Heading to US, leaving behind house in NE

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dannygael

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Hi,
Am heading over to the US in August to look for work. Have green card so no visa issues. My partner is a US citizen and a stay at home mom to our son. She is homesick so the chances of us returning to Ireland are remote.

My house in Ireland is in NE of around 30k. Have run out of savings to help pay the mortgage, so have missed the last 3 payments. Am trying to get some money together for the US, but with little coming in, probably won't have more than about $3k when I get there. Am on JSA, but just fed up with scratching around for work.

Have no other properties or debt in Ireland, other than a loan from a family member (9k). What happens to the NE on the house? Can I just send the keys back in the post? Will the mortgage provider pursue me in the US?
 
You have a few options.

With such little negative equity, it is likely that rental income would cover the interest and probably the full mortgage payment. So you may well have a profitable investment. How much is the house worth now? Would it be worth holding onto to hope that price rises might eliminate the negative equity?

If you have a cheap tracker mortgage, it's possible that the bank would do a deal with you if you told them you were emigrating. Unfortunately, they are not really geared up to such deals, so they might not.

You could sell the house, but you would still owe them the shortfall of €30k. In practice, they probably won't bother chasing it, but it will lie there for some years.

Or you could hand back the keys. They will sell the house and the shortfall will be a lot higher. Probably doesn't make that much difference.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I would at best get 450 pm rental for the property. My mortgage is 750 pm. I checked a local estate agent website, and they sold a similar 3 BR semi for 49k recently. I think that may have been a fire sale, but I think the best I can hope for is around 60-65k.

With all the recently imposed charges on homeowners, as well as the cost of continuing to maintain a viable rental property, I feel like a complete break from the house would be best. Wanting a clean break, I am leaning towards just mailing the EBS the keys, but am worried the debt will follow me to the US. If I just send them the keys with a note, does that satisfy all necessary legal steps to allow EBS to sell the house? How long do they go after me for the shortfall?
 
Since EBS will not know where you live I would not think that it would be an issue.
I guess what you need to know is can Irish debts be enforced abroad?

From personal experience, as long as you do not disclose your previous address as Ireland companies such as Experian will not be able to trace you.
 
Thx for the reply. The debt following me is one thing. I'm guessing for the amount owed I won't be chased down for it.

The other thing is the house itself. Can I just mail the keys back to the EBS and leave it at that, or do I need to get solicitors involved to facilitate a sale on the house.
 
Well, spoke to the mortgage company (EBS). Apparently they have sold the mortgage to some crowd called Certus, as the mortgage in arrears. Am now totally confused. Do I talk to this Certus crowd, or try to deal with EBS?
 
Thanks for the reply.

I'll call Certus (was given a contact number) and see what happens. If they are getting the mortgage for cents on the Euro, hopefully a short sale will suffice. Not sure what their cut off point is i.e. the lowest acceptable offer they'll take on the house, but I guess I'll find out!

If anyone else has had dealings with Certus, would appreciate any info they might have, in how best to deal with them.
 
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