GOLDEN Bachelor winner Theresa Nist has a secret bankrupt past in which she lost her $200,000 home with her late husband.
While Theresa will be hoping for a “happily ever after” ending with her husband-to-be Gerry Turner, 72, to whom she got engaged on the show’s finale in November, she endured a difficult time financially in her previous marriage.
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The 70-year-old New Jersey native enjoyed a loving marriage for 42 years to her late husband Bill, who died at the age of 63 in 2014, but they went through their fair share of money woes.
The U.S. Sun can reveal that the couple filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and lost their home a year later when their son Tommy was a teenager and their daughter Jen was only six.
The pair had been married for 19 years at the time.
The Chapter 7 bankruptcy was assigned to the New Jersey bankruptcy courts in February 1991, which was discharged four months later, official records show.
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This sort of bankruptcy is typically used by low-income earners who’ve fallen behind on unsecured debts such as credit cards, loans, and medical bills.
To pay the outstanding debts, the pair’s assets – property is exempt – are sold off by a court-appointed trustee to pay priority creditors until the court is satisfied that any remaining debts can be discharged.
As the bankruptcy was going through the courts, they were hit with a double whammy as their mortgage company also took them to court and they ended up losing their home in Cranford, New Jersey.
According to court docs, it was the first time the pair had taken out a mortgage – buying the place for $190,000 in May 1988 and borrowing $168,700 from the bank.
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But, in March 1992, the Union County Sheriff ordered at the New Jersey Superior Court for the home to be transferred to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation for $100 to cover the couple’s $196,182 debt, made up of mortgage arrears, interest and legal costs. This is called a “writ of execution.”
Just two years later, Theresa was also pursued for a federal tax lien owing $8,246, which was discharged in November 1995.
Thankfully, improved financial fortunes were around the corner for Theresa and Bill, her childhood sweetheart and a retired stock trader.
CHANGE OF FORTUNES
In October 1999, they bought another home in Cranford, for $239,000 using a $191,200 loan, then sold it for $336k in December 2002, making a profit of $97,000.
They had yet more success with a house in Rahway, which they purchased for $237,000 in January 2003, borrowing $177,750.
They sold it 18 months later for $285,000, making a handsome $48,000 profit minus taxes and fees.
In September 2009, they then went on to buy the humble property in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, that Theresa still lives in today, paying $311,000.
Her current property is one level, has three bedrooms, one bathroom, and 1,152 square feet of space.
It was built in 1953 and features a shed in the back for extra storage, a driveway, a small fence in the front of the house with a pathway leading up to the door, and a porch.
MORTGAGED UP
Publicly recorded documents with the Monmouth County Clerk reveal that Theresa has taken out four mortgages since she bought the home.
The first was for $254,900, which they paid off a year later in August 2010.
In the same month, they took out another loan with the same lender for $249,600, which was discharged in January 2013.
They immediately took out a further $240,000 mortgage just a year before Bill’s sad passing.
For an unknown reason, Theresa took out yet another mortgage for $200,000 in September 2018.
She was able to pay off the loan in September 2020.
LAKESIDE HOME
Theresa will be wishing for a secure financial future with her new beau Gerry, 72, a retired restauranteur, who lives in a lakeside home in Hudson, Indiana, worth $637,000 – and has a reported $1.5M fortune.
LaGrange County property records reveal he paid $375k for the four-bed, three-bath pad in June 2020, three years after his wife Toni tragically died from an unknown illness at the age of 65.
Gerry and Theresa will be married on January 4, 2024, in a wedding that will be live-streamed on ABC.
The couple will honeymoon in Italy after the ceremony.
The U.S. Sun reached out to reps for The Golden Bachelor for comment.