Property Taxes Went Up, Property Value Dropped, And The Hoa Is Raising Rates. I Can’t Afford To Live In My House Anymore, And I Don’t Think Anyone Will But It From Me. What Are My Options?

Location: Colorado

Background information: My now ex-wife and I moved into this house in May 2023. I didn’t want to move here because of the HOA, but she threatened to leave and take the kids over it. At the time, the HOA payment was $200 per month, this also covered the water bill.

In August, she told me she wanted a divorce. After arguing over the kids and the house, she moved out of state before the divorce was final, and didn’t bother to come back for the court date, so I won by default. I got the house and custody of the kids. I had to refinance to get her name off the title, which because interest rates had gone up, this meant my payment also went up. Around this time, the HOA announced they had received a cease and desist from the state over the wastewater system, and the monthly payment would go up to $400. I put my house up for sale September of 2024, but it was mostly to help with the childcare situation more than the HOA situation at that point in time. After several potential buyers were scared away by the already high HOA fee, I took the house back off the market and found a different solution.

In August, the property taxes went up, increasing my monthly mortgage payment by almost two hundred dollars, and the HOA announced that at the rate they’re going through the money in their account on the rental waste water unit, and paying lawyers and engineers to deal with the issue and keep the state at bay, they would be out of money early next year, and to avoid insolvency, they would have to raise the monthly payment to $690.

I tried to refinance my house, and after the appraisal, the lender basically told me that the value of my house had gone down (I guess the whole neighborhood did) and that they wouldn’t be able to help me at all because I currently owe more than my house is worth. I can’t afford to live here anymore, but also have zero confidence in someone actually buying this place. What are my options?