Help! Probate... VA loan.... ?

[Belinda Fello]

Hi guys, I have a complicated situation and hoping I can have some guidance/opinion. I am in the middle of probate for my brothers home. Long story short, I recently discovered my brothers home was in foreclosure and had been told by my family that it was taken by the bank years ago. I am new to real estate and was pretty young when all of this happened. I have two options as the late fees have accrued to 58k, The mortgage itself has 165k left with a 4.75%. The house is a condo in Las Vegas. It is gated and is next to a park, school the police academy, gas station freeway and neighborhood wal-mart. I had talked with a bank and my attorney and discovered there is about 170k in equity and the home is now worth roughly 300k. I am in probate because it is a VA loan and I am not a veteran and he did not leave a trust or will. I am currently in process of applying for mortgage assist so I can bring his mortgage to current, however it will be with new terms and a higher rate. If I go the other route I will have to find ways to find funding to bring up to date. I am not sure which direction to go as I really feel like a short rental may be profitable however assuming the loan may impact me from renting as I was told by a loan officer loan assumptions cannot have renters. Sorry for the long winded unorganized paragraph. I am obviosuly all over the place. Anyway, any opinions or guidance could help Thanks -Belinda

[John Slater]

Quote from @Belinda Fello:

Hi guys, I have a complicated situation and hoping I can have some guidance/opinion. I am in the middle of probate for my brothers home. Long story short, I recently discovered my brothers home was in foreclosure and had been told by my family that it was taken by the bank years ago. I am new to real estate and was pretty young when all of this happened. I have two options as the late fees have accrued to 58k, The mortgage itself has 165k left with a 4.75%. The house is a condo in Las Vegas. It is gated and is next to a park, school the police academy, gas station freeway and neighborhood wal-mart. I had talked with a bank and my attorney and discovered there is about 170k in equity and the home is now worth roughly 300k. I am in probate because it is a VA loan and I am not a veteran and he did not leave a trust or will. I am currently in process of applying for mortgage assist so I can bring his mortgage to current, however it will be with new terms and a higher rate. If I go the other route I will have to find ways to find funding to bring up to date. I am not sure which direction to go as I really feel like a short rental may be profitable however assuming the loan may impact me from renting as I was told by a loan officer loan assumptions cannot have renters. Sorry for the long winded unorganized paragraph. I am obviosuly all over the place. Anyway, any opinions or guidance could help Thanks -Belinda

Hi Belinda, assuming it's in foreclosure process and not previously foreclosed on (sent you a DM, I can double check it quick for you), then you're probably looking at having to refi, which in today's world isn't awesome with the rates, however, marry the property, don't marry the mortgage, meaning if you want to keep it as a rental, keep it, and if you get a loan eventually refinance that loan when rates come down.  could be a year, 2 years, but either way they will come down at some point.
On the probate side, you need to make sure you are keeping an eye on the foreclosure sale date.  The lender doesn't care you are in probate and dont have to postpone a sale date just because its in probate, worst case the attorney can get in front of the judge and ask for a stay on the foreclosure which they bank will then have no choice.  
However, I've usually found that if you're in regular communication with the lender, letting them know where you are in the probate process, then they will normally accommodate an extension.

Couple of questions though...
do you know where you are in foreclosure process compared to probate process?
Are you the only living heir?
Do you have ability for a new loan in your name?  I doubt VA will allow you to assume.
If you owe say $150, and property worth $300, if payments make sense, I'd look to borrow a little more than $150, say $200k, now I have some money to renovate for a rental, and/or have money to pay the higher mortgage rates for right now.