It was a lazy day in Farrahzona yesterday. Not only was it boiling hot, but my boy woke up with a “mad tummy” so we watched movies and slothed around the house.

Right after his nap, the “mad tummy” went to the bathroom and did his business. When he was wiping, the little guy grabbed a wad of toilet paper and scrunched it up in his hand leaving about four or five sheets loose and trailing from his hand. Satisfied he wasn’t going to flush the entire roll down, I returned to the dishes.

Two minutes later my son comes waddling out of the bathroom, his pants down around his ankles and the big wad of toilet paper stuffed between his cute little butt cheeks, with those loose sheets blowing in the fan breeze. He had a second, larger wad in his hand.

“Look Mommy! I have a tail, and I made one for you!”

I love my son.

I don’t know what it is lately, but I’ve been trapped in this viscious cycle of nothingness. Wake up. Go to work. Pick up The Boy. Bathtime. Bedtime. Collapse in exhaustion. Wake up. Go to work. Pick Up The Boy…..you get the idea.

I need a change. A drastic one. Cutting my hair and dying it burgandy won’t help this time…(already tried). think it’s time I take stock of my life and start making some big changes.

The first thing I’m going to do is update my 100 Things To Do Before I Die List….pick one thing off the list and just do it.

Ladies and gentlemen I must apologize for the use of profanity in that post last night. It wasn’t very lady like, and I apoligize.

However….in my defense, sometimes the F-word is the only appropriate word that accurately expresses the feelings of the moment. No?

BUMPED & UPDATED

Thanks to everyone who offered their thoughts on my mortgage situation. There are a couple of comments I’d like to address before I get to what I’ve decided to do, and why.

First, the comment from Anon (which I assume is short for “Anonymous”):

I am not sure what the problem is here. You made an investment that was not guaranteed to stay the same or go up in value. The value of the investment fell. You made a poor investment. What is the big deal?

First off, I wonder if this commenter would have a different opinion if I weren’t able to afford my monthly payments?If I bought this place while making $20,000 a year, because some mortage broker against all common sense told me I could afford it…would this poster then be saying “I’m not sure what the problem is here…”? I don’t pretend to know what angle they were coming at with this, but basically I get the sense that I should STFU and GBTW.

In any case, I’m a big believer of proper word selection. The word “investment”, in my world, is a term of art with certain financial and legal connotations attached to it. Saying I “made an investment” implies I expected my condo to increase in value over time and make a return on my money. I did not. I purchased a home with the thought that if it were to lose value, it would not lose 65% of it’s value. I did anticipate some decrease in value, about 25%. When I made the decision to purchase, I was getting a good deal at $40,000 under comps.

If this were an investment, I could walk away without any negative financial or legal implications. I’d unload this investment on the open market, and sure I’d have a loss, but my credit wouldn’t be hosed and I wouldn’t have to pony up $100,000 to unwind it. People are getting rid of bad investments right now - dumping their “investment” in Citibank and Bank of America on fears of nationalization and suffering staggering capital losses which they can carryback or carryforward and get some financial benefit. For my condo, there is no market for me to sell my unit to, nor do I get any sort of tax benefit for doing so, unlike an investment.

A few other commenters suggested I made the mistake of purchasing, rather than renting if my time frame was to move in three years. When you factor in the tax benefits I would receive from simply paying the bulk of my payments as interest, coupled with the assumption that I could handle a 25% decrease in value and still break even when I sold, the positive outweighed the negatives. However, the point that there was still a risk, albeit a small one, is fair. I agree. I accepted a small amount of risk in exchange for the other benefits. Had I assumed my unit would lose 65% of its value within 18 months of purchasing, I wouldn’t have bought it.

The fact remains….based on the decision points I had in front of me in October 2007, I made a good, solid financial decision. I played by the rules.

Which brings me to what I think I’m going to do.

What angers me the most about The Mortgage Miracle is not that I get nothing out of it, it’s that it rewards people who made bad decisions. The Mortgage Miracle expects me to foot the bill for those who neglected to make use of all the numerous (and free) financial education resources and bought a home they couldn’t afford. The Mortgage Miracle allows people who believed the snake oil mortgage brokers because they wanted that house so badly, no, they deserved that house, to get a free pass for not using common sense. The Mortgage Miracle teaches people nothing, if there are no consequences to their decisions. What it does teach, (is the key to The One’s plan?), is when you fail to think, the government will bail your ass out.

If I were to walk away from my condo, I would become everything I detest. I refuse to do that.

I believe there are consequences for my actions. I believe my word, my signature means something. I believe in analyzing all the facts surrounding a decision in my life, and sometimes it’s not always going to turn out in my favor even if I’m careful. I believe when they don’t, it’s not my fellow taxpayers who are to shoulder my burden. It is my burden.

I made the choice. It was my decision to make, and mine alone.  To expect the government and my fellow taxpayers to pay the consequences of my choices means eventually they’ll want a say in the choice in the first place. That is a slippery slope I do not wish to encourage. Unfortunately, I think we’re headed that direction.

And that my friends, is a very scary thought indeed.

- Original Post Below -

Since yesterday, I’ve been walking around snarkily asking people why I should continue to pay my mortgage. But I want to discuss it seriously now, here, with all two five of my readers.

Here’s an example of the situation I’m in:

1. Purchased my condo in October, 2007 for $200,000. Comps at the time were selling for $240,000.
2. I have a traditional, 30 year mortgage with payments I have no problem affording. The interest rate is about 1.5% higher than current rates.
3. I have an excellent credit score and I haven’t missed a payment on anything in over ten years. In fact, my mortgage payment is always early.
4. I purchased this condo as temporary housing, as I work an hour away and planned on moving closer to the office in three years. It was either pay the money to a rental company and the government, or a mortgage company and get a tax deduction. The amount of money I’d be paying every month was essentially the same.
5. My complex has a very high number or foreclosures and short sales. Every unit around me is empty, save two.
6. Comps, when there are sales, are going for $80,000 - $90,000.
7. Assuming my unit is valued at $85,000 right now, and this is the bottom of the market, it would take 32 years of growth at the rate of inflation (2.5%) to get the value back up to what I financed, let alone what I paid for it.
8. I have alternative housing available.

I am the poster child for “doing everything right” and “playing by the rules” yet The Mortgage Miracle won’t help me with my property value. It may give me a few extra bucks back in my pocket every month through a lower interest rate, if there’s a bank out there that will finance 200% of the property’s value. Which is doubtful.

So what would you do?

EDIT TO ADD: Just spoke to my mortgage broker. The Mortgage Miracle limits the financing to 105% of the value of the home. So if my home is only worth $85,000, under The One’s plan I can only finance $89,250. Also, my mortgage is not backed by Fannie or Freddie, so I don’t qualify for The Mortgage Miracle.

I haven’t seriously blogged in years. I haven’t had the time, I’ve been busy living my life. My son is three, and a fun. My job is demanding, but rewarding.

But with the crap coming out of the White House and Congress these days, I’m angry and I need a non-violent outlet.

So get ready, I’m back and I am pissed. I’m going to unload on everyone, with both barrels.

Jury duty.

Ugh.

Why is it that I’m always on juries?

If you’re like me, seeing the numbers on your 1040 tend to make your blood boil.

My husband and I paid over $35,000 in Federal income taxes for 2007. That’s more than some of my friends make in a year.

We paid $15,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes through payroll deductions and self employment taxes. A big fat piece of our pie given to someone else, as we’ll never see any of that again. Both programs will be insolvent by the time we retire. Senator Hope and Change would be proud, no?

The state of Arizona took $5,700 in income taxes and the county and other localities hit us up for $3,500 in property taxes. I chose to live in a state with low income and low property taxes. Lucky? No. Good life choices.

Before factoring in sales taxes on the things I buy and gas taxes on every gallon of gas I use…I’ve given government $60,000 this year.

$60,000 and Senator Hope and Change and his lovely bride think I should pay MORE?

How much more?

No, seriously. I’m asking.

How much more of my pie should I give to someone else?  I work over 2400 hours a year for my salary (normal full time is 2080 hours a year), plus extra time outside my W-2 job to help out with our side business.

How much more should I be paying? How much harder should I be working to give my pie away?

Look at me! So self-important, so full of myself!

Ok, not ‘demise’. I’m not important enough for anyone to want to destroy me. I just got tired of trying to think of witty things to say day after day. Burn out set in, and I tuned out pretty much all of blogdom.

Thing is…I missed it. I missed blogging and writing about random things that amused or irritated me. My journal writing was sporadic at best, spasmodic at its worst. The need to write never went away. And with election season heating up, I figured now’s a good a time as any.

So hide the sharp objects ladies and gentlemen, I’m back.

I know I’ve said that before. I’ve let you down in the past. I’ve left you hanging, wanting more. But don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you.

So my Mother will stop nagging me.

He gets his table manners from his father.

….that really should explain my lack of posting.