Mortgage Forum

SuzieQ

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this thread, so if it's not please feel free to move it... Not quite three years ago, we were forced into a "voluntary surrender" of a modular (not on a permanent foundation) in Colorado. The situation was not due to an inability to pay, but because we were unable to sell the home. It was on the market for 18 months without a single offer and only 2 or 3 "lookers." The mortgage company (Vanderbilt) refused to work with us in any way (short sale, etc) and renting it out was not a possibility due to community by-laws. We consulted with a real-estate agent and a real-estate attorney before deciding to voluntarily surrender the house. The real-estate agent even tried to work with Vanderbilt on our behalf...and told them that we would be forced to surrender the home if they refused to work with us. That was in August of 2005. We were just served papers for a judgement of ~$30,000. The mortgage company sold the house for $36,500, but it had an appraised value of $54,000. Fair market value was that high or higher...and at the time we had our real-estate agent pull several listings to show that. If I understand correctly, Colorado law allows us to fight the judgement on the basis that the house was sold for far below market value. Do you think we have any chance of winning such a fight?