Marion,
I was in almost the same situation and now I’m negotiating a purchase offer on the property that was in foreclosure at a 35% percent discount. I can tell you this forum is not the right place to have this discussion. There are a lot of people who post here with their heads up there rear end. They don’t understand these scum bags who purchased homes with NO F**K’N Money and think they are self proclaimed real estate professionals. Then renters like us who are riding the hill down back to reality in the housing sector are running into these RENT SKIMMERS who fell into subprime loans with the qualifications of having a heart beat and a fake social security number. The smart people like you tell them to take the subprime lottery wooden box and shove it between their legs!! Then these bow tie wearing people like Raybyrnes with his calculator taped to his or her forehead thinks you should pay money to the MOM and SON mortgage team who have just a much right to own as you. PUT your RENT into an escrow account like I did and hire a lawyer in case the bank asks for back rent. The only thing I agree with RAYBYRnes is that you shouldn’t spend the money intended for rent but place it safely and legally in the bank. You should speak with a lawyer that specializes in tenant law spend the 100 dollars for the consultation.
My little rent skimmer didn’t even have a job while my wife and I average 140K a year with over 100K in savings waiting consciously for lending to come back to earth along with the SQ ft price in the OC. THAT’S AMERICA and we all will pay for this sick package of greed calculate that RAYBYRnes!

This is happening all over this country so get use to it.