[Ep. 145] Overcoming a Home Foreclosure

For my first “Where Are They Now?” Listener Series episode, I check back with Lindsay VanSomeren who was one of my first Listener Series guests. Lindsay, who also blogs at Notorious D.E.B.T., was featured on episode 57, and shared how she and her husband bought their first home in Alaska together but had nothing but trouble with it. You see, it was built on a foundation of permafrost and they had to shell out $30,000 in repairs (that they couldn’t afford). Literally pretty much the same storyline as the movie The Money Pit.

We ended off that episode with some good news though, because she had just received two offers to buy the house. One of those offers would help them say goodbye to the home from hell, and stop getting into more and more debt so they could move on with their lives.

Unfortunately, both of those offers fell through. So, they had to make some tough decisions. Either hang on to the home and continue to get into debt, or get some help. They chose the latter and contacted a credit counselor to weigh their options. In the end, they decided to go with a deed in lieu of foreclosure.
Once that was taken care of, they decided to move to Colorado for a fresh start. And now Lindsay is making a full-time living as a freelance writer, her husband is back in school, and they are slowly but surely building up their credit and saving up a downpayment for their next home in the future.

I’m so glad Lindsay was able to share this update because I think her story is fairly common. It started out with buying a property they thought was great, and taking advantage of a special Veterans loan program they also thought was great. But in the end, the property was not what they thought and a program that lets you buy a home with no money down can also have dangerous consequences.

Luckily Lindsay and her husband have moved on, learned from their mistakes, and are on a better path now. So hopefully the lesson from this episode is that even if you feel like you are in an impossible financial situation, there is always a way out. There is a solution for every financial problem out there, but sometimes it means reaching out for help.