foreclosures do you know the rules for foreclosures? i don't. i've never been through one. i've been hearing some very strange things. some are surely urban legends. but like the good successful meme there's a ring of truth to them. and the stories make good blog material. so here we go. many home loans are under water. ie the current market value of the house is less than the outstanding loan amount. this is kinda bad. the bank doesn't want to foreclose on the property. they don't want the loss on their books. they'd rather hold out for a stronger real estate market. they're hoping to lose less money that way. so they don't foreclose. and apparently foreclosure is their only option. the bank can't garnish wages or seize bank accounts. weird huh? now. the owner wants to get rid of the property. but they can't sell it unless the bank gets paid. but they can't find a buyer willing to pay that much. and they can't cover the difference themselves. which sounds bad. until you realize they get to live in their home without making any payments. which is kinda cool. well, almost no payments. they must keep paying their property taxes. cause the government can garnish wages and seize other assets to get its money. which leads to the problem. suppose the "owner" has fallen on such hard times they can't even afford to pay the taxes. ouch. in some places in the country, they can't legally abandon the property. and they can't force the bank to foreclose. everyone's stuck. neat huh?  ¶ 8:00 AM