There is a lady in my neighborhood who keeps me abreast of everything that is going on in the neighborhood. She is 71 years old and retired. She has a dog that she walks all the time so she manages to find out about anything that is going on. It's amazing the things you can find out when you walk your dog a few times a day. She is a feisty lady and doesn't mind asking whatever is on her mind or giving you a few choice words if you disrespect her. She's had a few confrontations with some of the homeowners who fail to pick up after their dog or park their cars in the street.
She told me yesterday that ANOTHER home in our neighborhood is going into foreclosure. This one is particularly disturbing since they were the last one in my section of my neighborhood to buy their home. They bought the home a little over a year ago and they are now in foreclosure.
According to county tax records, they paid $201,000 for their home. The home is the same floorplan as mine and I paid $189,000. When I got ready to sell my home, I was counting on this home being a nice comparable. Not anymore. The home is now on the market for $159,900.
I'm curious as to why they lost the home so quickly. I've never talked to them in person. The most I've ever interacted with them was a friendly wave as I pass by. Did one of them lose a job? Was there a medical condition that they took all of their money? Could they just not afford the payments? Or was it because of the new Acura RL they bought 3 months ago?? According to Edmonds.com, the car has a MSRP of $46,280.
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Definitely a sad thing to see...;(
UG... that's too bad. Prices in our neighborhood have fallen quite a bit too. I've lost $142,000 since the high. Yikes... sucks to see it written out like that! Luckily we bought before the bubble and didn't take any money out. So we are still right side up. For now.
Stop being so judgmental. Sure, you've been smart with your money but you don't know what their situation is/was.
Probably got a new job in the area and that company let him or her go... I hardly think a new car purchase was what did it.
F'ing sucks, doesn't it? the 2nd one in our CUL-DE-SAC just foreclosed the other week too...
let's just hope things start turning around (and soon)!
Hopefully things will turn around soon. I wanted to write to comment that I love your site and I've been a regular reader now for a while (though I have to admit, this is my first comment!) I just started my own blog and I hope you will check it out sometime.
www.personalfinanceetc.blogspot.com
Very sad to see people lose their homes. Not knowing them it would be hard to say why they couldn't afford payments anymore, but if a person is going into foreclosure some sacrifices have to be made. Maybe buying a new car was not such a good idea, some people have trouble doing budgets. Maybe the car was more important, who knows?
Unfortunately, economists tell us this is just the beginning. Two foreclosures today and no telling how many there will be one year from now.
I was feeling a bit sorry for this family until I read that last sentence. It takes MONTHS for foreclosure proceedings to begin, so they were already struggling with the mortgage BEFORE they bought the new car. Even if everything was ok, who buys a $50k car in this current economy, except the wealthy. There is no explanation to be given or judgment to be made - poor financial decisions affect ALL OF US. *sigh*
I dont think that they can use foreclosures as comps when appraising your home. So there actually is not much to worry about.
@ashley: Hopefully you can stay right side up!
@Anonymous: I am not judging them. I made the statement that I am curious as to what their financial situation is/was. I have not always made the best decisions regarding my money and if you've read my blog for any amount of time, you will know I made some pretty serious mistakes too.
@Lisa: Thanks so much for reading my blog and taking the time to leave a comment.
@Gypsie: That's good to know!
I feel very sad for anyone losing their home. Times are getting very hard with people losing jobs all over the place.
I feel very sad for anyone losing their home. Times are getting very hard with people losing jobs all over the place.
That's really sad :(
I have a feeling it may be that they just didn't take care of their finances, no matter what Anon says up there.
I don't think you're being judgmental at all. You're just speculating.
And I agree with Single Ma. It takes months before you get into the weeds like that, and clearly they weren't making their payments or couldn't make them and suddenly a new car appeared?
Please.