(this is sort of to say that I’m alive… More real updates to come, promise)

The story.

Five years ago, our plucky heroine moved to Milwaukee and bought a House. A lovely House with romantic little nooks (built in bookshelves! A little reading bench!) and a lovely backyard with raspberries that were the envy of her neighbors during the summer. Besides the flooding basement (which she eventually conquered as any plucky heroine would), she thrived in her little Home.

Until she got a new job and moved across the country and had to leave behind her little House. She fretted and fretted about what to do with her beloved House. There were many many orphaned houses, ala Charles Dickens, who weren’t able to find owners and so selling the house didn’t seem possible. And of course, somebody would love her House as much as she did and take care of it and nurture it. So she decided to rent. For 2 months, she advertised and kept the Home loaded with flowers and every corner swept and sparkling. A few people came by ad said that the House wasn’t right for them. Initially, that was okay. She wanted somebody who would fit the House too. But then even those few people trickled away and nobody came by to see the House.

By now, our plucky heroine wasn’t feeling so plucky. In fact, she was getting nervous. She conferred with her top advisors. One suggested to “leave it all behind and make a fresh start.” There were a lot of orphaned houses, the advisor argued, so the House wouldn’t be so different. Another suggested to continue to try renting. Her top two advisors finally suggested that if she were to sell, that they would help out. Overjoyed, the plucky heroine contacted her Broker and put her darling little House up for sell.

Days went by. Our plucky heroine moved as she had to, leaving the House abandoned. Nobody came by and visited it. She tried to make it look better by getting fresh pictures and describing it to people, but to no avail. She lowered her asking price. Once and then again. And then again. Orphaned houses around the little House sold, but nobody came by to see the little house.

Our intrepid heroine is now at a crossroads and this is where you can help. She can no longer afford to continue to try to sell the house (unless someone finds her a magical godmother or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow…). Should she

CHOICE 1 (turn to page 86): Try to rent the house again. To get a renter, she would have to cover some of the mortgage every month to make the rent more affordable, which would mean that she would be living on very tight means in an expensive city. She would also have to rent long distance and would be unable to “hand select” the renters and would have to trust that they wouldn’t destroy the place. The advantages are that her credit score would be saved and she could try selling again in a couple of years when the market stabilizes again (hopefully).

CHOICE 2 (turn to page 54): Walk away. Let the bank repossess and foreclose on the loan. This would mean losing every bit of extra time and money that she put into the little House over the last 5 years, all of the repairs and improvements, all of the “good homeowner, paying extra every month to reduce the loan” payments. And it would seriously affect her credit report – a credit report that she had diligently improved over the last several years. It is stellar now. It would potentially affect her ability to rent an apartment in the next year or buy a new car or buy a house in a couple of years. On the plus side, there would no longer be a financial burden to carry and worry about. And there are lots and lots of abandoned homes so little House wouldn’t feel completely alone.

Your choice. Make it wisely and let our heroine know what she should do. Leave a comment with your reasoning. 🙂