Cincinnati Homes For Sale

The realization that you are financially in over your head is one of those gut wrenching, stomach sinking, scary thoughts.  You get the thought and put it out of your mind, but it keeps coming back doesn't it?  You lie awake at night and that little thought just keeps coming back.  What are you going to tell your family?  What will you say to your friends?  If you make a decision to sell your house, in the end, who will you be?

The fact is, this is one of life's worst moments. It feels that this decision defines your worth.

Does this brand you as a failure?  We don't think so.  The fact is that the number of people who finally make this decision is such a growing club that you'd be totally amazed at the spectrum of society that it includes.

Not doing anything is probably the one decision that could the the worst that you could make.

A few months ago Chris Siegel, a foreclosure attorney with 10 years experience who is now a real estate agent helping people like you, and I decided to call people who had just had filed foreclosure. We thought that we could at least help those people understand their options, so that they wouldn't just wait for the foreclosure.  What we found was a whole range of denial, and although most of them told us their stories, everyone of them really wanted to keep their problem a secret; they didn't want to think about a short sale.  Every one of those people, except one, eventually lost their house at foreclosure. The one who didn't, sold their house as a short sale.  They made a decision to sell their house, avoid a foreclosure on their credit, and move on.  So why did the rest of the people, just let their house be repossessed?

Psychologists would probably have lots of ideas about what happens to people during this financial loss, much like the lost of a valued person close to them. That's what we see. Denial, anger, and sadness that for a while at least redefines them. Sometimes people learn their options, decide to be proactive and put their house on the market for a short sale.  They move out and rent and just move on to a better life.  Sometimes, it changes the way they look at money and themselves.  It redefines how they value themselves.  Others look back and justify the move, but don't really change the way they deal with money.

Others change the way the way they deal with money in the nick of time and turn their lives around before they need to sell their house.  I think that the stories from the great depression, about frugal lifestyles will come from this too. If you think that any of these people could be you, it is important to get the facts about your options, take a really good look at your money issues and make decisions before foreclosure happens to you.

Here are some ideas about keeping your valued possessions safe and options you can take to restart your own personal economy:

• Keep a money journal
• Every night write down everything you spent that day on one side of the page and everything you deposited on the other side of the page.
• You need to itemize what you spent the money on, and where your income came from.
• At the end of the month, take every item you spent and categorize it. Food, clothing, house costs including maintenance and mortgage taxes etc. Take a careful look at what was necessary and what was not. Sometimes it is easier if you do not use credit cards because when you pay over the dollar bills, it makes you think hard about whether you really need it or not.
• Look at the necessities and think about whether you could have spent less, what strateges you could use to get what you need for less, shop different stores, use coupons, buy more inseason food for example, cook for more than one meal at a time?
• Use the library instead of buying CDs, DVDs, or books. Pack your lunch instead of eating out and make your coffee at home and put it in a thermal cup to take it with you if you need to.

On this website you will find ideas also about cutting your energy costs of your home, so check that out too!

If you can cut back what you spend monthly, you may be able to make your money work for you, keep your house and even save for a rainy day. The Rainy Day savings account is important, but making ends meet is the first goal.

If the ends are never going to meet, this is stomach-sinking time. However, knowledge is power and making a good decision now could help you to recover in the future.  You don't want to have this event hurt you now and haunt you later. You don't want to look back on this and feel you could have done better. We are having these difficult conversations with home owners every day.

You are not alone.  Call us and we'll take you through your options and then you can decide what to do next.  Time is sometimes not in unlimited supply so look hard at where you are financially and get information, make a decision and move on.  All the energy you are spending on worrying could very well be used to enjoy your family, work on your career and reorganize the way you spend your money.

Carol Meadows & Chris Siegel 513.766.3878.  Feel free to email us with any questions or concerns.