Something to think about when your trying to figure out how to keep that beautiful home you purchased a few years ago. If your like most homeowners, when you purchased your home, you placed a good chunk of money down on a beautiful home in your desired neighborhood. Oh and of course it didn’t stop there….maybe a new kitchen, bathroom updates and some landscaping….bottom line you’ve got a lot invested in the home and the neighborhood!
While taking a Short Sale listing the other day, in a beautiful, newer housing development….
Our clients shared their story and what prompted them to choose a Short Sale. This family was hit with a decrease in income due to “Government” cutbacks in the husbands line of work. They really had thought long and hard about a Short Sale, and they did there homework.
The fact that they were barely scraping by was at the forefront of the decision. It was also a much easier decision to make due to the fact that an adjustable rate on the second was resetting very soon.
For me, listening to this mother of several beautiful children struggle with walking away from what was going to be the home they invested in to give their children a good life, send them to top schools and keep them in a good element… was heart wrenching.
You see, they had bought this home on a conventional loan, lot’s of money down and then a little later added one of those nasty home equity loans to do some beautiful landscaping and a pool. It’s now 2009, a pay cut and over $100,000 into the home in the first few months….not to mention the down payment…
This isn’t an unusual story. I’m sure that many people reading this will relate or knows someone that is or has gone through a similar situation.
For this family the final decision to sell at Short Sale came when they realized they weren’t the only families in the neighborhood having to sell. Some homes already have posted NO TRESPASSING SIGNS due to Foreclosure.
They chose this neighborhood to raise their children. Now, vacant homes were selling for less than half of what they had paid. The decline in value was not only devastating for the homeowners that had invested so much into their dream home, but the ultimate victim was that beautiful, safe neighborhood that their children once walked to school everyday.
It was no longer safe for the kids. The neighborhood was crumbling around them.
Face it, we not only buy the home, we’re buying the neighbors and the neighborhood. There is an adage we used in our past lives of marketing: “Birds of a feather, flock together”…i.e. you probably have a similar life as your neighbor. Similar likes, shopping patterns, etc. When these similarities is disrupted, your disrupted.
When a different element or “look” to your neighborhood changes…you probably change the way you look at your home and it’s importance to your family. In this case, it was obvious. The new neighbors, paying 50% less for the same property…weren’t the same “birds.” The family was seeing the change and it impacted their decision to sell short.
That day will be one I remember. A family that was willing to sacrafice their dreams of the perfect home in the nicest neighborhood because of a changing element brought on by a depreciation of home value.
A sign of the times? More to come…
