Posted by Rich-CA on December 07, 2008 at 13:35:34:
You need a lot of specific legal info about NY and CT that I am not going to give you because I don’t know it. I will suggest some logical avenues to look into.
First, in NY you need to know if they allow deficiency judgments in foreclosure and under what circumstances. You also need to know if the mortgage is a non-recourse mortgage (which means all they can get is the assets securing the note).
Second, in CT. Assuming the worst in NY and you default and they get a deficiency judgment. The would need to go to CT and place a lien on your properties there and proceed to foreclose those properties. Given that their lien would be junior to any mortgages on the CT properties, they would have to bid in excess of your mortgages on those properties to secure it and then would only gain any money if the sales brought in more than owed to the senior liens. If one of those houses was your primary residence, you need to see if CT has homesteading provisions (meaning an amount of proceeds that go to you before any funds are used to pay off liens).
The fact is, the mortgage company would have one foreclosure on its hands per property they try and seize to pay a judgment. That might not be worthwhile.
In any case, you need a NY attorney and a CT attorney to walk you through the mechanics of how its done and then give you an idea of how likely (or unlikely) that a NY mortgage foreclosure will cross state boundaries to try and get access to assets that may or may not cover the difference.
I own two houses in CT (no mortgage). I was tricked into being the only signer on a mortgage note on another house in NY. Two names on deed, but I am solely responsible for NY mortgage note. If I default on mortgage in NY can the mortgage company make me sell my other properties to pay NY mortgage. NY property is 320,000 - houses in CT worth $375,000 (total). I’m a senior (65).
Contact the District Atty office - Posted by DJ-nyc
Posted by DJ-nyc on December 09, 2008 at 09:26:23:
Contact the District Atty’s office. Contact a personal attorney. You may have to sue to get your name off of that mortgage. Or force a Sale to satisfy the note. You may have to have someone help you get this resolved; but I would try to avoid a default. The foreclosure process will definitely be stressful for you or anyone (especially being a senior). Is this NY State (upstate NY) or New York City? Sounds like some fraud stuff. A call to the Attorney General’s office may do the trick.
You don’t say how much the note is on the NY house, or if there a senior lien on the NY. If the mortgage company on the New York house does not lose money on the foreclosure then you don’t have anything to worry about. If they might, then you have to provide a lot more information for anyone to answer your question.