Breaking The Ball And Chain

UPDATE: Check out this ABC News piece about unscrupulous mortgage lenders.

As of today, I'm officially an ex-homeowner. I never thought I would be so relieved to say that since being a homeowner is supposed to be a wise investment. It is if your timing is right with regards to the market. When I made the decision to flee to Amarillo, the market up until that time was great and favored sellers. But, as my typical bad luck would have it, as soon as it hits the market, everything takes a serious nosedive thanks in large part to greedy and stupid mortgage companies (refer to my previous rants about large corporate entities and their inherent ineptness, stupidity and disconnect from reality). There is also a glut of new homes and builders desperate to move inventory which drives prices down and buyer incentives through the roof....pardon the pun.

So, the bottom line is that my house value depreciated significantly from a year ago and with the now lopsided, upside-down market favoring buyers, you have to chip in up to 3% for buyers' closing costs. After seven years of home ownership and the hard work that went along with that, I ended up in the red. The bottom line financially is that I would have been MUCH better off renting an apartment the entire time. Of course, if I would have put the house on the market even a couple of months sooner, I likely would have beaten the market crash and made a decent chunk of change.

But, coulda/woulda/shoulda aside, I'm happy to have to cut my losses and run before it gets any worse. After severing the last ball and chain tying me back to the festering armpit called DFW, I'm now 100% Amarillian. ;-) Even looking at the hit I'm taking, it really is a price I was willing to pay to get out of DFW and making a healthier, positive life change. So in the end, I have no regrets. In fact, I'm a pretty happy camper right now. :-)

Now I can watch my bank account balance reverse course into the black. That will lead to some other things I'm wanting to both in the near term as well as longer term ambitions. I'll have both the time and the finances to accomplish both. The first thing I'll be doing is getting a new vehicle. I've already been shopping and narrowing down choices to six cylinder 4WD SUVs with towing capacities of at least 3000 pounds and of course relatively good gas mileage...in anticipation of getting a decent used bass boat in less than 12 months. There are some pretty enticing model year closeout deals and rebates. Hopefully the new car market will suffer some collateral damage from the mortgage industry fiasco thereby creating some better-than-usual deals out there for us little ol' consumers. I think I deserve it. :-)

Oh my...I see TS Humberto has popped up just off the TX coast and looking impressive on the latest satellite images. Another TD has formed out in the Atlantic and is looking decent too. The global warming alarmists are undoubtedly hyperventilating at this very moment and stockpiling 20-year supplies for the impending armageddon. I can't wait to get my SUV and annoy one of those liberals. ;-)

On a more somber yet positive note concerning the untimely passing of Eric Nguyen, a website has been established to organize a gathering to honor his memory as well as submitting donations to fund a future endowed scholorship in his name at the University Of Oklahoma. The wesbsite is EricNguyenGathering.com