How has the mortgage and credit crisis affected you?

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Permalink Reply by Jeff on September 1, 2009 at 4:43pm

A portfolio of mutual funds and stock investments that's still down 17% from my highs.

A real estate property purchased in foreclosure at ~65% of market value. OBTW, I financed 100% of the purchase price.

A net worth that has increased almost 75%.

So I've had mixed results. ;-)

Jeff

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Permalink Reply by Adrian on September 1, 2009 at 6:00pm

I think 'mixed' in the right direction :)

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Permalink Reply by Scott on September 1, 2009 at 9:22pm

Our rental property is down a good 10% compared to pre-meltdown numbers, but no big deal. We are still very blessed. I get mixed opinions about the actual value of our farm, but we aren't planning on going anywhere soon, so I guess it really doesn't matter. We are steadily making the finishing renovations slowly as we go, so that has to account for something over time since our market wasn't hit really as badly as other states and cities.

Other than that, i'm just focused on building up as much cash as possible to take advantage of the upswing in the markets, but it looks like i'm missing out as it's all coming back up before I can take big time advantage!! We are entering into our busiest and usually most profitable time of year for a few months, so i'm just keeping my nose to the grindstone. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Lee Martin on September 2, 2009 at 5:20pm

The financial crisis has hit everyone and it's difficult to tell when it actually all started for us but as for me and my family we made a decision to refinance our home a couple of years ago. Since I am retired with little of no income it wasn't a real smart idea to extend our mortgage but nevertheless we did and got our payments down a little bit and our interest rate down quite a bit.
We have changed our life style but the greatest change was in how we look at our finances. Action comes after making decisions.
One strange thing about us is that because of some back unpaid taxes we have not been able to receive any of the stimulus monies. We don't use credit cards and have no accounts anywhere except for mortgage, student loans, and that type of expenses.
We are of course experiencing the increased cost of gas and groceries and we simply travel less and eat less.
We are holding our breath regarding our Rx. perscriptions and we are watching very closely the direction the Health Reform may go. Without our medications we will certainly be singing a different song.

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