Nov
07What Would You Do???
Tagged Under : move, real estate, renters
A couple of weeks ago a man rang our bell. My husband answered and spoke with him for quite a few minutes. I stayed away pretty much…but then I overheard my husband ask “Are they past due on the mortgage?” I heard the man’s voice say “I can’t really say for privacy reasons.” I got a little closer and heard my husband ask “Well, if you were looking for someone who might be past due on their mortgage, how past due would they have to be in order for you to be coming to their house looking for them?” The man answered “3 to 4 months.”
I stopped listening.
My husband called me over. He shut the door, turned and looked at me with a look of disgust. He said “That guy was from the mortgage company. Our landlords are about 3 or 4 months past due on their mortgage payments so the bank is looking for them to talk to them or start the foreclosure process.”
Tears welled up in my eyes because we have moved A LOT….and we JUST moved here. We had signed a 2 year lease so we could settle and then buy a house at the end of the lease. We ADORE this neighborhood. The people are great, the house we’re renting is great, the location is great, the schools are great…it’s just great, ok!?
August 1st we moved into this house that we are renting from some private home owners who never got to move here from Minnesota because they couldn’t sell their house. Big surprise there. So they’ve been renting it out to people until they can move down themselves. Evidently, they have not been paying the mortgage with the money we have been sending.
So herein lies my dilema. I want to know what any of you would do. The question is do we continue to pay rent to someone whom we know is not paying the mortgage?
There are two sides to this answer.
1. It’s none of our business what the landlord is using their money for. If we are living in their house we need to be paying the rent for living there until we are evicted by the bank foreclosing on them or by any possible new people that might buy the house through a short sale process.
OR
2. We need to keep our rent b/c if we get evicted soon we will need moving money, money for deposits for the utilities and usually a first and last month’s rent deposit.
Keep in mind, we pay $1600 a month….so we’re talking about a pretty nice chunk of money EVERY month going to these people that are not paying to keep a roof over our head obviously. They are using the money for whatever they want…looking out for themselves I assume…I don’t know. So do we do the same? Do we look out for us? Or do we pay until we’re told to get out and then try to figure everything out?
What would you do??
Ooh, that’s a tough one. I think I’d probably keep paying the rent, but start trying to find another place. It sounds as if eviction is probable, unless the landlord is somehow able to catch up. (Perhaps with your steady rent payments, they can. If you just started renting, maybe they’re just now able to get back on track with payments?) But, you wouldn’t want defaulting on your rent to effect your chances of finding another.
It’s not a fun situation either way. Good luck with it.
OMGOSH! Firstly - I’m SOOO sorry - that just sucks!
Majorly. That being said, I believe legally you are obligated to pay the rent…right? In NJ I believe you would be. BUT - WTF are you supposed to do if you get evicted??? And why the fuck aren’t they using your money to pay the mortgage?? What are they doing with it? I suppose we’ll never know. But even so, you need to watch out for you too - I’ll ask Emil, he’s REALLY good with stuff like this. And I’ll let you know what he says. (((BIG HUGS)))
Have you gotten a chance to speak to the Landlord? It sounds like you have to leave either way. I wouldn’t pay the rent anymore….let them call you so they can explain where the rent money is going. This person isn’t giving you the courtesy to let you know what is gong on…..look out for yourself.
That’s a good point. Before deciding anything, I’d probably call the landlord and find out what’s up.