should we still continue paying on the second...

[turkey]

...mortgage if the first is in foreclosure?

[moreacidthanalkaline]

I can't think of anything that would allow you to stop paying it....

[anonimitie]

Yes, regardless of the state of your other finances, if you owe someone money, you should pay them. If your house is forclosed upon, the proceeds will go to pay down all debt secured by the house. By paying, you do the right thing, reduce the liability that will in turn reduce your proceeds of the sale of your house, and help mitigate the damage done to your credit rating.

[877YouKeep]

here is the deal if you are selling or leaving that is up to you whether you pay or not. You did sign an obligation though. If you are planning to stay in your house with a loss mitigation program there are many lenders (investors) that want a second to be current before they will do anything with the first. It varies between servicers (lenders) but you want to be careful and ask mortgage companies how they handle second mortgages.

[Corey1023]

Hey you guys that posted before Don, Im sorry to be the contrarian here but when someone is in distress the old "you made a commitment so you should keep it" line is tired rhetoric IMHO. When you are drowning you don't say "hey its rude to yell" at someone screaming they are drowning.

Whether you pay your 2nd or not is completely dependent on your current situation and the expected result you want to see. Do you see an end to your current financial dilemma? If so do you intend to keep the home? Do you owe more than its worth? If so do you need to do a short sale to get out from under the debt?

If you are planning to leave, look at doing a Short Sale, or a Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure. In that order. Also if this is your plan DO NOT PAY YOUR 2ND. Its wasted money. You are in financial distress right now, and frankly to hell with a 2nd mortgage. They made a loan based on an asset.

When a homeowner needs to get out from under their property, they should be saving their money. This way they have a cushion fund or 'rainy day fund'. Time and time again, I see homeowners who go into repayment plans or special forbearances that have no money in the bank after they make their down payment to start. Easily 95% of these fail. I have a 95% success rate with my workouts. Why? Because I have my clients build up that rainy day fund, and then we negotiate to have them give as little of it to the bank as possible. That way when the car has problems or someone gets sick they dont have to choose between getting their car fixed so they can work or making the house payment.

So even in a scenario where they are keeping the home you dont just tell them to automatically make the 2nd payment. Frankly ive only run into 1sts that require the 2nd to be current a small handful of times. Because why would they care? They are in 1st position! Moreover 2nds will ALWAYS play ball, because the vast majority of the time they dont show up to sheriff/trustee sales. Which means if they dont work it out with you, it becomes a total loss. 2nds are a push over. I LOVE 2nd mortgages. Whether its short sales or workouts they are cake.

Stop giving people bad advice please. That is the biggest problem with this industry is there are 31 flavors of help out there and 29 of them are bad.

[Corey1023]

The edit feature just stalls forever when you hit save. So I'm making a new post to say that I Just wanted to Edit this and say, that my tirade was aimed at the guys with 1 post count who look like they registered just to tell this person that they should 'do the right thing'.

[877YouKeep]

My only concern is saving homes and that is my mentality and giving up on a second is giving up on saving your home from foreclosure. As state the only way to save your home in many instances is getting current on second otherwise you are dead in teh water and you have to liquidate. If liquidation is the answer as stated above to he-- with the second it is time to save for your future. As Corey stated it is throwing good money after bad.

[Corey1023]

I mean yes i do agree with you that you cant just not ever pay them. Im just saying that ive never run into a 2nd that wouldnt allow you to do a modification or whatever it took, often with zero out of pocket because their alternative is losing the note in foreclosure. 2nds run a much higher risk than 1sts and so they are often in a lose lose position where they have to play ball. Thats all I meant by that.

So if you are keeping it, save your money, get your workout in place with your 1st and then go back to the 2nd and let them know that you have no money to put into it but would like to start making the payment again. Ive never been refused.

Of course if you get a 1st like Don is talking about that requires the 2nd to be current then its a whole new ball game. But I rarely see that personally.