One of our kids is close to losing his home. He's unemployed. His wife is unemployed. He's borrowed 50k against the equity on their home. The first and second loans are 2 - 3 months in arrears.We went through this 6 months ago. The son asked for $15,000 to get the first and second loans up to date. He was unemployed. His wife was unemployed.
Seeing the handwriting on the wall - "No can do", I said. And they borrowed 15k money from his wife's uncle.
After 6 months of no contact from these two there was a telephone call two days ago from the son:
"Dad, it's going to get better. Just lend me the money to catch up on the payments. The house is for sale and we'll pay you back." Same scenario. In six months, nothing had changed.
I love our kids. We raised them to be optimists - you know, the glass is half full and not empty.
But there's a line between optimism and stupidity. In this case:
40% of the homes in their area are in foreclosure.
In their town only two to three homes are selling every month. There's a huge glut of homes for sale.
Neither of these two seem to be willing to go out and be employed. They talk it. They're not walking it.
As they say, those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.
Deal or no deal? To lend the money or not to lend the money. Clearly, this would be a bad business deal with no return and our son and his wife put off what's going to happen anyway: They're going to lose their home. If I want to squander money I'd rather have fun doing it in Vegas.
We're calling in the wolf to blow the house down.
8 comments:
It's tales like these that make me thankful for my Yorkies and orange cat!! Might as well take the $15K put it on your barbeque and set fire to it. You and I both share people in our lives that DON'T LEARN...it's always someone else's fault. Wow! 8thggfPeckerwood USA, I think this berg is still on planet earth, although times I seriously doubt it! me@ 12:38p.m. 8-23-07
8thGGF: You're absolutely right. Isn't it about right that people like that have no respect for the value of money? When it's not their hard earned cash it seems to always boil down to "easy come, easy go."
bobby
Bob, I agree with you on this one. Especially if he is coming to you with absolutely no game plan.
Flyinfox_SATX
Thanks, Fox. The kids have put us in a bad place. Today the son called and left a message to ask why I had not called him back. Well, I did but no one was home. He said, "You're leaving me out to dry". That's not my kid talking.
Oh, oh, don't forget about the GUILT trip they lay on you, too boot! I always find that just priceless. Ant and the grasshopper theory. 8thggf 5:40p.m.
My bags are not packed and I am not taking a guilt trip, Joanie. :)
Damn, letting go is THE HARDEST thing we do as parents. Our house has been on the market for 8 months while I've paid the mortgage and my STBX has lived for free. After being unemployed for 9 months, he finally got a job in April. I just found out 2 weeks ago that he quit that in June because... he just didn't like it. Since when do we need to LIKE our friggin' job??? But it is much easier to divorce our spouses in this society than our children. Good luck with that one. (My 19-yr-old is having $$ problems, and I'm trying to nip it in the bud right now so I don't go through the same thing in a couple of years that you're going through.)
Remember the line in Love Story? "Love is never having to say you're sorry." I guess that's the real test - saying no to a son's request for money and not apologizing for it. Now, let's see how deep this kid's love is for his parents when he's come up empty in dollars. I am not holding my breath.
Post a Comment