Jeff Underwood is asking whether this family should stay in their home and he has a poll on his website http://theuglytruthaboutmoney.com/ . Last I checked, 75% had voted to move forward with a short sale. In my humble opinion, this family needs to stop throwing in bad money after bad money and I voted to do a short sell right away.
What I have found with my experience with all of the clients we’ve helped short sell their homes is that most people go through the 5 stages of loss when they are looking at their options with regards to their home.
I did myself when I had 6 properties I was upside down on and needed to do something with- with 18k of monthly mortgage obligations and my 401k being eaten up, I finally accepted the fact that I was never going to recoup my money and to continue to drain my future retirement was insane. I no longer own any of them and have started myself on the road to recovery and have a clean financial slate which feels really good to have all of them behind me now.
The 5 stages of Loss are:
1. Denial- It’s going to get better, right? This can’t be happening to me! My house has got to be worth more than what they say.
2. Anger- I can’t believe the neighbor just sold their house for half of what I paid for mine!? How could they screw us like that?
3. Bargaining- If only the bank would let us do a loan modification and reduce our principle balance to what it’s worth; then our payment would be something we could afford….
4. Depression- The sadness and regret hit and this is when most aren’t making their payments because they just can’t any longer.
5. Acceptance- This is usually when we are able to successfully complete a short sale for one of our clients because they’ve realized that it’s in their best interest and are happy we are able to help.
Here at Integrity All Star Realty, we really do understand first hand the emotional roller coaster our clients experience with this process and if you would like to see if we can help you or someone you know, please complete the questionaire on our website and we will be in touch with you right away.