It started in September when our house began to go through foreclosure. Anxiety, stress, depression, and many other difficulties decended on my family as we had to prepare to move. My dad looked for houses and we ended up moving out last month. Keeping up with high mortgage payments was too difficult for my family's small income.
The process itself is vey straining; not only for the parents, but for the children as well. My parents fought constantly about how they were going to make the next payment or if they even should. Should we talk to a lawyer? Try to sell the house? How to make ends meet? I hated hearing about money issues all the time. My dad told me he was going to file for bancruptsy. With college around the corner, I had to start thinking about throwing away my dream college for a small school where I didn't want to go.
I just read about how one couple learned about their house going into foreclosure and ended up taking their lives. They closed the doors in their house, except the door to the garage and left the car running. They were found dead only hours later.
Although it's an extreme case of desperation to get out of their situation, it is not all that uncommon. More families are experiencing marital problems, depression, anxiety, and addictive behaviors such as drinking and gambling because of the economic depression at stake.
Read about it:
http://realestate.aol.com/article/news/_a/foreclosure-takes-toll-on-ment...
Ah yes the housing crisis.
My mom just went through something similar to this with a little bit of idenity theft. The deal she got herself would have been perfect but then it all went to hell. NOt to mention that California prices are outrageous. The house she did not know about foreclosed...the one she livied in was about to. She decided to stop making payments while she tried to short sale it so she could have a little cash for an apartment. Her credit is shot and might never recover.
There are many things people can do to prevent the credit damage. The biggest thing is to not go for glamore but for what you can afford comfotably with out stretching. Another is know the diffrence between rates and company fees. Also take into consideration insurance costs and homeowner association requirments.
My last little tidbit is if you cannot swing the loan on your own or with a life partner then do not sign anything with a more or less stranger.
KNOW WHAT YOU SIGN and never sign on a whim.
Think,
~T
All truths are easy to understand once discovered; The point is to discover them ~Galileo