Crossroads: A New and Unfortunate Direction

I've recently made a decision to make some serious changes in my life. I've chosen to try and sell my home on Long Island in hopes of moving to New York City and a newer and happier life. The decision comes with many variables and I've set a goal of summer 2011 to complete the move. Aside from selling my home, I'll also need to find a new job and a place to live. This series chronicles this change that I have chosen to make in my life. It is my hope that my experiences in this process serve to give others in similar situations some insight into the obstacles and situations that I face as I go through this process.

The last time I wrote anything in this series I had said that I was stuck in neutral, but I was okay with that because I had resigned myself to spending one last summer in beautiful Long Island where I've spent most of my life. That was back in April and not much has changed with any of my plans, that is, until now. From the way things look the theme of this series may be changing and once again it is my hope that by chronicling my experiences I may serve to give solace to others who may find themselves in a similar predicament as I and perhaps not feel so alone about it as I do right now.

Every once in awhile I help my students by doing lessons based on their American history classes and whenever I get to the Great Depression I can't help but think of how unfortunate people must have been to live in such a time. When the economy is in dire straits, people's lives are affected in major ways and for all I care we might as well be in another Great Depression right now. The state of the economy we are in has given hardship to many, squeezing the average person from all angles and forcing difficult changes upon them much to their dismay and their detriment.

I write this because due to recent events I may no longer have a choice as to whether or not I keep my home. What seemed unthinkable to me just a few short months ago seems to be becoming a reality. Whereas I knew from the moment I made my decision to try and start a new life in the hopes of making a better financial and personal life for myself that it would be difficult, I never imagined my hand would be forced as it is being right now.

In the past few days I received a statement from my mortgage company. It was my yearly escrow statement, a letter I've come to dread each year because the news is never good. Of course property taxes here in New York are always rising and "due to economic conditions and the potential for a major hurricane on Long Island," my homeowner's insurance premiums rise each year as well.

This statement was the worst I'd ever gotten. I've come to find out that the monies collected in escrow over the past year were not nearly enough to cover all of the expenses associated with it and I either have to come up with $5000 to cover the shortage or my mortgage payment will rise by almost $500 beginning in one month. Quite simply, I will not be able to cover the shortage and there is no way I can afford the new payment.

So now I'm left with a new quandary. No longer can I wait it out and hope that the housing market will better itself enough for me to sell my house and cover what I owe. One of the reasons I already haven't rushed into a short sale on my home until now is that I hate to mar the credit record I've worked so hard to keep stellar, but it now looks like I may have no choice.

I am a single person with a good job and a decent salary and the squeezing from every angle seems to be finally tightening its grip to the point of where I will be experiencing the shame I looked for so long to avoid. Everybody's broke, or so it seems, from the local, state and federal governments to the manufacturers shrinking their wares and raising their prices, the gas companies who seem to always be covering the jitters of investors and the financial institutions tightening their belts, and seemingly every day, without changing a thing, I am paying more for the same and even less. I'm tired of it and I can only imagine the even worse states other people find themselves in.

Once again, I share this in the hopes that anyone out there who might find themselves in a similar situation can find solace in the fact that they're not alone, or even possibly that someone out there has some good advice to share with me or anyone else reading this. Yes, this series, "Crossroads" has taken on a new theme, and not in a good way, but the title is certainly still appropriate. Stay tuned --