Media, PA Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Lawyer

Since Media is a coveted town to live in Delaware County, a frequent question our clients’ ask is “Can I keep my home?”  Our job as debt relief lawyers is to help you reduce or eliminate debt while keeping ALL of your assets, including your home, vehicles and personal property. 

When consulting with a client, one of the first topics we discuss is details regarding their home, such as how much is the mortgage and we ascertain a comparable sales value. The reason is, we want to see how much equity, if any exists in the subject home.

Simply, if the home is worth less than the mortgage amount there is no equity in the home and the home is not part of the equation.

However, after a 10% cost of sale deduction if the home is worth more than $25,100 for a single deeded owner or $50,200 for joint deeded owners, than equity exists in the subject home.  If equity exists, the “non-exempt equity” is the minimum amount that will be repaid to creditors over 3-5 years while retaining the property.

The amount to be repaid is generally minuscule in comparison to monthly payments being made to credit cards, personal loans, etc. outside a debt relief plan.

For example if a husband and wife own a home worth $200,000 with a $125,000 mortgage and have $50,000 worth of unsecured debt, they would need to only pay a minimum of $4,800 back to their creditors based on the below:

• $200,000 – 10% (cost of sale deduction) = $180,000
• $180,000 – $50,200 (joint exemption) = $129,800
• $129,800– $125,000 (mortgage) = $4,800

At $50,000 in debt, minimum payments are approximately $1,500 per month outside a debt relief plan.  In the above example, the husband-and-wife joint homeowners would be paying approximately $100 per month towards their debt over 5 years, while keeping their home and now having the ability to accumulate savings!