Kerry, we bought the house in 1997 for $89,000. We now owe $125,000 on it. We refinanced twice and had an equity line of credit once.
The flood in 2007 was devastating -- both financially and stress wise.
Even though we had flood insurance it didn't cover nearly enough so we had to do a bunch of things to pay for the repairs, including gutting my retirement accounts.
The house is going to bankrupt W. Even if she's successful and gets every dime she's asking for the house will bury her. Before I moved out I made a list of things that needed improving/fixing. W always likes to tinker and was happiest when decorating, painting, etc. After the flood, we didn't have money for any of that. So I hoped last year by starting up on house improvements again it would lift her out of her funk. Obviously, it was too late.
Anyway, the list of things that needed to be done was 25 items long and I estimated would cost $75,000. It was sobering.
I've told her it'd be best if she stopped paying the mortgage, tried a short sale and started over with something smaller. But she is stubborn and won't listen to me anymore.
Me: 47, Ds 17-13, D final 6-11 http://tinyurl.com/yk4e2tz http://tiny.cc/thread2 http://tinyurl.com/ydtphqu http://tinyurl.com/thread4 http://tinyurl.com/3sm78k6 http://tinyurl.com/thread6
