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Geraldine Said:

I have a home equity loan. In Texas, the 2 parties must agree on a fair market value. If not, is my loan null?

We Answered:

Howdy. I live in Texas and have had a few real estate dealings. It sounds to me like you don't have much of a case. If you signed the FMV form, that's all that necessary, since the lender usually fills the thing out and submits it to you for approval. The lender's signing is an implied agreement, given that they provided the value figures on the form. Remember, lots of things in the Texas Constitution have been amended by legal precedence over the years, without those cases being included IN the Constitution.

Even if you have a leg to stand on with no actual second signature, I would bet that a judge would side with the lender in your case, simply due to that old standard legal mumbojumbo that says "this is what is commonly accepted as proper legal practice".

You might also want to check with your original lien holder to see if they have any input on the lender who holds your second lien. Sometimes, these home equity folks tend to be a little shady in the way they do things. If you call them on it, they may back down from foreclosure or give you some alternatives to losing your house.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

FiveStarAuthor@aol.com

(I've edited several books on real estate, so I actually do know something about this subject, though I'm hardly an expert.)