|
Users viewing this topic:
none
|
|
Login  | |
|
Should I keep my house? - 11/17/2008 3:05:52 AM
|
|
|
Ale-R
Posts: 2
Joined: 11/17/2008
Status: offline
|
My husband and I bought a house in 2005, at the same time we sold our previously owned house. Now the house is worth about 350, and we bought it for 500,000. We only owe 385,000.
Should we leave the house?
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/17/2008 6:15:58 AM
|
|
|
Random
Posts: 974
Joined: 4/18/2005
From: Zipperhead
Status: offline
|
You are not giving enough information, but in general my answer is no.
Why would you leave the house? Are you behind in payments? Do you just "not feel like" paying on a house that is worth less than you owe?
If you can't afford the payments, you should do everything you can to sell the house, AND pay off the deficit balance.
If you are just underwater, but able to make the payments, that is NOT a valid reason to default on your promise to pay what you owe.
_____________________________
"That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false." -- Valery
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/17/2008 6:37:25 AM
|
|
|
csl7037
Posts: 2074
Joined: 3/24/2008
Status: offline
|
I agree with Random but I also don't understand.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/17/2008 9:06:45 AM
|
|
|
relady
Posts: 1216
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Greater St. Louis Metro
Status: offline
|
Unless you HAVE to move or are behind/struggling with payments, I'd say stick with it, especially if you love your home. This market will turn around and if you are happy in your home and don't have to move, if you stick it out you'll earn back some, if not all, that equity you have lost. A home is not simply an investment, it's a HOME first and foremost. It provides more than just monetary "equity" and value. You have to live somewhere and you have to pay someone for a place to live.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/17/2008 9:49:39 AM
|
|
|
APZR
Posts: 965
Joined: 4/18/2005
From: GA
Status: offline
|
Ditto to Relady and others, keep it if you can. Remember that if you do let it go, you won't be able to buy anything on credit for a looooong time, and the bank can/will come after you for a deficiency judgment. In other words, if they find any $$$$ in any of your bank accounts, they'll take it to help pay off the balance owed.
_____________________________
Ya can't keep trouble from visitin, but you don't have to offer it a chair.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/17/2008 10:32:02 AM
|
|
|
Simway
Posts: 59
Joined: 4/12/2005
Status: offline
|
Stay in it, you most likely will not get what you need out of it this time. If you are getting into trouble making your payments, talk to your lender and see if they will work with you to help you past this time. Simway
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/17/2008 10:41:16 AM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2863
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
Generally, I think you're getting good feedback here. APZR, Random and Relady in particular have good insights on issues like this.
Like Random, I don't think I have enough info to comment intelligently. My big question is what would be motivating you to sell. What is it that you would be wanting to accomplish by doing that?
Regards,
BT
_____________________________
“For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, elegant and wrong.” -H.L. Mencken
"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so." -Bertrand Russell
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/18/2008 7:13:06 PM
|
|
|
Ale-R
Posts: 2
Joined: 11/17/2008
Status: offline
|
I guess I am afraid of the economic situation in the country . My husband and I agreed that we would keep the house. We are making the payments fine thank God, but
I just wanted to know what other people in my situation would do.
My husband is sure about it but I hear all these news about people leaving their homes and I wonder " are we doing the right thing??"
Nevertheless, your comments just alleviated my anxiety.
Thank you,
Alejandra
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/18/2008 7:29:16 PM
|
|
|
pbaribeault
Posts: 1104
Joined: 4/29/2005
Status: offline
|
When the economy is having trouble, the 2 best things you can have are (1) A secure place to live that you can afford (2) A solid asset such as land and a building on it. If you've got a secure employment situation and little to no consumer debt, you are more than ready to weather the storm.
People are leaving their homes and defaulting because they got in over their heads on the payments, or their employment situation has changed, and they can no longer pay a house payment and still put food on the table... but they could pay rent and eat too.
So they turn the house back over to the bank (by defaulting) or sell it and try to absorb the smaller debt of left-over mortgage on no house while renting some other place. That's a desperate move, and bad for finances, but it keeps the family in basic-necessities. Never do it if you don't need to.
If you want real advice for what to do in times of economic instability it is ABSOLUTELY avoid consumer debt this Christmas. It will not be something you will easily dig yourself out of over the next couple of months like it used to be in previous years. You don't want it around your neck and driving you out of your home.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/19/2008 5:06:36 PM
|
|
|
blessedinnyc
Posts: 2003
Joined: 10/12/2007
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Ale-R
Should we leave the house?
From a moral perspective, I don't think there's a built-in put option (right to sell back to the bank) on a mortgage that you can exercise at will, just because you live in a non-recourse state. My humble view (and admittedly biased- I work at a bank) is that there's two moral reasons to send the bank the keys to the house and ask them to foreclose:
1.) Your mortgage broker lied to you and misled you about the terms of your mortgage. He had a moral obligation to be honest with you so you have no moral duty to honor an immoral contract.
2.) You are losing sleep over your ability to pay your bills, pay your mortgage and provide for your family. Your house is just a financial issue, and if it is starting to affect your well-being in addition to your finances, you have suffered long enough.
Please remember that money isn't the only part of the equation.
< Message edited by blessedinnyc -- 11/19/2008 5:20:54 PM >
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/20/2008 12:45:02 PM
|
|
|
Row1
Posts: 250
Joined: 12/2/2005
Status: offline
|
if you and your husband have decent income, and are paying the note, then the catastrophe that the news is continually pitching is irrelevant.
if either of you have income that is not stable, then you maybe should be focused on improving that outlook for the future.
the news is predicting calalmity, but more than 90% of mortgage-holders continue to pay their mortgage. so, if you judge what to do by what others are doing, regardless of your own financial picture, ten keep paying your mortgage.
the news is always predicting calamity.
the news was predicting calamity form rising gas prices a month ago.
now, gas prices have fallen, and the news is predicting calalmity because gas prices are too low.
watch how news coverage of weather has changed in the recent decade. sure, we know it gets cold at winter. and it snows and water will freeze.
they used to just tell us the weather. we would watch a few minutes of forecast on the nightly news. now, they play up every change as if your whole city is about to be on the brink of disaster, with constant updates. this makes it seem like there is actually something to tell you, but there generally is not.
in other words, the news is always predicting calamity.
as human beings, we figure out how things are going around us partly by what others are doing and saying. that is generally OK, except that we pay attention to the news, and the news has figured out they make more money by predicting calamity. just becuase their lips are moving, we believe they have something relevant to say, and it must really be improtnat because they keep saying it over and over.
the truth is: they are saying things over and over to sell advertising time, and because we pay attn.
when the calamity story grows old, they develop extended coverage of salacious stories, like they did when britney spears shaved her head, or like when anna nicole smith died. there was no reason for media devotion for two weeks straight for anna nicole's death.
when the salacious story dies down, they go and find the next calamity.
turn off the tv.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/21/2008 9:10:01 AM
|
|
|
Row1
Posts: 250
Joined: 12/2/2005
Status: offline
|
APZR. I hear ya.
Here is today's headline:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27823694/
"Falling prices raise worries about deflation.
Sustained trend could create headwind for growth, problem for markets"
Well, do high prices mean disaster, or do low prices mean disaster?
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Should I keep my house? - 11/21/2008 10:30:58 AM
|
|
|
GroupW
Posts: 2863
Joined: 11/16/2007
From: Up in the hills of Colorado (very BIG hills...)
Status: offline
|
Both rising and falling prices are problematic, just in different ways. Inflation hurts people, since wages don't generally keep pace. Inflation though is fairly simple to deal with - raise interest rates, cut spending, raise taxes, and do a few other things to slow the economy down.
Deflation, though, is a bit trickier. At some point you've dropped interest rates as low as they will go. You have fewer tools at your disposal to get things back on track.
In general, price stability is the only healthy state of affairs.
_____________________________
“For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, elegant and wrong.” -H.L. Mencken
"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so." -Bertrand Russell
|
|
|
|
 New Messages |
 No New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/ New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/o New Messages |
 Locked w/ New Messages |
 Locked w/o New Messages |
|
 Post New Thread
Reply to Message
Post New Poll
Submit Vote
Delete My Own Post
Delete My Own Thread
Rate Posts |
|
|
Forum Tools
Printable Version
