As the old saying goes – “home is where the heart is.”
With millions of Americans thinking about walking away from their houses simply because they are worth less now than when they were purchased, there is apparently a lot of heartless people out there.
While it is disheartening to know the monthly mortgage payments are higher than what they would be for the same house in the current market, when did it become more of an investment and less of a home?
“We just got some really bad news,” a family member told me the other day in a very solemn voice. “We had our home appraised and it is much less than what we thought it would be. We’re not sure what we’re going to do now.”
That is not news anybody wants to hear, obviously, but considering how much her family loves the home and the neighborhood – not to mention the school district for her children – I wasn’t sure how to respond. I mean she plans to be there for many years to come, so is the fact that her home is “underwater” really “bad” news?
Maybe I was just naive, but growing up I don’t remember my parents ever talking about our house in monetary terms. I’m sure they may have always kept an eye on the market, but the goal was to simply find a nice community and place to raise five rambunctious kids.
Basically, over the next 25 years, the house was praised – not appraised.
Today, however, there seems to be a different mentality. For some reason, people are less concerned about living the “American Dream” and more concerned about their potential “Underwater Nightmare.”
Of course in many cases this is warranted. There are those who have lost their jobs or for whatever reason can no longer pay their mortgage. For them, foreclosure and walking away may be the only unfortunate solution.
For people, such as one particular member of my family, who are thinking of leaving their submerged homes in the hands of the banker despite the fact they can still afford them, it may be time for a change of heart.
In the end, it’s important to remember that while an investor may claim it is of less value than you want it to be, when it comes to raising a family, a home is priceless.
As the saying goes “home, the spot of earth extremely blest. A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.”
