{"id":2392,"date":"2011-07-29T23:51:52","date_gmt":"2011-07-29T23:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/?p=2392"},"modified":"2011-07-29T23:51:52","modified_gmt":"2011-07-29T23:51:52","slug":"cha-cha-cha-changes-time-to-make-the-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/cha-cha-cha-changes-time-to-make-the-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Cha.. cha… cha… changes… Time to make the change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>(Note:\u00a0 I apologize in advance for this long, self-centered post, but it helps me to get all my thoughts out and organized.)<\/p>\n

So, how do you like our new look?\u00a0 Push has come to shove, and it has come time to make a big change around here.\u00a0 The straw that is breaking the camel\u2019s back is gas at around $4\/gallon\u2014that means our automobile gas bill is around $400 a month.\u00a0 OUCH!\u00a0 The bail of straw under that<\/em> consists of things like deferred home maintenance that\u2019s piling up, and no raises in the foreseeable future coupled with rising health care costs and paying more of our own retirement\/pension costs.\u00a0 We have done all the pinching and squeezing on the little things that we care to do, so it\u2019s time to change a big thing.<\/p>\n

In a healthier housing market, we would just sell our house, perhaps for a small profit, and find a closer\/cheaper place.\u00a0 Of course, this is not a normal housing market, and so we are first attempting a short sale.\u00a0 The act of at least attempting a short sale, soothes our conscious that we have done everything we could possibly do to repay as much as can.\u00a0 If we are denied a short sale then we will proceed with a traditional foreclosure, ceasing payment and allowing the bank to sell the house at auction.\u00a0 We are committed to leaving and changing our financial situation for the better.<\/p>\n

At the very least a short sale will take a couple of months, more likely it will take several more months than that, if, as I said, it will even go through.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard of short sales taking up to 18 months, we probably will put up with it for that long though.\u00a0 I think we only have the patience to spend up to 6 months on a short sale process.\u00a0 A foreclosure, in California, takes a minimum of 6 months, and most often 18 months or longer.\u00a0 (Check out http:\/\/www.foreclosureradar.com\/california\/san-bernardino-county\/92325-foreclosures\/listings<\/a> if you are interesting in this sort of thing.\u00a0 They have all sorts of information on the various zip codes in western states\u2014California, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon.)\u00a0 So, we do not anticipate moving in the very near future.\u00a0 I am not putting anything in boxes yet.\u00a0 However, with a move in my foreseeable future I am combing through our belongs with an eye for what I want to pay to move, and what I can now get rid of, either into the trash or off to DI or to a friend who will appreciate it more.\u00a0 Even, what I can put away and see if I really need to go get it in the next 6 months or so.<\/p>\n

When we do move, we will most likely move to downtown Riverside.\u00a0 This is where economic downturn has benefited us.\u00a0 Previous to this, even including much of our gas budget, we could not have rented in any safe neighborhood in Riverside for what we were paying in Crestline.\u00a0 Now, we will be able to rent an older 2 bedroom apartment or small home in a safe-enough-neighborhood for less than our mortgage, possibly significantly less, depending on exactly where we end up.\u00a0 Of course we will also save gas money and possibly some utilities money.\u00a0 The biggest limitation will be storage space for camping equipment and food storage.\u00a0 They key point is that in about six months or less we will not be paying on this mortgage.\u00a0 We’ll either be using that money to supplement commuting costs\/utilities budget OR we will have a lower overall overhead costs.<\/p>\n

Despite our less than ideal departure, I regret very little about our home purchase.\u00a0 Some lessons you have to learn by doing, and we have learned many things.\u00a0 First<\/span>, we will never again be taken in by all the hype around a soaring home market.\u00a0 No matter what the pundits say, what goes up will come down, way way way down sometimes.\u00a0 Second<\/span>, we desire stability less than we thought.\u00a0 John, for one, has had itchy feet for at least<\/em> the past two years.\u00a0 Third<\/span>, we do not enjoy homeownership.\u00a0 We\u2019d much rather pay a landlord than deal with home repairs.\u00a0 I do not have huge desire to make modifications to my home.\u00a0 No burning desire to paint my walls and so forth and so on. Fourth<\/span>, we now know that it is impossible to truly \u201cfix\u201d your housing costs.\u00a0 True, we have a fixed rate mortgage, with property taxes that can go nowhere but down.\u00a0 However, random repairs will always need to be made.\u00a0 Rents will usually rise, but you do not need to deal with the costs of repairs.\u00a0 We still think owning your own home is the cheapest way to live, but having a mortgage is a long way from owning your own home. Much, much later we hope that a large down payment and a 15 year mortgage will be in our future. Fifth<\/span>, when it comes to choosing between a dream home\/home furnishings, a dream car, and\/or a dream vacation, in the Pedroza family, the vacation will win EVERY time.\u00a0 Of course we are crazy–we spend only 3 to 4 weeks (at most) on vacation in any given year, and that leaves at least 48 weeks at home.\u00a0 But there you go.\u00a0 For the rest of our marriage we know to focus our efforts on minimizing our home costs so we can maximize our vacation costs. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

The last reason<\/span> we cannot even begin to regret this move is that we have had the wonderful experience of living in the Crestline Ward for the past seven years.\u00a0 We will truly miss this Ward and the many many wonderful people in it.<\/p>\n

One final note–we bought our home in Feb of 2004 for about $140,000.\u00a0 We guess that in Spring of 2007 it may have gone for as high as $200,000.\u00a0 Right now the tax assessment is at $114,800 and it is listed on MLS for $72,000–there is a LOT of\u00a0 “deferred maintenance” .\u00a0 (We have a loan balance of about $110,00.)\u00a0 According to the public record, in March of 2000 the woman that we bought the home from bought it for $75,000.\u00a0 So, that’s where that’s at.<\/p>\n

We’ll keep you updated–especially when we need help moving! *grin*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Note:\u00a0 I apologize in advance for this long, self-centered post, but it helps me to get all my thoughts out and organized.) So, how do you like our new look?\u00a0 Push has come to shove, and it has come time …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1],"tags":[578,782],"class_list":["post-2392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crestline","category-uncategorized","tag-moving","tag-short-sale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}