Foreclosure

I am a Realtor in both the state of Washington and Idaho. I was licensed in 2001, so had not had previous experience with a bad real estate market. I came into this business a very good time in the history of real estate, which of course turned into the worst period in regards to real estate sales in the United States. Due to doing well, I quit my 7 year job with Albertsons Grocery Store to not have to work evenings any longer and be able to spend time with my teenage children before they left the home. By doing well, I am referring to making $24,000 annually as opposed to making $16,000 annually (I worked part time at Albertsons)the year I quit. My husband also is employed by Albertsons, his gross annual pay is approximately $32,000. So as you can see we are not wealthy. For two years in the real estate market, my income went up over the $40,000 mark (this is gross and does not subtract the numerous fees and costs of doing business as a Realtor). My husband, with our two children - age 17 and 13 moved into a brand new home. With zero down and an interest only ARM loan (BIG MISTAKE) we were able to move closer to our church in Spokane, Washington from Coeur d' Alene, Idaho (Another big mistake). We bought a brand new home for $202,000. By far the nicest home we had ever had. We had an 80/20 loan. 80% was financed as our first mortgage with GMAC. 20% was our second mortgage with HSBC. Our HSBC loan was for $41,633.
We paid our loans for two years, never late. Always early in fact. By January of 2006, we noticed that our neighbor behind us was able to sell his home with an $80,000 profit. Which is amazing as winter is not an opportune time to sell property in Spokane. My mothers Realtor friend from California told me that the market was taking a severe down turn there and if we were going to sell our home we should do it NOW. We had a $10,000 pre-payment penalty that would not expire until June. So we decided to wait. BIG MISTAKE!!! The market fell and fell hard. I made a total of $5,000 that year. We quickly fell behind on our mortgages. But were able to sell our home on a short sale. The only shortage though, would have gone to HSBC. The buyers were able to pay 100% of our GMAC loan and asked HSBC to accept $10,000 on their loan (the outstanding balance being $41,633). HSBC refused.
This was odd as the second mortgage, if the house went to foreclosure, would subordinate recieving zero! HSBC blocked our sale by refusing the $10,000 pay off. They would not negotiate. The buyers would have even paid $12,000. But HSBC wanted all or nothing. We called our attorney, who instructed us to let the home go to foreclosure.
We had paid cash for $4,000 in stainless appliances, $3000 in landscaping, $1600 in wood blinds and $4,600 in a brand new vinyl fence. We also paid for a garage door opener $260 and upgraded carpet $1,800. All cash out of pocket. WE DID NOT STRIP THE HOME. We left all these cash purchases in the home and even paid $300 to have the carpets cleaned and went through and re-painted the home interior. We left the home and put it on the market. We had one showing before foreclosure day.
Foreclosure day came and went. Of course the home sold to an investor who has since sold it and it has sold again.
We had good credit with NO outstanding debt with the exception of our leased VW. We sold our paid for 1997 Subaru Outback to pay two of our overdue house payments.
We then starting living on pay day loans. We nearly had to move into our car, but (THANK GOD) Albertsons gave me back my old job at my old pay. And we were able to move into a clients rental. We had 2 cats and two old dogs (10-12) and no first months rent and security deposit. Had it not been for my friend letting us move in, we would have had no where to go. And the other good thing was that we had no other outstanding debt.
The repo company came and picked up the VW as we could no longer afford it. And we were now driving cars that we had purchased for $500 and $300. We had and have no assests. But we had no bills either, other than living expenses and those several, dreaded pay day loans at 500%. But at least we were not have to pay our $1600 house payment (the great state of washington was charging $235 per month on property taxes). Our rent was only $800 per month. Then one day I googled my name on the computer to see if the website I had entered my name as a Realtor showed up. It did, but right next to it was HSBC was suing my husband and I. We went to our attorney who told us our only option would be to file bankruptcy. 10 years on our credit for one delinquent debt. We called HSBC and tried to reason with them, they told us it was out of their hands as they had sent our file to collections. We called the collection company, and told them we had nothing to give. They in turn told us that we had jobs and they were going to garnish our wages. A man showed up at me door and shoved a subpeona in my hand and told me good luck. I had a court date to meet HSBC in court. My attorney was able to postpone the date. Then we were notified that HSBC had a phone appointment with the judge. I recieved nothing else. Just pulled my credit and saw that I now have a judgement against me as well as a collection company that just checked my credit last week. I called the company and they told me that they were trying to obtain information against me for HSBC. I would not give them my phone number but gave him my attorney's information. He told me he had notes on his file saying they were not to interact with the attorney. I told him that was illegal and he (at least was honest) told me "I know." I didn't want to declare bankruptcy for just my house and car repo, but what's the difference now as I have a judgment on my record also. The crazy thing is that my home was sold at foreclosure on April 2007, nearly two years ago. And HSBC, the Second Mortgage Lien holder is aggressively pursing me, even though we had offered a 24.5% payoff of $10,000.
I have spoken to foreclosure companies, Realtors, Real Estate Brokers, Title Companies, and Loan Officers. No one in this industry has heard of such an aggressive action taken, especially in the case of a second mortgage holder, they usually subordinate. According to my attorney, I signed the promissory note and am liable, no matter what other events have transpired. So I guess the point I am trying to make is, if you are getting a loan of any sort, DO NOT USE HSBC. It is like selling your soul to the devil to get that money. I will get my good credit rating back and will never, no matter what deal with HSBC again and will "warn" everyone I know to do the same.