Hope started to fade as it become increasingly apparent that the economy was spiraling out of control. There were months of just 1 or even no rentals.
Then, the property tax valuation arrived. I may have been living in denial about the seriousness of the "illness" for a while, but it was now staring my in the face. The unit had lost close to 40% in value.
Yet, every month I paid the mortgage and HOA dues, in full and on time.
In mid-2010, I finally figured out that the condo was sucking me dry. Without going into a lot of detail, let's just say that it became clear that something had to change.
With all the banking programs and modifications available, I started the process to see what could be done to reduce my payments. That's really all I wanted/needed. With interest rates down since the initial purchase loan, I figured it would be a no brainer. Again, was I wrong.
My original loan was with Countrywide. When it failed, Bank of America took over the loan.
Contacting the bank - at the number provided on my monthly statement - the horrific process started. Bounced from department to department, no one could really tell me what, if anything could be done.
This department couldn't help because the condo isn't my primary residence. The next department couldn't help because I was current with payments. And on and on it went. I finally ended up in the department of "pending foreclosure".
Literally spending hours on the phone, trying mulitple times in multiple ways to get someone to work with me, the computer came back and said NO!
So here I was, a computer telling the BofA reps and myself that there was nothing that could be done to help me.
How I long for the days when knowing your banker (okay, I know I'm dating myself a bit) made a difference. Today, all we get are minimum wage (okay, maybe a little more) people saying no, no and no. Adding insult to injury, they were all very apologetic and somehow knew exactly how I was feeling.
Really, people? I think not.
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