“Home Ownership” Archive

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Progress…

The fence is finally done!

We decided to build the fence with the lumber faced horizontally rather than vertically to reduce waste. We used every inch of lumber we bought!

We’re done with home improvement… for now anyway.

DSCF0121

Posted by Beks on February 16, 2010 at 12:30 PM in Home Ownership | 8 Comments »
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Choosing Permanent Over Temporary…

Our back fence bit the dust. The tie wire, plastic sheeting, and chicken wire mess we like to call a ‘fence’ finally gave out after fighting a treacherous battle with a glorious 5mph gust of wind.

It creaked. It groaned. It fell. I cried.

We have a couple options:

a. We can leave the fence broken, give away our dogs, and hope nothing larger than a hippo wants in or out of our yard.

b. We can do yet another band-aid fix – i.e. buy more chicken wire, bazooka bubble gum, and a load of hope and prayer.

c. We can construct what I consider a perfectly acceptable but perhaps not aesthetically pleasing Preskool bubbly plastic play gate in a rainbow of colors available at garage sales everywhere.

d. We can build a real fence.

Now is not a good time for this to happen (when is?). My husband started his job on Tuesday and won’t receive a paycheck until next week. Fortunately, those of us who are paid bi-weekly receive three paychecks in one month two times per year. January just happens to be my three paycheck month.

Sniff. Goodbye extra car payment.

We decided to build a new fence with my third check. Over the last three years, we could have paid for a new fence several times over but never seemed to have enough to do anything more than band-aid fix after band-aid fix. My husband is constructing the fence and stringing it with power so we can add lighting in the future. Looking at the perfectly dug trenches in our back yard, it appears as though I am haunted by a 170 pound gopher who looks a lot like my husband.

It’s time to stretch ourselves. I’m tired of continuing to make bad temporary financial decisions.

Posted by Beks on January 18, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Home Ownership, Life Experiences, Living Frugal | 11 Comments »
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Bank of America… Thanks for Nothing…

My home loan was previously serviced by Countrywide. Bank of America took over our mortgage servicing quite some time ago but we haven’t been classified as official Bank of America customers yet and Countrywide isn’t around anymore. We’ve been in limbo for over a year now.

When I call Bank of America, they never know where to transfer me and my call is often magically ‘dropped’. We never received paper statements and our online statements have been a nightmare. Other than a statement of monthly payments, no other information was made available. I had no idea if or when our property taxes or mortgage insurance where paid and I could never find our principal balance. I called to ask why our mortgage payment jumped $150 a month and the best answer they ever offered was ‘I don’t know. Taxes maybe?’

Bank of America finally listed my full account information online this month.

Holy. Cow.

First, we were not notified that the cost of our homeowners insurance jumped by 50%. Call me crazy, but that’s kinda something I’d like to know.

Second, the extra money we’ve been paying on our principal balance the past two and half years has been offset by a reduction of our monthly payment.

This is hard to explain, but it’s sneaky by Bank of America none the less. We pay $20 extra per month on our second mortgage through Wells Fargo. They apply the $20 toward our principal balance but keep our payment the same. Since our principle balance is reduced and our payments are the same, our $20 is stretched to around $50-$75. Our $20 a month to Wells Fargo has paid off around $3,000 of mortgage debt instead of $720.

Bank of America has taken the $20 we designated toward principal and reduced our balance by exactly $20. Then, since our principal balance is reduced, they reduce our monthly payment. Unlike our loan with Wells Fargo, Bank of America has made it so we aren’t shaving any time off the life of our loan and we’re saving no money. Very Sneaky.

Realistically, I should have pushed harder for the information from Bank of America and demanded an explanation of the $150 hike. I assumed it was all from the recent property tax hikes, and most of it was, but I could have saved money by knowing there were other reasons behind the higher monthly payment. And, I would have liked to transfer the $20 I’m spending for no benefit at Bank of America and switched it to our Wells Fargo account.

I assumed my mortgage was the one payment I didn’t have to monitor closely – but I was really, really wrong.

Thank you Bank of America for making me your babysitter.

Posted by Beks on December 7, 2009 at 5:00 AM in General Debt, General Personal Finance, Home Ownership | 36 Comments »
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Sharing Costs…

My husband came to me smiling ecstatically Saturday.

“I have good news!” he said with delight.

Did he get a job? Did he find a thousand dollars in change while cleaning the couch cushions? I thought.

“The neighbor rented an industrial size rototiller and if I help him at his house, he’ll bring it over here and we can use it! We can dig up the backyard!” he said.

It has become painfully obvious that my husband and I have differing meanings of ‘good news’.

In his defense, we have wanted to tear apart our backyard for months but we haven’t had the time or the money for a giant rototiller.

I don’t know how you spent your weekend but my hours passed painfully. I followed my husband with a shovel and a water hose while he smiled with glee pushing the manliest piece of machinery our yard has seen. The layer of dust is so thick on my scalp, I’m on wash number two and I can still do a good impression of Pig Pen from Charlie Brown. I may have ‘accidentally’ sprayed my husband’s face with water a few times out of sheer spite but it failed to wipe off his giddy look.

Next weekend our neighbor is renting a cement mixer… and has made the same offer. My husband said, “Sweetheart! We can finally widen our driveway – for FREE!! All it will take is a little bit of elbow grease!”

How is it that in less than a week, the Swine Flu is suddenly looking like a good way to spend Thanksgiving weekend?

Posted by Beks on November 23, 2009 at 5:00 AM in Home Ownership, Saving Money | 7 Comments »
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How long can we hang on…

My husband and I sat down with sharpened pencils and sketched out a plan of action. We would have sketched this out earlier but we just received the unemployment numbers on Friday.

The big question…

How long can we hold on without my husband’s job?

Our initial numbers (without unemployment benefits) put us at 8 weeks. Our reductions to debt paired with our cash in savings and unemployment benefits put us at…

9 months.

Had this happened before we had taken control… had this happened before we made the decision to live below our means and reduce debt… we would have made it through a month, maybe two tops.

But now, we’re looking at 9 safe months. 9 months to find a job before things get hairy. Sure we won’t make progress other than minimums and we certainly won’t eat anything other than Ramen noodles but, we can hold on.

I have four words to say –

Thank. You. Dave. Ramsey.

Posted by Beks on October 25, 2009 at 5:00 AM in Debt Updates, General Debt, General Personal Finance, Home Ownership, Living Frugal, job loss | 30 Comments »
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Making Home Affordable Tips…

I learned a lot about the Making Home Affordable/Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in my 2 hour call with Bank of America.

1 – If you are hoping for a huge change… this is not the answer. Not all changes are permanent and/or large. Some adjustments may last as little as 3 months.

2 – Loan modifications are not quick. If you can’t wait the standard 9 weeks for the review of your file and another 5-9 weeks for paperwork processing, you don’t have enough time and you may want to move forward with other options like a short sale or foreclosure.

3 – Give an accurate listing of all your expenses. Don’t exaggerate but don’t minimize either. Have a good understanding of exactly how much you are paying. Keep this information available for when you call the bank.

4 – You will be rejected if you have recently made large purchases or if your credit score is low. You shouldn’t be making large purchases anyway so I can’t say as if I blame the banks for this stipulation.

5 – If you have a second mortgage with another lender, they will likely require you to get approved for the Making Home Affordable Program on your first loan before they will consider a change to your second mortgage. If you are accepted for the program on your first loan, it’s easy to submit the same paperwork for your second mortgage.

6 – This should not be your only option. It’s worth a try, but don’t fool yourself into thinking this will solve your problems.

7 – If your home is not a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac mortgage, this program does not apply to you… BUT some lenders are still willing to modify other types of loans.

8 – This is a voluntary program. No one HAS to help you. Sure it’s good business sense to lessen foreclosures on the banks part, but if you are a problem child, don’t expect any help. Banks don’t want to keep you as a customer anyway. Be kind, courteous, and polite even if you are frustrated.

According to the bank’s calculations, my husband and I qualify. We are now in the first 9 week waiting period while they review our files. We have stellar credit scores and we haven’t made large purchases in a long time. We are good candidates for an interest rate reduction from the over 7% it is currently, down to the market rates of 5-6%.

Do I really think it will really happen?

No. But it’s worth a try.

Posted by Beks on October 23, 2009 at 5:00 AM in Credit Reports/FICO, Debt Updates, General Debt, General Personal Finance, Good Info, Home Ownership, Loans, Making Home Affordable Program | 13 Comments »
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Dealing with Making Home Affordable…

I am throwing the white flag…

and applying for the Making Home Affordable program.

Yesterday, I left work early and made THE call. My call started at 5:07 p.m. and ended at 5:57 p.m.

I called the Making Home Affordable number on my Bank of America mortgage website and waited 17 minutes on hold. Someone answered and transferred my call since my mortgage used to be a Countrywide mortgage and they had a separate division.

I’m fairly certain they routed my call around the world because really, what else can explain the 24 minute hold time and the gentleman who sounded like had lunch in Bangladesh. He asked for my name, account number, checked my account, thanked me for paying on time, and told me I would be transferred yet again to a representative. 9 minutes later, a message said, ‘Our office is now closed. Please call back another time.’

I would give you advice on dealing with the Making Home Affordable program but since I didn’t talk to anyone, I will tell you this… you need more than an hour.

Dear Bank of America… I had far better things to do than spend 50 minutes of my life listening to Kenny G. and the recorded reminder that someone will be with me shortly. Obviously you and I have VERY different definitions of ‘shortly’ AND, I had to drink three glasses of Chianti just to keep my ears from bleeding.
Ugh. Kenny G.

I’ll let you know how it goes… if I ever get through.

Posted by Beks on October 15, 2009 at 5:00 AM in Confessions, General Debt, Home Ownership, Loans, Making Home Affordable Program | 24 Comments »
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