Foreclosure, I think?

[mom0810]

The neighbor's house is in foreclosure, I think. Here's what happened:

The house has been listed forever, they have been trying to sell it for the longest time. Years. They bought it for over $500,000 in 2005.

Now it's listed for $342,500 or something, they have been reducing the price in increments for the last year.

THen, this morning, the SHERIFF knocks on OUR door at 5:50 a.m. , looking for this guy (we don't know our neighbor's name) and dh tells him we never heard of him, but the address on the paper is NEXT DOOR. Duh. The sheriff had the wrong house and of course woke up our kids at the crack of dawn.

Does this sound like it is what I think it is? The sheriff serves foreclosures, right? Oh my goodness.

Anyway, it was just very jarring to us and I think it all adds up. They have taken the numbers off of the mailbox on the road, and they are never there. I think there was a moving truck there last summer or something. Poor people. I guess it just brought the reality of the economy to my back door, (or front door in this case), and it was pretty jarring.

[mom0810]

Now I'm kind of worried. I noticed online that they also had rented the property, fully furnished, for $2500 a month. So could the sheriff have been looking for the renter? What if the renter is a bad guy? I have two little kids! It's not like the properties are close together, and we have a 6 ft privacy fence, but now my mind is going.

How would I find out if it was going in to foreclosure? The county's website did not have it up yet. I am assuming he would have to have been served to post it, though.

Scary scary stuff.

[KatWrangler]

Odds are its in foreclosure and the Sherrif was issueing eviction notice or something.

I wouldn't worry.

Sorry he woke you guys up at the hinney crack of dawn. Thats gotta suck.

[Smocked]

I live in a very high forclosure area and it all sounds very familiar. If this person is in bad shape and going into forclosure for one (or both?) homes he probably has a ton of other debt and the sheriff could have been trying to serve him for collections for something entirely different.

[mom0810]

It was just such a weird start to the day, you know?

Ah well, we went to the Farmer's Market and got some great food and I feel more relaxed. It was just so weird, and to have the dogs barking and the kids wake up with a start like that... I was kind of mad.

I do feel awful for the guy if that is what happened. He really bought the house during the "bubble", paying over 5 for it and now it's listed for 3-something. Makes me sad for them, and for anyone going through this.

Just realized, maybe the sheriff was evicting the renters? I didn't even know there WERE renters. Ah, the joy of living in the country and not knowing your neighbors. Sometimes it's not such a good thing, I guess.

[1growingsprout]

That happens around here All.THE.TIME. owners move out, try to sell, but will rent month to month while they have the property listed, keep it fully furnished so it 'looks good' incase potential buyers come to look at it. Not a huge deal in Phoenix.... Happens in the ghetto, happens in the million dollar area. We've had million dollar vacant homes burnt down by vandals. : Doenst that add to a neighborhood's value...

This is why I like to know my nieghbors, and whats going on on the street I live on...My neighbor across the street is still going thru foreclosure from last year but they are fighting to the end to try to keep the house or find a buyer.

Trust me , the sherrif didnt care you had sleeping kids, he wanted to find those people asap.

[mnnice]

It could be just about anything. The sheriff has come to my one neighbor's house several time for his various minor legal problems.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by mnnice

It could be just about anything. The sheriff has come to my one neighbor's house several time for his various minor legal problems.

It could be anything.

If it was the sheriff regarding a foreclosure, it would be that the bank would already OWN the property. Once the banks owns the property they give the person 30 days notification before eviction, then the sheriff comes and dumps their stuff on the street at 30 days.

So, if the property is for sale, it's likely not that. They likely would have taken the sale signs down. Also, if they paid 500,000 and had it listed for 340,000 it's most likely that the bank was considering doing a short sale.

Trust me (foreclosure/bankruptcy attorney in the family) the banks have SOOOO many homes to deal with they're not wanting to foreclose if they can help it. Plus, there is a huge backlog. I knew a coupleof people recently that haven't paid on their mortgage in 13 months and still have not been foreclosed on (they're now hoping to do a 'modification' and still haven't gotten contacted about that now).

It's really bad out there!

[marybethorama]

Originally Posted by mnnice

It could be just about anything. The sheriff has come to my one neighbor's house several time for his various minor legal problems.

Happened to dh once. There was no record of him filing a city tax return. He actually had paid, but they had him on the unpaid list.

A sheriff serving a summons does not mean that a dangerous criminal lives next door.

[Pinoikoi]

Originally Posted by mnnice

It could be just about anything. The sheriff has come to my one neighbor's house several time for his various minor legal problems.

Agreed. Or the guy might have witnessed a car accident that is in dispute.. or he might have been the last guy to see a missing coworker.. any number of reasons the Sheriff is looking for someone.. I had the police wake my kids in the middle of the night once because they were looking for my stepson (who no longer lived with us) because his mother's car (which he had apparently been driving) no longer had valid emission's test stickers on it and they wanted to know where it was..

Wow. I needed to be woken at 4am for that?

[bits and bobs]

Originally Posted by mom0810

Scary scary stuff.

I think you have a very low *scare* threshold. At this point in time there is nothing to be scared of, so don't waste your energy making something out of nothing.

[karne]

I think it would have been an inconvenience for me to have been woken early. It would have been scary if I was actually the one being served by the sherrif.

[Deefodil]

Originally Posted by bits and bobs

i think you have a very low *scare* threshold. At this point in time there is nothing to be scared of, so don't waste your energy making something out of nothing.

ita.

[1growingsprout]

Originally Posted by karne

i think it would have been an inconvenience for me to have been woken early. It would have been scary if i was actually the one being served by the sherrif.

ita and at my house 550am is SLEEPING IN...

[shelbean91]

Check public records for that address- you might find something.

[lalaland42]

The neighbor across the street is currently in jail for unpaid parking tickets. He is a nice man but slightly irresponsible - and he is a truck driver so the tickets pile up fast. His wife left him in jail as an object lesson. Hardly a dangerous, hardened criminal.

Maybe it would be humanizing to go out and meet your neighbors. And remember, renters can be good people too.

[RollerCoasterMama]

All that, plus with the housing market tanked out right now, there will be a lot more foreclosures coming up. Our townhome has gone down $50K-$60K since we bought it 3 years ago. The only ways out if you need to move are 1) short sale, 2) hand over the keys for a deed in lieu of foreclosure, or 3) foreclosure. And not everyone knows all of those options and might take the foreclosure route if the banks aren't willing to work with them or if they don't know how to navigate the other options. Cuz I can tell you right now, people in my neighborhood don't have an extra $50K in the bank to write a check when they sell!!

The early time of day was a little annoying, but everyone should probably get used to seeing more notices being served. Unfortunately, it's going to be a fact of life the next few years...even (or especially) in neighborhoods that never saw it before.

Even if it wasn't foreclosure, there are all sorts of non-scary reasons someone might get served papers. If it really was something scary, I doubt they'd have wasted time delivering paper-work...they'd have taken the person with them!

[mom0810]

All of your replies have been interesting. And helpful.

The thing is, we don't KNOW if they took the person away or not... you can't see their house from ours. We both have large properties and you can't see one from the other.

I know I have lived a pretty sheltered life. But to me, the sheriff knocking on your door IS scary, no matter what the reason is. Especially here, where nothing ever happens.

Turns out the house was foreclosed on, we THINK. The for sale sign had gone down before the sheriff arrived. We never found out for sure. We did learn that the owner had been in Asia for some time, and that the house had been vacant for over a year. We had no idea about any of this.

But, there is good news! We now have new neighbors, and they are really nice! : Hooray!!!