It's official. I can't afford to sell my house. These are not words I ever imagined would make sense in my lifetime.
I bought my house four years ago. It was a stretch for me. Not the first house I'd ever owned, but the first house I ever owned by myself - without the help of a husband. I was uncertain about the move, but proud of myself for accomplishing it. If it turned out that owning a house alone was too much to handle I could always sell it. Real estate was always a good investement.
Who knew the market was going to tank? Not just the real estate market, but the entire economy! Certainly not me. It didn't scare me at first. I love my house. Just the right sizr for me yet big enough to share should I find a partner. A perfect layout in a convenient area - near the beach, near my grandchildren, near shopping. I had no intention of getting rid of it anytime soon. By the time I was ready to sell, the maket would have picked up...or so I thought.
Then I got laid off...almost a year and a half ago. That's a long time to be unemployed. Unemployment benefits help, but they barely cover the mortgage payments - and they will end in the next four to five months. A live-in boyfriend helped for a while, but when that was over, it was over. It's been touch and go since then. I just can't afford my house any longer.
I talked with a Realtor today. Like so many people, I now owe more than my house appraises for. I am "upside down" or "underwater" as they call it. If I am able to sell my house at all (no houses in this area have sold in quite some time), I will have about twenty thousand dollars in out of pocket costs...to cover fees, commission and the balance of the mortgage that would not be covered by the sale price. Not the cheeriest news - and not possible. I can't afford to pay out twenty thousand dollars for someone to buy my house - thus, I can't afford to sell my house.
My only options are to keep digging into savings and try to keep the house or consider a short-sale or a foreclosure. I don't see an upside to trying to keep the house. I will never get my money out of it; the best I can hope for is to break even some day and that day is some years down the road. A short-sale and a foreclosure yield the same result; the only difference is the short-sale is not quite as hard a hit on ones credit as a forclosure. Both require that one be behind on mortgage payments. So it would seem that, no matter which option I choose, the next step is to stop making my mortgage payments.
I never, in my wildest dreams, thought not paying my mortgage would be a requirement to divest myself of a house I can no longer afford. Apparently, when I wasn't paying attention, the American Dream died.
RIP...
