Would you be n-n-n-nervous?

Would you be a little nervous if you were an Illinois resident and owned this home in Florida?

Assessed Property Value (Tax Roll 2005) $377,720
Assessed Property Value (Tax Roll 2006) $555,670*
Assessed Property Value (Tax Roll 2007) $501,910
Assessed Property Value (Tax Roll 2008) $446,460
Assessed Property Value (Tax Roll 2009) $302,800

*Now, suppose you bought the property in September 2006 for $620,000... and arranged a mortgage on the property for $698,000... (note that the mortgage exceeds the purchase price of the home by more than 10% ($78,000) and exceeds the highest assessed value by more than $140,000; not in and of itself necessarily impossible if you have plenty of other collateral).

And let's say that you told your banker that it would be your "second home" and that you even signed a Second Home Rider at closing. And then must have had a memory lapse just three months later when your wife, a co-signer on the deed and on the mortgage, declared herself to be a Florida resident and then claimed a $25,000 homestead exemption.

Is a home where you take the homestead exemption really a "second home"?

You could be almost $400,000 "under water" on that home. Would you have enough collateral to keep a smile on your banker's face, if he called you in for a little "chat"? Especially about the Second Home Rider claim? (Those are your signatures, aren't they?)

N-n-n-no, I'm n-n-n-not n-n-n-nervous...