Thursday, August 13, 2009

slowwwwww going!

tonight i read through half of dawn's [carpe diem] 2009 blogs. sooooo nice to read about what she has been up to this year! i am slowly catching up on blogs and others' lives yet, it seems [and dawn made the comment as well] that many people are missing from back when "we" were using aol journals. sad, really. it felt like more of a "community" then. after so many years, i suppose it would. how does one make it happen here and now?

i have found that facebook offers a fun community feeling yet it does not offer the same type of atmosphere. one cannot lay out ones feelings on facebook. it is not acceptable. [the verizon commercial nailed the sentiment right on the head.] one must not express emotion on facebook. funny quote? put it in your status for the day. angry with your boss? status. countdown to college? status. but, feeling down because your joints ache for the fourth day in a row and your doctor doesn't have a remedy? keep that emotion hidden. there is no place for pain and/or angst on facebook [that is, unless you are taking one of the mindless quizzes].

not to say that i don't enjoy facebooking. i do. i'm a little bit hooked, in fact. i have the facebook application on my crackberry so i can get updates 24/7. lucky me, i know when someone has posted a picture of their painted toenails the moment it happens.

i am ready for something new.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Summer Update

i cannot believe how long it has been. life has been ... well ... life. i see that many blogs are not being updated as often as they were when life was ao-hell. coincidence? or, like me, are the bloggers so busy that they don't have time to update?

since my last entry many things have happened. the best, along with getting engaged, is that my house is "safe." if the current administration hadn't imposed a foreclosure moratorium i would have lost it - not because i wasn't actively pursuing a resolution, but because i was not receiving responses from the corporations involved! for all the trouble i went through, i wonder how many people lost their homes because they simply ran out of time and/or patience. there were four - yes, four! - homes on my street that were abandoned [some fully furnished]. that's approximately 25% of the homes on my street. how sad is that? even worse is that i know, for a fact, that GMAC was the mortgage company involved with at least two of the homes [mine as well]. it disgusts me that so many people were screwed by them and, yet, they were allowed a bail out. i wouldn't have been in foreclosure if the company had accepted my partial payment last year when my roof and [entire] heating system had to be emergently replaced. instead, the company refused partial payment for the first month and refused further payment for the next two months until sending the home into foreclosure. i contacted GMAC's attorneys immediately to arrange payment and, subsequently, reached a deal with them. then came the wait .................

the papers never came despite my many emails and phone calls and, after my last email to their attorneys, i received notice that my mortgage had been "sold." coincidental that it happened around the time of the bailout ... >:( ultimately, after several stalled attempts [the current servicer lost pertinent info not once, but twice!] i was able to reach a DECENT service rep and my house is now out of foreclosure. my issue with the whole shebang is that there have been fees and penalties attached to my account - including an additional, mysterious $9K that appeared after the mortgage was sold by GMAC - that wouldn't have been there if "the other side" had done its job in a timely fashion. [i am still fighting the fees and penalties!] if anyone out there is experiencing foreclosure i highly recommend being patient and thorough. do not let corporate america take away your home if you know, in your heart, that you have done as much as you can to prevent foreclosure. all the foreclosure-related news that was on CNN [including statements from my state rep Marcy Kaptur, who suggested squatting] don't tell you that assistance programs are only as good as those who answer their phones. be vigilant about your account - keep records and notes - and if you don't receive responses, keep calling/emailing/etc. ultimately, it was vigilance and a timely intervention from the current admin via the moratorium that kept my house from foreclosure. while it will take more time to reach an agreement on the penalties and fees i know that, finally, my home is "safe." my payment is half what it was before due to a lower interest rate and extended mortgage term. those who are interested in this program and others can go to FinancialStability.gov hope it helps!

more later.