The bank takes the house back this friday. They dragged the loan mod out so long they were able to deny the mod because the trustees marched right along with the foreclosure. What a racket.
Anyway, gotta go find somewhere to live that will take a pitbull.
Its an interesting road after all these years as a homeowner to go out and look for a rental. I can't believe how much up in your business these landlords are. I had one lady who wanted the work schedules of everyone in the house to make sure there would be someone home at all times to let the fricken dog out.
I won't rent anything thats underwater on the mortgage either. I don't want to move again when they decide to quit paying for the stone around their neck.
On the upside, I feel strangely free. I feel like I can go anywhere now. I have very little holding me down. At the same time, I want to find something that will allow me to be mortgage and rent free one day.
I could quit my job, cash out my 457 and pay cash for a little condo or something. This whole financial crises is kind of opening things up for me in a weird way. Like many other people, I kind of have this "fuck it" attitude. This "why bother busting ass anymore might as well do whatever the hell I want" kind of attitude.
Lots of people changing careers and making last ditch efforts to chase lost dreams.
Who knows where I'll end up? I'm kind of excited to figure it out.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Things That Should Be on Twitter
Last week I ate a p-nut butter cookie and it turned out to be a pot cookie. I was so damn high it was great. I woke up the next morning wanting to quit my job and hit the road.
The Bank has postponed the sale of the house while they try and collect property taxes from us via harassing phone calls.
A little girl in a crappy sich who used to hang out at my house back in 1999 died in a car crash last May. I mourned for about a week. Miss her. RIP Krystal. Sorry if I failed you.
The Bank has postponed the sale of the house while they try and collect property taxes from us via harassing phone calls.
A little girl in a crappy sich who used to hang out at my house back in 1999 died in a car crash last May. I mourned for about a week. Miss her. RIP Krystal. Sorry if I failed you.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
January 9, 2012
This is the day the Bank takes back the house. Ironically, they sent us a notice dated 12/28 stating they needed two more items from us, documents we have never heard of throughout this process after complying with all their requests for info. Documents they just came up with, that were not previously required. And its too close to the sale date to get them in.
A lawyer said we should sue them. At the very least we could get another couple of years in the house.
I dunno. What a racket. The Banks get whatever they want. Profit from the upturn and profit from the downturn.
So now I gotta find a new place to live.
A lawyer said we should sue them. At the very least we could get another couple of years in the house.
I dunno. What a racket. The Banks get whatever they want. Profit from the upturn and profit from the downturn.
So now I gotta find a new place to live.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
My Cell Phone Crapped out and Now I Miss the Eighties
I miss the eighties because it was the last decade before cell phones became a required part of life. It reminds me of the microwave. In the seventies, virtually no one I knew had a microwave. They were new fangled devices that most people saw as unnecessary, now everyone has one and I'd venture to say its the most used device in most people's kitchens. And now everyone has a cell phone, and I'm not against cell phones per se, but I object to some of the changes in culture that have occurred as a result of them. Never mind that all the dudes at work are constantly buried in their iphones, fucking around with inane apps and one-upping each other in stupid shit. What I have noticed is a blurring of all boundaries due to the cultural requirement to be constantly available to everyone all the damn time.
A whole new generation has entered the work force, one that has grown up answering their cell phone all the time. Offspring #2 even sleeps with hers and answers it. All night long, if necessary. I cannot fathom it. I have had both Offspring mad at me for going for a long walk and not answering my phone. I just don't take it with me. Its inconceivable to them to not take a phone with you wherever you go. And these young millenials will answer personal calls and text messages on company time, therefore, they see nothing amiss with answering company calls and emails on their personal time. When I leave work, I LEAVE WORK, and you're not gonna get work email answered when I'm not at work. Its like every aspect of life is now all mixed up in this big soup of social networking. There are no boundaries anymore, and anyone who has boundaries, which used to be called BASIC PRIVACY, is suspect or "has something to hide." This attitude has crept into the culture without anyone noticing.
My cell phone died a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was the battery, because the thing is so old, so I went out and bought a battery. It died again, so I attempted to buy a charger. The model was discontinued two years ago, so I ordered a battery off the internet for an even older phone. Its in good condition and I still have the charger, so I ordered a battery from some obscure dealer on the 'net. I used paypal, which still has my old home address on it, so they apparently shipped it to that address. The house is empty and foreclosed on now,so the battery got shipped back, and I had to contact the company to have it reshipped. So now its going on two weeks and I've not had a cell phone since.
The first day of no cell phone, I was driving to work and I felt strangely relaxed. No one was going to call me. No reminders from the dentist. No calls from the Offspring. No calls from anybody. I thought: wow. I remember this. I remember when you could go somewhere and people had to wait until you got home to ask you something. I remember when you could go out of the house and no one knew exactly where you were and everyone was okay with that. It was normal.
It was a freedom we just don't really have anymore. And that's why I miss the eighties.
A whole new generation has entered the work force, one that has grown up answering their cell phone all the time. Offspring #2 even sleeps with hers and answers it. All night long, if necessary. I cannot fathom it. I have had both Offspring mad at me for going for a long walk and not answering my phone. I just don't take it with me. Its inconceivable to them to not take a phone with you wherever you go. And these young millenials will answer personal calls and text messages on company time, therefore, they see nothing amiss with answering company calls and emails on their personal time. When I leave work, I LEAVE WORK, and you're not gonna get work email answered when I'm not at work. Its like every aspect of life is now all mixed up in this big soup of social networking. There are no boundaries anymore, and anyone who has boundaries, which used to be called BASIC PRIVACY, is suspect or "has something to hide." This attitude has crept into the culture without anyone noticing.
My cell phone died a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was the battery, because the thing is so old, so I went out and bought a battery. It died again, so I attempted to buy a charger. The model was discontinued two years ago, so I ordered a battery off the internet for an even older phone. Its in good condition and I still have the charger, so I ordered a battery from some obscure dealer on the 'net. I used paypal, which still has my old home address on it, so they apparently shipped it to that address. The house is empty and foreclosed on now,so the battery got shipped back, and I had to contact the company to have it reshipped. So now its going on two weeks and I've not had a cell phone since.
The first day of no cell phone, I was driving to work and I felt strangely relaxed. No one was going to call me. No reminders from the dentist. No calls from the Offspring. No calls from anybody. I thought: wow. I remember this. I remember when you could go somewhere and people had to wait until you got home to ask you something. I remember when you could go out of the house and no one knew exactly where you were and everyone was okay with that. It was normal.
It was a freedom we just don't really have anymore. And that's why I miss the eighties.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Month Five Of Not Paying The Mortgage
Month Five Of Not Paying The Mortgage
I had a conversation with The Bank today. After the usual requests to enter my loan number followed by the pound sign and agree to be recorded “for quality control purposes” the conversation went something like this.
“Hi my name is Dave and I can be your customer contact representative today.”
“Well Dave, I got a letter and it told me that B------ O----- was my customer contact rep and I’d like to talk to her as stated in the letter.”
“B.O. and I are on the same team. I can help you with any questions you may have. What can I do for you today?”
“Well, I’m calling to see if I can negotiate with the bank on this underwater mortgage.”
“Let me pull up your info. (Silence for about 60 seconds) Oh. It looks like we are missing a form.”
“What form? I did get a letter saying we didn’t sign the copies of our tax return but we signed that and sent it back.
“Yeah we got that. It looks like the application is missing.”
“How can the application be missing? I applied online.”
“Well…it says here that we mailed you one on the 5th and you need to send it back.”
“But I got a letter stating we don’t qualify for HAMP on accounta we’re too financially responsible.”
“It also says here you’ve been reinstated for consideration of a loan mod.”
“Well can’t I negotiate with you now? Look, I talked to a realtor and they said that if they were to list the house right now, it would be listed at 219K. And we owe 372K, so if we can’t get a loan mod and have to shortsale it, the bank would get even less after paying realtors and such. So can we offer the bank more than what they would get now and save them the trouble?”
“No. They won’t do that. A shortsale means you can’t pay the mortgage.”
“Well why not shortsale to us? We would offer MORE than market value and save everyone time and money.”
“No. They won’t do that. They lose too much money short selling.”
“But they’re going to lose MORE if they foreclose or let us shortsell and it goes on the market. Lots more.“
“But they won’t do that.”
“It doesn’t make sense. What I am hearing is that the Bank would rather foreclose on us which would ultimately force them to take much less than they would get by giving us a principal reduction. “
“Well they can’t do a principal reduction because they would lose too much money.”
“But they are going to lose EVEN MORE money if they foreclose. UNLESS… they are somehow making more money foreclosing than working with homeowners.”
“Look, if you can pay the mortgage you should pay the mortgage.”
“But it doesn’t make sense to pay the mortgage. It’s over 150K underwater. If it goes up 100K in 10 years it will STILL be underwater. We are in our fifties. We have retirement to save for and college educations to pay for. And taxes to pay. We are financially responsible; we put down 106K and put money into this house. We don’t want to lose it but it would be financially IRRESPONSIBLE not to save for retirement. And if we put our money into this sinking mortgage, our kids will likewise be saddled with college loan debt well into their adult lives because we can’t pay for both right now what with rising prices and all. Did you know peanut butter is going up 40% after the 31st of this month? If we keep this mortgage in ten years we will be broke, still have an underwater mortgage and our kids will be paying off student loans.“ How about we agree to give the bank 260K at 5% over the next 30 years? It will still be underwater, but not so much that it doesn’t make sense to keep it, and the bank will be getting more than they will get if it goes back on the open market.”
“We can’t do that. We can’t give you a principal reduction because if we give you one we have to give other people one too and the bank will lose too much money.”
“Well doesn’t it make sense to mitigate the losses on both sides? To find a mutually agreeable solution?
“We can’t shortsell it to you. The investors would lose too much money”
“ Look, this is the most circuitous discussion I’ve had in weeks. I’ll send the form back and see what they come up with.”
“Can you verify your annual income as -------?”
“You have that information. I think I’m done for the day.”
CLICK.
I had a conversation with The Bank today. After the usual requests to enter my loan number followed by the pound sign and agree to be recorded “for quality control purposes” the conversation went something like this.
“Hi my name is Dave and I can be your customer contact representative today.”
“Well Dave, I got a letter and it told me that B------ O----- was my customer contact rep and I’d like to talk to her as stated in the letter.”
“B.O. and I are on the same team. I can help you with any questions you may have. What can I do for you today?”
“Well, I’m calling to see if I can negotiate with the bank on this underwater mortgage.”
“Let me pull up your info. (Silence for about 60 seconds) Oh. It looks like we are missing a form.”
“What form? I did get a letter saying we didn’t sign the copies of our tax return but we signed that and sent it back.
“Yeah we got that. It looks like the application is missing.”
“How can the application be missing? I applied online.”
“Well…it says here that we mailed you one on the 5th and you need to send it back.”
“But I got a letter stating we don’t qualify for HAMP on accounta we’re too financially responsible.”
“It also says here you’ve been reinstated for consideration of a loan mod.”
“Well can’t I negotiate with you now? Look, I talked to a realtor and they said that if they were to list the house right now, it would be listed at 219K. And we owe 372K, so if we can’t get a loan mod and have to shortsale it, the bank would get even less after paying realtors and such. So can we offer the bank more than what they would get now and save them the trouble?”
“No. They won’t do that. A shortsale means you can’t pay the mortgage.”
“Well why not shortsale to us? We would offer MORE than market value and save everyone time and money.”
“No. They won’t do that. They lose too much money short selling.”
“But they’re going to lose MORE if they foreclose or let us shortsell and it goes on the market. Lots more.“
“But they won’t do that.”
“It doesn’t make sense. What I am hearing is that the Bank would rather foreclose on us which would ultimately force them to take much less than they would get by giving us a principal reduction. “
“Well they can’t do a principal reduction because they would lose too much money.”
“But they are going to lose EVEN MORE money if they foreclose. UNLESS… they are somehow making more money foreclosing than working with homeowners.”
“Look, if you can pay the mortgage you should pay the mortgage.”
“But it doesn’t make sense to pay the mortgage. It’s over 150K underwater. If it goes up 100K in 10 years it will STILL be underwater. We are in our fifties. We have retirement to save for and college educations to pay for. And taxes to pay. We are financially responsible; we put down 106K and put money into this house. We don’t want to lose it but it would be financially IRRESPONSIBLE not to save for retirement. And if we put our money into this sinking mortgage, our kids will likewise be saddled with college loan debt well into their adult lives because we can’t pay for both right now what with rising prices and all. Did you know peanut butter is going up 40% after the 31st of this month? If we keep this mortgage in ten years we will be broke, still have an underwater mortgage and our kids will be paying off student loans.“ How about we agree to give the bank 260K at 5% over the next 30 years? It will still be underwater, but not so much that it doesn’t make sense to keep it, and the bank will be getting more than they will get if it goes back on the open market.”
“We can’t do that. We can’t give you a principal reduction because if we give you one we have to give other people one too and the bank will lose too much money.”
“Well doesn’t it make sense to mitigate the losses on both sides? To find a mutually agreeable solution?
“We can’t shortsell it to you. The investors would lose too much money”
“ Look, this is the most circuitous discussion I’ve had in weeks. I’ll send the form back and see what they come up with.”
“Can you verify your annual income as -------?”
“You have that information. I think I’m done for the day.”
CLICK.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Bizzare Visit
So me and Offspring #1 are watching reruns of "16 and Pregnant" on recorded TV early on an Indian Summer's eve when suddenly there's a chime on the ol' doorbell. Such chime is immediately suspicious on accounta no one rings the chime when they can call or text message to announce their arrival. So I go up to the ol' spyhole and scrutinize the uninvited "guest". "Anyone expecting anyone? " I shout to no one in particular in the 1188 square foot household. "NO!" is the resounding reply so I peer anew through the peephole in the front door. "Its some black chick" I say "and she's got a clipboard." I watch her shrug in exasperation through the peephole and wonder if she heard me. " I'm lookin' for Mr. "(insert Spouse's name here) she says. I open the door. "I'm from the Bank, " She says. " And I'm trying to determine residency. I don't know if y'all are tryin' to work with the bank, do a mod or whatevah...."
"Yeah" I say. " We're tryin' to do a loan mod."
"Okay," she says, " I'm just here to see if y'all are still living here. You know, 'cuz some folks be renting the house out an' shit."
"Oh no, " I say. "We all still be livin' here. In fact, there's Mr. (insert spouse's name here). But I would advise not to talk to him. He's in a shit kickin'mood on accounta the car repairs he's givin' up his weekend for."
So she walks off, checkin' shit off on the clipboard, declining to speak with Mr. (insert spouse's name here.) Why the fuck do they always go after the man when we are both liable for the loan?
And I'm wondering....why pay people to do this crap? Isn't it costing money to pay people to check up on homeowners that they could be recouping by actually modifying loans and avoiding all this checkup/foreclosure action/county auction/real estate listing and commission fees, etc? Why go through all this expense unless there's some huge PROFIT in the end.
Think about that.
Gawd. Great Depression here we are.
"Yeah" I say. " We're tryin' to do a loan mod."
"Okay," she says, " I'm just here to see if y'all are still living here. You know, 'cuz some folks be renting the house out an' shit."
"Oh no, " I say. "We all still be livin' here. In fact, there's Mr. (insert spouse's name here). But I would advise not to talk to him. He's in a shit kickin'mood on accounta the car repairs he's givin' up his weekend for."
So she walks off, checkin' shit off on the clipboard, declining to speak with Mr. (insert spouse's name here.) Why the fuck do they always go after the man when we are both liable for the loan?
And I'm wondering....why pay people to do this crap? Isn't it costing money to pay people to check up on homeowners that they could be recouping by actually modifying loans and avoiding all this checkup/foreclosure action/county auction/real estate listing and commission fees, etc? Why go through all this expense unless there's some huge PROFIT in the end.
Think about that.
Gawd. Great Depression here we are.
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