Quote:
Originally Posted by jaynetarzana
We bought at the peak of the market in 2005 and put 20% down and another $80K into making it livable for a family of four. It was the nest egg we had built for 10 years. We knew the mortgage was going to be a stretch, so we figured we would do a HELOC against our large down payment at least. But then the market crashed and suddenly lenders weren't granting new HELOC's and pulling them from other people who weren't using them. So we knew that we weren't going to be able to afford our mortgage without the HELOC long enough to ride out this recession so we had to sell. We sold for less than we bought so we lost our entire down payment, the $80K we put into it in addition to all of the real estate fees. We walked away with nothing. But if we had waited another few months, we would have been a short sale. We went into that house with $220K and walked away with nothing. We had to sell our furniture and 2nd car to finance our move. Wouldn't you consider that losing it all?
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You have your family, so you really did not lose everything. You will build up possessions again. We have been rich and we have been poor in CA. I would not want to be poor in CA again. With the budget crisis there will be a severe shortage of services available in the future and it looks like schools will be getting slammed in the process as well. I miss CA every day, but I realize we will never be able to go back. There are other states you could restart your life in and homes would be far more affordable in the long run. Best of luck to you.
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