Hi and thanks for the comments. Well 80% sure I’m doing the BK because of 1099-C and possible legal liability from the seconds. I’ve thought of trying the walk-away and prove insolvency but that seems a risky venture and would have these bad decisions following me for tax years to come. We have no unsecured debt, never did, I had a 780 credit score as of Aug 08 when my RE partner walked away from paying/managing. I accept some blame in that too. I’m not dead set on BK yet and ALL loans are still purchase money, I didn’t do the “ATM” silliness. But with the 3 others bought as rentals and not all in CA I feel I need the protection of BK and just starting fresh. But opinions are welcome.
PatientlyW: I don’t mind sharing my state of mind, but I warn you it’s really hard not to come off like I’m making excuses. Moved to SD when I was single/28 yrs old in mid 2003, got a job and started thinking about the marriage/house thing. Well everywhere I turned prices were rising crazy fast, but I was making 38k a year. So I rented and started caring about “adulthood” stuff, politics, stocks, etc. By then it was 2005 and I knew people that made 100k buying houses and selling in 2 years, so I jumped on the wagon. Wife and I got married and bought in 06 for 550k + with just my name and I was making 65k a year. My biggest reason for buying was the fear that I would be stuck living in 900 sq ft for 1.1 million like I saw in San Fran. I just figured West coast is different, sunshine tax, and buy now or forever be a nomad. I was way wrong. Probably more then you wanted to know.
Loan mods: I paid Green Credit Solutions, mostly on advice from Mr. Mortgage and it’s forums. They tried but I just had too much debt with rentals I guess. I did have the actual investor on my primary loan mod it to 3.8 for 5 years, but they tacked arrears onto principal, and it is a fixer so am I going to hope the market comes back to 600k+ so I can sink 30k into kitchen my wife now hates? Nope it’s save for a while, see how CA tax situation/water rationing/Obama plan etc works out then make the call to leave or stay.