My Foreclosure Journey
Facing foreclosure was one of the tougher things I’ve done in life, and I done a thing or two! I know the fear, the embarrassment, the constant stress that it causes. And had I known then what I know now, I would have made it through that whole process a much happier person.
I bought my first house in Wisconsin back in 2006. At the time interest rates were high, but I was able to make it work. Six months later, I had a job transfer to another city, so I bought a second house and kept the first thinking I would just rent it out. Well, it turned out that renting my first house was harder than I had anticipated so it sat vacant while I made payments. Then, to make things worse, six months after my relocation I lost my job.
And as many of you may know, as the months go on and the finances aren’t working out, sometimes bills aren’t getting paid. It’s not pretty, it’s not that I’m proud of that fact, but it was reality. So as the months went on and the bills stacked up, making my two mortgage payments proved very difficult. I ended up being 90 days late on my payments at one point so I contacted my bank. I had two months’ worth of the payments available, and I tried to negotiate with the bank (HA!) to see if they’d accept these payments to halt the foreclosure process. But, as many people know, most often banks don’t want to work with people despite the situation, and they proceeded to foreclose on both of my houses.
It’s not that I didn’t understand why they did it; I get it, banks want payments and people agree to make them. But when people face unexpected hardships, being able to offer solutions is what the banks most often neglect to do. Luckily, it is what I LOVE to do. I love coming in, hearing what is going on, what my clients’ needs are, what they are facing. I love being able to do what my bank couldn’t: offer possible solutions to problems when people are facing foreclosure. Now occasionally, I can’t help someone by buying their house. But even the peace of mind I can give someone in the knowledge that they’ve exhausted EVERY avenue of possible solutions is worthwhile to me.
