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I'm hoping for guidance, advice, whatever. I hope this is the right forum for this. Seven years ago we moved from Wisconsin to Tennessee. We bought this house mostly by pictures and one brief visit. It's an old house and we knew it needed some work, but we were willing to put the work in to it. When we moved, my husband worked full time and I was in school. Three years ago, I had a year of school left and the adjustable part of our mortgage kicked in. Our payment went from $605/month to $850. We started to fall behind on payments. Soon after that, there was a storm that damaged part of our roof. We called the insurance company and they sent someone out. Under the roof there is dry rot, so the insurance company wouldn't pay and dropped us. Because of this damage, we couldn't get another policy anywhere else. The insurance company forced us to accept their hazard insurance which bumped our monthly payment up to $1050. There was no way we could afford this. We contacted them and went through the program where they adjust the rate. At this point we were two months behind. The new principle and interest was $550, but with the escrow and insurance the payment was $950. We paid two months then fell behind again. In the past 3 years we have adjusted it 2 other times, but the payment was always too much because of the back escrow. The last time we sent them $1200 which they haven't even applied to our past due. It is on our statement as "unallocated funds". We are currently being foreclosed on, the auction date is June 20. When we moved, my credit was poo poo so the mortgage in only in my husband's name. The title is in both of our names. Our house is falling apart. Because of the rot in the roof it is leaking in two places. The estimate to fix it is over $10k. The electricity doesn't work in over half of the house. We have extension cords running everywhere. The plumbing backs up on a regular basis no matter what we do. There is only one bathroom for 5 people, including 2 teenagers. We do not have central heat or air, so in the winter we have space heaters and $500+ electrical bills. Ideally, I would let the bank have this house and move but we don't have a down payment and live in a rural area so rental opportunities are limited. I really don't want to move to a different area because one of our kids will be a senior in high school next year and another a sophomore. I have a good job now making ~$50k/year and my husband is going back to college in the fall for computer engineering. We have no credit cards, and probably $5k misc. medical bills we are trying to pay off. We just had to buy a new car in October because our other car lost a fight with a deer. My husband has an appointment with a bankruptcy lawyer Tuesday. My credit is ok (640) but his is horrible, mostly because of the mortgage. The new car is only in my name because he couldn't get a loan. I don't know if bankruptcy is the best option, but I don't want to end up homeless. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice? Something we just haven't thought about?
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May 25, 2013 19:44
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There's a great budgeting/finance thread here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3256838 that I'd suggest taking a look at and seeing if it has a link to a thread that deals with budgeting and debt stuff more professionally than you'd find here. That suggestion aside, how much money is your household bringing in a month after taxes? What are your other expenditures? Do you have an actual budget or are you just doing cocktail napkin money math?
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May 25, 2013 19:50
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I would see if renting is at all possible, because the best course of action probably is to just let the bank take it. I imagine there's no equity given you picked it up with an ARM.
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May 25, 2013 19:59
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Omnicarus posted:There's a great budgeting/finance thread here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3256838 that I'd suggest taking a look at and seeing if it has a link to a thread that deals with budgeting and debt stuff more professionally than you'd find here. We bring in between $3000-4000 a month depending on how much overtime I get and how much my husband works at his part time job. We have a budget, all of our other bills are being paid. Our car payment is $270, we pay $150 for medical bills, water is about $100, electric varies from $200-550 depending on the time of year. Groceries run about $900 a month, and that is with mostly generics and using coupons. We have three young adults living at home 21, 17, and 15 years old. The 21 year old does get disability for his autism and contributes about $300 to the household.
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May 25, 2013 20:11
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As another poster said, head on over to BFC and start reading and asking questions. One specific recommendation I'll make is to check out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. He uses what's called the baby step approach which is extremely helpful in starting to take control of a financial mess. You don't need to buy anything from him and can find all the information you need through googling and reading but if you can put aside the religious overtones his materials do a good job of having all the information in one place. I know there's a lot going on right now but the good news is that your income should be high enough that you can work your way out of this even if it's slowly.
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May 25, 2013 20:32
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Have you talked to your bank about adjusting the terms of your mortgage and/or entering into a repayment plan? Legislation was passed in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse mandating banks to help struggling homeowners who are no longer able to make their payments, and at the very least you should be able to get on a repayment plan where you can make a percentage of the amount you're behind with each payment going forward.
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May 25, 2013 20:46
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The problem is they are bringing in 3-4 k a month, they aren't even at 50% dti so nobody is going to feel real bad about it. It's not very clear where the money is going, because 4 k in rural US is quite a bit, close to double the regional household average probably.
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May 25, 2013 20:52
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You need to talk to BFC, but it sounds like your house is such a white elephant you're better off walking away now regardless. quote:
Counterpoint: your house is a rotting electricity-less hazard pit and every month you pay for it is a month you could be living with air conditioning and working sewage.
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May 25, 2013 20:57
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LoveMeDead posted:We bring in between $3000-4000 a month depending on how much overtime I get and how much my husband works at his part time job. We have a budget, all of our other bills are being paid. Our car payment is $270, we pay $150 for medical bills, water is about $100, electric varies from $200-550 depending on the time of year. Groceries run about $900 a month, and that is with mostly generics and using coupons. We have three young adults living at home 21, 17, and 15 years old. The 21 year old does get disability for his autism and contributes about $300 to the household. I'm having a hard time with these numbers because with those numbers, you shouldn't have any problem meeting your payments even in the worst case scenario. Please don't take this as me just giving you poo poo, I' trying to understand the budget better: 1.) Your income seriously fluctuates up to 1000.00 a month? What's your average? Are we talking most of the time you make 3500 but some months are bad with 3000 and others are really good with 4000, or are we talking 3000 being nominal and 4000 being you worked your rear end over at overtime? 2.) Your budgeting for bills has some serious holes in it. You live in a rural area, I assume you have a sizable petrol cost a month if your children drive as well. What about insurance payments? Do you put anything back for college funds, retirement, investment, school costs? 3.) 900 bucks a month in groceries for 5 adults? What's going on here? We're talking 180 bucks a month per person just to feed them? What's your household's diet like? 4.) Do your kids have jobs? Do you support them entirely? What's the financials there? I understand the oldest is disabled and there may be limitations there, but a 15 and 17 year old can work for their spending money. I'm just trying to understand if it's literally a case of not enough money, or if you are hemorrhaging money elsewhere too.
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May 25, 2013 21:07
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Omnicarus posted:I'm having a hard time with these numbers because with those numbers, you shouldn't have any problem meeting your payments even in the worst case scenario. Please don't take this as me just giving you poo poo, I' trying to understand the budget better: 1.) I'm a nurse. If I don't work any overtime, my checks are about $1300 biweekly. If I work two extra days and have overtime they can be as much as $1800. 2.) I had to step away from the computer so I didn't include everything in our budget. Car insurance is $150, we spend about $250 on gas between our two cars, $150 goes to school expenses for the kids, $175 for my student loans. Ten percent goes into college funds for the kids that we can't touch (and don't want to). $65 for my husband's life insurance, $20 for hulu/netflix, $60 for internet, and I'm sure I'm missing some things. 3.) We eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, only have meat at 4 meals a week and one of those is with leftover meat. We have tried everything to trim our grocery spending, but due to food allergies and general pickiness in the family we are limited on what we eat. We shop sales and use coupons, if we find a good sale on meat we stock up and put it in the freezer. 4.) Because we live in a rural area, the 15 year old is limited by location for jobs since she doesn't drive. There are very few jobs in town she could do and she has applied for them all. She's even gone door to door advertising for babysitting. The 17 year old has been looking for a job for over a year. The economy sucks down here and so people hire adults over teenagers for the few jobs there are. His hours are limited because of school, and places would rather hire a desperate adult with no restrictions. He gets very little spending money, and we do make him work for what we give him by mowing the lawn, etc. Both kids are straight A students and are in several after school activities. I hate to make them suffer more because of mistakes their parents have made.
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May 25, 2013 22:13
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Since you're probably going to end up moving anyway you should think about moving to a more urban area/closer to work and/or jobs. This will allow you to save on gas as well as give your kids more opportunity to find part time jobs. You could also put more frozen vegetables into your diet as they are as much if not more healthy than fresh and often much cheaper and hold longer.
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May 25, 2013 22:18
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312 posted:The problem is they are bringing in 3-4 k a month, they aren't even at 50% dti so nobody is going to feel real bad about it. It's not very clear where the money is going, because 4 k in rural US is quite a bit, close to double the regional household average probably. The biggest problem is that we are in a hole. We are keeping ourselves afloat with everything except the mortgage. We owe so much money and it is not worth it on this house. I have anxiety problems, and that doesn't help my reaction to this. We have adjusted the payments on the mortgage several times, but just don't want to bother anymore. My husband also has a bad habit of ignoring problems hoping they will go away. We need to sit down and take a good look at our budget and tighten any holes in it. We have had a cushion of about $750 in the bank for a few months now, so that's a first and feels pretty good. I know that we aren't paying our mortgage and that money could be going there.
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May 25, 2013 22:20
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Dusseldorf posted:Since you're probably going to end up moving anyway you should think about moving to a more urban area/closer to work and/or jobs. This will allow you to save on gas as well as give your kids more opportunity to find part time jobs. I work in a rural hospital about 25 miles from home. I don't want the kids to have to switch schools, and TN schools suck in most areas. Moving to a more urban area with decent schools would require money we don't have. If we move within the county the kids can keep going to the school they are at, but the car my son drives is a huge gas guzzler so I don't know if that would be worth it.
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May 25, 2013 22:22
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Why does your husband need life insurance if he's a student? Why are you saving for your kids' futures (college) when they need a place that isn't falling apart right now? You and your husband can eat ramen noodles and cut your grocery bill in half. If he's going to be a student, this should be expected for him anyway. Eat frozen vegetables. Netflix is the obvious one to cut but you'll go insane without some kind of entertainment. Can your husband wait on school? Are your work and son's school close enough for you have him stop driving his gas guzzler? It'll suck, but you can both get up an hour or two early to have one drop the other off at school/work, and then pick up the other later on. If your work and his school are far apart, though, this might actually cost more gas. Also, when your kid gets into college, ask him to take out student loans to pay your mortgage / fix your roof. Don't actually do that one. It sucks. 
Safe and Secure! fucked around with this message at 22:32 on May 25, 2013 |
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May 25, 2013 22:29
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Seriously OP your home sounds very dangerous. I doubt the combination of a leaking roof and extension cords all over the place is a safe one. If a 15 year old kid posted here describing their living situation like this there would be a raft of goons telling them to call CPS. Right now you can't afford fussy eating - unless someone has a peanut allergy which could kill them you should serve up the best value food you can get. There is a massive thread in goons with spoons about cheap healthy eating. Does your husband have to go back to college? Living in a home that won't kill you or the kids should be more of a priority. I bet you all get sick as hell constantly if you have no heating in the winter.
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May 25, 2013 22:45
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The house does not sound worth it. It sounds like if anything, it's going to be more of a pain with time, not less.
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May 25, 2013 23:07
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Safe and Secure! posted:Why does your husband need life insurance if he's a student? His life insurance was started years ago. I was a stay at home mom and have only worked for two years. We are saving for their future because it is important to us. I can't live off of ramen noodles, I'm already overweight and trying to lose weight. He has high blood pressure and does not need that much sodium. We do eat a lot of frozen vegetables. The fresh that we buy is usually severely discounted stuff that is about to go bad. We buy meat the same way. Netflix is $7/month. I don't think it will make that much of a difference. We already cut out cable and our landline. Our cell phones are on his parent's plan and we pay $100 a month to them. Yes, he could wait on school and get another restaurant manager job (that's what he used to do). He was hospitalized several times for anxiety attacks about 18 months ago and I made him quit. He works at the local drive-in now and is happier. Plus, free movies for the family so we get free entertainment. We live about a mile to their school. They don't drive to school unless it is cold or raining. I work nights so carpooling is not really an option. I also work 12 hour shifts.
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May 25, 2013 23:13
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Beep Street posted:Seriously OP your home sounds very dangerous. I doubt the combination of a leaking roof and extension cords all over the place is a safe one. If a 15 year old kid posted here describing their living situation like this there would be a raft of goons telling them to call CPS. I know we need to get out of this house. We just need to find a rental that is big enough. People don't seem to list anything around here so it's tough. I do have a peanut allergy, also peas and lentils. I'm supposed to avoid all legumes (almost impossible) and have had mild reactions to pure soy. I'm afraid that if we start making bean heavy meals for protein that my allergy will get worse. We are going to sit down and take another look at our food spending, but I don't know what else we can cut.
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May 25, 2013 23:17
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I know you want the impact on the kids to be as little as possible--trust me, I know--but you keep saying that you can't move out of the rural area because of the location of their school. Hon, if something isn't done soon you guys will be homeless. Things like where the kids graduate from isn't going to affect them nearly as much in the long run as you think it will. You're a nurse, which is still a fantastic thing to be, even in this economy. It doesn't necessarily mean that jobs will pour down like manna from heaven, but at least look at what sort of starting wage you could be looking at in a larger city. There are a lot of benefits to living in a more compact area--things like reduced petrol cost, or more job opportunities.
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May 25, 2013 23:21
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Kind of sounds like the house I grew up in... I'm also wondering about the $900 grocery bill. That's like, a lot, even for a family of five. Definitely go to the poor cooking thread in GWC. Also, since you have several people you're cooking for, you could probably save a bunch by making large pots of stew and roasts and stuff. Like, instead of buying pork chops at $4/lb, get a hunk of pork shoulder for $2/lb. Make a stew with the cheap cuts of beef like shanks and neck bones. Add potatoes and cheap veggies like onions and carrots. Don't buy any packaged poo poo, just super basic ingredients like a sack of potatoes, a hunk of meat, produce (fresh or frozen), and milk and eggs. The allergies make it tough, but surely you can do onions and potatoes. You said the younger kids are having issues finding jobs locally. Do they have useful computer skills? They could try to get online work like writing news/blog content, signing up at Cha Cha, or poo poo like that. If they have any web coding and/or design skills, they could make websites for people (aka customize Wordpress templates) and charge a decent amount of cash. Definitely check out the Legitimate Online Moneymaking thread for some ideas.
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May 25, 2013 23:35
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I'm going to look into eating more cheaply, but for example: Tonight we had chicken stir fry. 2lb of chicken thighs that were marked down to $2.58, a bag of broccoli slaw marked down to $1.43, red and yellow peppers marked down to $0.74 each, an onion, several cloves of garlic, and Kroger brand stir fry sauce at $1.50 (we only used half the bottle). Tomorrow night we are having ham because it was on sale, but half of it will go to garbage eggs for a dinner later in the week.
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May 25, 2013 23:43
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LoveMeDead posted:I'm going to look into eating more cheaply, but for example: Tonight we had chicken stir fry. 2lb of chicken thighs that were marked down to $2.58, a bag of broccoli slaw marked down to $1.43, red and yellow peppers marked down to $0.74 each, an onion, several cloves of garlic, and Kroger brand stir fry sauce at $1.50 (we only used half the bottle). Tomorrow night we are having ham because it was on sale, but half of it will go to garbage eggs for a dinner later in the week. See regardless of how cheap the individual meals you are making, you are still spending $900 a month. Yes the meal you just ate might only have cost about $10 dollars, but that means a month of them should only run $300. The extra money must be going somewhere.
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May 25, 2013 23:55
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LoveMeDead posted:I'm going to look into eating more cheaply, but for example: Tonight we had chicken stir fry. 2lb of chicken thighs that were marked down to $2.58, a bag of broccoli slaw marked down to $1.43, red and yellow peppers marked down to $0.74 each, an onion, several cloves of garlic, and Kroger brand stir fry sauce at $1.50 (we only used half the bottle). Tomorrow night we are having ham because it was on sale, but half of it will go to garbage eggs for a dinner later in the week. How about buying frozen meat instead of fresh (even if it is about to go bad?) I've found in my own area that fresh chicken is particularly expensive compared to red meats. I don't even like to buy it for my partner and I. When cooking with chicken I only ever buy it frozen in a bigger box. Here (one of the most expensive areas in Canada) 4 pounds of frozen chicken breasts goes for $30. If you are American, I strongly believe you can find a more suitable option. I'm not saying you haven't tried, but try keeping to think outside of the box. I would also cash in the college savings. If you are homeless, your kids won't be going to school anyways. They can always take out loans and you can put in money to help them, when your house isn't rotting to the ground.
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May 26, 2013 00:00
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jabby posted:See regardless of how cheap the individual meals you are making, you are still spending $900 a month. Yes the meal you just ate might only have cost about $10 dollars, but that means a month of them should only run $300. The extra money must be going somewhere. Snacks, toiletries, breakfasts, lunches... I need food to bring to work in case there aren't leftovers from dinner. Still probably spending too much.
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May 26, 2013 00:00
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LoveMeDead posted:Snacks, toiletries, breakfasts, lunches... I need food to bring to work in case there aren't leftovers from dinner. Still probably spending too much. I've got 3 kids + me, and the biggest thing you should cut is the snacks. Seriously, a bag of chips can cost $5 and kids will inhale it in 5 minutes. Learn to use a crockpot, plan your meals out ahead of time a week in advance (and only purchase what you need for those meals) and don't say "Hmmm... it'd be nice to buy this ice cream/reeses/poptarts/etc." and toss them into your cart absentmindedly. I have snacks for my kids, but I keep them under lock and key so that they aren't eating more than I've budgeted for. Plan meals based around your caloric needs also. For instance, I have oatmeal for breakfast, a salad, chicken, + dressing/toppings for lunch, and then either a sandwich or some sort of meat + veggies for dinner. If you are buying $5 packs of pop tarts that last 3 days, $5 lunchables, etc. you are spending too much.
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May 26, 2013 00:14
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LoveMeDead posted:Snacks, toiletries, breakfasts, lunches... I need food to bring to work in case there aren't leftovers from dinner. Still probably spending too much. $30 a day is still a huge amount to be spending on food. I don't know how much you guys eat, but a box of cereal and a gallon of milk for breakfast is $5. Leftovers are free and doubling or tripling the quantity you make at dinner is cheaper than making separate lunches or dinners. My boyfriend grew up in a country where food was scarce, and he can make a filling meal out of rice, spices, and a couple of veggies. The key is, he doesn't waste anything. Celery/radish leaves go into the mix. Skins that you or I would peel and discard are steamed and eaten as a side dish. Breakfast as a kid for him was rice, watered-down milk, and a banana. Get creative, and you can easily cut your food spending down by half.
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May 26, 2013 00:18
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Oh my god, get rid of that house. Be glad the bank is taking it off your hands. $1k a MONTH in insurance?! I don't even pay that for an entire year! Find a local real estate agent to get you an apartment. Check Craigslist and the local paper. Ask your coworkers if they know of anyone who rents. I find it hard to believe you can't find ANYTHING better than the dilapidated shack you currently live in. I mean poo poo the savings in power alone would be a huge relief to your budget if you were in a place that actually had heat. And get your husband medicated for his anxiety (I'm guessing you get health care through the hospital) and get him a better job. No reason he should be taking time to go back to school when you guys can barely afford to live normally. It sucks, but consider school a luxury and something not feasible for now. A lot of colleges let you defer acceptances for a year I believe so get yourselves back on your feet and then look at that stuff. Alternatively, get out of the area. Your kids will be out of high school and into colleges or working within a few years, they are not exactly young children who would be seriously upset by a change of scenery. Get out of there and go to a place with better opportunities for everyone.
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May 26, 2013 00:23
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jabby posted:See regardless of how cheap the individual meals you are making, you are still spending $900 a month. Yes the meal you just ate might only have cost about $10 dollars, but that means a month of them should only run $300. The extra money must be going somewhere. Yeah this. 900 a month is 30/day, or $2 per meal per person, and that's if you're assuming everyone eats all three meals at home every day, which I don't think is the case. Does this amount include eating out? (If you are eating out, stop immediately. Bring bag lunches to work/school.) Create some food routines and plan meals, like making scrambled eggs every day for breakfast. Even with sauteed onions and peppers in it (for extra substance and nutrients), your massive pile of protein-rich breakfast costs you 4 dollars, or 80 cents per person. Sandwiches for lunch? $2 per person. A giant pot of stew served over rice? $1.50 per person. (Seriously, I can make 15 servings of stew for about $25). That gets your food spending to like $650, and you can probably even do better than that. I could go on forever about all the food/cooking stuff I learned from being poor, but you'd be better off just going to the poor cooking thread. And yeah, don't do pre-made anything, including snacks. Kids want snacks? Carrots (cut-up regular ones - baby carrots are overpriced), celery and some ranch dressing is cheaper than chewy bars and chips and poo poo. And healthier. Kids want potato chips? They have access to potatoes and cooking oil, don't they?
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May 26, 2013 00:27
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Lyz posted:Oh my god, get rid of that house. Be glad the bank is taking it off your hands. $1k a MONTH in insurance?! I don't even pay that for an entire year! We are going to talk to real estate agents on Tuesday about finding rental places. He is not medicated, he quit his job. He's working right now, and will keep working while he's in school. With loans and scholarships we aren't going to have to pay anything for his tuition. I know he could get another lovely restaurant job, but I like my husband now and if he had kept his job before we probably would have divorced. We will be getting out of the area in a few years when the kids graduate. The cost of living down here is cheaper than anywhere we would move, and I don't want to move somewhere in the Nashville area that has worse schools. My pay is comparable to hospitals in Nashville, and I love my job. I hate large hospitals. We want to move back to Wisconsin in a few years. Nurses there don't make much more than I'm making now, and my husband was making the same down here as a restaurant manager when we moved. So our cost of living would increase, but our income wouldn't. We rarely eat out. Maybe once every other month, and that's for special occasions. At most I'll get a $3 breakfast on my way home from work about once a week.
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May 26, 2013 00:38
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Authentic You posted:Yeah this. 900 a month is 30/day, or $2 per meal per person, and that's if you're assuming everyone eats all three meals at home every day, which I don't think is the case. Does this amount include eating out? (If you are eating out, stop immediately. Bring bag lunches to work/school.) Create some food routines and plan meals, like making scrambled eggs every day for breakfast. Even with sauteed onions and peppers in it (for extra substance and nutrients), your massive pile of protein-rich breakfast costs you 4 dollars, or 80 cents per person. Sandwiches for lunch? $2 per person. A giant pot of stew served over rice? $1.50 per person. (Seriously, I can make 15 servings of stew for about $25). That gets your food spending to like $650, and you can probably even do better than that. I actually thought we were doing pretty well with our meals. I guess we need to figure out where we can cut our groceries. We let the kids have one splurge snack every 2 weeks, spending less than $5 per kid. We don't usually buy chips unless they are on sale and we have coupons. We buy oatmeal and cereal for breakfasts, as well as eggs. We have cheap lunch meat, Nutella (expensive I know, but no peanut butter), and leftovers for lunches. And dinners are frugal. I need to look over receipts and figure out where the money is going. We get canned soups on sale and with coupons, and sometimes buy frozen meals for me to take to work. I usually bring fruit or tomatoes and cottage cheese, yogurt, and a meal to work. Sometimes veggies and ranch instead of fruit. And York Peppermint Patties, but those are necessary. I think we'll be ok if we can cut it a bit, and get out of this horrible house.
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May 26, 2013 00:50
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Don't assume the bank is actually going to take the house off of your hands. There's been a recent trend with banks threatening foreclosure to try to get homeowners to resume payments and then just dropping it when they don't, leaving the house in the owner's name and therefore leaving them on the hook for property taxes and other escrow. Typically people this happens to are completely unaware until they get served with a court summons when the county files suit for back taxes and fees.
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May 26, 2013 01:11
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Lyz posted:Oh my god, get rid of that house. Be glad the bank is taking it off your hands. $1k a MONTH in insurance?! I don't even pay that for an entire year! Lyz is wise. Drop that loving house. Seriously. If you were a big businessperson and you'd made an investment that were tanking this hard, you'd have walked away months ago. Your house is not only a bad investment, it's a health hazard. If something happens with that roof, with the crazy-rear end rigged heat, whatever-- how much will that cost you? The place is a money pit. My homeowner's insurance is $2200 a YEAR. I live in a "transitional" neighborhood in a city that gets heavy hurricane damage and flash floods. Walk away. I hope things get better for you soon. I know leaving will open things up to a whole host of other problems, but I think it would have to be a relief to not have to deal with that anymore. Good luck to you.
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May 26, 2013 02:14
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I don't know what area you are in but you mentioned Nashville so around middle tennessee I'm assuming. This woman was extremely helpful in trying to get me out of the pinch I was in and had to upgrade living conditions immediately. http://www.zillow.com/profile/joannaswiger/ I didn't wind up buying my house through her (kinda feel bad about that considering she was so helpful) I wound up literally stumbling across the house I wound up buying and had to go through a different agent. I don't know if this is your neck of the woods or not but if it is she's worth a try. She had properties listed in more than just Dickson county if I recall.
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May 26, 2013 02:18
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For the love of god get this moved over to BFC and out of E/N. You're going to get a hell of a lot better recommendations over there and they've helped goons in equally if not worse positions than you're in now. Assuming of course that you're actually looking for help and not just looking to come up with excuses on why you're stuck in a hole and can't possibly get out of it.
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May 26, 2013 02:56
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LoveMeDead posted:I actually thought we were doing pretty well with our meals. I guess we need to figure out where we can cut our groceries. Maybe you could post a transcript of your next grocery receipt so people can help you budget groceries better? Based on what you're saying here it sounds like you're making good buying decisions so something must be eating up that extra cash! My husband also has a soy and peanut allergy, so I understand how it can be hard to work around that. He doesn't have the pea/lentil allergy though, so we have no problem eating beans. Are you the only one with the allergy or do your kids have it too? Could you fix the rest of the family a big meal with beans (which are super cheap) then make a separate individual bean free meal for yourself? You could make a big batch, freeze it, and eat it over several days (switching between 2 or 3 big batches of different meals maybe to give you a bit of variety). EDIT: Also, check out this thread in GWS called "Help! I'm poor and I want to make good food!": http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3442278 They've got good budgeting advice, shopping list ideas, and recipes! EDIT 2: Dang, now I'm getting all hungry reading that poor cooking thread. There's something satisfying about making smart, delicious, cheap food that really appeals to me, even when I don't need to budget. SchrodingersFish fucked around with this message at 03:28 on May 26, 2013 |
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May 26, 2013 03:16
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There's some money to be saved by cutting your food budget a bit (though I think on the whole, $900/mo for 5 people is very reasonable), but I certainly don't think it's your biggest issue. Finding a new place is going to save you whatever you could possibly save by cutting your food budget several times over. More than several--many times over. That's not to say you shouldn't try to use that poor eats thread to save a bit where you can, but just getting rid of your home absolutely needs to be your top priority.
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May 26, 2013 04:25
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Geoj posted:Don't assume the bank is actually going to take the house off of your hands. There's been a recent trend with banks threatening foreclosure to try to get homeowners to resume payments and then just dropping it when they don't, leaving the house in the owner's name and therefore leaving them on the hook for property taxes and other escrow. Typically people this happens to are completely unaware until they get served with a court summons when the county files suit for back taxes and fees. The bank will either buy their house back at auction or a third party can also bid on it. If they've been told that the sale date is set then it will be going through unless there is a moratorium at the time when the sale is scheduled. In Tennessee the foreclosure process isn't judicial, which means that it's done through a transferal of the ownership of the deed of trust from the trustee owner to the foreclosure attorney who will then turn it over to the third party/bank who bought it at sale. The only worry that the OP should have is if the house truly is in as bad shape is it sounds the bank could simply write (bank lingo is "charge") off the property, at which point it would still be in their name. The owner would still be on the hook for property taxes regardless, but that is all added together into the total debt owed, if property taxes are due and the homeowner doesn't pay them the bank does and sets up an escrow. (some banks do this automatically if it's an FHA loan). which bank was this? I work in default processing and I've never heard of anything like that happening. quote:The last time we sent them $1200 which they haven't even applied to our past due. This means that you were already in default and pre-foreclosure. Unless you can give them the total debt owed and 'payoff' the loan, those funds are not going to be applied to your debt. They are placed in suspense until you can bring the loan current or the property is sold. OP don't declare bankruptcy if you can avoid it, you've got enough of a stain on your credit with the foreclosure, if you're on title it will probably affect your credit as well - but if you're not a signor maybe not. I would talk to the attorney that's handling the foreclosure as well as the bankruptcy attorney about options. There are a few hotlines that you can call as well. http://www.995hope.org/ is one that we usually recommend at work, but there should also be a phone number you can call on the letters and notice of foreclosure that you've been sent. Try calling those numbers, be prepared to take REALLY good notes and be on the phone for a while, but they can also help. Nereid fucked around with this message at 04:42 on May 26, 2013 |
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May 26, 2013 04:40
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Nereid posted:The only worry that the OP should have is if the house truly is in as bad shape is it sounds the bank could simply write (bank lingo is "charge") off the property, at which point it would still be in their name. This is pretty much what I'm describing. The bank threatens foreclosure, the owner(s) move out and the bank decides its not worth their effort to take possession of the property and cancels the foreclosure. However, at present there is no requirement for the bank to notify the homeowner that they have withdrawn the foreclosure proceeding, and the homeowner has no idea until a process server or the mailman hands them a court summons for a lawsuit by the county seeking back taxes and other fees that are still accruing on the property. Read more here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/10/us-usa-foreclosures-zombies-idUSBRE9090G920130110 Geoj fucked around with this message at 05:06 on May 26, 2013 |
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May 26, 2013 05:03
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Nereid posted:OP don't declare bankruptcy if you can avoid it, you've got enough of a stain on your credit with the foreclosure, if you're on title it will probably affect your credit as well - but if you're not a signor maybe not. I would talk to the attorney that's handling the foreclosure as well as the bankruptcy attorney about options. There are a few hotlines that you can call as well. http://www.995hope.org/ is one that we usually recommend at work, but there should also be a phone number you can call on the letters and notice of foreclosure that you've been sent. Try calling those numbers, be prepared to take REALLY good notes and be on the phone for a while, but they can also help. If they're going to have a foreclosure on their history, how much worse can a bankruptcy really make it? OP seriously you need to be in BFC. I hope this thread gets moved but if not you should go make a thread in there with details of your whole budget & debt situation. The people in there know their poo poo, although fair warning they tend to be at least as blunt/rude as E/N posters can be.
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May 26, 2013 05:04
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I know people are focusing on what you're spending on food, but I'm interested in the non-food items on your grocery list and also in your utilities bills. Your monthly water and electricity costs are significant and those are costs you're going to have whether you move or not. There's probably plenty of room for reducing both. How many showers per day are people taking, how long are those showers, and how many loads of laundry are you doing per week? How much are you paying per kwh for electricity because your bills sound pretty high for a household where there aren't people home all day every day? You might need to take a look at how your family uses electricity (during winter, are there space heaters running in multiple rooms once people get home of an afternoon/evening?). As mentioned, BFC is an excellent resource. You'll get the most value out of BFC if you have a clear idea of your priorities and are willing to be honest about those priorities. If rental properties aren't advertised in your area, then you need to tap into the informal network by which they become known to prospective tenants. It could be word of mouth, it could be signs on the properties themselves, it could be community newspapers or websites. Your husband returning to study is probably best left until your finances and his anxiety issues are both under control. In some ways, it sounds like you're trying to live a lifestyle which your income doesn't accommodate. That's partly an attitudinal thing so you need to look at whether it's a problem which will persist even after the mortgage issue is resolved. It sounds like you can afford any one expenses to be excessive but you're in a situation where a number of your expenses are excessive. Which ones you reduce partly comes down to personal preference, but the changes you make have to be sustainable - and they won't be if you can't change your fundamental attitudes towards money and your beliefs about what lifestyle you "should" be living. If your finances can't currently accommodate putting aside money for your children's tertiary education, then you might need to suspend doing that until your finances improve. Maybe that money can be found by reducing what you spend on non-food grocery items and reducing your utility bills, but you definitely need to start prioritising and I think you especially need to take a harsh look at the expenses which are unlikely to change when you move from your current home to a rental. Working night shift also tends to affect your budget in ways you mightn't realise, especially if you're the person on whose shoulders responsibility for meal preparation and laundry falls. Lolie fucked around with this message at 06:17 on May 26, 2013 |
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May 26, 2013 05:08
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