Harrassment After Chapter 7

Question:
I corresponded with Brett a month ago (in case you're back) about whether to file a chapter 7 or 13 to try keeping the home I have lived in for 24 years. The state is Mississippi, and huge medical expenses caused us to get behind in our payments. We signed the paperwork for the Chapter 13 but a couple of weeks later a man came by and told us he had bought our home so we called our attorney who was rather vague about the papers we signed, telling us we needed to file a Chapter 7 anyway because the hosue was falling apart and needed repairs that we could not afford to have fixed...the neighborhood has really gone down, and I decided that moving was the best choice so we were told that we could take a couple of months to move out. We only needed a month but the week before we moved out, the new owner put on a new roof, hammered from 6:30 a.m. until dark, used our electricity for his cords and our water which were still in our name. This last week was, in my opinion, pure harrassment from the buyer, people on ladders, looking in our windows and the constant hammering. I called our attorney to see what cold be done about it, but he never even called me back. The owner said he just really needed to get the repairs done for the people that wold be renting the house...there were nails all over the yard, old boards with nails sticking up in them, parts of the old roof fell all over our pool and deck; it was like a living hell for a solid week. Now that we have moved, we have driven by the house and it seems that all repairing has stopped...there is a dumpdter out front which he also put in the yard before we moved, and a few items are in it, but I think it's very odd that a person in such a hurry would suddenly quit working and not be seen around the place at all. Now I am wondering if the papers we signed have something to do with this and if the man really even owns the home at all. Legally he should not since we did sign the papers before the sale date. I do not want the house back since we have moved to a comfortable apartment but also don't want to be screwed and tattoed by an attorney and a crook. I need some advice on what I should do. The last time I spoke with our attorney he said I wold be getting a letter for the court date for chapter 7 in about four weeks and that it would be $200 for that. Then he said he was only charging us $300 and that we could make payments on that of $50 a month or however we wanted to pay it. Something about this does not feel right. I appreciate any advice you could give me or anyone else in this group. We have called our attorney again and he has yet to call us back. This was two weeks ago.

Answer:
I am not an attorney, but boy am I confused! How did this man happen to buy your house? Did you have it up for sale? Was it foreclosed on? When you say your attorney was "vague", what did he say? I may be reading this all wrong, but it sounds like some kind of scam to me. Even if you are in a Chapter 7, you don't suddenly lose your home. No doubt if the house is in disrepair and the neighborhood is deteriorating, the wise choice would be to give it up in the BK. But certain processes have to be put in motion for this to happen. What did the "buyer" show you? It almost sounds like the buyer had the wrong house and found out after he began to repair it. Why is your attorney so unperturbed about the whole deal? I could go on with the questions but this is a real first, at least out of all the posts I've ever read. I hope I am misinterpreting what you wrote and that this is all somehow legitimate and everything is on the up and up. After all, my experience is limited to what happened in our BK 7. But someone appearing and saying he bought your house--was it in a sheriff's sale or something? There seem to be pieces missing out of this puzzle. Maybe if you can add anything to what your lawyer actually told you we can figure it out. There are much greater minds then mine on this board so hopefully they can help you. This is one case I'm anxious to know about because it is very confusing.





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