Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: In debt ....bankrupacy?

Why would you pay 25% more because the seller was delinquent on taxes? If the house was only worth $160K there is no reason on earth why you should kick in another $40K to help the seller pay his taxes. That was pure charity on your part, based on what you've said.

$400 a month sounds high for a $10K second, but it depends upon how fast it was to pay off....a bank home equity line of credit would be 1/3 to 1/4 of that..........

If you really have 30K of equity in a 200K house, I don't necessarily agree that refinancing is out of the question, even with fairly bad credit. How much have you shopped around? You might be making a regrettable mistake to file Ch. 7 at this point.

I would say see a credit counselor. You didn't say anything about your income and other expenses, but unless there is more to this than your question reveals, your situation is far from hopeless and Ch. 7 probably isn't your best alternative. Yes, you could lose your home.