I feel for you. I hope you are able to get out of your home as much as you put into it. I know these time are rough. A few years after college, one of my three roommates/landlord was in foreclosures. As a group, we’d move into one of the houses he bought in foreclosure, and sometimes I would live in houses 5,500 or so square ft. He would tell the stories sometimes, but he was never empathetic. He would buy them for about 55-60% of what people paid for them, (because he knew they’d drop in value in the next 3-4 years (that was BEFORE the 2008 crisis, by several years). Even then, we all knew the price was too high, and in a bubble.
He wanted me to work with him, but I opted not to. Seeing so many people lose out because they overextended had themselves, would have been too difficult for me to cope with (he was a bit of a callous guy). I met some of the people, including a family who got a divorce over finances (although that’s only ever a catalyst, not the cause). It’s sad, but there’s a long way to go. There’s no economic activity to support a housing market in the range it’s been. It was like giving an 18 year old a credit card (the gov. forcing banks to give mortages). The 18 year old thinks they’re rich, and that the price is only a number. It’s only when they have to pay it off that they realize there’s a number of man hours of work attached to that price.
As a side note, I recently spoke with my father about a topic, and he was pricing everything in terms of hours of work. In my opinion, it’s a very smart thing to do, because A) It’s a lot easier to personally factor out a lot of garbage in “price.” and B) It shows you where your labor time is going directly. Just a handy bit of advice, on a bit of a tanget. Best of luck to you, I hope your situation goes weel for you, hang in there.
ping