Home Owner Commits Suicide To Avoid Foreclosure

[StMark]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/24/the_anguish_of_foreclosure/

[AbundantGrace]

I saw that today on FoxNews. That was pitiful. There's a lot of hopeless people in this world...

[StMark]

Fearing sale of house, woman kills herself before the auctionEmail|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Michael Levenson
Globe Staff / July 24, 2008

TAUNTON - The housing crunch has caused anguish and anxiety for millions of Americans. For Carlene Balderrama, a 53-year-old wife and mother, the pressure was apparently too much.

Police say that Balderrama fatally shot herself Tuesday afternoon, 90 minutes before her foreclosed home was scheduled to be sold at auction. Chief Raymond O'Berg said that Balderrama faxed a letter to her mortgage company at 2:30 p.m., saying that "by the time they foreclosed on the house today she'd be dead."

The mortgage company notified police, who found her body at 3:30 p.m. The auction had been scheduled to start at 5 p.m., when bidders showed up at the house and found it surrounded by police cruisers.

But, unbeknownst to buyers and to Balderrama, the auction had been postponed by the time she grabbed her husband's high-powered rifle, O'Berg said.

Balderrama left a note for her family, saying they should "take the [life] insurance money and pay for the house," O'Berg said. The chief said he did not know, however, if the family would be able to collect on the policy in the event of a suicide.

[StMark]

I saw that today on FoxNews. That was pitiful. There's a lot of hopeless people in this world...



How has to foreclosure effected your area ???
CA. was hit extremely hard

[AbundantGrace]

How has to foreclosure effected your area ???
CA. was hit extremely hard

Not nearly as bad as what I'm seeing in other portions of the country. Yes, I've heard that California has really taken a hard hit. I'm about to sell mine and buy another, simply because I need to move closer to the church. I'm praying mine sells. I have a lot of equity in it, which will help me, but it's just hard to get what you want out of them right now. It's definitely a buyer's market, so at least I'll probably get a pretty good price when I buy.

[StMark]

Not nearly as bad as what I'm seeing in other portions of the country. Yes, I've heard that California has really taken a hard hit. I'm about to sell mine and buy another, simply because I need to move closer to the church. I'm praying mine sells. I have a lot of equity in it, which will help me, but it's just hard to get what you want out of them right now. It's definitely a buyer's market, so at least I'll probably get a pretty good price when I buy.


The advice I am hearing is, If you don't have to move,
stay put for a few years or just rent your house out.
There is the option of using a rental agency if neccessary.

I hear that some people are trading homes depending on
where they need to move. If one house is more than the other,
they throw in a car or boat,etc. pretty wild uh?

the only place ( that I know of) where the prices have not
come down in the nation is the San Francisco area. Most
immediate surrounding counties, the mediun price is right
at 1 million. inland areas are the ones that have suffered.

[True Believer]

Our county was the fastest growing county in the U.S.. We had subdivisions popping up all over the place. A few years ago they were easy to sell. Now they sit empty. We have a subdivision that was supposed to be built behind us with 245 houses on it. They got 26 houses built and about 5 sold the last time I drove through there. They took down all the trees and made streets and all the lots stand empty because they can't sell the ones that are already built.

[U376977]

How has to foreclosure effected your area ???
CA. was hit extremely hard

I am in the business, the problem areas both in foreclosure and defaults--loans going bad--and in home price depreciation have been CA, FL, NV, pockets of NY. What is sad is that a lot of people do not know that credit rules have changed, it used to be 2 years after a foreclosure you could get a new loan. Now it is 5! What is sad is that it is estimated by the industry that 60% of the people who are in foreclosure that they can afford the mortgage. They are walking away because they have decreasing equity and don't want to make the payment for the next few years until the value comes back. They just walk away.
Plus the lenders are putting liens on the credit reports for the amount of the mortgage that they have walked away. And when they apply for a new loan, surprise! They will have to pay that off.

[RevDWW]

While her actions were unjustified and foolish, her motivation seems to be one of sacrifice. She was willing to die so her family would have their home. What a sad story of hopelessness. The cares of life can really mess up the mind. That's a great reason to cast our cares on Him.