OK – 6 Months ago, I had a net worth of 300,000. I am in a full-time graduate program, I have 45,000 in Credit Card debt (yes, scary huh), a house in Indianapolis that I can’t sell, I have two rental properties, one paid for. I now also have school debt (probably 30k). I have a 401k account and some stock which I intended to sell as I needed to to manage cash flow until I return to work in May of 2009.
Now, the stock is not worth much (10k), I thought about cashing in my 401k but also it is not worth much (55k), Credit Card companies are cutting back my credit, not a bad thing, but one less way to flow cash. My plan was for the house to sell and pay off my credit card debt. Not gonna happen it looks like. My house is in Indiana and I am in Florida. My question is do I sell everything I can just to pay off the credirentrd debt, and I was going to rent the house, but it’s flawless and I know tenants will tear it up, and at the very least I’ll be stuck painting it. Should I try to file bankruptcy? I am not behind on anything, but as you can see it won’t be long.
So I’ll have an advanced degree in May and probably no job and no credit. I am technically on a leave, but no gaurantee I’ll have a job. I really didn’t expect the economy to implode, but that’s the way it goes.
I thought about cashing in the 401k, taxes and all, just to pay off the card debt. But, then I’d be starting over. If only I had known in July, I would have sold out my stock completely. Now it’s down 60%, and would only be a band aid.
Besides telling me how stupid I am, what shoud I do? Will the markets recover to any degree before 2009? Unfortunately, I can’t wait a year to wait see.
Oh, incidentally, I spent approximately 20% of my ccard debt fixing up the house to sell.
I am prepared to be poor and starting over. I am still frustrated and probably need to hire a professional, but I can’t afford one.
I have real estate assets, but noone can get a loan to buy unless your credit score is perfect.

Any thoughts?

Since the company is backed by the government, do you think now is a good time to buy its stock even though the company hasn’t shown any signs of recovery yet? Given that the economy’s recovering, is right now a good time to buy FNM since recovery could take place soon?

With all the problems popping up with the economy, and a few horror stories we’ve heard about banks foreclosing on property and the tenants not knowing and not having time to prepare for such actions, we’ve become suspicious of our landlord paying on the rental property where we live.

We know he’s gone through a divorce and we’re wondering if that’s affecting his ability to pay on the properties he owns. We’d ask him in person … but that would be rather awkward.

it seems that for such important staples in the economy, fannie may and freddie mac are silly names. is there something behind the names or not?

(perhaps fannie may is spelled manny mae.. im not sure)
okay.. trying to be funny doesnt work unless you are funny..

if i wanted lame sophomoric attempts at humor, i would have asked for them.. meanwhile.. oxy is number 1 as of now

our economy is generally sound?does he even have a clue on working peoples problems?will mccain have a clue ?
if hes not an economist then why predict the economies future?who voted for this jerk ?

I am tired of hearing people how he has screwed up the country–hey talk to an Indian or a East European who cowers each time they go through a parking lot–don’t know which car will blow up.

As to economy–remember there are so many more home owners today, so what if a few defaulted.

As to Iraq–Middle east muslim nutbags are afraid to attack America because of Bush. They know what happened after 9/11–their lovely leader Osama is now eating dirt!

Of course Bush did not do everything right. He should have put in regulations on banks and non-banks. He should not have been lulled into thinking he had won Iraq war–but most of what he sought, he accomplished. A true man of conviction, he did not raise taxes, went after America’s enemies with a vengence and was not afraid of following his convictions.

See if you really put your thinking cap on, you will admire George Bush. But if you are a mindless slogan reader, you will be totally one sided and see no good side of him.

In reality it was an entrenched financial construct designed by democrats, and for democrats, to triangulate funds into campaign coffers that was responsible for the mortgage debacle and subsequent world-wide economic collapse.

Is it really fair, or is it simply convenient, for democrats to accuse Bush of handing them a bad economy?

the u.s. congress should be holding an emergency session but they need their vacation. so much stress and long hours fouling up the economy. remarkable group of people.
The first answer is right. I might have asked about cheeseburgers and got the same answers. The extent of ignorance continues to startle me. Kind of hopeless.

I would like to see some sites, since I hear so much talk about how these companies have single-handedly destroyed our economy?
How do I get some of these facts?
Did Obama work for these companies?
Hey Boosman….Wasn’t that a Republican controlled congress in 2003? I think we had corruption on both sides if the truth came out!

Okay, my husband acted like his credit was fine and dandy until a few months before our wedding, which was fine. He’s always paid our bills and he makes decent money. We got married, had a child, then went to buy a house and bam…he is in all sorts of credit trouble. Which keeps us from buying a house. Which okay, a part of me doesn’t mind b/c in this economy I’d rather rent and be safe (he works in construction and you never know when he has his slow weeks or months) Lately he has been talking about fixing his credit..which is fine, we need too..but a part of me is just irritated b/c this wasn’t my debt to fix and now I feel like its become my problem! How do other couples deal with this sort of thing???
Mim. I have worked the entire time we have dated and been married. SO don’t assume.

Is it because Countrywide’s CEO Angelo R. Mozilo and Fannie Mae’s CEO Franklin Raines are BIG TIME LIBERALS?

Even though those two men have single handedly brought the US Economy to its knees…

What, liberals can do no wrong?

Obama puts Raines on his payroll and accepts a 0% mortgage from Mozilo?

What is the definition of a BRIBE anyway?

Does anyone care?

They are slamming the auto industry and others about their slimy money deals – BUT why not those that caused this sub-prime disaster. Who was controlling the Fannie May and Freddie Mac credit approvals? Was it Democrats or republicans. why is it not in the news? WHY? When I hear about the bad economy – I thnk of Fannie May and Freddie Mac!

America has suffered badly because of the Fannie Mae and Wall Street executives. And, those executives have given a lot of money to Dems.

Is it a sure bet that none of those donors will end up in jail in spite of the damage done to America?
Are the Dems saying there is no crime at almost making America’s economy collapse?

"If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole."
Did you notice no Obama supporters dared to answer the question?
Seems facts burn their eyes!

My husband and I have twins on the way so we would really like to stop renting and have a place we can call our own.

The thing is, because we’re having two kids at the same time, I’m going to be a stay-at-home mom for the first couple of years while my husband works as a high school teacher.

We’re looking into getting a starter home – because we live in a very small Texas town, there are some pretty nice houses for as little as 0k, even as low as k for a fixer-upper.

What kind of income would we need to be making in order to afford a house in this market, and if my husband DOES make enough money for it, is it even a good idea with the economy the way it is? We’re always hearing such bad news about the housing market, but he’s confident in his job security, so that’s why we are wondering if we should take advantage of the low housing prices out there right now.

I’m 21 years old, college student, ,000/year income, excellent credit. I’m living rent-free currently, have very little in the way of expenses with about ,000 in the bank.

I’m looking to invest in a couple of houses that I would rent out.
with the economy the way it is I am not really making any interest on my money so I am contemplating buying a house or two as an investment. I’m looking at a couple of houses that are valued at approx. 5,000 that I’m guessing would rent for around 00/month + utilities.

My only concern is that it would be a lot of maitenance on my part. I pretty much know what I would be getting myself into as far as economics go but can anyone tell me what the requirements of a landlord are?

I ran the idea by my parents earlier and they thought it was a smart idea but they’ve always owned their homes and couldn’t tell me much in the way of how the landlord/tenant relationship typically goes.

My credit cards got a little out of control during the bad economy these last few year. Nothing serious, I just finished paying them all back.

I am currently trying to save up some money to buy a house one day in the future. But now, I’m worried that banks kill me on my mortgage because of my past credit history.

Outside of paying back the debt which I already did, and keep a stable job. How else can I make my credit rating better?

So far, the only real failures in the economy are:
–banks (and toxic housing loans)
–Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae (home loan owners)
–AIG (insurer of real estate derivitives)

Have you liberals figured out why the bail out bill is being used to pay off democrat political pacs and interest groups?