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I feel lucky. I bought a home in the mountains w/ the equity in my Fl home. Please!!!!!!! If you are wishing me bad feelings cause I'm from Fl....STOP NOW. I bought a 120 year old farmhouse and fixed it up. I LOVE it. I got a letter in the mail from BOA that my credit line is frozen. I spoke to the Man who restored my house and said how happy I am that I don't owe him any money. The mountains are my home! I thought I could be retired for a few more years.....it is like having money in your pocket to spend as you wish and it's gone. 1 letter changed my life. I WILL SURVIVE, it is quite a shock. I am certain I wasn't the only 1 who got a letter from Bank Of America. It certainly changes everything for me.
I feel lucky. I bought a home in the mountains w/ the equity in my Fl home. Please!!!!!!! If you are wishing me bad feelings cause I'm from Fl....STOP NOW. I bought a 120 year old farmhouse and fixed it up.
Being from Florida is not the issue with people that have always called this area home.
Being from anywhere, and coming here and destroying the beauty of the area and building their "hey lookie lookie and me and my McMansion high on a mountain top" are the people that justly receive the wrath of locals and/or complain loudly how everything done here is wrong and needs fixing. I suspect many others that move here feel the same as they move here for the beauty the area offers, not to gentrify or destroy it.
Now I'm lost as to why BOA would freeze your credit, perhaps they feel that it is unAmerican of you to not be drowning in debt and sending all your money to them.
LLL - welcome and I hope that all goes well. I love old homes and I love people who take care of them and bring them back to life to honor the builder and past owners.. My home is almost 70 years old, cantankerous, in need of some TLC, and I love it.
A'ville Native - good post. The little City-Data Elves wouldn't let me give you any rep points, but I tried, brother, I tried.
I feel lucky. I bought a home in the mountains w/ the equity in my Fl home. Please!!!!!!! If you are wishing me bad feelings cause I'm from Fl....STOP NOW. I bought a 120 year old farmhouse and fixed it up. I LOVE it. I got a letter in the mail from BOA that my credit line is frozen. I spoke to the Man who restored my house and said how happy I am that I don't owe him any money. The mountains are my home! I thought I could be retired for a few more years.....it is like having money in your pocket to spend as you wish and it's gone. 1 letter changed my life. I WILL SURVIVE, it is quite a shock. I am certain I wasn't the only 1 who got a letter from Bank Of America. It certainly changes everything for me.
I'm sorry I'm not getting this, LLL. How did BOA impact your life? What is the shock? Your credit is frozen--I got that--but I don't understand WHY... how could they do that arbitrarily? And so what if it IS frozen? You own everything you need outright, as far as I can tell. What am I missing?
According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal, banks are freezing or cancelling home equity lines of credit ("HELOCs") all over America for two reasons (the use of "you" below is generic and not meant to imply that either situation below pertains to LLL):
1. Your house is in an area that bubbled and with the current downturn in housing prices they now think that you don't have any home equity to borrow against;
2. You've been late with a payment or two and they think that you're fixing to mail in the keys.
Remember that a HELOC is subordinate to your first mortgage so if you default on the latter then the HELOC lender is very unlikely to get paid back.
As has been discussed in prior threads, the ongoing upheaval in the credit markets is one major cause/effect of the present housing crisis. Banks all over this country are writing off multi-billions in bad loans made during the 2001-2007 real estate bubble. The feds took over IndyMac Bank in CA yesterday due to bad real estate loans and there will be more to come. Sadly WNC is not immune from the real estate deflation going on across America.
Being from anywhere, and coming here and destroying the beauty of the area and building their "hey lookie lookie and me and my McMansion high on a mountain top"
According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal, banks are freezing or cancelling home equity lines of credit ("HELOCs") all over America for two reasons (the use of "you" below is generic and not meant to imply that either situation below pertains to LLL):
1. Your house is in an area that bubbled and with the current downturn in housing prices they now think that you don't have any home equity to borrow against;
2. You've been late with a payment or two and they think that you're fixing to mail in the keys.
Remember that a HELOC is subordinate to your first mortgage so if you default on the latter then the HELOC lender is very unlikely to get paid back.
As has been discussed in prior threads, the ongoing upheaval in the credit markets is one major cause/effect of the present housing crisis. Banks all over this country are writing off multi-billions in bad loans made during the 2001-2007 real estate bubble. The feds took over IndyMac Bank in CA yesterday due to bad real estate loans and there will be more to come. Sadly WNC is not immune from the real estate deflation going on across America.
Thank you, NCBND! I understand now, and I would think it a good thing to stop giving equity line of credit money to people whose house values quite possibly can't support a double mortgage during a real estate downturn.
Hi Jan, sorry it took me so long to respond. Yes, housing values in fl was stated as the reason for the HELOC being frozen. Thank goodness I paid for my home here w/ that line of credit but it's an AWFUL feeling getting a letter stating basically I have no more equity to live on. I'm not crying the blues because as I 1st stated I am 1 of the truly fortunate 1's, I really was enjoying my early retirement. I am 'officially' back to work. I've always been self employed and I have some wonderful ideas and I am in the process of starting up a small business. I am watching every penny....lol...the nite before I opened the letter from BOA I ate a lobster...LOL...no more lobsters for awhile! I also bought a painting from a local artist and it was at the framer when I got the letter, NO MORE SHOPPING. A week before 'the letter'I was in Tn and bought another painting froma local artist that I CHERISH....I'm SOOO glad I bought it before 'the letter'. Stay well! Annie
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