Final.....The Crash is truly coming a first hand account.

[Big Mike 34]

My nieces Husband has now found a good job in another state...He has been there for the last few weeks breaking into the New Job and finding a suitable Rental....She has been selling most of their stuff on CraigsList (too expensive to move) and will no doubt get replacement stuff off Craigslist when she gets to the new location) Her husband will fly in this week for their Daughters Graduation...They will drive back to their new state.

Their home will be spotless when they leave at the end of next week (already is)

All the the Instruction Booklets and Manuals are gathered, A list of phone #s for the utility companies and cable provider Etc. is put together....Pictures of the entire house, inside and out, will be taken in the next few days all this stuff with the keys will be given to the bank along with the Keys...They are moving and will go into foreclosure...When they leave their mortgage will be paid to date....their security system will be left in place along with the Camera's and taping system and and it's equipment.....THE HOUSE WILL BE TURNED OVER TO THE BANK

Financial....They paid $408,000 two years ago...have done at least $30,000 in improvements.. plus anything they may have had in equity is all gone ...the bank will be lucky to get $350,000 and have collected in payments between $50,000 and $60,000....My relatives WILL TAKE A BIG CREDIT HIT.

The mortgage company offered them a short sale option (But because they have to move a short sale would just cost them an additional $30,000 or so in real estate fees and state sales taxes) the husband is already working in a new state 2000 miles away THAT OPTION WOULDN'T WORK..... THEY were also offered the option to refinance at current appraisal... But they are moving because because they must, their Doctors have said they must move for their Youngest daughters health...Allergies have her bed ridden. Apparently the Allergens in this area are much worse for her then those in the state they are moving back to....The Mortgage Co. will have letters from their Doctors confirming all of that.....

These are honorable people, left with no reasonable solution, Their Mortgage Company has been more then fair and seem like very good people trying their best to Help them solve a tough mutual problem....(CountryWide holds the Mortgage)

They will turn over everything to their lawyer to handle from here on out and be gone by the end of next week... they will take a big Credit hit in addition to the money lost....Their partner in this venture... CountryWide....will also take a hit....

I would finally note that this is not a case of someone buying a house they could not afford ...he makes good money and could more then afford the house...This was not a bad loan and would have been considered a good loan by any financial institution....

This whole bubble bursting is not affecting ONLY people that over bought or lied on their credit application or lost their job...It could not be foreseen...It has never happened in Seattle (maybe a little in the late 60s Boeing crash) In their case they could not ride out the problem for the next 2 or 3 years...They HAVE to move.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

Mike, it's unfortunate about your relatives situation, but I think you are trying too hard to convince people that they are really great people and that they shouldn't be judged by a foreclosure. The reason I think you are trying too hard is that most reasonable people wouldn't judge them anyways.

It's all a business decision. The bank decided to lend them $X amount, knowing that there was a chance they would get less than $X back in return and a much greater chance they would get far more than $X in return. Your relatives meanwhile made a financial decision (probably the right one) that it was wise to save money but take a credit hit by going into foreclosure. End of story.

As a lesson, your story is good, because it points out the negative aspect of leverage in investments.

Best of luck to your family. I hope their child's health improves out of state.

[Civil Servant]

Elegantly put, RCC.

[Ubersalad]

I am falling for rcc...

[Cougar]

Mike, thanks for sharing your story. Best wishes to your family members.
Uber, is this Bubblematch.com? Could be The Tim's next venture!

[S-Crow]

Big Mike,

Please e-mail me. I've got a couple questions that may or may not be helpful to you.

tim @ legacyescrow.net

[rose-colored-coolaid]

Yikes

[Big Mike 34]

Rose:

My relatives story is meant only to show that all kinds of people can be caught up in this Bubble burst and I think the worse is yet to come...THE CRASH IS REAL....Parts of the rest of the country may be recovering but it seems to me we are just starting our slide down.

My relatives foreclosure will not be recorded on the record for another 2 or 3 months...

Yes they are very good people but if that was my point I would have used their names.

[Big Mike 34]

S. Crow:

Thanks for the offer but they are moving next week and they have a real estate attorney handling their situation from here on....I am hoping to sell my home this summer and buy on the East Side to live near my Daughter.


If you do want to contact me I am [url]bigmike@cablespeed.com[/url]

[Lake Hills Renter]

A coworker floored me yesterday. I know he's been considering buying a condo in the last few months, and he's made it clear that he doesn't want my opinion on the current state of the housing market (or anyone else's that gives advice counter to what he wants to do). His response to a declining market or prices is always the same: "never happen".

At lunch today he said he was seriously looking into a 7 year interest only ARM, and the way he phrased it was as if it was a good thing, like he'd found a prize. Actually, he called it a "7 year fixed rate" that "adjusted later, oh and it's interest only". My jaw hit the floor. I'm done trying to give him reasoned advice though, since he doesn't want to hear it. I hope it works out for him if he takes that path, but I don't expect it to. There's hope I suppose in that I doubt he has any money to put down whatsoever, considering how much he spends -- and since he just bought a brand new BMW a month ago.

[Big Mike 34]

Lake Hills:

I suspect he will have a very difficult time finding that kind of financing these days....

I hope for his sake once he buys he is not forced to move for some reason....

[Hyperbola]

LHR,

I'm assuming, unless you find out otherwise, that he probably put down as little as possible on the beemer. People like that don't pay for things in cash unless they have to - they finance as much as possible, for as long as possible.

[Robroy]

Big Mike,

You say this could not be foreseen, but actually many did. My wife was a real estate agent for a short time a few years ago. I was one for a couple of years before Y2K when the computer consulting rates became so stupid high that I went back into it.

One of the main reasons my wife got out was when she saw lending institution increase the "percentage of income" for a house payment to 50%. There was no doubt in our minds that it would flood the market with buyers and drain rentals, for everyone KNOWS the american dream is to own your own home. Meanwhile, my wife and I, after owning for 20 years, started renting and now pay approximately 1/3 what it would cost to own the home we occupy. And I can bicycle commute the 8.4 miles to my office in Bellevue.

We also knew that this would certainly result in increased foreclosures down the road and a lot of hurt people. Little could we imagine that this was just the beginning of the "creative" steps that would be taken to inflate a credit bubble that would eventually bring down the economy of the entire industrialized world - along with a lot of wanna-be nations.

Yeah, I'm speaking of the near future there.

I, and several others were saying, back in Spring of 2006, that it was "possible" that this thing could be as bad or worse than the great depression. We were, of course, villified. We didn't necessarily believe it ourselves, but we knew that it was, in fact, a real risk. Well, now a day does not seem to go by where some statistic is quoted as "worst since the great depression". It is not just a bunch of spinners saying this. It is simply true and should not be ignored.

We are living in interesting times, but they are gonna get "interestinger".

[Robroy]

Just read my post while responding to this http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/ ... ts?page=26 and thought it might be interesting to bump this thread.

How's it going for everyone? You'll notice in the thread above that I am making the final moves for my farm in central Kentucky.