Unique Situation (LONG)

[Mike]

Hello all! I clicked a link to this forum while on another site. The people here seem genuinely helpful...So here goes. This is long, so I apologize in advance. In early 2006 (jan-feb) I attempted to purchase my first home. My credit scores were fine (low-mid700's) the only issue I had was length of employment, at that time 6 to 7 months. I am my mothers only daughter, and she is a habitual boundry crosser! She was extremely proud of my decision and of course wanted to help in anyway possible. According to the mortgage broker, getting an approval by myself would be challenging, but not impossible. He informed me I would qualify for about 130k with payments between 800 and 950 a month. That would work for me. My mother insisted that couldn't be correct and that I would probably find myself in a situation where I could lose my home. I believed her, as she had purchased a few homes in her lifetime. My mother then agreed to "co sign" on a loan for me, my broker at that time told me that would not really help me and I should either wait or go it alone. My mother would not hear of such. I had researched this whole home buying process and decided to get approved before purchasing a home, as such I did not have a real estate agent in place. My mother suggested I use her last realtor. HUGE mistake. The woman was a total pain, calling constantly and harassing me about looking at properties I had previously stated I had no interest in (ex condos/townhomes when I stated I did not want either.) Apparently she then began contacting my mother WITHOUT my knowledge consent or approval. My mother began bugging me to allow her to go and look at properties with the realtor. I relented thinking the two of them could harass each other and leave me be for awhile while I found what I really wanted. All of the above ended up being a HUGE mistake. The next thing I know my mother claims she'd found the perfect place and I needed to check it out. It was a townhouse style condo (upstairs, downstairs garage etc). I took my time going to look at it because as previously stated I DID NOT WANT A TOWNHOUSE/CONDO. After about a week I viewed the unit, I knew as a first time homeowner I did not want outdated kitchens or baths, I did not want a place that needed a total rehaul, and I did not want a place where the previous owners had a pet. And of course this place was all of these things and more. In the areas I was interested in, I could swing a fairly modern kitchen and bath in a single family home. Please don't think mom intervened because my "must have" list was too much for my budget. In any event, I hated the unit, and told her as much. She then told me that she'd put a contract on the house FOR ME! She claimed she would lose 3000 earnest money should she back out of the deal. I realize now that I should have cut the apron strings/umbilical cord and RUN...Hindsight is 20/20 of course. In any event I was in the process of researching how she/we could get out of this deal. I assumed she had put a contract on the house in both our names, remember she claimed she would be "cosigning" for this loan. I never signed anything and assumed that somehow the contract was placed without both buyers signatures and therefore somehow able to be voided. She then came clean and stated that she was the only buyer on the hook for the property, but when it came to the financing we would both be able to purchase the home. Eventually it became apparent this wasn't the case either. Mom was going to be the sole owner of this property. I discussed in great detail with her the MAJOR con's of this deal. For starters it was about 18K above my approval rate, which of course meant a higher payment, secondly the condition of the unit(needed MAJOR updating and cat pee smell removal) and lastly I get nothing for buying this home. No tax breaks, no foundation, no stability, nothing. Mom insisted that in the wonderful housing market that we were experiencing at that time, I could hang onto the place for 2 years, and sell it, and all profit would be 100% mine. In essence it meant I would be renting for 2 years from my mom (not the worst landlord to have!) and in the end, any profit from the sale would be mine. Even under those terms, I wanted out. Upon appraisal, the toilet and sump pump needed replacing, I saw this as our shot out the door and mom said she agreed. She claimed that she would attempt to get out of the deal. The she CLAIMED there was no way out of the deal as the owner fixed both items. I didn't and still don't believe her on that. She eventually sets a closing date, and I attend the closing, at that time it was disclosed that this was to be an 80/20 loan, there were association fees, and the loans were at a rather high rate (9% for the 80% and 11% for the 20%.) YIKES, keep in minid this was EARLY 06. I was informed that the rates were this high because mom was not getting owner occupied financing. Association fees $88.00. Yes, I know, I should have RUN. I move into the unit, and within 6 months I needed to replace the washer and dryer (stackables), the water heater, the dishwasher and stove (havent had the money), plumbing in one bathroom and kitchen sink, and the counter where the sink sits has a leak warped the wood badly. In addition, the unit needed serious cosmetic updates (wood paneling, smoked mirrors etc). the water heater malfunction caused my water bills to reach OVER 400 for 3 months straight! From being so overwhelmed, I did not have the energy to deal with the cosmetic crap concerning this unit. My then boyfriend, now husband who needless to say has some serious issues with my mom ALWAYS butting in and I split. Primarily over this house. He felt that we should have given mom the shaft, and simply moved out of the house and let her deal with it the best way she could. I of course felt that was out of the question. So we split, and I was left with this money pit all alone. Since then he and I have reconciled, gotten married and my credit has gone from the 700's to the 400's. The money pit house ate up my savings (by the way I paid my own closing costs), and those association fees are now $226.00, in addition the 11% loan is not at 13.75% and my utilities rival that of a single family residence, totalling 4 to 5 hundred a month between water, gas, electricity and phone. My husband was recently qualified to purchase a home and REFUSES to sink one penny into the house payments or association fees, as it is a personal vendetta against my mom and he feels he should be saving for our home and not "throwing good money after bad" in this home that once sold will give us nothing. I know he is being a stubborn jerk, and we are in it for better or worse, but this money pit house was just the most recent thing in a loooong line of crap my mom has pulled. I cannot keep up these mortgage payments and fees as they are waaaay beyond what I set up for myself when I attempted to purchase my own home. My plan was to keep my living expenses BELOW 1000 a month for housing. Including association fee I am at 1700 a month for this money pit house! Since the house is in my mom's name, and mom makes about triple what I make annually, we would not be able to show the mortgage company any TRUE financial hardship so as to be able to qualify for any mortage assistance. She is still employed. The money pit house needs SEVERAL thousand in upgrades/renovations to even begin to compete with others in the area (i look at the pics online at the units for sale), and of course the decline in the housing market is not helping. As appealing as sticking it to my mothr sounds, I simply cannot do that. She is my mom, she is not a bad person, she means well, but....Additionally, even if I were to morally be OK with doing something like that I wouldnt want to because now my credit is shot to you know where and I will most likely need mom to help me out in the future. I realize this was a looooong post, but I feel all that information was necessary so as to get the most informative advice. Specifically I am wondering if anyone knows of any assistance Mom can get kind of as a "landlord". Is all of this new assistance that is cropping up only for owner occupied properties or can "landlords" get assistance? The property is mortgaged through Homecomings Financial for both mortgages. I am not sure if mom can really afford to pay her nortgage and this mortgage should it come down to that, so does anyone know how bad a short sale would be for her credit? Should we just list the money pit "as is" meaning in need to new appliances and kitchen cabinet, painting, updating, and minor plumbing work? Can you sell a house that you are current on for a reduced amount? In addition, I have reason to believe that the condo association may be about to go under as I have read here. I requested some work to be done on the unit and the property management company stated "Oh they aren't doing any repairs like that, you're association is outta money." This was about 5 or 6 months ago. I put in for the repair anyways, and haven't heard back. Whew...Thanks for letting me vent, and all advice is appreciated.