her HUSBAND could AFFORD it.

Take your ‘more money than most people’ and your arrogant attitude somewhere else. It’s not enough that I have to deal with people trolling most normal blogs, but a real estate one as well? Go drink bleach.
Chelle 8:35 AM - Mar 8,2011

I am in the foreclosure process myself. I really resent arrogant people who assume everyone in foreclosure “had it coming” I never intended to be in this situation. I am single, self employed bought my first home 5 years ago and shortly after purchasing the economy fell apart and there went 90% of my business. I couldn’t find a job and couldn’t get clients to pay. I also could not sell my home because my subdivison had 12 builder foreclosures listed at 30% of the original price.

I tried to stay a float hoping for a job or turn around in my business that never came. I made late payments for 6 months using IRA funds before finally running out of money and having to completely stop making payments last year. What do you do when a short sale doesnt work & mortgage mod doesnt work? I am now left with deed in lieu or bankruptcy And I am facing the rental market with bad credit. I am not asking for sympathy just don’t care much for the vitriol and lack of humanity.