The Foreclosure

This is probably the most stressful and irritating thing we had to deal with in the last 2+ years. We lost our house to foreclosure. We became a zero-down, sub-prime statistic. Here is how it happened.

October 2008, Jenny and I bought a decent house with zero-down. Our budget was a little tight, but we felt we had plenty to live on after making the mortgage payment every month. We probably looked a little sub-prime on paper with our student loans and medical bills hanging around, but we were able to close quickly.

We had a great first year, but in late November 2009 we got a notice from the bank that the escrow account was overdrawn by about $2400. A little investigating showed us that we had been charged the wrong tax rate. We should have been charged Homestead Tax for owning and living on the property, but we were instead charged with Non-Homestead Tax which is about double the Homestead rate.

Escrow wanted to recoup this shortfall within 30 days of the notice, but we couldn't make that happen in the time allotted. Escrow's fall back position was charge the shortfall over 12 months (with fees) as part of our mortgage payment. This increased our payments by about 45%. We had hope that contacting the city would correct the rate and provide us with a refund for the over-payment fairly quickly, so we decided to run a deficit on the checking account at the mortgage bank that we set up for automated payments (and a lower APR).

Time marched on, and we made no headway with the city. They wanted proof of residency. We gave them months and months worth of this bill and that bill and they still weren't satisfied. Even after resubmitting whatever form they said was missing initially, our tax rate wasn't adjusted from that point forward.

By the spring of 2010, the computing power behind the checking account decided to close the account. As we were still unable to make the bigger payments, a deficit began to grow directly on the mortgage account. I began to dread every knock and every call. This began to trigger foreclosure proceedings that culminated in a Sheriff's sale in October 2010.

The six month Right to Redemption period wasn't any less stressful. We were still trying to get things straight with the city and the refund we were sure we were due could get us square with the bank. I was hoping that a private buyer at the foreclosure sale would extend an offer to stay on as renters.

In April 2011, the letter finally came announcing we had 7 days to vacate the property. It hurt. I felt like a failure as a husband and a provider. We yelled. We cried. We prayed. It became clear that it was okay to walk away. We found an apartment, and we found a storage unit. We had loads of help from those nearest and dearest to us, who were all shocked by the news. It turns out we had a little more than 7 days to get everything out, but by the time we were served with the court papers, we were at peace with the situation. We handed over the keys with out a fight, and found a little more room in our budget by letting go.

It seems like the deck was stacked against us from the beginning, but we weren't financially ready to be homeowners. That was a very hard lesson to learn.

Benjamin J Hobbs: Terrible Blogger

I wanted to start this blog to tell the anecdotes of my life, but I left you all with a cliff hanger almost 2 months ago. I could give you the very valid excuse that I've been busy with new customers coming online at work, but that feels like a cop out. So let me give you Cliff Notes version as a catch up.

The car was only down for one week. The day after the accident, Enterprise switched us out of the Delivery Van and into a Nissan Sentra. Nice ride, but not really my size. State Farm completely covered the repair, so we threw in some maintenance work while it was in the shop. The Malibu ended up coming back to us in better condition than before the accident.

The weekend before the accident, we added two new members to our home. Harvest and Whinny are a male and female, respectively, from the same litter. The names are actually verbs that cats cannot perform. The picture to the left is from there first weekend home, and they have practically doubled in size since then. They have been such a blessing and stress reliever. They love to cuddle, which is a must at our house, but also chase each other around the house, making us laugh every time.

Jenny and I filed our taxes in late February and got a sizable return due to the First-Time Home Buyer's credit. I've got to thank President Bush for getting that one through congress. The return allowed us to each get new computers. Jenny got a little pink Netbook from Dell, and I built a cool looking powerhouse for gaming and development. The return also helped us make some much needed repairs around the new house. We gave a list a mile long to our plumber friend, and bought paint for every room.

I decided to do something significant for Lent this year. The Church I attend doesn't make a big deal about the forty days of Lent, but I still try to use the time to make myself a better person and a better follower of Christ. This year I decided to do quite a serious fast. I didn't give up food altogether, as that is reckless and dangerous for a 40 day period. I did reduce my intake to one meal of my choosing each day. Jenny worried about my health, and encouraged me to supplement my single meal with juice. I took her advice and started drinking V8 Splash and V-Fusion during the mealtimes I skipped each day. The goal of the fast is to improve my Bible study. I have not seen as much improvement in the quantity of study as I originally planned, but the quality of study has made a marked increase so far. There are two more weeks until Easter, which will mark the end of my physical hunger and hopefully a continued hunger for the Bread of Life.

I think that covers the major bullet points of the last two months. I hope to write more frequently in the near future. In fact, check back this Thursday as I will have a scheduled post telling of my April Fool's Day joke program for this year.

Wii Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. Jenny and I hosted my family at our house. It was a good time seeing all my cousins again. We had a great meal, watched the Lions lose, and then we turned on the video games. First was a Soul Calibur II round robin, with my tournament winning cousin kicking butt and taking names. Then we switched to Super Smash Bros Brawl, which a different cousin excelled at with Ike. After that, the cousins started parting ways, and Wii Sports got put in the system. If only I had taken a photo of my Grandma and Grandpa playing Wii Bowling. They are fairly techno-savvy, but I had never imagined they would pick up a Wii Remote. But they did, and had a grand old time playing. What a great Thanksgiving it was.

Halloween Goodies

I love Halloween. It is one of my favorite holidays. Every year, I try to out do my costume from the previous year. This year, I dressed as Professor Farnsworth of Futurama fame. I don't feel I pulled the costume off as well as I have past costumes, but I was working with limited options. With a heavy load on at work, and most of my stuff still in boxes, I did the best I could.

I also held an open house style party last night. It was our first real chance to show off the house. We had quite a few people come through and visit, so I would mark it in the successful party column.

Overall, I had a great Halloween, and I look forward to next year.

Powerless

Yesterday, the power company shut off our electricity. From our understanding at closing, the bank that owned the house before we bought it was supposed to transfer the account to us. However, the after-hours operator informed Jenny that such a transfer is not allowed due to a policy change at the beginning of the year. Apparently, an account transfer can only be made in one direction, the buyer requesting the transfer. I can understand that as a way of securing accounts against transfer fraud and ruining credit. However, I am displeased with the way the power company handled this. They gave us no notice of the shutoff. They simply pulled the plug unceremoniously. We understand that they don't have our names or phone numbers, but they obviously have our address. They could have put a letter in the mail or a hanger on the door or something to tell us that we may have forgotten to transfer the account. And because we didn't find out about the problem until the office had closed, we had to suffer all night without power. Power that lets me watch the newest South Park after volleyball. Power that recharges my cell phone while I sleep. Power that tells the furnace and water heater to turn on when needed. We will be calling during business hours today to get the account in our names, and hope that the power is restored before our electrician friend shows up to check a few wiring issues this afternoon.

Moving In

Saturday, we moved in to our new house. We didn't have all the help we were hoping for, but we got everything into the house by the end of the day. We even changed the locks. Now we start the long unpacking process.

It is still surreal to own a house. Just this morning, while getting ready for the day, Jenny and I didn't leave the upstairs until we were walking out the door, as if we had forgotten we don't live in an apartment anymore.

I guess we have a lot to get used to.

Starting a blog

Hello World!

Welcome to my new blog. My name is Benjamin J Hobbs and I am the Lead Programmer on TrainMaster Train Simulator. I have a lovely wife, Jenny. I'm surrounded by a loving family. I attend a terrific Church. I have decided to join the Blogosphere to share funny and interesting stories from my life. I don't plan on writing anything inflammitory nor do I plan on being derogitory. I hope you make a habit of reading my thoughts. Here is the first:

I decided to begin this blog to commerate a milestone in my short 25 years on Earth. Today, I bought a house. After a brief two months of looking, Jenny and I placed an offer on a nice little two story in South Lansing. The offer was accepted and we went smoothly through the loan process. And today, we signed the papers that transfered that property into our possession. We are tremendously excited and hope to show off the house over and over. Tonight, we will be camping out on our air matress, and tomorrow, we will be back in our own bed. To understand how much that makes us happy, you can spend nearly three weeks on your sister-in-law's futon in the basement at your in-law's house. Not that I didn't enjoy my time with them, I am just relieved that I'll have my own space again.

Tune in again for moving annecdotes from tomorrow.