About to file...Last minute worries

[Lana]

So my lawyer is paid and she says we should get a date in November. I personally cannot wait. But a few things concern me.
-I'm a realtor. Specifically a short sale realtor. All my clients are way upside down and behind and I counsel them on this debt and solve their house problems with their lenders. This requires that I stay pretty public to advertise myself to get more business. I keep thinking someone will call me out publicly for filing BK. Never mind that I am letting the house go and a short sale does me personally no good since I'm off the hook anyway and my problem is not the house so much as all the other debt I picked up. I feel like such a hypocrite and I'm scared the world will know and I'll be explaining to people how I can be such a great short sale realtor, but still be filing bk and letting my house go.
-My business is starting to do really well. It is a newer business so its not why I ended up broke. However since my turn around on short sales is so slow I'll still not pass median next month before filing, but I am likely to make much more next year than this year. I mean not enough to pay my debt, but enough that I'll be pretty comfortable next year, especially without my debt. I feel really guilty about that. Like I don't deserve it almost.
Whats my problem?

[OhioFiler]

Your "problem" is you worry too much about what others might think.

My guess is every short sale you deal with the individual could care less about your personal financial situation. They are focused exclusively on their own situation.

[JohnDoe]

If a client was to call you out on it (highly unlikely) You can simply explain why in YOUR case a short sale was not an option. As long as you are honest with your clients and don't try to bs them it thinking a short sale is right for them when it is in fact not, you should have nothing to be concerned about. As far as a competitor calling you out on it, I personally would rather be you than him in that situation. Its easy to defend your actions, a competitor would have no defense. I don't think most people after this economic situation are going to think twice about people who have filed a bk.

[klandsb]

Lana... In all honesty I feel alot like you but I am so tired of robbing peter to pay paul and not having any money to do anything at all. Like others have said its a business decision.
You have to sink or swim, I am choosing to swim, maybe upstream but I am swimming

[Regrets]

I feel more comfortable these days working with someone who knows how stressful it is to have financial problems. I know I am not getting answers steeped in judgement, and that they realize ky problems are serious. Honestly, I even kind of felt judged by the assistant standing in for my attorney the other day.

[AngelinaCatHub]

As the others have said, that was your perception about the assistant probably not true at all. If asked about your experience by a customer, you may even boast, "look, I've been where you are, on both sides of the fence". You have experience and it could even be a sales point. Make lemonade of that lemon. Tell them your reason for bk and that you even were worse than they. It would Schmooze your customers a bit and make you look experienced. LOL. 'Hub

[frogger]

We are in business, and know that a few of our customers will hear about it, but most won't. As long as we don't leave our customers/creditors holding the bag, then they really don't care. For the past several months, we have been making sure that we don't charge anything locally, don't make any preferential payments, and are not in debt in our area. We have been paying cash/check for anything that we need to buy.

It's not announced in the paper, so who really cares? Probably expect to see some of the people that we know at a 341 hearing with us...

[Flowers]

Lana, you are a licensed real estate professional, you've done the training for the sale of property. You have a right to earn a living, no matter if you've filed for BK or not.
You did the responsible thing here. Please hold your head high. I am sure your competitors are not so perfect....best to you...