So this may not be completely wedding related, ok not at all, but it may be something some of my clients, past, future or present, are experiencing.
Yesterday I came across a site (http://antievictiontaskforce.com/), complete with video of a deputy sheriff being denied access to repossess a house in Co. Laois. It goes to say people power can work. There are so many arguments to say how we the people should be given some form of debt forgiveness considering the bank bailout. Should we?
Going through the site there are plenty of true stories, people in trouble and I sympathise greatly. I believe the banks should be re-structuring the loans, they played a huge part in the mess up, we bailed them out so they should be helping us control our finances.
I bought my first house in 2003, I was a single mother working part time and I was extremely lucky to get a mortgage at all, but I could afford it, I was used to living on the bread line and despite being advised by a state employee to quit work, go on the list and claim rent allowance I thought no, if I can put a roof over my childs head myself, I will. Only 3 months later I met the love of my life and after another couple of years we bought another house. The mortgage was twice as big and we struggled greatly. After selling we intended building our dream house in the country but one thing after another prevented that and for the first time I joined the rental market. We are the lucky ones, we were given the support we needed when my husband was out of work, unlike friends who were only offered amounts to cover interest on their mortgages all the while receiving threatening letters from the bank. It is a stressful situation, although we recently had 2 months back with him out of work, when he is working we are ok, we pay our way and get the odd night out. Had we not sold that second house, well let me just say I would not be where I am, I would never have been able to afford to live the dream of becoming a wedding photographer, I would probably be doing some job that I hate and be so debt ridden my hair would be falling out.
My point is, reading some of these stories I often think, that could be us and although many people told us we were crazy for selling when we did, looking back the house was worth twice what it is now, I only hope those who own it now are not suffering. I often thank God that we made that decision, although there were times when we regretted it, we feel so lucky now.
Sacrificing is hard to do, be it your tv subscription, heat, even just a routine night out, it is hard to change your way of life when the bank balance drops and the bills increase. It is even harder when you see that many of the bankers who earned through your hardship are still driving fancy cars and enjoying life. I remember though watching the video and for a moment I sympathised with the deputy sheriff, he seemed like a genuinely nice man, he was doing his job, I suppose as we all would do int hese times, probably feeling lucky for the fact he had a job. Our whole system is messed up and that is not his fault, thankfully he wasn't dealing with an angry mob but an educated man who posed no threat to him.
We, in the traditional human way, feel angered by our misfortune and we like to find someone to place the blame on, be it the sheriff, the judge, the bank teller or manager. The truth is though, in this country we know who we can put the blame on and it is our whole political system. Our Taoiseach says the people of Ireland got greedy, well I believe the government led the greed, starting with a fame hungry Taoiseach, we were led to believe that our boom was forever, buy now or you never will. There was a sudden snobbery that became so overwhelming many of us felt we had to live up to the standards of our neighbours, otherwise suffer the laughter of others if we did not drive the right car or have the right size tv. I succumbed to it, I had the house, I had the fancy car I couldn't afford, I pretty much had it all. Did it make a difference? Ok so I would love the fancy car again but I am a lot happier now and less stressed without an ever increasing mortgage and trying to keep up with the Jones' as they say. Thing is I have hindsight, I made that decision to sell at the perfect time, I am lucky, how many of me are there? The pitiful thing is, I actually do not know of anyone else in my position, all I know is there are people out there who are in such dire straits they have been broken beyond repair.
The question I have though is this, should the houses be re-valued and the loans reduced? Ok there are few things I look at in this world in a black and white view but this is one. We made the decisions to purchase, to take a specific amount in the loan, an informed decision, looking at our finances etc and we went ahead and did it. So we stupidly believed that our politicians were Gods but is it right to assume that the loans should be recalculated? I mean if one family is in trouble with their mortgage so their loan is revalued shouldn't the loans of all people be revalued, even those who are not in trouble. How much worse off do we want our country? To me the only fair way to go ahead is re-structure the loans. The only problem is there are reports the banks are not willing to do this, they want what they want and if they don't get it then tough luck.
I say fair play to those who are working to help people who are in need through no fault of their own. We as people should not feel ashamed that we need help, there are people there willing to give the help needed, to work alongside us and help us figure out a way through the mess.
Yesterday I came across a site (http://antievictiontaskforce.com/), complete with video of a deputy sheriff being denied access to repossess a house in Co. Laois. It goes to say people power can work. There are so many arguments to say how we the people should be given some form of debt forgiveness considering the bank bailout. Should we?
Going through the site there are plenty of true stories, people in trouble and I sympathise greatly. I believe the banks should be re-structuring the loans, they played a huge part in the mess up, we bailed them out so they should be helping us control our finances.
I bought my first house in 2003, I was a single mother working part time and I was extremely lucky to get a mortgage at all, but I could afford it, I was used to living on the bread line and despite being advised by a state employee to quit work, go on the list and claim rent allowance I thought no, if I can put a roof over my childs head myself, I will. Only 3 months later I met the love of my life and after another couple of years we bought another house. The mortgage was twice as big and we struggled greatly. After selling we intended building our dream house in the country but one thing after another prevented that and for the first time I joined the rental market. We are the lucky ones, we were given the support we needed when my husband was out of work, unlike friends who were only offered amounts to cover interest on their mortgages all the while receiving threatening letters from the bank. It is a stressful situation, although we recently had 2 months back with him out of work, when he is working we are ok, we pay our way and get the odd night out. Had we not sold that second house, well let me just say I would not be where I am, I would never have been able to afford to live the dream of becoming a wedding photographer, I would probably be doing some job that I hate and be so debt ridden my hair would be falling out.
My point is, reading some of these stories I often think, that could be us and although many people told us we were crazy for selling when we did, looking back the house was worth twice what it is now, I only hope those who own it now are not suffering. I often thank God that we made that decision, although there were times when we regretted it, we feel so lucky now.
Sacrificing is hard to do, be it your tv subscription, heat, even just a routine night out, it is hard to change your way of life when the bank balance drops and the bills increase. It is even harder when you see that many of the bankers who earned through your hardship are still driving fancy cars and enjoying life. I remember though watching the video and for a moment I sympathised with the deputy sheriff, he seemed like a genuinely nice man, he was doing his job, I suppose as we all would do int hese times, probably feeling lucky for the fact he had a job. Our whole system is messed up and that is not his fault, thankfully he wasn't dealing with an angry mob but an educated man who posed no threat to him.
We, in the traditional human way, feel angered by our misfortune and we like to find someone to place the blame on, be it the sheriff, the judge, the bank teller or manager. The truth is though, in this country we know who we can put the blame on and it is our whole political system. Our Taoiseach says the people of Ireland got greedy, well I believe the government led the greed, starting with a fame hungry Taoiseach, we were led to believe that our boom was forever, buy now or you never will. There was a sudden snobbery that became so overwhelming many of us felt we had to live up to the standards of our neighbours, otherwise suffer the laughter of others if we did not drive the right car or have the right size tv. I succumbed to it, I had the house, I had the fancy car I couldn't afford, I pretty much had it all. Did it make a difference? Ok so I would love the fancy car again but I am a lot happier now and less stressed without an ever increasing mortgage and trying to keep up with the Jones' as they say. Thing is I have hindsight, I made that decision to sell at the perfect time, I am lucky, how many of me are there? The pitiful thing is, I actually do not know of anyone else in my position, all I know is there are people out there who are in such dire straits they have been broken beyond repair.
The question I have though is this, should the houses be re-valued and the loans reduced? Ok there are few things I look at in this world in a black and white view but this is one. We made the decisions to purchase, to take a specific amount in the loan, an informed decision, looking at our finances etc and we went ahead and did it. So we stupidly believed that our politicians were Gods but is it right to assume that the loans should be recalculated? I mean if one family is in trouble with their mortgage so their loan is revalued shouldn't the loans of all people be revalued, even those who are not in trouble. How much worse off do we want our country? To me the only fair way to go ahead is re-structure the loans. The only problem is there are reports the banks are not willing to do this, they want what they want and if they don't get it then tough luck.
I say fair play to those who are working to help people who are in need through no fault of their own. We as people should not feel ashamed that we need help, there are people there willing to give the help needed, to work alongside us and help us figure out a way through the mess.
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