Not really any of my business but.....................

Foreclosures, Short Sales, Tax Foreclosures
1

Hey Everyone

I just came across something earlier today that has disturbed me, but since I dont have too much knowledge on the subject, I’m hoping that I can get some help from those of you who know more

A friend of mine recently came back from serving in Iraq, she’s been gone for a little over a year

Before she left, there was a going away party for her where I asked her a gazillion questions, when was she leaving, coming back, what would happen to her kids, and more importantly, whats gonna happen with her house/bills, etc

She assured me that its all been taken care of, she even introduced me to the friend that she said was going to take care of her house/bills, etc while she was gone

So my friend returns this week & I have yet to talk to her, but that was okay so I left her a message on her phone

I get to work & realize that I left her number at home, so I remembered that sometimes you can find peoples information online if you Google it, so I put her name in & she pops up under Sherriff’s Sale!

I was in complete shock! Sherriff’s sale?? If I remember correctly, thats when your house goes on the auction block for back payments/lack of payments…something to that effect, am I right?

I know what it means, yet I dont know what it means!
So many questions! Is my friend in danger of losing her house?
How can I tell how recent this is? Did the friend slip up somewhere & forget to pay some bills?

I just don’t get how this happened to her, I don’t know if she knows this or not seeing as though she just got back home this past Tuesday

I’m so worried right now & wondering if maybe this is why I haven’t heard from her yet

Not sure I can help her, I’m barely a bird dog but how does this Sherriff sale thing work? I saw SOOO many people on this list along with her name, seems like it would be a great place to get some leads or something but for right now, I’m trying to get my mind around how this could happen

This is rough because now whenever I do talk to her, I’m gonna want to share what I know but I dont want to jump the gun, I could be misinformed but I know what I saw

Any advice/thoughts/suggestions? Thanx

JG

2

Howdy Jerseygirl:

A few things to help you know what is going on. It could be a sale for some past due bills that are not her mortgage payment or for taxes or for the mortgage itself. Just for your education as a birddog it would help to learn your states sale process. Are there homestead laws to protect homeowners from losing their home for a past due phone bill or other non mortgage related debts. I thing Jersey is a mortgage state where the sheriff has to sell mortgage defaulted property and not a deed of trust state where a trustee can sell the house. Check this out to make sure. Also in some states the owner has the right to redeem the property after the sale for a certain period of time. Check the laws on this too. Knowing this info will help with your friend and also with future deals you may locate and try to resell.

It may be something she does not want you to know. You need to be discrete. Just let her know you are glad she is back and if there is anything she needs help with that you will do all in your power to help. Does she know you are in real estate? If not by telling her about your new real estate career may be a way to let her know you may be able to help. LOL with your little friend. “Mexican accent here for a little humor.”

3

Thanx for your help Ted :wink:

YES, I would need to be very discrete, these are personal FAMILY matters and just coming across this stuff by accident already has me feeling uncomfortable :-[

No, she doesnt know about me being in real estate :stuck_out_tongue: but I’m sure that once we get together to catch up, I can throw that in there ;D

UUGGHH this feels so weird to me :-\

Where exactly can I go to find this information?
Should I go to the county website again or am I going someplace different? :-\

4

Howdy Jerseygirl:

The website first for the county and then the state. Actually most of the laws are state laws. Between the two you should be able to learn the ropes. Also, some other Jersey members may have a better idea and pitch in to help. We tend to all have a helping hand in days of crisis like Katrina

5

Some counties in NJ have great online public record searches, others like Burlington, suck. I am assuming you are looking in Burlington since Fort Dix/McGuire is located there.

6

try going to www.netronline.com

7

How did this work out for you? ???

8

Ok I have somewhat of a freaky update :stuck_out_tongue:

I finally spoke to my friend & told her about what I accidentally found online, she told me that she would look into it & I left it at that :-\

Not sure if that was the right thing to do but this woman just got back from overseas, there was a huge list of people who wanted to see her, spend time with her, I didnt want to be the fly that wouldnt go away if you know what I mean

She’s a grown-up I figured she’d handle it

Also, she told me (on Saturday night) that she’d like to see my today before she leaves tomorrow so I said cool

I call her a few minutes ago to see how today is gonna work since its raining & all >:( and she tells me how she hasnt had a moment to herself since she got back into town & how she woke up to find this man checking out her property! :o

So she gets up, goes out there & asks the man what the hell does he think he’s doing…and he tells her the same thing that I did, that her house was listed as being for sale! She tells him, well cant you see that someone is living here…he apologizes & leaves

So shes like Man, thats the 2nd time someone said that to her, and she said she plans on calling her lawyer today ;D

My question is, how accurate are those foreclosure lists?
And yes Dan, she does live in Burlington County

Is there a way to help any of those other people?

This is all new to me since I just happened to stumble upon the list while looking for something else :-\

How can you tell how much they owe?
How can you tell IF they even know that they are in some sort of trouble? How do you contact them?

This is so fascinating ;D

9

Hi Jersey Girl,

I’m a little surprised that your friend doesn’t know what’s going on…

Usually, the lender sends out a series of letters when the mortgage is not paid. Has she gone through the mountain of mail that surely has piled up over the last year? What about this other “friend?” If this person was supposed to take care of all this, then they have some explaining to do, don’t you think? Where is the proof that this friend has been making the mortgage payments?

If you truly are a good friend of hers, you should convince her that this is a priority and you’d be willing to help her. Foreclosure is not something to be taken lightly.

10

i agree with bobcooltx,

it is time to quit goofing around and do something before it is too late!!

11

I dont know about you implying that I may not really be a good friend but this woman just got back from Iraq, I called her no less than a MILLION times trying to speak to her, trying to see her, even drove up to her house in the middle of the night…she still couldnt make time to see me with everything else that was going on with her :-\

What else was I supposed to do? Smack her in the head?

:-\ It’s upsetting to me because I’ll never really know how deep it is because she just did not have the time to sit down with me, she was running here, running there, etc

Sometimes I feel like I should have just drove to her house earlier in the day & just stayed there :-[ but everytime I called her she wasn’t home or if she was home she would be asleep :-[

I just kept calling & calling until she was just like Look, I’m sorry we didnt get a chance to hangout, hon but don’t worry I’ll be back in January :-\

Great :-[

12

Jersey Girl,

Please don’t be offended! I was not implying that you are a bad friend. It sounds like you’ve tried and tried to talk to her about this, and I’m sorry that so far she hasn’t seen the light.

“What was I supposed to do, smack her in the head?”

Well, if that’s what it takes, yes! :slight_smile: If you’re correct about the sheriff’s sale, she’ll thank you for slapping her later. :slight_smile:

If you can convince a friend (who seems clueless about her situation) to listen to you, then you’ll also gain confidence that you can use during negotiating, buying, selling, bird-dogging, etc. Consider this as a “test” to see if you can use your negotiating and persuasion skills to convince her to take action.

I wish you much luck! I know how stubborn people can be, even if they are your friends!

13

Hey Bob

I’m not offended, more like frustrated & upset because I keep feeling like more should have been done, could have been done :-\ but everytime I called & asked her what are WE gonna do…she’d tell me she’d have to do x,y,z and that afterwards she’d call me

When the calls didnt come, I’d call her…and it went around & around :-\

I get that her time was limited & there were Other issues with the house like leaks & mold that she was trying to tend to, in addition to everyone wanting to see her but she just couldn’t fit me in I guess :-\

She did mention speaking to her lawyer & possibly calling up the people in charge of the listing & inquiring about it, but I’m not 100% sure that she did that :-\

I still feel like I didn’t do enough :-[ because even if it really is a mistake there are plenty of people out there who don’t know that & that can cause enough problems as it is :o

Luckily she’ll be in contact with me as she gets settled back in overseas, it’ll be tough but not impossible ;D

Yes Bob, this has to be a test of sorts, and little by little I am making progress but since I don’t know alot, I tend to be lacking in confidence which I’m sure I’ll gain more of in the future

Its sorta like a circle in a way :stuck_out_tongue:

What about the others on that site?

JG

14

I suggest you go back to that page that you pulled when you Googled her name and see where that information is from. If it’s a city/county website then you could use it as a source of opportunities on the other people in that list.

If the source of the list is a third-party foreclosure listing service, then I wouldn’t trust the data unless you researched it more. The usually don’t give away lists like that so a bona-fide list would never appear in a simple, free Google query, you know?

Hope this helps!

15

Hey Bob

Yup it was the city/county website…and there were LOADS of people listed :o

16

JerseyGirl, it great you are really going the extra mile to alert your friend but you also seem to be getting really emotionally involved in this situation (not a good thing). It is never a good thing when someone loses their home; particular when they have been overseas serving our nation’s armed forces. However, things get this point becuase of oversights over an extended period of time. Your friend is an adult and has to step up and react IMMEDIATELY. A couple of folks I know who have been doing foreclosures for a long time tell me that denial up to the end is (unfortunately) common.

Hope your friend is able to get it straighten out

17

Hey Aak

You’re right, I got completely emotionally involved in this situation…didnt exactly realize it until you pointed it out :stuck_out_tongue:

I believe it was a combination of personally knowing her plus not having seen her in over a year as well, tough thing to remember :-\

18

Let me guess, your friend also lives in the Pemberton/Browns Mills area? Not being a jerk (I usually am).

19

LOL nope she doesnt live there :stuck_out_tongue: