For starters one of the people the story was about was talking about not caring if they took the car or ate dog food because they'd fight to keep the house. Seriously? Your unable to feed your children properly because your worried about the house? What good is your own room if you go to bed in it hungry?
Thats problem 1. Your fighting a losing fight to keep something that probably doesn't have the same value your paying on it. Even if it does hold its value you can't afford it, its not going to get better. Your only punishing your family by stubbornly holding onto something you can't afford.
I can understand how they fell into that trap. You go from making 9 bucks an hour, and for a while was making almost 3 times that in the construction industry. We all want the best for our kids and I can see how they bought that house thinking it was a dream come true. They probably counted on overtime being there too. I hate to say it but its time to go back to making 9 bucks an hour and living in that "crappy apartment" so you stop taking on any new debt and can get your feet on firmly on the ground so you can actually make progress, instead of clawing at the ground as you slowly sink into oblivion and lose everything. And by everything I mean your kids who are failing in school, your marriage, your sanity. Its just a house. If you on with things and make the right decisions you could buy another one. Probably not as big, but at least you'd have your own space and the enjoyment of not fighting with your spouse over issues that come with being broke with the one your currently in.
Right now your just throwing good money after bad. There is no excuse for a bare fridge if you have income coming in. Shame on them. Thats inexcusable selfishness and I find that behavior disgusting. If I had that kind of income or lack of income for that matter Id walk away from that house. Your credits already shot, so why hold onto something that isn't holding its value or your family has to starve so you can stay living there? I did. I had to when I lost my job. I could no longer afford the payments, my credit was shot to pieces so why fight to stay some place that I realistically couldn't afford to maintain long term and throw good money away on a bad investment? Yes it was tough but honestly getting that deadweight off my neck was the best thing I did. At the time I wasn't happy about it, but looking back on it, yes I'm glad I did it and Id do it again. I made that tough decision but honestly it was the best one I could have made for us as a whole.
Because I walked away I was able to pay off my other debts, freeing up more income so I could get back on my feet and be that much farther ahead of the game than I ever would have been if I fought to stay in the house I had before. The property was valued at just over 1/2 of what I'd paid for it, and it was killing me to stay current with the mortage. And we had a 30 year fixed not some adjustable loan either. I didn't have an wiggle room if something went wrong. Its about priorities and what your willing to do. It was absolutely the most humbling experience Ive had to date living back at home with my folks but that sacrifice was only 18 months and I look back on that time as a transition period in my life. They offered to help me and I had to swallow my pride and make the sacrifice necessary to get out and get ahead of the game. That transitition period changed my life and now I'm a better person for it, and obviously doing much better because of it too.
And until these folks realize they are not going to get ahead, and mentally hit that point where they say enoughs enough and its time get past this, they are going to continue to suffer. I hope they will see the light and have the strength to see the changes through so they can get past what they've had to deal with.
The overly inflated good times are gone and they ain't comin' back. Things have changed. They couldn't keep going on like they did. Unfortunately it caught up with us and now its time we pay the piper. The good old days are long gone, but its how we react and deal with them now that define who we are. Those of us who work hard, put our heads down and are willing to work at it for pay out in the long haul will be better off. Those of us who get upset at what we lost and focus on that are doomed to dwell on our losses and will never be successful. Until you realize what you have instead of what you lost your not really living. Your mourning. Its time we stop mourning and get on with living.
