did you buy a house in the past 3 years? did you overpay? are recent sales around you going for a lot less than what you paid? are you already stretching to make those payments?
that was me. bought in the fall of 2008 knowing on some level it wasn’t a good idea but hey, you do crazy things for love. then, unfortunately, that love faded, an engagement was called off, house was on the market for months with no offers and our hand was forced.
fast forward ten months, still in the house. haven’t paid since November 2010 and just waiting for it all to shake out and for the unpleasantness to strike. house is still on the market with an asking price ten percent below the mortgage. no bites. realtor wants to drop the price by 50k!
a few houses have sold in the neighborhood recently for almost 1/3 of the mortgage on this house. those houses have at least one bedroom more (ours has 2). realistically this house could go for $200k or less and we bought for $300k. thinking about that reassures me that this is the best thing to do. at those numbers it would take 5-10 years just to be able to walkaway from this debacle with no debt. but in all that time we’d have to live together when we’ve already separated and continue to overpay on a mortgage note, taxes, and utilities.
it makes no sense. so, this doesn’t feel good despite the extra money to put towards savings, extra car payments, food, clothes, fun, and yes toys, everyday i come home expecting the dreaded notice that the time for our reckoning has come. will it be next week or the week after? next month? another year?
it’s a precarious position compounded by the fact that this was a place we poured our hearts and meager wallets into. the first place i lived that was my “own.” that feeling will be missed.
things might have been different between us if we were more patient. if i was stronger and resisted the pressure to buy a house when we should have rented again. i wanted to wait. to save. but she didn’t. she wanted a house and she usually got what she wanted.
everyone has their tale of woe but in the end giving up the house–the bad and/or unlucky decision–may be the best thing for you.
good luck.
financefinesse 