Should I Stay or Should I Go?

This is the question too many people are asking themselves these days. For whatever reason you've gotten behind in your mortgage – you've lost your job and haven't been able to find another; a spouse is out of work; the cost of living has just gotten too high in your area.

Maybe you're not behind yet. Maybe your income is about to drop and you know that you won't be able to afford your current mortgage. Maybe you've heard stories about people "walking away" and renting is starting to look like a good idea right now.

Whatever the reason, losing your home can make you feel like a failure. It can make you feel like you let your family down.

The first thing for you to know is that you aren't alone. There are many families just like yours that are in the same boat.

Owning a Home is was the American Dream

Here are some staggering foreclosure statistics

• 1 out of every 200 homes will be foreclosed upon.

• Every three months, 250,000 new families enter into foreclosure.

• One child in every classroom in America is at risk of losing his/her home because their parents are unable to pay their mortgage.

Step 1: Remove Emotion

When you are stuck in emotion, you are stuck in the past. Yes, your kids did grow up in that house. Yes, you did learn how to put those cabinets in yourself. Yes, you did give the bank thousands upon thousands of dollars to live there. (You would have given those thousands of dollars to a landlord if you hadn't given them to the bank. Nobody lives for free.)

While those are wonderful memories, they are the past. To make a good decision, you have to remove the emotional attachment to your home by thinking about the future. If you stay, what will your life be like next year? I can almost guarantee that it won't be the same life it was in your memories. If you leave, what will change? Leaving may not solve all your problems either because many of the struggles you are going through today will follow you wherever you live.

So what do you do?

Make a Decision

When you purchased your home that was the best decision for your family at that time. Things have changed. You need to be proactive to make the best decision for your family RIGHT NOW.

Whether you stay in your home or decide to leave, it is a decision that you should be making. If you leave it up to your bank to decide, that’s still a decision. But it’s a decision that will leave you feeling like a victim. You may be a victim of your current circumstances (you didn’t ask for the layoff, etc), but you don’t have to live like a victim.

Crystal Pina, Keller Williams Realty 324 Grove Street, Worcester, MA 01605 (774) 289-5521 mobile (801) 218-0436 fax Crystal@CrystalPina.com Worcester-MA-Homes.com   QUICK LINKS: Curious what your home is worth today? Find out here. Start your FREE home search here. I am part of the Sell With Soul referral network! If you like what you just read, subscribe to this blog.

Crystal Pina, REALTOR®   -  Proudly connecting home buyers with home sellers in Worcester, Leicester, Spencer, East Brookfield, Brookfield, West Brookfield, North Brookfield, Rutland, Paxton, Holden, Oakham, New Braintree, Barre, South Barre, Hardwick, Gilbertville, and Ware since 2005