Saturday, February 25, 2012

Part 2 of the housing debacle


So in my last post I talked about "bragging" and Words with Friends and gave you background on what we lovingly refer to as "The MANS." We don't live in that house anymore. The other shoe fell. The housing market  started to crash and my husband's company closed his office. He took a job out of Wilmington, NC and we tried to sell our house--no bites. His new company allowed him to work out of the house (on commission only) and we were primarily living off of savings. Luckily, we had a lot of that from when times were good. Only, it's funny (or in fact, not-so-funny) how quickly you burn through savings when there is hardly any money coming in...too quickly.  I went back to teaching (you know--that lucrative profession that is so revered...) and we attempted to make it on what we were both bringing in, but we worked through our savings and the teaching salary didn't cut it. My husband looked for work and finally found it--across the country in Kalispell, Montana (or MonFREAKINtana) and we tried a short sale on our house. Only AFTER we decided on the short sale (and had buyers) did people start coming out of the woodwork wanting to buy the house. Almost everyone I knew called to tell me about SOMEONE who wanted to buy our home. Only WE were in Montana and our HOME was in Virginia. We relied on our "realtor" to do right by us and THAT was like the ZILLIONTH mistake we made in what we can refer to as "The Downfall of the Corwin Empire." Okay--THAT may be braggartly (?!), but it makes me laugh--I'm not sure why. I'm not sure why ANYTHING makes me laugh, so give me a break, okay?

So I agree that if you are selling your home it is okay to use a For Sale by Owner, HelpUSell or something along those lines, but after trying to sell our home and failing, we put it on the market a year later, and as I mentioned above, decided to do a short sale (after depleting our savings) and went through HepUSell. The problem with this plan was the fact that realtors for those companies only make a set amount--UNLESS they do a short sale. The guy we worked with told us all about it--and that he primarily does short sales because it's the only way for him to make good money. Red flag? You'd think, but no. He was clearly not inspired to do any WORK for us, he just wanted to collect his fat check. After dragging his feet for eight or nine months (and preventing the fine family who waited patiently to move into "The MANS" from looking to purchase elsewhere), the deal finally fell through. He never passed the paperwork on to the right people...though we cannot solely blame him. WE probably should have tried to sell sooner--instead of trying to make it work when times were tough and even if he HAD done his part...Wells Fargo OWNED our loan and had HSBC servicing it so it was almost impossible to get ANYONE to help us or to answer our questions. After nearly eight months, our loan ended up with Countrywide who rejected the short sale immediately. I don't even remember the whole thing, it was maddening--especially when we already felt like the dregs of society for doing the short sale--NOW we were moving into FORECLOSURE...for shame!

 What I DO remember about this time is getting a phone call from HelpUSell guy on a particularly trying day after I had just had surgery. We hadn't heard from him in a while and had begun to lose hope, as we could not afford to keep up payments on a home we were not living in AND pay for a place...well...to ACTUALLY live in with our family.

Just a side note, there was definitely a time when I was afraid that we would not have a place to live--AT ALL. I know that family would have eventually learned of what was going on and insisted that we stay with them rather than be homeless, but this was a definite possibility for our family. I have NEVER been so afraid--what kind of parent WAS I anyway? How could I let it get to the point where my babies could very well not have a place to sleep? I am so glad that I have NEVER been one to judge people who are homeless or needy or...well, I try not to judge ever, but nobody's perfect. I'm not BRAGGING here, I am simply stating a fact. Whenever friends would complain about other "dregs" of society, I would always think of my friend Jen and the three sides to every story. You NEVER know what is going on in a person's life because you have NEVER walked in that person's shoes. Now it seemed I WAS walking in another person;s shoes. I didn't love it...

 My husband was at work and I was attempting to get food for the maniacs. Realtor-guy called and was manic on the phone, asking me to quickly send $5,000 so we could finalize the deal.

Here's me: " WHAT?! Five THOUSAND dollars?  If I had FIVE THOUSAND dollars, do you REALLY think I would be living in a 600 square foot TOWNHOME across the street from a drug dealer in MonFREAKINtana?! I don't THINK so!"  Just a note about this--the townhome was NOT so bad--it was just SO SMALL and there were naked babies running around outside all the time...we were able to move to a larger, nicer home after about six months (where MY babies were the naked babies running around outside). It turns out that the landlord of the townhome was great and the landlord in the NICER home was a creep, but I digress...

The short sale fell through, mostly because our "realtor" was an idiot, though I'm sure the fact that we had to stop paying the mortgage didn't help. The best part was the fact that we would get notices from the HOA demanding that we cut our lawn and fix our mailbox and do things that we did not have the money or time to either fly back to Virginia (about $2000) to fix it ourselves or to hire someone to do it for us--especially on a home we were regrettably losing. Irresponsible, maybe--but we were definitely going through some things. I only felt bad about all of this because of the dear friends we left in Fredericksburg who had to LOOK at our trashed home--the home that was once the subject of MUCH bragging...and think that it was bringing down THEIR property values (which would continue to drop--with or without our help, but who KNEW this would happen?!).

Well, THIS sounds like a big pity party or something and if there is ONE thing I CANNOT STAND (more than a braggart) it's a victim. I played the "victim" once in real life in the late eighties and early nineties (some of you, if I didn't lose you eighteen paragraphs ago, knew her and it was NOT fun for you, I'm CERTAIN!) and decided that I could not STAND to be that annoying for my ENTIRE life! So please do not think that in ANY part of this I wanted to be A. A BRAGGART or 2. A VICTIM. It is just one of my nonsensical rants to inform or entertain.

...and to perhaps challenge you to a WWF game...

9 comments:

  1. You are amazing. It takes someone who is truly comfortable in their own skin to tell their story. In NO way are you being either a braggart OR a victim. You are being honest and true and I have nothing but respect for you :)

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    1. You just made me choke up a little bit--in the GOOD way! THANK YOU once again my friend!

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  2. Wow, I had to read that twice! haha..But thank you for sharing!I like when you stated, "You NEVER know what is going on in a person's life because you have NEVER walked in that person's shoes." That is such an important thing for people to realize. I try to think of that everyday in my job...or when I walk through Walmart..lol.

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    1. Did you have to read it twice because it was SO VERY CONFUSING?! Thanks for sticking with it and for hearing the part about walking in someone else's shoes. IF ONLY EVERYONE WOULD AT LEAS Try TO DO IT occasionally, RIGHT?! ESPECIALLY in YOUR job! The Walmart comment almost hurt me physically I was laughing so hard...:o)

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    2. Haha, no I had to read it twice to make sure I got all the details, because as I tell my students "That's what good readers do." lol! And as for Walmart...I have anxiety about going there sometimes, mostly because I don't like being ran over by someone in a motorized cart. It's totally not fun!

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  3. First, I have to say, you need to start owning your funniness and greatness. You just are.

    Second, I love the 3 sides thing, your side, their side and the truth..and how beautifully you craft it into your posts.

    Third, I just saw you mentioned me in your last post. I just speak the truth. You rock.

    Fourth, I too, haven't played WWF in days and when I went back today realized I was 14 games behind. And you can tell your mother, I almost always win...by a lot. You are one of my toughest competitors and the first person I played a 97 point word (or something) against and still lost. Painful.

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    1. Have I mentioned how much I love you?! Seriously--we should hang out more...or EVER...
      I feel like my whining is starting to be energy-sucking, so I will try to stop that...and to start owning those qualities you say I have--I really DO need therapy as this is VERY hard for me right now! I won't go so far as to wear an "I am great AND funny" shirt, but WILL try to embrace those things--and thank you AGAIN for your (all too) kind words!
      I LOVE playing WWF with you because, well, you're YOU--AND you give me some serious competition. And I WILL tell my mother! See--FACT: You almost always win. NOT bragging, just stating as a fact. Why can't it always be that simple?!
      I LIVE BY the three sides to a story thing--always used it in my classroom AND in parenting. I can't take credit for it, but I WILL continue to use it. It really fits almost EVERY situation.
      Again--YOU are AWESOME and I am lucky to have you as my never-seen-but-heard-from-friend! ;o)

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  4. Nika, As always, your blog is very enlightening as well as entertaining. You are a VERY special person & don't ever forget it. I had a friend who once told me she wanted me to look in the mirror every morning and practice saying "NO". You need to look in the mirror every day & say "I am very special, & very strong...I can get through anything" I'm sorry if this sounds "corny". xoxo

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    1. It doesn't sound corny at all--it sounds like great advice! Thank you for your kind words and for your support! :0)

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