The primary concern a lot of people have
when they come to our company regarding Bankruptcy is undoubtedly 'Can I manage
to keep my house?' and sometimes the answer is yes, you can manage to keep your
house.
The only reason you can be forced to sell
your family home when you declare bankruptcy is actually because you have a lot
of equity in the home that it is considered an asset. Please read these simple
hypothetical case studies below to get your head around Bankruptcy and how it
has an effect on houses in Australia. Remember If you want to know more about Bankruptcy
and houses feel free to contact us here at Bankruptcy Experts Townsville on
1300 795 575, or visit our website: www.bankruptcyexpertsTownsville.com.au
Case Study 1. (Mike & Sue Smith).
5 years ago Mike and Sue purchased a house
in a mining town for $450,000. At this time the mining boom was helping keep
all the property prices nice and high. Now they are needing to look at Bankruptcy
because they have substantial debts of $80,000 on top of their mortgage and
credit card and tax debt.
They really want to keep their house but
wonder if they can, they know that house prices if anything have gone down in
the area in the last 5 years so to be safe they think that their home is
currently only worth $450,000 after all these years, to be sure they searched
www.realestate.com.au/ sold section of the website to see what other houses in
the streets nearby have sold for fairly recently.
Having said that they have not paid any
principal of the home loan over the last 5 years, mainly just interest, so they
still owe $450,000.
Current House Value = $450,000.
Current Mortgage Value = $450,000.
Net Equity Value = $0.
Because there is no equity in this
particular property the trustee will not ask Mike and Sue to sell their house
when they go bankrupt, as long as they keep up the mortgage payments then all
will be well for these people for the 3 years they are in bankruptcy.
At the end of the bankruptcy time period
the trustee will write to them and ask if they would like to take over
ownership of their house again and as long as it has not increased in price
over the 3 years they have been bankrupt they will be asked to make an offer to
have their house back. This is usually somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 to
cover the legal costs of altering the land title deed etc.
Now let's have a look at a slightly
different example of Bankruptcy and houses.
Case Study 2. (Bill & Michelle
Johnson).
2 years ago Bill and Michelle bought a
townhouse in a wonderful suburb of Townsville for $850,000 they tipped in
$50,000 as a deposit and now the townhouse two years later is worth $900,000.
Current House Value = $900,000.
Current Mortgage Value = $800,000.
Net Equity Value = $100,000.
As a result of a recent business failure
Bill is about $240,000 in debt. Michelle who does work in banking has a
separate job and no other debt except for the mortgage. Bill cannot pay his
debts therefore he is looking at Bankruptcy. Michelle is bothered that she too
may need to file for bankruptcy or be forced into it thanks to the house loan.
In this particular case the trustee is
required to access or get their hands on Bill's part of the equity which is
$50,000 less selling costs. They may do this in a few ways; 1. Have them sell
the home. 2. Invite Michelle to buy Bills half of the equity. 3. leave them in
the home - but It's very improbable with this case that the trustee would be
happy to leave Bill and Michelle in the house because there is just too much
equity.
So Michelle may have the ability to
purchase Bill's share of the equity by coming up with $50,000 and buying out
Bills' half and from that moment its now 100 % Michelle's house.
Property and Bankruptcy in Australia is
challenging and demanding, these two case studies above are just the tip of the
iceberg as far as your options in Townsville are concerned. If you need to know
more about Bankruptcy and houses feel free to contact us here at Bankruptcy
Experts Townsville on 1300 795 575, or go to our website:
www.bankruptcyexpertsTownsville.com.au.
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