about two years ago i had to do a short-sale on my Vegas property. The property had a fist morgage and second mortgage. The short-sale paid of the first mortgage completely. And the remaining ($1450) were paid towards the second mortgage. Both mortgages were owned by same company. The second mortgage however was around $47k. A few months after that i started getting calls from a debt collector who said they bought the loan and now want that money. My question is that wouldnt a short-sale mean that they settled everything at that point. Now that the mortgage company doesnt even exist anymore.
The sale as you wrote took care of the first but did not completely pay off the second. Unless the mortgage company wrote off the remaining balance on the second, you are stll legally obligated to pay it. What do the closing docs state at the time of the sale? Have you DV the collection agency?
There are important legal differences between a first mortgage and a second mortgage. And even between a purchase money mortgage and a first mortgage that is a re-fi. Ordinarily, there's no deficiency possible on a first, at least not without an extra step in court that has historically seldom been the route chosen by lenders. And on a short-sale, the deficiency is typically waived as well. In your case, that might have been the case with one of the loans but not the other, even though you were dealing with the same lender. However, it might be that you could claim the document they and you agreed to in order to sell was deceptive and you believed it covered both. Time to get out all the documents from that painful episode and flyspeck them. Or have an attorney do it for you. As always, YMMV
Do you have any documentation that the lender agreed to a short sale for "both" mortgages"? It does seem a bit odd that one company would agree to a short sale, but only for a first mortgage,and not the second held on the property. Are you certain the property was qualified for a short sale as well? As suggested, go through all your paperwork, as this is a key item that should have been reviewed, and approved, prior to sale.
Sorry, but I left out key item above.... Remember, "approval" of a short sale is really approving the buyer's purchase offer. A lender can approve to receive less money than owed, but that does not always equate to the seller's debt obligation being "settled in full". Again, read through all your paperwork, I am certain the lender "reserved" the right to pursue collections of any remaining debt.
