Thanks a bunch for the suggestion, it is something we should address further, as Steve above mentioned, the emotional journey it took us through over the past year or so made it hard to imagine a trip through the courts, but, with a fresher state of mind now it is something that is worth investigating.
Excuse my ignorance, but what is Tort breaches? Thanks for the referral to Anthony, I will give him a buzz and let him know TC from SA (South Australia?) called … is there a secret handshake? In all seriousness thanks.
Hi Paul, Steve and Terry and thanks for your replies.
We have been having a good think about it over the weekend, and everyone’s replies were a great help, and your replies pretty much sum up where we see our options.
1. Personal loan to cover the shortfall: This is a definite option, however I am not so sure we would be very loan worthy considering this bad investment puts us at a negative LVR and struggling to meet repayments. To me this sounds too many warning bells for a prospective lender. It is something I am pushing the lender we have to property with to see if it is an option with them, but as with all things, it takes time.
2. Vendor finance arrangement: On paper, the best option financially if all goes to plan, but of course the key is finding the right type of buyer who would agree to the very specific terms that would be needed to make it work for us. Something Paul, I might give you a call on to bang heads if you don’t mind and see if it is something your business could help out with.
3. Bankruptcy: Initially it seemed the way to go, but the thought of such a long stretch where we make it very difficult to further our financial situation puts us off. Latest from the court cases has the group worried about tax implications, should that spring up, that would probably tip things over and bring bankruptcy right into play.
Finally I found the Sydney Morning Herald article on what we got caught up in, have a read if you wish which might give you more of an idea on the background:
While this article focusses more on the shelf company aspect, you will see mention of our type of property in the bottom half of the article. I guess we were “lucky” to only be lumped with this over-valued property as we refused to sign anything regarding shares (thank goodness!!). I know so many out of the 100 who’s health has really suffered from the ordeal, we should be thankful we have ours.
that's why I'm suggesting an unsecured personal loan to cover the bank's shortfall after you sell.
Yeah definitely an option, although with how the books look, getting approved for the size of loan needed could be a concern, but worth looking into for sure.
god_of_money wrote:
Who did you go for the lender? I am sure that the banks will get their own valuer to do valuation of the property…
The loan was done through a lender (now) called Advantedge, so a second tier lender, at the time they were trading by another name of Challenger but changed right around the time this whole mess started. I will try to track down the SMH article about this whole drama.
PaulDobson wrote:
Hi Adam This may be an alternative for you. Lets assume you have a $360,000, interest only, loan at 7.5%. This gives you a monthly payment of $2,250 per week. I expect you could sell the property with vendor finance for $320,00, with a $10,000 deposit, at 9.5%, over 30 years. This would give you a monthly income of $2,606 per month. This income must be poored, without exception, into the $360,000. The vendor finance contract used to sell the property must have a 5 year, "lock out clause", i.e. a clause to lock out any refinance, within the first 5 years of the loan. If you do the math, you'll be surprised at how close your $360,000 loan will come to $320,000 after doing this for five years. Cheers, Paul
Paul, thanks kindly for the advice regarding the Vendor finance arrangement. It is something I went a long way down the road with originally a year or so ago, but the wife got scared off mainly due to lack of trust in the unknown (considering that was a part of what got us into the mess in the first place). Your arrangement idea sounds logical, I just wonder on the available market for 5 year lock out clause deal? It seems you run a business specialising in this kind of thing, where are you based Paul? PM me of course if you wish to keep that private.
The bank must have full valuation ordered on the property prior to lending ?
How can u borrow 360k with 290k valuation? who inflate the price?
The exact question I had for them, and to this day have not got an answer. At the time there were some shonky valuers tied up in QLD property scams, but no proof it had anything to do with them at this stage. Best guess is agents in co-hoots with valuers, as some prosecutions on unrelated deals have proven. True we were naive to get in this thing in the first place, but bigger people than us got screwed over by these guys as well.
That said, I don’t expect solutions here, just ideas on what practitioner to see, I’m not even going to pretend I can get myself out of this mess without some pro help.
Thanks Scott No Mates for the idea on the accountant type. The personal loan or refinancing option we have tried when this originally happened, but with such a shocking LVR on the current loan, we look (and probably are) like terrible risk options to lenders. At least that is what the brokers are coming back to us with.
A dud investment is just that. Your best bet may well be debt reduction. Bite the bullet & sell at market value, wear the shortfall & pay it off asap. Your accountant would be able to advise if the debt would continue to be tax deductible.
The upside is that the capital loss can be carried forward & offset against future capital gains.
Remember that you do need to undertake due diligence to ensure you don’t buy a dud again.
PS YOU haven’t inherited the property it was just a bad investment on your part.
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the honest advice mate. You are right inherit is the wrong description (in fact changed the subject line), in the end it comes back to your own decision, so I will accept that.
Selling at market value and paying off the shortfall is a big possibility, what seems to be impossible is getting answers from my lender on how that procedure goes, and if they will even allow a short sale.
Reading between the lines, from your advice, an accountant perhaps is the professional to see should we go down that road?
Johnny1974 wrote:
Adam
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.
You guys couldn’t possibly move into the IP?
Declare bankrupt? (walk away)
Talk to the bank to negotiate some payment plan?
Get your solicitor involved?
Legal Aid?
Good luck mate
Johnny
Thanks Johnny, moving into the IP won’t work as it take us to another state and away from established clients, jobs etc. plus the financial gain we get after we lose the rental income vs loss of income short term etc is not really worth it (not to mention possible tax benefits). The bank is being …. well a bank …. and communication with them on this is proving difficult as they are in some part wrapped up in the legal proceding themselves. Your other options are worth thinking about, bankruptcy has it’s attractions, but of course just as much down side as well, but is always there as a last resort.