Real Estate Investing

One of my best friends is facing foreclosure.  There…  I said it.  *Mary’s husband had surgery and his recovery took longer than expected.  When he returned to his job, he was forced to quit.  Now they struggle.   

Mary has been looking for a new job and had a second interview today.  She said the benefits would be great, but as long as the salary is enough for them to make their mortgage payment, she’ll take it.  Mary has already talked to her mother-in-law about babysitting her 1-year old and 7-year old.  If it gets too hectic, the 7-year old will be able to go with her father on his service calls since he’s self-employed now.

Meanwhile, they received their first notice this week that foreclosure proceedings are beginning.  They called their lender who enthusiastically told them he could help with a possible refinancing.  When he learned of their current salary (her job searching, him struggling to start a new business), he called back and said no help was available.

Mary’s story is just one of thousands and thousands of people facing the same situation.  In fact, in early June the Associated Press reported that foreclosures are reaching record levels.   

Nearly 1 percent, or roughly 447,723 loans, fell into foreclosure during the January-to-March period, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday in its quarterly snapshot of the mortgage market. That surpassed the previous high of 0.83 percent over the last three months in 2007.

Yesterday another friend told me the sheriff pulled up to the house behind her.  A few hours later, I drove by and quietly took this photo:

This is the face of foreclosure.  The family was instructed to remove their belongings immediately.  They complied.  How could they not with the deputy sheriff standing there making sure they did.  Ivy wrote about this family.  And another that she ran into at the gas station later that night.

The man came up to me and said, “Could you possibly help us out? We were evicted today and we have nowhere to go.” I wanted to help, but had no cash on me. I told him “Sadly, no.” and he thanked me for my time and walked away.

The sad part of this was, these people were not my neighbors that had been evicted earlier that day. So there’s at least 2 families from my town out on the streets with nowhere to go. My heart breaks for them, yet I have to tamp down the hard, judgmental part of my heart that asks, “Why didn’t they make arrangements? It’s not like they didn’t know this was coming.”

How many of us know someone about to lose their home?  How long will this trend continue?  I’m afraid to ask.

*Mary is not my friend’s real name, though she is a real person.