I just have a couple of comments on this thread. The first one (now water under the bridge), is that the OP absolutely could have bought a 1700-2200 sf home in SD County in 2011 for the price they paid for a 1300 sf home in SEH ($330K). Sure, it would have been older and most likely needed cosmetic upgrades but they spent that money anyway on the smaller, newer home they bought. And it would have been without MR and HOA dues, (which could now have proven to be a financial thorn in the OP’s side).
I DO FEEL 1300 sf is a bit small for a family of five with 3 growing boys and 3 dogs (size of dogs unk?). However, it is doable if it isn’t too crowded with “stuff.”
The second thing is that Piggs counseled the OP in error re: priority of unsecured debt, i.e. consumer/credit-card debt.
CC companies and their collectors have fleets of local attorneys on staff or retainer expressly for the purpose of obtaining (usually default) judgments for delinquent consumer debt for their Big Bank clients. These firms typically file a dozen or more cases in one transaction and if requested by the court for a date for a “prove-up” hg or other motion, schedule several cases in one courthouse in the same day.
In 2010 alone, Chase obtained approx 55,000 default judgments against its delinquent debtors (in civil, limited civil and small claims actions) in a 5-county SoCal region. Post judgment, they typically seek writs of execution or attachment and then lien the individual/couple who will not be able to sell or buy RE without dealing with them (at 10% per annum post-judgment). They don’t often foreclose their liens, unless the debtor’s property and its encumbrances warrant such an action (rare). However, the 10% per annum compounds on itself and these firms have ticklers to refile the liens in a timely manner.
I feel it was not wise to tell this OP that there would be no consequences to ignoring consumer debt.
Consumer debt collection is BIG business in the USA and especially in CA, where RE tends to be worth more.
