How is the recession affecting you? (Discussion Topic)

[BarefootBride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauren c. ugh. i'm an underpaid teacher, so it doesn't affect me, but i don't pay the bills around here -b/c i couldn't afford them if i wanted to! dh is a mortgage broker. he owns his own company. needless to say, we'll be living on ramen soon. he is currently looking for a new job, but that's easier said than done. he's miserable and walks around with his head hung, self-loathing. there is nothing that makes him happy at this point. we bought our house about 2 years ago, and put a lot of work into it. we need to downsize, but can't b/c we can't sell the house for anything near what we paid. so in other words this economy blows.

Wow Im sorry! Hang in there!
FI owns a house in the states and he wants to sell it too...So I completely understand.

[deleted]

Interesting thread Alyssa, thanks for starting it.

 

So far we aren't really affected, but I do think about it a lot and we try to cut spending where we can (but we live fairly frugally). Husband works in politics -- and it's an election year so his job is safe. I work in a nonprofit that isn't going anywhere. And we don't drive often enough to feel the gas crunch.

 

I do feel like we should we saving more, spending less, just in case, ya know?

 

Oh, and we are trying to refi our house even though it's only been 6 months cause rates are down quite a bit.

[katrina]

we haven't felt it too much. we bought a house last year, thank god. if we tried this year there would be no way we'd get a mortgage. they did away with the loan type we got because so many of the people foreclosing had this loan.

[A10CalGal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by katrina we haven't felt it too much. we bought a house last year, thank god. if we tried this year there would be no way we'd get a mortgage. they did away with the loan type we got because so many of the people foreclosing had this loan.

Let me tell you, it is a fricking BITCH to get a home loan right now! I have near perfect credit (my FICO is 790) and have a great income level. I am being combed over with a fine toothed prickly ass comb right now. The down payment requirements are up for sure, but I was prepared for that. I just can't believe the crap I'm going through as a result of all the irresponsible lending that went bad. Can you say rectal exam? Jeez We're going thru this fun excercise right now where I have to prove, step-by-step, how the money that I paid 4 months ago as our construction down payment came to be. It sucks!

[beachbride08]

It hasn't affected me personally too much, but as a recruiter I have had a tremendous amount of applicants that are looking for new jobs due to lay offs. It is really sad. FI and I have cut back on our spending more due to saving for the wedding and a house, but could also help us if anything were to happen with one of our jobs. I got a new car in November and mainly work from home so I don't have to fill up the tank that often. FI drives my car whenever he can since he has a truck and is ridiculously expensive to fill up. It will be paid off early next year and he is going to trade it in for something more economical since it doesn't seem like gas prices are going to be going down any time soon.

[-Kate-]

Lucky for me crime still happens. I am far enough up the ladder at work where I know I won't be the first one out if there are budget cuts. FI's work is the same too.

The way it's changed me is that I bitch about work less. I am really thankful to have a secure job right now. Same with FI. I'd take a crappy job over no job.

[Alyssa]

It is so interesting hearing everyone's take and what does and doesn't affect them. As for gas prices, we only have 1 car and my FI commutes 1 hour each way - he drives hundreds of miles every week so he is really in tune with gas flucuations

[TammyWright]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauren c. dh is a mortgage broker. he owns his own company. needless to say, we'll be living on ramen soon. he is currently looking for a new job, but that's easier said than done. he's miserable and walks around with his head hung, self-loathing. there is nothing that makes him happy at this point. we bought our house about 2 years ago, and put a lot of work into it. we need to downsize, but can't b/c we can't sell the house for anything near what we paid. so in other words this economy blows.

lauren, i am so sorry for your DH...i was in real estate before and my good friends are in the mortgage biz and they took such a hit.

it is so hard right now. even if they have a client willing to buy a house with the $$ they are having a hard time getting anyone qualified.

[marip123]

I work for a non profit, and I was told in February that we didn't have any projects coming our way, and I would be losing my job in June. This was the day after our CEO was down here, and she's telling us we hit the 100,000,000 mark That's a lot of money for non-profit, and I just couldn't believe it. Especially because our wededing is in June. Well, somehow, we have been given a new grant funding us for the next 2 years! It was scary and sad at the same time. I feel so, so lucky right now.

 

FI bought a place here in San Diego right at the height of the housing craze, and now the condo is worth about 100,000 less than what he paid. It's pretty disturbing. He was looking into different options to get out of it, but he was stressing himself out, so he has decided to make peace with it and turn it into our palace!

[starchild]

Oh Lauren that's just awful. I'm so sorry for the stress you two are going through.

 

My girlfriend is a broker and lots of people got laid off from her company in the past 6 months. She still has a job because of seniority, but that's only good as long as the company is open. With a $5000 mortgage she is freaking out about what could happen if she loses her job and can't find a comparable one. Her savings can only take her so far and she won't profit from selling either.

 

I hope a miracle happens for you guys, hang in there )