I fell behind on my mortgage last year after splitting with my ex and having to close the business we shared. My situation has dramatically improved since—I found work, got married and got back on my feet—but my mortgage company (Fifth Third Bank) wouldn’t accept anything other than the total past due balance after I was 120 days late, so the balance continued to grow every month because I couldn’t afford to pay it all at once. I began applying for their mortgage assistance program last year and have only just now gotten a decision from them. The problem is that they want me to pay the total past due amount over just the next four months, along with my regular monthly payment. My regular payment is around $1650, and they want me to pay an additional $5350 every month (total of $7k) for the next four months. I am not sure that I can come up with that and I don’t want to lock into something that I’m unsure of, especially knowing that if I miss or am late on a payment, they can start for...
I’m in a frustrating situation and wanted to get some outside opinions. I’m the treasurer of a small condo complex that I also own a unit in. Since joining the board, I’ve helped restore the financial health of the HOA and significantly improve the appearance of the property. Because I know the complex inside and out, I’ve been offered several opportunities to buy units at prices well below their appraised values: One owner wants to sell me her unit for $70,000, even though it appraised around $107,000. Another board member was willing to sell me multiple units for $350,000, with a combined estimated value of $450,000–$500,000. There’s also a unit headed toward foreclosure that could potentially be purchased for around $40,000, despite being worth roughly $100,000. In a best-case scenario, I could end up buying 8 units for about $460,000 that are collectively worth around $650,000–$700,000. About half are already rented, most need little to no renovation, and projected cash flow ...