Feedback Wanted: Hard Decisions in Today's Economy

Feedback Wanted: Hard Decisions in Today’s Economy

Posted on November 13, 2008
Filed Under economy, survival |

In a telephone conversation with my mother this morning, she mentioned that their tenants were having difficulty paying their rent due to layoffs and reduced hours. She said that she and my father had discussed it and made the decision that they would not take their life savings out to pay the mortgages on the rental property. If their credit suffered, so be it.

This statement shocked me. My parents are retired and have a perfect credit record. I cannot imagine them making a payment late, much less letting a house go into foreclosure. However, I cannot fault their decision as in today’s economy and real estate market, their choices are limited and their savings are already shrinking due to the instability in the economy.

I know that this decision was one of the hardest in their life. My point today is not to dissect their decision or situation and come up with solutions but to illustrate that we are all facing and making really hard decisions. I would like to use the responses in an article on how the economy is forcing us to make decisions and how they are affecting our lives. We hear a lot about how the economy is affecting the middle class but what about retired people who are struggling to live on a fixed income or families whose income has fallen to at or near the poverty level.

So readers, speak out. Have you faced a hard financial decision? How has your decision affected your life? Was the end result positive or negative?

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Comments

4 Responses to “Feedback Wanted: Hard Decisions in Today’s Economy”

Denise (15 comments.) on November 13th, 2008 7:26 pm

I know a little about hard financial decisions. We chose to let our house go into foreclosure about a year ago. It wasn’t much of a choice, though, since we simply didn’t have the money to get caught up on the mortgage and didn’t have a way to get it, either. That was a very difficult decision and I’m not proud of it. However, we’ve survived. I think in the long run it was a good decision (well, as good as something like that can be) but time will tell about that. SSttarting over
Denise (15 comments.) on November 13th, 2008 7:27 pm

Wow, I messed that reply up and then hit ’submit’ too soon! I was going to say that starting over isn’t easy but sometimes it all works out.
Bouncing Back Betty (11 comments.) on November 14th, 2008 11:09 am

Filing for Bankruptcy was not a walk in the park. I still have issues with it, I’m slowly working my way up from it. I was in such bad shape fiscally for a number of reasons (some my bad decisions, some life’s bad curves)that the BK really was the only way out. It has taken me over 18 months to really see that. Like Denise said, starting over isn’t easy, but sometimes it does work out.

I hope your parents don’t have to lose their rental property. Maybe they can give their tenants a temporary rent reduction so at least they are getting some income in and they can save the property.
Clip Hair (2 comments.) on November 29th, 2008 6:36 am

The very income concept is related to economy. A low economic growth may lead to unemployment and many people may face hard ship to pay their rent or be at brink of poverty. Perhaps there is one remedy for temporary crisis that is may be one should focus on budgeting and savings and also be prepared for some more choices.