Rental House

After talking to the mortgage attorney in depth, we have decided to give the bank our rental house back. As I said before, I am all for paying for what we purchased but it's hard to swallow the fact that we are paying double of what our neighbors are now paying for the exact same house or bigger. It will also take that neighborhood at least 10 years to get back to the value in which we paid. That is not saying that it is a bad neighborhood but just a neighborhood that will be slow to recover.

We are going to be saving a fair amount a money each month. It will help us "recover" what we have lost in the past three years. Maybe this is the wrong way of looking at this but it's the banks that have put us in this position. They received a bail out from the federal government but yet are drowning the general population. They won't rewrite loans unless you are behind in your payments (we have been totally up to date) and then they start charging fee on top of fee, on top of fee. Even then, they won't rewrite the loan for what the house appraises for today. They may lower your payments for now but later, there is a balloon payment which adds up to the original amount of the loan.

Anyway... we will be able to put the saved money into our house ~ paint the exterior, fix up the backyard and pool deck, and hopefully fix the horrible tile jobs that the previous owner did as a "do it yourself". He put the most slippery tile in the backyard next to the pool and in our bathroom. You can also hear the void under the tiles through out our house. I would love to change it to wood in the living room and change out the tile in the kitchen. I don't want to do carpet because of the heat here during the summer.

It's nice to think that we will have the ability to fix our house and have a few extra dollars to save. We will also be able to buy fun stuff for us as well ~ new chairs for our backyard patio set and maybe go on a family vacation that is not in California. But... we are going to be just as frugal as we have been and use coupons. If these past three years have taught us anything, it is that we don't need to jump and get the latest gadget in technology (the latest iPad), extravagant vacations (family vacations are the best) or a new car (ours fit us best and car payments suck).

I am over the stigma of foreclosure ~ there are many that have gone through this. Only, we are different... this is a business decision. This wasn't our "dream house". It was a house that was rented out that never had the backyard landscaped, the kitchen was never re-done nor was it ever repainted inside. It was just a rental house.

It took us awhile but we have learned that our family comes first and not the bank.

So, here's to a new beginning.
**Cheers**