Faith in finding our new home in Foreclosure Listings
In search of a better quality of life, we are uprooting again and moving on. There’s BigTom and me, and 2 preschoolers and I haven’t told him yet but maybe another on the way. Tom says he won’t throw money away on rent any more now than we have enough in savings that may cover a deposit and costs. He can turn his hand to most anything and always seems to find work wherever we go. He has this idea that we can find a simple home in a State where affordable neighborhoods, access to good public schools and reasonable transport systems combine with clean air and a low cost of living. He has thought of many options, from a mobile home in a rural setting, or a small cottage near the sea, to a cabin in mountain foothills. He tells me all these options can be found in foreclosure listings these days. Mobile homes? Gee, I never thought they would be in foreclosure. But then it seems I am a ways out of date in my thinking.
He fancies the region they call New England. He likes the rural nature of most parts to the west, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I think we will keep away from densely populated Connecticut and Rhode Island. 3 or 4 states probably have winters which will be too long and cold for me, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Tom says the foreclosure listings indicate there will be far more single family homes foreclosures in Massachusetts than in New Hampshire, the No. 1 ranking Most Liveable State, which seems to have lower priced homes that sell in foreclosure with excellent discounts.
I don’t make a practice of questioning Tom’s decisions, but I had to ask him why, if we can buy a foreclosure home from someone who has gotten into financial difficulties, why won’t we lose our home too? He tells me that although a few years back, most foreclosure homes came about from the death or other personal financial problems of the main income earner or economy related job loss in a particular region. He reckons that we have to trust in the Lord and believe we have as good a chance as any of avoiding those problems. Then he explained about a significant new factor where many homeowners could no longer meet escalating mortgage payments relating or mortgages taken out in the last 2 or 3 years called “subprime” where those who really didn’t have good credit records and couldn’t qualify for prime 30 year loans, bought homes they now couldn’t afford. We have always lived frugally within our means, never abused credit, and Tom says as long as we stick to our budget and put up as much cash as we can, add value with his labor ensuring we build equity over the longer term, then if house prices don’t rise very much where we are, we can avoid our home ever appearing in foreclosure listings. I thank the Lord every day for Tom’s commonsense approach to life.
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