Well, I just need to vent. I just found out today that ANOTHER family is ditching their home on my block. There are 9 homes on my street and when this guy leaves that will make 5 empty homes. I just don't get it, can't wrap my mind around how SO MANY people (on one street) can just walk.

5 years ago I became ill and had to give up my job. First thing my husband and I did was call the mortgage company to see what they could do for us. Our thinking was we are not going to loose our investment!! (They did help us by cutting our payment in half for 2 years).

3 of the homes have been empty for 2 years, the prices are so low I could throw up. The homes are 1500+ sq ft brick colonial's built in the 1950's - all really beautiful. I saw one of them on line selling for 54,000 ~ we paid 148,000 8 years ago.

My formerly pretty block looks like an abandonded field with all the overgrown yards. I can't sleep at night b/c I am so worried that we will be broken into. I am becoming embarrassed about where I live when I used to be so proud. I'm wondering if we should just pack up and leave too - why not - there is no way we will ever get our money back!! In fact we are loosing money every day we stay!!

I know its really hard right now. So many people are struggling with money (including my family). But the first thing we do is pay the mortagage! (one family who left bought a new car instead of paying for their house)

I am just so angry!! Angry at the people leaving, VERY angry for the mortgage companies for handing out money to people who could clearly not afford these homes (or the up keep of them) and angry at my city for not going after the banks to get them to take care of these overgrown yards!!

Everytime I think things can't get worse, they do!!

Thanks, I just needed to vent (my husband is tired of hearing about it).

Anybody want to buy a house?

Don't feel bad. In January 07 we paid $782 for our 4 br, 2 bath house with a pool in CA. Fastforward to July 08. We have been reassessed for our property taxes at $540k. That is a $240k difference in only 18 months. I have no other option except dump it or stay. We are staying for now. Good luck.

Susan- that's highly offensive for you to assume you know that nothing in my life has happened that wasn't planned for..

My deepest apologies. Your right, when I and my husband combined were making well over $150,000 a year, we took out a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and a payment that was well within our abilities to pay. We had enough savings to cover three and possibly four months in the event of an emergency. But, apparently it was my fault that I was laid off from my job. That was a consequence of my taking that job. And, I should have known based on my age, weight and family history that I was going to become ill and have to take extended time off from work without pay. Oh, and my husband most certainly is at fault for the economy taking a bad turn and his commissions falling off. That was his consequence for accepting a good job to feed his family, put a roof over their heads and clothes on their back. Dammit, what were we thinking. I accept full responsibilty for the economy, my health, rising gas prices, world hunger and everything else. Yep, hold me accountable for all of that.

May we also blame you for the war? Seems like Mrs.FF doesn't believe that the president is to blame for anything so who's left? I was hoping you were offering. :cool2: (Yes, that's rolling my eyes.)

I had a shitty career even with an MBA until 4 years ago. The economy has been very cyclical so perhaps Mrs. just happened to have only been an adult during the good times. To appreciate the good, one must go through bad sometime.

Susan - what I don't get with your situation is why Countrywide would want to take from you. Wouldn't they make more money keeping you paying what is probably a higher house price? If you default, they have to sell (which means a realtor cost, I presume) and closing costs and then probably selling at a lower price. I just don't get it.

SickNTired, thank you for your concern. I understand that you are definitely just looking out for your fellow LBT'ers. In this day and age, with identity theft running rampant, it is definitely advised that we all be careful about who, when and how we disclose our personal and sensitive financial information to.

SickNTired, thank you for your concern. I understand that you are definitely just looking out for your fellow LBT'ers. In this day and age, with identity theft running rampant, it is definitely advised that we all be careful about who, when and how we disclose our personal and sensitive financial information to.

as someone having lived/living through identity theft - i want to caution some who put out their real names/pictures - even on a support forum. you can never imagine what a toll this can take on an individual family....

my favorite was GMAC showing up to my home to repossess a truck i NEVER owned or purchased - but was bought by someone in MO, and well i live in TX.

Oh, just as a final follow up, the mess with my loan has been straightened out. They admitted that the person who was handling my account prepared all the paperwork, then went on vacation and left the paperwork sitting on her desk. So, they extended the deadline. I sent all the required paperwork yesterday via FedEx and the loan modification was approved and we get to keep our home.

For those of you who were so kind and offered me advice, support and well wishes, thank you so much for everything. It was really appreciated and I will not forget it.

as someone having lived/living through identity theft - i want to caution some who put out their real names/pictures - even on a support forum. you can never imagine what a toll this can take on an individual family....

my favorite was GMAC showing up to my home to repossess a truck i NEVER owned or purchased - but was bought by someone in MO, and well i live in TX.

Ex-wives are dangerous too. Two years ago I decided to do run our credit report because I became concerned about all the identity theft going on and thought I should begin monitoring our credit report. Turns out hubby's ex, whom he has been divorced from since 1991, has somehow been taking credit out in his name. Of course, she would get the credit, and never paid any of the bills and it negatively effected our credit rating. We ended up in court with her over that, and won.

Ex-wives are dangerous too.

ummm, hadn't planned to go there - but that WAS the source of our issues; hubby's ex. there is now a 113k judgement against her, but i DOUBT i'll see a dime of that, but i still spent a fortune in legal fees. now how is that a "choice" i made or could result in choices made by myself or DH? she had his SSN/DOB/DL . you can't, so therefore - you deal.

Oh, just as a final follow up, the mess with my loan has been straightened out. They admitted that the person who was handling my account prepared all the paperwork, then went on vacation and left the paperwork sitting on her desk. So, they extended the deadline. I sent all the required paperwork yesterday via FedEx and the loan modification was approved and we get to keep our home.

For those of you who were so kind and offered me advice, support and well wishes, thank you so much for everything. It was really appreciated and I will not forget it.

OMG, you're just now telling us the good news?!? j/k I am absolutely THRILLED and ECSTATIC for you all. :cool2:

I just now also found out that a friend of a friend's son is leukemia-free. What a day!!!:biggrin2:

ummm, hadn't planned to go there - but that WAS the source of our issues; hubby's ex. there is now a 113k judgement against her, but i DOUBT i'll see a dime of that, but i still spent a fortune in legal fees. now how is that a "choice" i made or could result in choices made by myself or DH? she had his SSN/DOB/DL . you can't, so therefore - you deal.

Is she going to jail b/c if not, she absolutely should be. Dang

May we also blame you for the war? Seems like Mrs.FF doesn't believe that the president is to blame for anything so who's left? I was hoping you were offering. :cool2: (Yes, that's rolling my eyes.)

I had a shitty career even with an MBA until 4 years ago. The economy has been very cyclical so perhaps Mrs. just happened to have only been an adult during the good times. To appreciate the good, one must go through bad sometime.

I am shocked that you people seem to be so hung up on my age. I mean, really? Seems petty.

Again- the nature of the economy is to be cyclical. It's expected to go through ups and downs. I don't understand your point here, I would think you're contradicting yourself. If I had "only been an adult during the good times" wouldn't that mean that I, myself, had lived beyond my means and now want to bellyache about the soaring price of gas? Hmmm...

Susan- First of all, I never attacked you from the beginning. My post was prior to yours and you assumed that I was saying YOU made bad decisions. I haven't lived in your shoes nor do I want to. I don't know the decisions you've made nor have I looked at your finances. The only thing I said from the beginning (which you seem to take so personally) is that MOST the people in the mess (and by definition MOST means more than 50%) are there because they took on too much. Maybe you had consequences you couldn't forsee... you still got there because of choices you made. Whether they were reasonable choices, I don't have the ability to know. However, instead of placing so much blame on EVERYTHING else, maybe you should be thinking how someone your age, at one point making $150k a year only managed to save 3 months worth of reserves... you made a choice- take responsibility for it.

You could've sold your home when you got sick to begin with, you could've had your husband work a zillion different jobs or worked at McDonald's, you could've saved more on that 150k salary, you could've taken in a renter... maybe these weren't options for you... but there are plenty of choices you could have made.

I know what it feels like to be without a home- don't assume my life experiences... but even when I didn't have a home, I didn't blame anyone else... I was wondering how I got MYSELF into the mess and how to get MYSELF out of it. And I learned what NOT to do in the future, so it wouldn't happen again. I'm glad things are working out for you and your home. I certainly don't wish my actual life experiences on anyone else because I know the pain it can cause, but I hope that this financial period we as a nation are suffering causes people to learn some things.

Even if our choices are reasonable, and the majority of people would make the same decision in that same time period, it's still a choice that you made. We can't choose the consequence of any choice we make, but we can choose the choice. I don't expect people to live in a hole and not spend any money- I just wish that people realized that by making any choice, or a lifetime of choices, they are subject to risk and not try to blame everyone else for their troubles.

I feel like I should clarify. It's not that I don't have sympathy for people, or that I'm living a lavish lifestyle in this financial environment. I'm really grateful I haven't had serious health issues, that I married a man who has and would work a million jobs if that's what it took, and one who didn't have any baggage from prior relationships. I'm grateful that I have a job that is (for now) secure and that if I did lose my job, we have family we can turn to for help. But I worry about our lifestyles and our mentality of entitlement.

If I lost my job- you bet I would be mad. I don't blame you for feeling like a victim to your circumstances, I might feel the same way.

We should all be grateful for the things we have been given, and realize that at ANY time, these things can happen to us, so we need to be prepared.

Speaking of finances......got paid today so it's time to pay my savings account.

Um yea, at 41, Susan and I have just had more life experiences, FF. So pls take the FF and step off the high horse, pls.

G'nite everyone

Edited July 17, 200818 yr by SickNTired

At this point, I am going to step away from this thread. As a moderator, I have to be careful about how I respond to people and I no longer find myself able to be objective and able to attack the idea and not the person.

Yeah, we had the ex wife issue too.....now WE have a lien on HER house!!!!

I AM an ex wife, and would be way to chicken...or smart or something to have pulled these stunts!!!!

Guess my problem, was I shouldn't have married a man with a bad heart....well the valve was bad---but you would be hard pressed to find a better man!!! It DID however put us into some serious financial difficulty with the complications that arose.....

Kat