so what led to our sudden change of fortune, allowing us to move to the country? in an effort to give the whole story (and to help others in similar situations) i'm going to go ahead and expose some less-than-attractive details of our financial situation. humility is a good thing...
we bought our nicely-sized concrete block house on the edge of paynes prairie in 2005. it needed a bit of work, and we happily jumped in with the plan to make it our own. buying it was a bit of a fiasco, as matt had good credit and low income, and i had terrible credit with good income; in the end our "mortgage broker" (read: scam artist) essentially fabricated matt's self-employment income to allow him to get the house in his name only. she got us an 80/20 loan that was also a disaster: 20% of the balance was fixed at a 12% interest rate, and the other 80% was fixed for 2 years and then became an ARM. she assured us we could refinance before the 2 years were up, but that didn't happen. so now, several years later, we found ourselves with a half-finished house full of remodeling projects, an interest rate that evens out to about 10.5%, with backtaxes we could never afford and insurance costs through the roof. and our bank won't talk to us about refinancing, especially now that my income is so drastically reduced from working only 2 days a week.
so... we were drowning and the bank didn't care. fine. both of our credit scores are now so bad that foreclosure, bankruptcy, whatever won't even affect us. and we can't afford to pay the $1800/month that the bank is demanding.
at our most desperate moment, while trying to decide whether to sacrifice being at home with my daughter or scraping by financially, my parents swooped in an offered us a loan at a miniscule 3% to live on land they own outright. it wasn't a hard decision. we are going to purchase our new home a week from today, and have stopped paying our current mortgage. what happens next will be up to the bank--i am working on the paperwork to request a deed-in-lieu, but i don't expect that to work out so i'm also pursuing a short sale option with an investor who is interested. if we have to, we will allow the bank to foreclose. (fyi, if anyone else is "allowing" foreclosure to happen, remember your assets may be at risk. lucky for us the new home and land are to remain technically owned by my parents...)
i am not proud of this situation, but at the same time, f*ck it. we made unwise decisions, yes, but were also screwed by liars and thieves and a massively-merged corporate parasite. at this point in our lives and with the state of the world, nothing is more important than securing some land, animals, gardens, and a safe community. where we are moving one might classify us as a "clan," haha. seriously though. an extended family commune on multiple plots of land. with many guns.
i will post updates on the foreclosure/short sale/whatever situation in order to share the experience and possibly advice for others like us, in addition to the process of building a mobile home (which i am sure will be an experience in itself).
first things first, i have to pull some permits and get a well dug! thank god/dess for the florida aquifer...
we bought our nicely-sized concrete block house on the edge of paynes prairie in 2005. it needed a bit of work, and we happily jumped in with the plan to make it our own. buying it was a bit of a fiasco, as matt had good credit and low income, and i had terrible credit with good income; in the end our "mortgage broker" (read: scam artist) essentially fabricated matt's self-employment income to allow him to get the house in his name only. she got us an 80/20 loan that was also a disaster: 20% of the balance was fixed at a 12% interest rate, and the other 80% was fixed for 2 years and then became an ARM. she assured us we could refinance before the 2 years were up, but that didn't happen. so now, several years later, we found ourselves with a half-finished house full of remodeling projects, an interest rate that evens out to about 10.5%, with backtaxes we could never afford and insurance costs through the roof. and our bank won't talk to us about refinancing, especially now that my income is so drastically reduced from working only 2 days a week.
so... we were drowning and the bank didn't care. fine. both of our credit scores are now so bad that foreclosure, bankruptcy, whatever won't even affect us. and we can't afford to pay the $1800/month that the bank is demanding.
at our most desperate moment, while trying to decide whether to sacrifice being at home with my daughter or scraping by financially, my parents swooped in an offered us a loan at a miniscule 3% to live on land they own outright. it wasn't a hard decision. we are going to purchase our new home a week from today, and have stopped paying our current mortgage. what happens next will be up to the bank--i am working on the paperwork to request a deed-in-lieu, but i don't expect that to work out so i'm also pursuing a short sale option with an investor who is interested. if we have to, we will allow the bank to foreclose. (fyi, if anyone else is "allowing" foreclosure to happen, remember your assets may be at risk. lucky for us the new home and land are to remain technically owned by my parents...)
i am not proud of this situation, but at the same time, f*ck it. we made unwise decisions, yes, but were also screwed by liars and thieves and a massively-merged corporate parasite. at this point in our lives and with the state of the world, nothing is more important than securing some land, animals, gardens, and a safe community. where we are moving one might classify us as a "clan," haha. seriously though. an extended family commune on multiple plots of land. with many guns.
i will post updates on the foreclosure/short sale/whatever situation in order to share the experience and possibly advice for others like us, in addition to the process of building a mobile home (which i am sure will be an experience in itself).
first things first, i have to pull some permits and get a well dug! thank god/dess for the florida aquifer...
1 comments:
vikingluau said...
Yay, so glad to hear an update! This is fantastic news... and it's just right for you guys. Good luck!