Words of Encouragement please!!!!

[tkharvey]

After nine long months of trying to decide whether or not we would have to let our house go in our bankruptcy has come to an end and YES, we are surrendering our "dream home" that we built four years ago (monthly payment $3095). I know it's just a house and we will be better off having a total fresh start after filing our Chapter 7. Please, any words of encouragement from anyone having gone through this themselves would be appreciated! I know it's for the best, but it's still hard. We are going to stay her as long as we can (projected foreclosure sale date is 12/14) so that we can save some money for deposits, etc. I guess I'll feel better once we find a nice house to rent and feel confident we can find something in the $1,500 - 1,700 range. This has been such a long painful process and I'm just ready to move on and "start over".

[frogger]

Good luck! And always remember that a house is just a house. A home is where you make it.

[JRScott]

It'll be okay .

You'll find something that causes you less stress which will lead to a happier marriage

[DSIG]

save your money! The tactical bk manual says that foreclosures can take 6-months to 2 years. So, milk it while you can and in the interim look for more affordable arrangements. Not sure where you live but the mortgage seems a bit hefty so maybe the foreclosure may take longer.

[NewLifeAhead]

I know what you are going through as we are doing the same thing right now. We're letting the house go in a ch 7 and will ride it out as long as we can. Finding a rental is a concern but you will find those that have posted on this forum that if you're upfront with a landlord (private ones), you can find ones willing to lease to you.

Best wishes to you and your family. Living stress free from debt is a lot healthier than having a nice house with a large monthly payment.

[DeadManCrawling]

Dreams are overrated. At least when they intersect with real estate.

Congratulations on giving the bank back THEIR home. It was an illusion too many of us bought into, to a severe detriment to our families.

Our dream home was a monument to self-gratification, a towering edifice of self-indulgence with porches and patios, balconies, pools, libraries, grand dininig room that seated 14, and the costs to match.

I will be happy to trade an $800/month electric bill and 4k mortgage payment for something more in line with mere mortals.

I can't wait to talk to the bank when we finally decide to call them. It will be nice to put THEM on the rack and see what that poor customer service person has to say.

Me: Sure, I will consider the Obama plan. Fax me all the documents. I will examine them for the next 8-12 weeks, during which time I will lose half of them. Next time you call, another member of my family, who is totally unfamiliar with anything, will answer and speak to you. Probably my 16 year old. He will explain that we might have approved your plan, he can't recall.

Then he wil ask you to refax everything to a different number. Better, why don't you scan and email it all? Oops, that was our OLD email address. Silly me. Why don't you mail it to me. The US postal service loses NOTHING!

Oh, and if you FedEx it, well, that wasn't ME that signed for it. Strange, I know, it LOOKS like my name, but that is a totally different department.

Oh, I have a new telephone number as of five years ago. I forgot to tell ya? Very sorry.

And so on.

I know it won't change a damn thing, but since we are set to go this route anyway, it might be fun to hear the reactions from the bots on the other end of the line.

best wishes,

-dmc

[eddiep]

I just peed a little, that is perfect!!!

[backtoschool]

great post!!!!

I gave up a $4000 a month (plus utilities) luxury apartment in nyc for a modest but nice $750 apartment (including utilities) in the midwest, so I know what you mean. Even renters can feel relief from not having huge monthly expenses weighing them down each month.

[LuciluS]

DMC:

After a very stressful day, your post got me to laughing so hard that I,well, let's just say it occurs in older women whose bladders have dropped

Thank you DMC..I will be able to go to sleep with a smile on my face.

Luci

[LuciluS]

After nine long months of trying to decide whether or not we would have to let our house go in our bankruptcy has come to an end and YES, we are surrendering our "dream home" that we built four years ago (monthly payment $3095). I know it's just a house and we will be better off having a total fresh start after filing our Chapter 7. Please, any words of encouragement from anyone having gone through this themselves would be appreciated! I know it's for the best, but it's still hard. We are going to stay her as long as we can (projected foreclosure sale date is 12/14) so that we can save some money for deposits, etc. I guess I'll feel better once we find a nice house to rent and feel confident we can find something in the $1,500 - 1,700 range. This has been such a long painful process and I'm just ready to move on and "start over".

Wow that's a large house payment. Stay as long as you can. Check out your State's Repossession Laws. Gee, I think one state it's 2 years before you get the boot out the door.

Our house payment is $900 a month; however, we have the standard brick home with 3 bdr. 2bth, large great room with gas log fireplace, huge kitchen with a bar that separates it from our dining room. Nothing formal. It's was built in 1998, has a 2 car garage with .67 acres & 8 ft. privacy fence around it. Just got out highest electric bill (heat of the summer) and it was $151.48. Gas was $29.00.

We live in a very small town and love how our neighbors are not so close together. Have a under roof front porch & across the street is 2 vacant lots. Can't sell them as the back part is in a flood plane zone. So I'm able to go out in the morning, with my truck stop coffee mug (huge) and read the paper. It's a home to US as next one will be Heaven. We purchased our home on 12/20/07 and our area of AR was not dramatically affected by the market. We may be under by $5,000 or so is all or it could go the other way.

You are making the right decision. As I've always told my hubby Money Can't Buy Me Love nor Happiness. It's God, family and friends who give me love and happiness and vice versa. It's tuff to walk away from a place you called home, BUT it's dang sure easier, especially with the economy tanking & no end in sight, Yet, to rent a Home not a House but a Home.

Yes, if able to do so, get your Fresh Start quickly. We are keeping our home and dh's truck as my SSD covers those 2 payments, His earnings pays for the rest. Which, BTW, with consumer spending down, warehouse are chocked full. So places like International Paper, AR Kraft, and etc. are shipping by rail because it takes longer to get there than by a Big Truck. So hubby's paychecks have been sporadic and in the mail this week was a small paycheck. O Me, I went and paid the piddly amounts due from my Breast Biopsy in Feb., skin cancer surgery in Mar., dh hospitalized a week in April & off work most of Apri as I didn't want to have to list them in the Bankruptcy which ends this month with a filing in Sept.

I know it's even tuffer when you had your house built. Keep in Mind, tomorrow brings another Day and we are Alive! Will pray that in the near future, you will be able to build another home, but on a smaller scale. Suggesstion please? If you are on up in age like me at 55 (100% disabled) or concerned about possibly a family member moving in, build a home that is advantageous for us small people ROFLOL! My Dh says to our furkid, Look Missy, mommy has no legs. Which isn't far from the truth. Petite size pants still have to be cut off and re-hemmed.

I've thought about giving up our home as I'm 100% disabled & Dh is usually gone from Sun - Fri/pm or Sat. am. But Dh really likes our home and not only does he work hard driving a big truck, but he has to do the grocery shopping & cleaning of the inside of home and mow the .67 acres we have each week. He say it's theraputic for him...I'm so thankful It Is!

Sending you Much Luck!

Luci

[BigJohn]

It is not the end of the world. Actually, getting unburden with your debt, you will be able to go and see the world.

[freefall]

The economic recovery is a lie. Unemployment is going up and so are foreclosures. We will all have to re-think what we consider to be a happy standard of living. Of course there have always been the rich, but the middle class is done, and with it, so is the American dream.

Can you imagine what the Christmas season is going to be like this year? Can you imagine what it's going to be like when there is no cash for clunkers anymore? Can you imagine what it's going to be like, when the government stops infusing cash into the economy?

If you aren't going to buy a 40,000 dollar SUV, and I'm not buying one, and if you aren't going to lay down a credit card for twenty-five books you'll never read from Barnes and Noble, and if you've stopped buying the name brand stuff...

There's enough reserve to float this recession for a year or two, but not much after that.

You watch: the new chic will be living on the least amount of money possible.

[kenshirley]

Hang in there. We put a newly designed upscale dream kitchen in our home just a few years ago saying this is going to be our retirement home and we will die here so it's just money.
Even at that we still only owed about 50% of what our home and land was worth.
Then one day we decided we were stuck in a rut and we wanted to travel in an RV. In retirement we could not afford the home and the RV and travel so we decided we would just buy an RV and set it up like we had so many before that we had in the past.
While we were setting up that RV the way we wanted it for full time travel year round, the housing market started going down and then gas went high.
OK we are still OK we can afford the gas and we still have lots of equity in the home so we put the home on the market.
While we were waiting for it to sell my wife lost her job for medical reasons like I had done two years before.
This put us in a position that we had to sell either the RV or the home pretty quick or we were in trouble with just our retirement income.
Poor planning or our part? Yep. Blame the economy? You can, but things happen and we were not prepared for it like many here.
We surrendered the home and the RV down the road. We lost everything we had built and dreamed about.
But we still have our retirement and that's better than some have right now so we look to the future.
We were just thankful that the BK process could leave us debt free.

[tkharvey]

Thanks all, for your replies. I know it's best for us and our family. We live in Florida where the real estate market is terrible right now, and rentals are plentiful if we can just get someone to rent to our family.

"Big John", your post hit home with me......we haven't taken a family vacation in I can't remember when. Maybe now without this huge house payment we can

[whipster1]

DMC that post is hilarious!