The Long of the Short

Today's post. Is not impulsive at all.

Today's post isn't fun.

Today's post isn't exciting.

But, it is what's happening in my life right now.

I no longer have a home that is my Home. There really is no quick way of explaining it. So hopefully your not too A.D.D., as I can be at times, and can hang in there for the whole story.

My story starts almost a year ago. Work slowed down tremendously for Robby, and soon after he lost his job. I think most of you know this.We had a nice size nest egg, but when half of your income suddenly stops, that nest egg gets used for other things. Like paying the mortgage, which is where ours went. Soon our nest egg was almost gone, Robby had found work, but the pay was much less than we could comfortably live off of and stay in our home.

I did some research. I found out that our mortgage company offered an assistance program to people in our same situation, so that they could afford to stay in their homes. A Home Modification Program, they called it. So, I called, got all of the necessary info., and decided that if there was any way for us to stay in our home this was going to be it.The program lengthens the life of a homeowners loan up to ten years, drops the interest rate to about 2%, which decreases the amount of the monthly payment. They sent us our paperwork, we filled it out promptly, sent it back, and got the approval for our Trial Period. We were told the Trial Period was as it sounds, a test period to see if we can make the adjusted payment amount, and it also gave the mortgage company time to examine our paperwork and complete the modification process. The Trial Period was three months long. We started it in November.

Throughout the three months, I sent our mortgage company all of the documents they requested, tax returns, check stubs, and bank statements. At the end of the three months, a decision still had not been made so we proceeded with our Trial Period payments, and sent in more documents as they were requested by the mortgage company. I checked up on the status of our modification time and time again, and each time they reassured me that everything was fine, and that I shouldn't worry because we will probably be approved.

In the first week of May I had just made our mortgage payment, and decided to check up on our modification. They told me that the modification was in the final review stage, and that I should call back in a week to check on it, because they should have an answer by then. I remember specifically the gentleman I spoke with said, "But you don't need to worry about it, Because I'm sure your going to get approved." Great, right?? The next week I received a notice from our mortgage company which stated our account was delinquent. Red flag. ???? So I called. Upon doing so, the woman I spoke with said, "Sorry, your home modification was denied."

Sick joke? Nope. It was the truth. They denied us because we "make to much income". Makes a lot of sense right? No, it doesn't, and I still don't get it. The entire reason we applied for the modification was because we did not make enough income to continue making our current mortgage payment. Our mortgage company proceeded to tell us that there were other modification programs that we could apply for, so I decided we would give it a shot. Maybe it would give us more time, and we could sell our house in the mean time. Wrong. The next week, I got a Demand Letter from them. For those of you who do not know, this is not a good thing. At all. Basically, our mortgage company decided that all of the money we have paid them since November, when we started our modification, was not going to be applied to our mortgage. SO, in our Demand Letter, they said we owed them for the amount of our FULL mortgage payments over the last seven months. A whopping $8400.00. The money we had paid them during that time went into an "Unapplied Funds Account". After some consultation with family members who work for mortgage companies, it was determined that mortgage companies do indeed do this, and they end up just getting to keep that money.

Our Demand Letter also stated that if we did not come up with at least half of the eight thousand dollars by the end of the month, May that is, they would be sending off the paperwork to their attorney to begin the FORECLOSURE PROCESS. Not only that, but we could not make our modified payment anymore, and we must now make our previous mortgage payment. So we're basically supposed to cough up at least four thousand dollars, plus somehow come up with an additional $1400 each month to make our mortgage payment.

They screwed us.

The last three paragraphs all happened over the last four weeks. It has happened VERY fast. As I had said before, they reassured us throughout the entire process that we would have no trouble getting approved for the modification, so we really had no warning. We did what we thought would be the best option to stay in our home, and bless their bleeding little hearts, our mortgage company took advantage of us.

Here is what else has happened this month: I also found out that my Grandma W has stage four colon cancer. She had surgery and is now recovering, but does not have much time left. We packed up everything we own, and moved it out of our house. We are staying with my in-laws for the time being until we can find ourselves an apartments further north, and closer to work. We found a new home for our chocolate lab Nestle, because generally when someone lists "pets allowed" in their apartments ads, they don't mean a 60 lb lab. It broke our hearts to see her go. We love her. She was part of our family.

We have found a fantastic realtor, who is a family friend of the Davis', and is going to do a short sale on our home. We have a lot of faith that he will get the job done so that we can avoid a foreclosure on our credit report.

So that is that. I didn't write this so that you would all feel sorry for me.Although, I must admit, this has probably been the hardest thing I have ever had to encounter in my life thus far. I wrote it so that you would all be aware. So if you happen to be in this situation, or know someone that is, and your mortgage company is offering a program as ours did, I would be very very careful.

I have wasted a lot of tears, my emotions are spent, and I wouldn't wish this on anyone else. But, I know that it WILL all work out. I know that there will be good things that come of this. I am blessed in so many other ways. I just have to keep reminding myself that these are just material things, and that there are so many things in this life that are much more important. I will have another house, one that I can call my Home.

Ok. That's enough of that. I will have a good, happy, exciting, and somewhat impulsive post for you tomorrow. Believe it or not, there are some good things happening in my life as well. It's not all sorrow. :)