The saga of Fred & Francine

[Walt34]

(Names changed to protect the guilty.)

This couple has become a family topic of conversation, wondering what they'll do next to screw up their finances, sort of like watching a train heading for a bridge that you know is out. They're friends and neighbors of SIL.

He's a carpenter (apparently a very good one whose work is much sought after) she retired a year ago as a teacher. A MATH teacher! They've been using their home as a piggy bank and now have about $60k equity in a $500k house. Every "I wanna..." is taken care of by credit cards, when they get maxed out they take out another loan, pay off the cc's and repeat the cycle. This is the couple that had the house on the market last year and turned down a $530k offer - asking was $550k - because the closing date would have interfered with their upcoming trip to Hawaii.

They wanna house in SC and had one built. It was finished a year ago and they've been paying interest only on the loan for that. Meanwhile, the SC house that they paid $350k for is now in a neighborhood with houses selling for $250k. So instead of being $400k in the hole like everyone thought, they're $750k in the hole.

It just kind of takes my breath away.

 

[cantlogin]

Ya know, maybe we’re looking at this all wrong. Maybe the winner is the one who has spent the most of someone else’s money before he dies. I’m going to think about this a little bit more…

 

[Sarah in SC]

Walt, these sorts of people provide endless entertaining conversations around our house. It is amazing how the ones we know don't even seem all that worried about their giant debt holes and lack of savings.
Where in SC is the house, nosey parker wants to know?

 

[Sue J]

I saw a clip on the news about banks closing HELOCs without warning, due to the loan amount being too close to the owner's equity. The man that they interviewed said that it was a real surprise for him, he was on vacation and was at the McDonalds drive thru when his HELOC charge card was denied. He didn't know that he had received a letter about his HELOC being closed because he was still on vacation.

And I'm thinking what the heck is he doing using his HELOC charge card at McDonalds!! Makes you wonder how people's brains work.

 

[Goonie]

Makes you wonder how people's brains work.

Sometimes I don't wonder "how"...I wonder "IF" their brains work....or if they even have a brain to start with. I've got an old friend that I used to wonder "if" his brain worked......but now I just wonder if he even has one.

 

[Walt34]

Where in SC is the house, nosey parker wants to know?

Murrell's Inlet. They just had to have one there because SIL & her hubby bought a double-wide two blocks from the beach as a vacation place (they own the lot it's on) so Fred & Francine had to do them one better and have a stick-built house.

Oh, and the MD house is now on the market $498k. We have bets on what it'll actually sell for because crunch time is coming soon.

 

[Bestwifeever]

They're not really in the hole for $750K if you count the value of the houses against what they owe against them (i.e., calculating net worth to include the property) and only the MD house is for sale (they're not trying to get out of the SC house anyway, are they? So it doesn't matter at this point what it's devalued to if they're planning to keep it). And I don't know what MD teachers' pensions are but in Illinois they are very healthy.

Just pointing that out so you can be entertained by them without feeling guilty about it

I wanna house in SC too!!!!

 

[Sarah in SC]

Bestwifeever, not in Murrells Inlet you don't! Did you hear Walt say double-wide? There are a few nice houses there, but it is kinda a backwater. But if you fish, it is a great place.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

it must be wonderful to be able to live happily like that, to be able to give up a sale for a trip. i'm pretty sure i'd cut the trip short for the sale. i've never been in debt, i have plenty of money and still, in this downturn, i'm freaking out.

if i was $750k in debt i wouldn't have to wait for alzheimer's to give me a reason to shoot myself. i could never live like that. it wouldn't even get that far. just before i went into debt i'd take that last bit of cash and buy myself a gun.

ok, i stole this i think from the simpsons but i think it is so funny...

goodbye cruller world

(actually it was a picture on the side of a donut truck, damn utube for not having it on video yet)