Two Stories
I. House as ATM
I read Calculated Risk. I watch the Seattle Bubble. I read the New York Times. And I constantly wondered who were these people? The people who looked at their house as an ATM, and used up all of their equity, and then some. Now I've met one. It took a long time for me to get the full sense of their story, and exactly how deep they are. It's terrifying to me, the amount of debt. I can't tell if this person is typical of the US in general, but if they are, we're going to be in for a very hard few years as these kinds of situations get resolved. "We were going to pay [the credit card debt] off when we sold the house." But the house didn't sell, the credit card debt isn't shrinking, and the mortgage isn't being paid.
II. Be Careful What You Ask For
About 18 months ago, I posted a personal ad asking for a particular kind of relationship. I didn't want a purely sexual relationship, but I wasn't sure I was ready for a full-blown dating thing. Maybe this is "FWB," or possibly "intimate FBs"? Something that had an emotional component to it as well and an intimacy, but that would work with me leaving town every four weeks or so. As it turns out, I got exactly what I asked for. The person is both terrifying and amazing at the same time.
But, I've made a decision to no longer travel as much. To make an offer on a house. In short, to settle down, and try to get my life in order. Now, what I wanted 18 months ago doesn't work. Getting out of this is going to be painful.
And yes, there is a common thread here.
I read Calculated Risk. I watch the Seattle Bubble. I read the New York Times. And I constantly wondered who were these people? The people who looked at their house as an ATM, and used up all of their equity, and then some. Now I've met one. It took a long time for me to get the full sense of their story, and exactly how deep they are. It's terrifying to me, the amount of debt. I can't tell if this person is typical of the US in general, but if they are, we're going to be in for a very hard few years as these kinds of situations get resolved. "We were going to pay [the credit card debt] off when we sold the house." But the house didn't sell, the credit card debt isn't shrinking, and the mortgage isn't being paid.
II. Be Careful What You Ask For
About 18 months ago, I posted a personal ad asking for a particular kind of relationship. I didn't want a purely sexual relationship, but I wasn't sure I was ready for a full-blown dating thing. Maybe this is "FWB," or possibly "intimate FBs"? Something that had an emotional component to it as well and an intimacy, but that would work with me leaving town every four weeks or so. As it turns out, I got exactly what I asked for. The person is both terrifying and amazing at the same time.
But, I've made a decision to no longer travel as much. To make an offer on a house. In short, to settle down, and try to get my life in order. Now, what I wanted 18 months ago doesn't work. Getting out of this is going to be painful.
And yes, there is a common thread here.
posted by MJH at 12:25 PM
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