When I had met with Curtis yesterday I realized I was probably going to have to let my house go into foreclosure. I dreaded having to do this. I have spent the last 25 years getting my credit to near perfect.
There was no way I was going to be able to afford to fix up our house. It would cost thousands of dollars that I do not have. I also know I have to take Mark off of the payroll. He has been on the payroll since I left him in November and he has not worked since then. It has hurt our company very much having to pay someone that doesn't work, plus pay all of the payroll taxes on top of it. But, I needed his paycheck to make the house payment, pay all of the utilities, the lawn service/gardners, etc. My paycheck alone just isn't enough.
So, when I discussed this with Curtis he agreed that Mark probably wouldn't agree to a short sale. Since I wouldn't be able to afford to make the payments I would just have to let the house go into foreclosure.
Today I thought about Nancy Drysdale. I had just randomly called any Realtor back in January about my house. I wanted to see if there was any possible way to sell it. At the time Mark was still living there. I found Nancy and she was just so sweet and understanding. I spoke to Nancy for a very long time and told her most of what happened. She let me know that when I was ready to give her a call. Today was that day.
I called Nancy today and told her again the updated 'events' and that Mark was now in jail. She told me to go out and meet her at my house and she would look at it. I warned her that the house was still a disaster. Megan and Claude hadn't been able to start cleaning it up yet. She said not to worry. She knew my model and would give me her honest opinion.
Nancy met me at the house and we went through it. I was humiliated. She was very kind. She would make comments like, "Oh I can see this house was beautiful. You did a wonderful job." Inside I was dying because right now it is far from beautiful. It looks like a house from hoarders.
We were there for about 40 minutes. Then Nancy told me she would go home and do comparables for me. We left and I went home. I waited for hours to hear from her.
I was a bit excited, because she had mentioned that there was a possibility that if I didn't do anything to the house she might be able to sell it for enough to not only pay off our loan, but we might even walk away with a little money. I held that hope.
Then finally around 10 PM Nancy emailed me the comparables. That is when my heart sunk. The housing market had fallen so much over the years that if I were to sell it "as is" the best I could do was break even. In fact, really it wasn't breaking even. With the Realtor fees I would actually owe in the end. Further, I would still have to pay the $2,100/month house payment, the utilities, lawn service etc., for a total of around $2600/month. Obviously, there is no way I could afford that. Not to mention the fact that she said it could take up to 6 months to sell it. If you add that up that's about $15,600. I just sat there and cried.
Nancy called me. I told her there was no way I could do that. She told me that I could also opt for a 'short sale' in lieu of foreclosure. It would still screw up my credit, but not as bad as a full blown foreclosure. In a few years my credit could be repaired. The only problem with that is Mark has to agree to that. He also has to sign off on it. I honestly have no idea if he would.
I called my step-mom, Paula and talked to her about it. I was truly afraid of what my dad would think of me if I had to have my house foreclosed on. She assured me he would understand. I wasn't so sure, but was glad that she was on my side.
I don't talk about my feelings a whole lot any more. I guess I should. All of this is extremely overwhelming. The one saving grace I do have is that with Mark being in jail I feel safe. At least I do have that right now.
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