Vernon and Eileen Gibbs have been living through a long, drawn-out short sale of their home, which they describe as a nightmare.
About three years ago the Gibbses, both 65, put their home on the market because the stairs were too much at their age and health. A buyer was set to purchase the home, so they put a down payment to have a new home built. Then the buyer pulled out and they were left with two properties.
A loan officer at their bank told them their home was sure to sell quickly and encouraged them to get a mortgage with very low rates for the first several months and then a big increase, said Vernon Gibbs. They had never been late on a payment and had good credit, he said.
But their house didn't sell, the payments became too much and they were drawing heavily from a retirement account.
"We wish we had never gone with that loan with short special interest, which just caught us and strangled us from then on," Gibbs said.
They approached the bank and asked if they could work out some sort of loan adjustment or modification, but the bank said they hadn't missed a payment so they wouldn't talk to them.
They continued making payments, not wanting to default, but were eventually forced to stop making payments. When they returned to the bank they were told their only options were foreclosure or a short sale. That was in November.
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