I tell you, the end of ’13 and beginning of ’14 have been pretty stressful. I’m already pretty beat down and ready to just give up on EVER getting the fuck out of here – this house, this state and this RUT. Ugh.
AS you probably know, Nick’s 99 Ranger bit it about a week before Xmas. It was a shock, but I managed to find a replacement that same day. Bye bye $8700. That was about 2/3 of our savings. Then on the heels of that, the dishwasher decided it’d be great to start burning the insulation of its wires. Bye bye another $350. (I did get a Bosch dishwasher which is awesome.) And we’ve still got to get the plates for the new 05 Ranger, which will run probably around a grand. That would be $10,050 for those keeping score at home. We’ll get a little from the sale of the 99 Ranger, so let’s just say $9050 for fun.
Then we had a horrible New Year’s Eve/Day thanks to some very bad decisions made by the people hosting the party we attended. We are traumatized by that scene and it’s not really helping the rest of this shit. Dammit. Our stress was definitely cranked up by that shit.
Also around this time, we’ve been discussing our need for new digs. This place is too small for all the projects we’ve got going on, especially the arcade games. We’ve toyed with the idea of building onto this place, but what’s the point? The loan is tangled up and it’s about $47k under water. We’d previously looked into renting and not only is it pricey, but I didn’t find anything we’d be happy with. So, we decided perhaps it’s time to try to buy another house.
We’ve known that this house was in a grey area. It was “technically” discharged with the bankruptcy 2.5 years ago, but since we kept paying, Wells Fargo didn’t move on foreclosure or short sale. Now that we are wanting to make our move out of this house, our folly has come back to bite us on the ass. Although we don’t “technically” own this house, it’s still under our name since Wells didn’t foreclose. Which means as far as mortgage companies go, we are on the hook for the remaining $89k of this mortgage. See where I’m going? This albatross is preventing us from getting a loan for a new place. On top of that, if we do let it foreclose, then we’ll be banned from any mortgages for at least 3-4 MORE years. (Those of you in the know will notice that these rules are EXACTLY the same as they were before the “new regulations”. New MY ASS, the banks still run everything the same fucking way, to THIER benefit and no one else’s. AND they got TRILLIONS in free money from us, as well.) There is a chance we could do a short sale, but we’ve got to have somewhere to go! Conundrum.
There is a slim chance we may qualify for a(nother) mortgage loan since this house is the ONLY debt we have. But it’s slim and I don’t expect it to pan out. I’d like to know how all these other fucking people with shitty credit, tons of debt and 3 houses keep getting loans? If anyone knows a sketchy loan company, PLEASE let me know. I’m not afraid to go sketchy. The thing is, once we get another loan and get moved, Wells can do whatever they wish. We’ll be long gone and the foreclosure won’t matter since we’ve got another loan. BUT the banks, poor things, they don’t want that kind of “risk”. RIGHT. We’re pretty much fucked at this point. HARP is bullshit.
On top of all this awesomeness, Nick’s work may lose one of its two big clients. This is the client that has always been solid. The second client has always been wobbly and could go at any time, so this means that BOTH clients are now wobbly. Not good. If Nick loses his job, we are pure-T FUCKED. We have practically nothing in savings thanks to the above expenses.
So, yah, we’re stressed out. We both didn’t sleep well due to stress dreams last night and the night before. I am really tired and cranky. I’ve been foul for days. Foulapalooza continues. :(
And the cherry on top is: I’ve got company coming in next week. ::sob:: I hope I can hold it together. I know, between us, Nick and I will pull off the visit next week without a hitch, but it’s just all this CRAP that’s piled on top of us…
I don’t have any energy to give to anyone right now. We’ve got PROBLEMS. Potentially devastating problems if Nick’s job is in jeopardy. This is why we have begged off most social stuff. 2013 was a bastard and it seems that 2014 will be one as well. We are in survival mode, so don’t take it personally if we decline invitations. We are just trying to hold it together. We are not ones for panic, but we are very cautious right now. I’m thinking that Heroes Con may not happen for us this year. We need to save money like crazy. We always succumb to the siren call of Heroes, but I think we’ll need to be strong and skip this year. ::another sob::
We have a home, paid for cars and groceries in the fridge. It takes a lot of willpower to concentrate on THAT rather than the rest of this shit. When things get like this, I just need quiet. Lots and lots of quiet. Which is why having company will be extra hard for me.
We are grateful for what we have, despite the uncertainty of our situation. Hope springs eternal.