houses and money and messes, oh my!

I don't think any of you know that I'd really like to move, and that we're considering moving. Our home is good for us, really it is, but it's a condo and we want to be in a house. Going up and down three flights of stairs with a toddler (and groceries) is such a chore. I am saving baby stuff (high hopes!), so we're busting at the seams. There are so many things I wish I could change cosmetically about our place, but the hub feels that if we're not planning on staying there, we should just wait it out.

So I've been waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

We're finally starting to decide what to do. I think the time is right. We have several choices:

• Refinance and stay for another 2-5 years (how to organize more than one kid in this space is what concerns me; my friends over at AAA Update can attest to the difficulty of it)
• Sell our condo and move to a new house, in our ward (north Lynnwood, south Everett area)
• Sell our condo and move to a new house, outside of our ward (anywhere around Seattle, but probably Snohomish County)
• The same two options above, except RENT our condo instead and deal with being a landlady
• Sell our condo and move to the TriCities, where we'd get a HUGE bang for our buck, but we'd leave all the friends, doctors, memberships, annual events, jobs, etc., we've grown to love
  

But all this and a discussion of pros/cons is not what this post is about.

Last night, we went to go see a house. On paper, I loved this house. It had everything we wanted! A family room and living room. FOUR bedrooms. Nice kitchen. Three whole baths. Two-car garage. HUGE lot (10,000+ square feet). Built in 2000 (Shane doesn't want anything newer, I don't want anything older). Quiet cul-de-sac, no HOA dues, in our current ward boundaries. AND for a price we could afford, probably, depending on how much we took out of savings and how we could swing things. It was a dream! I was so excited to see it.

I did some research on the property to figure things out. From our realtor, we learned it was a short sale and there is more than $300,000 in debt on the house, but the bank was willing to work with the owners and sell for less.

See, that is all funny, since the Snohomish County assessor's Web site told more of the story. By checking the parcel information for the property, I learned the people who live there now are the original owners. In 2006, they either got divorced or someone died, and the "new owner" was just one of the two of them. Since they bought the house in 1999 for lots lots lots less than $300,000, we figure that meant they refinanced in 2006 (right at the peak). They took out a HELOC or something. And all of a sudden, the property debt was way way way way up there.

OK, whatever, people do that kind of stuff. But, enter the real estate crash, and you've got a big mess on your hands.

But, the thing that is really awful about this house, my dream house, is that it was trashed. Completely trashed. The water heater was leaking all over the garage. The carpet was ruined. There was dirt and dust and yuckiness everywhere. The fridge hadn't been cleaned in ages. The bathrooms were grimy. There were cracks in the walls. The yard was unkempt. I could go on.

I find it interesting that the owners don't care enough about their investment to even make it presentable!! I thought that was a given when you're trying to sell a house! Our realtor called these guys twice during the day -- they knew we were coming and at what time -- but we still came right as dinner was ready. The whole place smelled like Asian rice. They hadn't picked up, they hadn't cleaned, they were home!, it didn't matter to them if we wanted to buy or not. It was the bank's problem.

It was awful. It was so hard to see. Afterwards, Shane and I were talking, and we made a few assumptions about what had happened, and basically it seems that these people made out like bandits. They had this home they didn't take care of, didn't care about, but because of the real estate climate they were able to get bucko bucks from the bank and spend it all on whatever they wanted: trips to Hawaii, new cars, flat-screen TVs, whatever. That money evaporated. And now the bank, essentially, owns a deteriorating asset and they have to "write it off" and deal with the consequences of the homeowners having a "hardship." ("Hardship" is the main reason for a short sale; and owner has to prove to the bank there is some big reason why they can't make their payments and have to sell now for less than they owe on the home.)

Shane says, and I agree, that so many people (and the media?) make it out to say the banks are the villains, banks are so awful for making people pay back their loans, blah blah, whatever! If you saw this house, you'd know what I'm saying. Sometimes the people are the villains. It's true, the bank had no business refinancing and letting those people walk away with all that cash. (It's hard to say, since if homeowners want to buy a new house or open a business or whatever, then using home equity is a good way to do it.)

I just can't believe it. I live in a condo, under 1,000 square feet. In my Outlook I have set up "tasks" of chores. Every three weeks it pops up that I change the bed sheets. Every week it pops up that I vacuum and sweep. Every two months it pops up that I dust our wood. Every 6 months it pops up that I run a cycle to clean the oven. You see what I'm saying? The windows in that house last night had never been cleaned in 10 years, I can tell you that for sure.

I meticulously care about my investment. Shane and I, we don't want to take over a house that the previous owners didn't care about at all. It would be a huge mess! The cosmetic issues alone made me cringe; what if there was more? Structural damage? Water damage from the leaking water heater? (We're talking a bucket was under this water heater, catching the leak, full of water, and overflowing.)

To be balanced, I must say if there is a hardship, it makes sense that the owners can't afford to get a new water heater or replace the carpet to make the place presentable. They can't even make their mortgage! But I just have to wonder... how does one get to that point?

Some people just don't care.... and I feel like I'm the one who actually has to deal with it. Because all this real estate money in our society essentially evaporated, I am still dealing with inflated house prices, and the only option for me is to sell my condo (for tens of thousands of dollars at a loss) and move to the TriCities where cost of living is cheaper.

One more anecdote. In the paper recently was an article about this single mom and how her life was oh-so-hard since she was unemployed, had zero income, was living on food stamps, and found it so tough to take care of herself and get the government assistance she needed. I kept reading. The article said this woman was a successful mortgage broker who made $400,000 in 2008. FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. And now she was living on food stamps. WHERE DID IT ALL GO??? I'm sorry, but I have zero sympathy for someone who makes that much money and does not save a dime.

I'm just so frustrated. All of us live in this world together, and it's hard for me to try to teach my son good values about hard work, when around him people are getting away with laziness. I want to say that it only matters how you live your life, but sometimes I'm not sure. It seems like everyone else's dumb choices are affecting me. Perhaps the point is just to deal with it well, and continue to do right by ourselves and by God. It may not be fun, but at least I'll feel right about myself in the end. (Even if I'm still in my condo.)