Finances Posts

31Jan
0

Catch 22

When we moved five years ago, we listed our house in New England for sale. The house is in a great location, a popular tourist area. We had no reason to believe that it would not sell quickly. So, we listed it for sale with a well-known real estate agent, expecting the offers to simply pour in. She told us that the house was worth twice what we thought it was worth, and she convinced us to list it at a high price.

So, we signed a one-year exclusive contract with her, and sat back and waited for the hundreds of buyers to come pouring through the door and waging a bidding war! Little did we know that the only thing that the real estate agent would do to sell our home was to give our papers to her secretary to have it posted on the MLS and their website.

In the year that the house was listed with her, the house was shown only three times. Having anticipated a quick sale, we bought another house, which we are currently living in now. Then my hubby was in a bad car accident last fall, which left him unable to work, and no money is coming in yet from the insurance settlement. Mainly because we haven’t gone into settlement yet, my hubby is still going through medical treatments and procedures.

So, long story short, we have run out of money to pay the mortgage on the house in New England. I sent a letter to the mortgage company for that house, requesting special hardship forbearance. I explained the circumstances that the house was for sale, my hubby was injured, that we could make up the payments when the house sold or my hubby went back to work.

The mortgage company denied our request, saying the reason for the denial was that we did not make enough money to pay the mortgage! Talk about a Catch-22! That’s why I sent them the hardship forbearance request!
What is even more upsetting about the denial is that this particular mortgage company is “the one” that has been in the news almost every week, in stories about how hard they are trying to help their customers avoid losing their houses!

So, we have stopped making payments on that house, and are hoping that an offer comes in from a buyer before the mortgage company forecloses on it. I was really hoping to avoid foreclosure because we have had excellent credit our whole lives, and the foreclosure will mark us with bad credit ratings for seven years, which will make our lives a lot more difficult.

Posted by Monica in Business, Family, Finances, Life, Opinion, Shopping and tagged with , , , , , ,
24Jan
0

Apartment Mailbox Issues

We have some low income apartment buildings located just a few blocks down the road from our place. It is such a run down, horrible looking place, owned by one of the well known slum lords in the city. The majority of the tenants are Latinos, who are just trying to make a living and take care of their families, just like most of us are doing and I have no problem with that. It’s a darn shame that these apartments were kept up better, and I know that I’m not the only one that feels that way.

When we walk or drive by you can see how bad it is. The broken bottles, trash and other various litter issues are a huge issue, inside and out. Right inside the doorway you can see that they need a better type of apartment mailboxes. The current ones are all busted, doors missing or hanging off which leaves their mail totally unsecured and strewn all about the door yard and hallway. I know that a better set of  cbu mailboxes set out front of the buildings would be in order here and I’ve called and left numerous messages with the business office asking them to look into the purchasing of and installing some good quality  cluster mailboxes for their tenants. They deserve to have their US mail safe and secure just like anyone else does. Slumlords are the worse, I wish there was something else that I could do for these people.

Posted by Monica in Finances, Home Improvement, Local and tagged with , , ,
22Jan
0

Gift Baskets

One of the many gifts that I like to give is a gift basket.  Sometimes I like to make them up myself of lots of little things that I’ve made, either crafting or cooking, or a combination of the two.  Doing that pretty much ensures that they are not getting a duplicate gift that someone else has given them.

Sometimes life gets hectic, and an unexpected gift giving occasion arrives and time doesn’t allow the luxury of making the gifts.  That’s when buying a gourmet gift basket comes to the rescue.  There are so many gourmet gift baskets on the market, it is pretty easy to find one that will suit almost any occasion and please any recipient.

Posted by Monica in Family, Finances, Life, Shopping and tagged with , ,
15Jan
0

Working from home opportunities

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been finding some work at home opportunities that are worth considering. In the past, the only work at home opportunities I even ever heard of was the dreaded “stuff envelopes” scam. Now I’m finding some that sound like they are legitimate – doing research at home, and providing technical support at home. Both of those jobs require some computer literacy (which I think I have) and they sound as if they are jobs that I could do. The only drawback that I can see is that they are low paying independent contractor jobs. That means that I’ll get paid even less money because I have to pay the self-employment taxes on the money that I would earn. So I’m not sure if I even want to bother with it, because the pay is so low. Something that I have to think about, that is for sure.

Posted by Monica in Around the House, At the Office, Business, Computers and/or Internet, Finances, Life, Local, Technology
10Jan
0

Last Minute Accommodation Issues

Let’s face it we can not always plan the way things are going to happen. I don’t care if you were a Boy Scout, you can’t always be prepared for what life throws at you, no matter how hard you try. You see my sister is a  “planner” where I am the type that takes one day at a time, just trying to get through the day. I don’t think that there is a right or wrong way, just different strokes for different folks.

My sister just received news that her mother-in-law’s health is failing and that she may not have a lot of time left on this world, so she is trying desperately to find last minute flights that she can afford. As we all know isn’t always an easy task to find cheap flights on short notice. At least finding last minute hotels isn’t as big of deal, although advance notice is best all the way around. Thank goodness for the Internet, which has been very helpful during this stressful time for her and her hubby in her search for last minute accommodation needs.

Posted by Monica in Business, Computers and/or Internet, Family, Finances, Health, Life, Opinion, Travel
Next Page »