My home

[Snow Dog]

Hi, Myself and my husband are literally just in the process of applying for an IVA. I am concerned after reading some of the topics on this forum, that we may have to sell our home. I was under the impression that with an IVA your home was safe. Please can someone advise because I just really don't want to go down the route of losing my home. We have a mortgage and a second mortgage on our house, and have never defaulted with either of them. Our financial problems are all to do with credit cards and unsecured loans. Thanks in advance for any advise.

[luluj]

Firstly welcome to the forum - you will receive great advice on here so please do not panic!

We commenced our IVA 12 months ago - because of the secured loan and mortgage repayments being over 48% of our monthly income we had to sell our house and move into rented.

My first thoughts were no...we had bought the house from a piece of earth, never defaulted on a mortgage payment. However after the initial shock, we saw this as a way forward and did it! We were lucky we sold at the height and our IVA was approved.

We moved into a rented flat with all mod cons....probably in some respect better than our house. No maintenance needed, no electrical breakdowns to be covered etc.....just the one monthly rental payment and normal utility bills!

At the end of the first twelve months, I look back and see it as the right thing to have done....we are now 4 years of being debt free..we will have paid back at least 81p in the pound and in Sept 2012 we will be able to start over.....although no credit cards this time!

Bricks and mortar are nice, but health and family are essential to a successful living !

[Snow Dog]

Hi Lulu

Thanks for your advice. I think my main concerns are if we do have to sell our house is 1. Are landlords willing to take on people with IVA's? and 2. We have quite a collection of pets, and I know that some places will not touch people with pets and I would be heart broken if I ever had to give any or all of them up.

I am pretty sure that there is no equity in our house right now because of the way the housing market is, so I am hoping that this will be in our favour.

Thank you for your welcome. Its great to get advice from people who have been or are going through all of this.

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Snow Dog

What has the IP you have chosen to represent you said about your property? It is actually most unusual to be asked to sell a property whilst in an IVA, but could you post the following information before I comment further:-

Value of Property
Amout owed to mortgage company
Amount owed to second morrgage
Amounts paid to both companies on monthly basis
Number of bedrooms in your property
Town in which you live

I hope to be able to help further once this information has been received.

[luluj]

We were upfront with the letting agents re our IVA and had to make arrangements to pay 6 months rent up front - we are now in the third 6 months period and still paying upfront, but that is ok as each month we put the rent to one side and withdraw it at the end of the fifth month and go along and pay for the next 6 months!

Try and find a private landlord as they won't necessarily undertake credit checks and you may not have to provide up front rent!

As Melanie says, post more details and I am sure the experts will offer more advice.

[Snow Dog]

Hi Melanie

Well as of now we are literally just applying for the IVA. We have our first phone discussion coming up on Wednesday to go through all of our details, so we haven't actually got to discussing the house with her yet. But the details are as follows:_

Value of house: £165,000
Amount owed to mortgage company : £103,000
Amount owed to second mortgage : £40,000 approx
Amount paid to both companies on monthly basis is : £690 + £517
No. of bedrooms = 3
We are in North Yorkshire..hope this helps[:)]

[luluj]

How much unsecure debt do you have....looking at your figures you may have equity in your house and therefore this maybe possible to use against your debts? But as you say housing market is not good at the moment and today's latest developments with Lehmans may mean things get tougher before they better!

[Snow Dog]

Hi again

We have around about £43K of unsecured debt. I was just chatting with my husband about the housing prices around here and actually even though houses the same as ours are up for sale at £165000, they are just not selling. So I fear that they probably will come down in the near future. But who knows!! But yes, the economy as a whole is looking pretty dire here.

Lulu thanks for your info regarding renting. If we do have to sell, I actually personally know a couple of people who rent their houses out, so maybe if the opportunity arises and their properties are free at that time it might be best to go with them.

[MelanieGiles]

On the face of it you have equity of approximately £22,000 before costs of sale, and it is costing you £1,207 to live in the property. I am not sure what it would cost to rent a 3 bedroomed property in North Yorkshire, but I would guess around £800 per month. If your mortgages are on a repayment basis you could always switch to interest only to reduce your housing costs, but they are quite high compared to the rental equivalent.

I would wait to see what your IP advises on this point, as it is difficult for us to give specific advice on the forum.

[Snow Dog]

Thanks for the advice Melanie. Yes I think you are right, the rental is roughly about £800 or less sometimes for somewhere really decent..and hopefully somewhere that would take let us bring our pets[;)]. I think I will probably be in a less panicicky state once we have spoken to the IP.

[luluj]

Why don't you take the advice of a few IVA companies........quite a few post on this forum...and Melanie I know from other posts is held in high regards and I am sure would be able to offer more personal advice of the forum......

Stay tuned in on the forum - you will gain loads of support and make "internet friends" who can offer the shoulder when it is needed - we all get bad days, but once up and running they get less and less......it becomes quite a challenge and does over take your normal day to day things....I have come obsessed with knowing what I have in my bank account on a daily basis and now panic if at the end of the month I don't have £20-£30 left !!!!!

12 down, 48 to go and still smiling!

[Snow Dog]

Thank you so much for advice Melanie and Lulu. I will let you know how things are after the chat with the IP on Wednesday. I just hope we get accepted for an IVA, I really would hate for us to go down the Bankruptcy route.[:(]

[MelanieGiles]

Pets are a really important part of our lives, and some landlords do not allow them, so this could be a factor against you selling up and moving. Personally I would live in an igloo than give up my beloved Yorkshire Terrier!

[Snow Dog]

I totally agree Melanie. I would just die without my pets. I guess if we did have to move out of here the good thing is that as this is rural North Yorkshire, there are a few places out there willing to take tenants with pets...I am just not sure if they would be willing to take our large menagerie though[;)]

[Skippy]

How many have you got Snow Dog, and what are they - I'm intrigued!