Mobile Home on Foreclosed Land

[Rae Anne1]

I live in Arkansas, and in 2003, my husband and I bought some land and then bought a mobile home. Originally we were going to put the mobile home on the land that we bought, but then my husband's grandfather died, so he and his grandmother decided to move our home onto her land so she wouldn't be all by herself. Well, in 2006, she got a second mortgage on her house and for the past year has had health issues and ( without me or my husband knowing) got way behind on her house payment, and now they are trying to foreclose on her house and all of her land ( the same land that my house is on). My husband and I have the money to get her caught up, but they are now saying that we either have to pay for her house in full or they are going to go ahead with the foreclosure. We can't pay it in full, so when we called the bank, they said that if they turn it over to foreclosure, they have the right to take my house too. My husband and I use the same bank for our house loan, but it is a completely separate loan from hers, and we have never been late on our payments. Can they take our house too just because it's on her land, or can we move our house to the other piece of property that we already own? The bank had told us that we would have to forfeit our house and then sue his grandmother for our loss...which we are definitely not going to take her to court. It just doesnt seem legal that they could stop me from taking my home off of his grandmother's land. And as far as I know, I don't think it is technically in foreclosure at this very moment. But I am not sure how soon they will file foreclosure, so I am worried I won't have my house moved by the time the land is in foreclosure.

 

[adjusterjack]

The bank "told" this and the bank "told" that.

Stop taking legal advice from the enemy and talk to an attorney of your own.

Meantime, since you already have your own property available for the relocation of your mobile home and apparently have some ready cash, I suggest you get on the phone to mobile home movers and arrange to have it moved next week.

In other words, don't assume that you have time, assume that you don't have time and get a move on.

Once the bank becomes owner of the property, you'll spend tens of thousands on litigation to try and get your mobile home back.

Get it moved now.

 

[Rae Anne1]

The bank "told" this and the bank "told" that.

Stop taking legal advice from the enemy and talk to an attorney of your own.

I have talked to an attorney, two actually, and they gave me conflicting advice.

One attorney said that it depends on whose loan was first. If her loan was first, then they have a right to my house. The second attorney said pretty much the same thing that you had said, which is to move my house asap, and that it didn't matter whose loan was first.

We are pretty sure that she got her loan 3 years after we got ours, but it is hard to find any information out from her because she had surgery a few months back and since the surgery, she has started having memory problems and dementia - like symptoms. The bank won't talk to us anymore, so we are really confused as what to do.

I think we are just going to go ahead and move the house, because I see no legal reason why they would have any rights to a house that we have been making regular payments on and is in no way even close to being foreclosed on.

 

[FlyingRon]

One attorney said that it depends on whose loan was first. If her loan was first, then they have a right to my house.

I wouldn't believe this one (if you indeed understood what he was saying). The priority of the loans is generally unimportant other than to the lenders.

The question is whether your mobile home is indeed a mobile home or considered an improvement to the land. If you can still move it, it's probably not part of the land (and it would be in your best interest as you've been told by the second lawyer and the forum) to move it before it get tied up in the mess.

 

[adjusterjack]

We are pretty sure that she got her loan 3 years after we got ours, but it is hard to find any information

Not that it matters, but if the loan was secured by the property it's probably been recorded at whatever agency keeps records of deeds (county recorder, land record office, etc)

I think we are just going to go ahead and move the house, because I see no legal reason why they would have any rights to a house that we have been making regular payments on and is in no way even close to being foreclosed on.

Moving the house ASAP is the best thing you can do to protect yourself.

The bank might have "no legal reason" (in your mind) but that doesn't stop some bureaucrat at the bank from thinking it does and locking you out and barring you from the land when the bank takes ownership.

Then, even if you are right, you could end up spending many thousands on protracted litigation trying to get the home back while you are also spending money living elsewhere and buying all the things to replace what's still in the home that you can't get into.

There's good reason for the old saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Preventing a problem is a lot less costly than fixing a problem.

 

[Rae Anne1]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I have one more question.

His grandmother's memory has been declining a lot lately. It's actually the reason she is so behind on her bills, because she couldn't remember to pay them. We didn't realize how bad it was getting until it was too late. She has been living with us in our home for a few weeks now, but cries every time she hears that she is going to have to move off of her land.

She has seen a doctor for her memory loss and was told that she probably has dementia, we are in the process of getting her formally diagnosed.

Is there any law that protects people with dementia from facing foreclosure?

 

[adjusterjack]

Is there any law that protects people with dementia from facing foreclosure?

No.

But there are plenty of resources that can help guide the family through the transition of the elder from independence to assisted living and/or care home.

Understand that her condition is irreversible and the longer you wait to address it (despite her emotional response) the worse it is going to get until you no longer have any choice.

 

[LdiJ]

His grandmother's memory has been declining a lot lately. It's actually the reason she is so behind on her bills, because she couldn't remember to pay them. We didn't realize how bad it was getting until it was too late. She has been living with us in our home for a few weeks now, but cries every time she hears that she is going to have to move off of her land.

She has seen a doctor for her memory loss and was told that she probably has dementia, we are in the process of getting her formally diagnosed.

Is there any law that protects people with dementia from facing foreclosure?

How much is the property worth? How large is the mortgage? How far behind is she?

I am really uncomfortable with how this bank is dealing with the whole thing. If they haven't actually foreclosed yet they should have been willing to accept you bringing it current as long as someone stays on top of her bills to make sure that they are paid on time. They also should not be trying to lay claim to property that does not belong to grandma...ie your mobile home.

However, I agree with the others. Get your home off that property NOW.

 

[Rae Anne1]

How much is the property worth? How large is the mortgage? How far behind is she?

She owes $19,000 on the mortgage. Not sure how much the property is worth. It is 16 acres of land and a 2,200 square ft house. (So it's worth considerably more than what she owes.)

To be fair to the bank, they had given her chance after chance to make payments. And she hasn't made a payment since June of this year. (Me and my husband were not aware of this until just recently.) And in August they put her on some type of payment program, but she didn't pay the payments in August or September.

Here is the whole story of how we found out that she was behind on the bills:
At the end of September, I saw a car pulling down my driveway and stop. I walked out and saw a man taking pictures of MY house.

I went out and asked him what he was doing, and he said that he was sent by the mortgage company to take pictures of the house to see if anyone still lived there.

I told him that we were not behind on any payments, and asked him if he was sure he had the right house. ( We have the same adress as his grandma, but her house is listed as "A" and mine is "B." )He shrugged, said he didn't know if it was "A" or "B."

So I told my husband about it when he got home, and he called the bank and they said that it was her house that was late. At first, they were acting as if they didn't know that there was a mobile home on her property.

When my husband told him that he didn't appreciate anyone taking pictures of OUR home, the guy from the bank said " Well, if we foreclose on the land, everything is ours anyways, so we had every right to take a picture of the house."

That's when we contacted attorneys, got conflicting advice, dug deeper into her finances to find out how far behind she was. And 4 days later, received a letter saying that if we didn't pay in full, they would go ahead and proceed with the foreclosure.

Oh, one thing I forgot, when we asked the bank if we could make up her payments, they said that it was in litigation, and they could no longer accept payments. But that was before we got the letter saying that we had to pay for it in full.

 

[adjusterjack]

Oh, one thing I forgot, when we asked the bank if we could make up her payments, they said that it was in litigation, and they could no longer accept payments. But that was before we got the letter saying that we had to pay for it in full.

Arkansas allows judicial and non-judicial foreclosure.

Here's a guide to both:

http://www.foreclosurelaw.org/Arkansas_Foreclosure_Law.htm

If the foreclosure is judicial you should be able to go on to your local court's website search feature and find a lawsuit under your grandmother's name.

If the foreclosure is non-judicial you should be able to go on to your county recorder website search feature and find the recorded notice of sale under your grandmother's name.

If you find one or the other it should give you an idea as to how soon the axe will fall.

Come back and report what you find.

Meantime, I really hope you have made some progress in arranging to get your MH out of there.

Complacency is your enemy.

 

[LdiJ]

She owes $19,000 on the mortgage. Not sure how much the property is worth. It is 16 acres of land and a 2,200 square ft house. (So it's worth considerably more than what she owes.)

Not only would I be getting my mobile home off that property ASAP, but I would also be trying to find some way to come up with the 19k to save grandma's property.

 

[Zigner]

I find it odd that the bank is playing such hardball over a relatively small amount that really isn't extraordinarily past due, in a big-picture sense.

 

[LdiJ]

I find it odd that the bank is playing such hardball over a relatively small amount that really isn't extraordinarily past due, in a big-picture sense.

I find it pretty odd as well. However, it does appear that they have been trying to work with grandma with no results, and are fed up. Perhaps they are hoping to scare someone in the family into getting the debt paid off one way or another.

Perhaps the OP could buy a piece of the land from grandma for the amount that grandma owes the bank? I bet that the OP could get a loan for that from a different bank.