I was transfered on short notice (2 months) to a remote area in 2007. My wife and I were unable to find a suitable rental property as most were seasonal rentals, or were fully furnished houses. We had two young children and did not want to have to worry about someone elses furniture. We ended up purchasing a Townhome in a new comunity. I was very happy to be able to purchase my first home even if the payments were a bit higher than I was comfortable with. I do not have a problem making the payments at this time, but will be getting out of the Navy in 6 months due to my wifes mental health problems. I can not go back to sea and leave her hundreds of miles away to take care of our children. It just won't work.

The prospects for a job in the local area is not good. Even if I was able to get hired my salary would be considerable lower than it is now; making it impossible for me to make my payments. Ideally I would like to sell the house, but of course I owe more than it is worth for several reasons. Like may other people, the current economy has affected my homes value. In addition to that the builder disolved their company, and are personally filing for Chapter 7. The comunitty will never be finished, warrinty issues with my house will most likley never be honored. Roads will not be fully paved. My yard floods everytime it rains and water has come in through my back door several times. The builder will not fix the grading/draining issue making my yard mostly muddy for the past two years. Also, many of the houses have been converted to HUD/Section 8 which does not help surrounding properties increase in value.

I have writen to the VA with a few questions. They replied that I need to call which I intend to do because my questions are too difficult to answer in writing. So I turn to you all for some help.

What are my options? Of course I would like to avoid forclosure but it seems inevitable. I think I would lose my security clearance if I did go to forclosure, and I would like to keep that as it should help me get a better job outside of the military. I checked the the VA website for some information and I noticed Deed in lieu of Forclosure which may be an option. One problem with that is the builder who runs the HOA(even though he is bankrupt???) put a lien on my house for HOA dues I have refused to pay until my yard is repaired. The amount owed is less than $3000.00 so I could possible pay it off if need be.

Any and all help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance

-Jace

How much would it cost to fix the flooding issues and get your home to Section 8 standards? If you can get it to code, hand it to a management company and rent it out then you may be able to hang onto it until it can be reasonably sold. The HOA dues will need to get paid unless you plan on filing bankruptcy. Where is the property located?