When terror strikes at home

It’s all over the news, of course. Every day more and more folks are affected by it, and when that happens even folks who may not be threatened by it begin to be fearful, wondering if it could happen to them and how they can fight back if it does.

I’m talking about the sorry state of the economy, and specifically about what is happening to home mortgages all around the country.

While the good news is that here in Texas things are a bit more stable, that doesn’t mean that foreclosures aren’t happening, and right in our own Ellis county communities.

It occurred to me that there may be people living in a high state of anxiety who can use some information that might turn out to be useful, and I want to share it.

Now, I’m not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV, and I’m not a mortgage lender, ditto, but as a real estate broker I can offer some anecdotal evidence, gained through fairly recent experience, that there are things a homeowner can do to make it a little easier to get through these hard times and maybe even protect from foreclosure if it comes to that.

Beginning with the best-case scenario, let’s talk about the fact that mortgage interest rates are really low right now.

If everything is just fine with your credit record and your income, there is this thing called re-financing. If you can lower your mortgage interest rate by 2% or so, it may be well worth your effort to re-finance to a lower fixed rate; this could save you a few hundred dollars a month right there. Depending, of course, on the amount you still owe on your home.

Re-financing has costs — these vary wildly with the lender, but generally include some fees to the lender, the cost of an appraisal, etc. But since most of those costs are just rolled into the new mortgage you won’t feel a thing — after all, if you add a couple thousand dollars to your 30-year loan, that’s really small change over 30 years.

And consider changing a 15-year note to 30 years – if you are just dying to pay off your loan sooner than that, well, you can always pay extra along the way, but your monthly obligation will be less when spread over 30 years. That’s a little more protection against what may be ahead during these hard times.

Talk to the lender of your choice and get a good faith estimate to learn exactly how much you can benefit, then decide your best course of action.

A scarier scenario: You’ve been working hard, playing by the rules, and suddenly hit a bump in the road — been laid off, suffered a costly medical or other family emergency, for example — and just can’t make the mortgage one month but see your way clear to recovery. If that happens to you, then don’t just panic, take action. Contact your lender and see if you can defer that month’s payment, for example. Most lenders will try to work something out, if not from kindness of heart but because they really, really don’t want to foreclose.

Foreclosure is very costly to lenders. They have to hire lawyers and appraisers and pay staff to do paperwork, then try to find a buyer for the property and maintain it in the meantime; they know that in the long run they will lose money, one way or the other. That’s why your lender is as anxious to keep you in your home as you are.

In the third-case scenario — when the job is gone forever and there’s no way of continuing your monthly mortgage payment but still have some income, you should explore with your lender the possibility of a work-out to lengthen the term of your loan and reduce your monthly payment. The Obama administration’s finance team is working on finding a way to require lenders to engage on this idea. But until that’s set up, you are well advised to try to make it happen on your own. You may have to hire a lawyer, but the cost of legal help may be worth it.

My point is, don’t give up until you’ve tried everything.

Finally, when it’s clear you will not be able to keep your home, there is one more thing you can do. It’s called a “short sale,” or selling the house for less than you need to pay off the mortgage.

Why should you care? After all, if you are going to lose your home, why not just let the bank have it?

The reason is that a foreclosure on your credit record is worse, believe it or not, than a bankruptcy.

Sure, declaring bankruptcy would stop the foreclosure, but unless you can make the payments when all is said and done, what have you gained?

A “short sale,” where the lender agrees to accept less than is owed and — this is important — then call it paid in full, is a last resort, but a resort worth trying.

If you’ve done all you can (see above) and it’s clear you are going to have to give up your home, for heaven’s sake start the process as soon as possible.

Hire yourself a real estate agent who knows about short sale marketing, who will aggressively market your home and will go all-out to get a contract in place within the limited time available. You should determine even before you get a foreclosure notice that this will be your course of action, to give yourself as much time as possible.

Three years ago I wouldn’t have known all this stuff, but the sorry news is that this is where we are at the moment and I've racked up personal experience. Too many of our friends are finding themselves overwhelmed by today’s economy.

People facing any of the circumstances I’ve described are likely to become depressed and angry, and justifiably so. But you need all the energy you can muster to be proactive, for you might just find a way forward.

If you or a friend is going through this terror, remember that you are not alone. And though it’s little consolation when you’re hurting, realize that lots of other folks are in the same boat. For what it’s worth, I believe that better days are ahead.

Years ago a friend told me, “The man who falls down gets up faster than the man who lies down.”

So, if any of this resonates with you, don’t take it lying down — DO something!

Cheerleader-in-Chief

Over the weekend it was hard, if you watch television, to miss the commotion and excitement about the coming inauguration of Barack Obama as the new president of the United States. Seemed that people are just beside themselves in anticipation, and it occurred to me that the coming collective sigh of relief might just be enough to drive up global warming.

On a Sunday news show even Pat Buchanan — he of the impeccable conservative Republican credentials — seemed caught up in it, saying “It’s a great day, and I think the whole country, frankly, is feelin’ pretty good about it!”

My own emotions, as I checked in from time to time on the progress of the train trip bringing the Obamas and Bidens to Washington were open-the-faucet sentimental. The car in which they traveled was a 1930-vintage lovely dark blue observation car, veteran of many a presidential whistle-stop tour. It was the last car in an otherwise silvery length of modern Amtrak carriages, bearing lucky reporters and staff.

If you’re a railroad buff like me, and old enough to remember, you can picture the rich wood paneling and overstuffed chairs flanked by elegant ashtray stands and pleasant conversation, and wish that somehow you could be there, being served drinks and cigars — well, skip the cigars — and occasionally venturing out onto the platform to watch the tracks disappear into the distance as you roll through America.

Back in the day, the train attendants — waiters, porters, everyone except the conductor, as was the custom — were all black. The work was considered too menial for whites. There’s a lovely irony here.

* * *

The Onion, a satirical newspaper, in a story just after the election headlined “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job,” wrote:

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind.

As I tried to decide what to make of George W. Bush’s farewell address to the nation, it suddenly occurred to me: If I worked for The Onion and was told to write George W. Bush’s parting message to the country as a satire, here's what I would have written:

“Tonight I am filled with gratitude — to Vice President Cheney and members of the Administration . . .”

“This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house — September 11, 2001.”

“As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before Nine-Eleven. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our Nation.”

“Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror . . .”

“Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship . . . to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States.”

“There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results.”

“America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil.”

“Every taxpayer pays lower income taxes.”

“America’s air, water, and lands are measurably cleaner.”

“When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them.”

“Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. … You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.”

* * *

From the time he stood on the rubble at Ground Zero and shouted through a bullhorn, Bush, famously a cheerleader in college, has conducted his presidency as cheerleader-in-chief. Not to worry, big hoo-yah. He’s made some tough decisions.

Notwithstanding the revelations about Dick Cheney’s support of torture, not questioning why the president hadn’t addressed the nation before 9/11, ignoring the question as to why he hadn’t acted on the “bin Laden determined to strike” memo, not worrying about the fact that Afghanistan is in chaos, and discounting the reality that Iraq says it wants the U.S. out of their country ASAP, it is certainly true that there is legitimate debate about many of Bush’s decisions. And there is legitimate debate about the results. But not to worry. He's made decisions.

America has gone more than seven years without a terrorist attack on our soil. But what of the eight years before 9/11? In 1993 al Qaeda struck the World Trade Center, and the Clinton security apparatus warned Bush that al Qaeda was a real threat. But Bush didn’t want to be seen following any Clinton lead, so despite warnings from just about everyone who was in the know he ignored the August 2001 memo. Bottom line: Clinton kept us safe on our homeland for eight years. And then we got 2001.

Every taxpayer. Did you see your taxes go down?

The environment? Clean Air Act, Healthy Forests Initiative . . . and what happened in Tennessee?

As for challenges to our prosperity, we know how that turned out.

Bush said he "shared the optimism of President Thomas Jefferson, who once wrote, ‘I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.’”

Indeed.

Priorities

President-elect Barack Obama spoke to the American people last week about the urgency of passing an economic recovery plan. He explained in some detail what can be done and should be done and what will likely be the outcome if it’s not done.

Not surprisingly, there were objections by one or another member of Congress to this or that particular of his plan – too much, too little, too late, too soon -- because that’s how politics works. Still, I have a hard time understanding why, when Barack Obama won the election so handily, when the populace clearly wants dramatic measures taken in order to right the ship of state, we have members of Congress fussing about this tax cut or that bailout instead of getting down to business.

The feeling I had after listening to Obama’s speech about his plan was that if ever there was a time for Americans to write their congressmen it is now. I sent off a letter to Barton, Cornyn and Hutchison as follows:

I urge you to pass President-Elect Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan immediately. Do not allow the bill to be weakened by delaying tactics on either side of the aisle. We need a big and bold plan of strategic, substantial and sustained public investment to create jobs now, generate clean energy, modernize our infrastructure and expand access to health care and education. Our economy is hemorrhaging and urgent action is needed. Thank you.

And, you know what? It’s not just about our economy. It’s about world peace and about our national security.

The world outside our borders is blowing up, and we need to get this matter of our economy under control so that soon-to-be President Obama can re-direct his attention to places like Israel and Gaza, Pakistan, India, Iraq and Iran, because he is our best hope, if there is hope, and we need him now.

* * *

Over the course of the last several years, some 8,000 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza, destroying homes, injuring and killing innocent people and driving families to bomb-shelter living. The world has taken little notice. A “cease fire” between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militants who took over Gaza by force in a bloody coup against the Palestinian Authority a while back, ended just before Christmas. Hamas fired some 80 rockets into Israel that day and continued the bombardment daily thereafter -- and Israeli parents and children returned to the bomb-shelters.

When Israel finally said “Enough!” and fought back, Hamas deliberately drew deadly fire on its fellow citizens, with predictable results. Now there was outrage in the international community.

There’s a problem here, I think. And someone needs to deal with it. The United States is the one force that has any hope of mediating a solution in this dreadfully complex situation, but we can’t do it while we’re fighting our own economic demons.

***

We are in a situation the likes of which none of us has ever experienced. We don’t have a model for resolving the mixture of economic and international crises in which we find ourselves in this year 2009, so the best option is to trust those whom, after all, we have elected.

And tell those members of Congress to get on board.

Resolutions all around

I admit. I’m one of those hapless folk who make New Year’s resolutions in the best of good faith, only to have them crash and burn before the year is half-way gone. I even write them down, which is supposed to help, but forgetting to check the list makes it kind of useless.

Well intentioned as you may be if you follow your list, when even the most determined resolutions collide with even the flimsiest of excuses, they are doomed.

Don’t have time. Forgot. Something more important came up. Priorities changed. Circumstances changed. And that all-time favorite: No self-discipline.

Finish giving up smoking. Check. Remember to start . . . not quite finished with that.

Lose weight. Check. Maybe when spring comes and I can get rid of these heavy sweaters . . .

Set up and follow an exercise plan. Check. Got the bicycle, got a neat all-weather cover for it, now just waiting for warmer weather. But it’s there, parked just outside the door and ready to go.

Quit procrastinating (my editor will love this!). Check. The trick here, if you’re a person who works best under deadline, then obviously what you should do is set pre-deadline deadlines and respond to them. Of course, if you know they are artificial deadlines . . .

Quit obsessing about politics. No check. Ain’t gonna happen. As a consummate believer that every voice matters, and with that belief confirmed by recent events, I intend to keep on keeping on.

* * *

To my way of thinking, loving politics is all tied in with love of country, of mankind, of history. Truth to tell, like some drug dealer I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to try it.

Paying close attention to politics, local or national or international, is all about caring. Caring about my town, my country, my world. And writing about politics doesn’t mean preaching a particular idea, though sometimes it may come across that way to folks who disagree with one point or another.

In fact, some of the most rewarding discussions are with those who differ, because the conversation that begins can be thought-provoking, eye-opening, and adrenalin-stirring – not unlike cranking up the truck radio out on a country road while Waylon Jennings belts out “Good-Hearted Woman.”

A reader recently challenged me on the idea of whether Barack Obama truly meant what he said about bringing “change” to Washington. That challenge forced me to define what I thought it meant, and we exchanged emails about it. One thing was clear from the discussion: We could find some areas of agreement and could agree that we disagreed about some others. I’m looking forward to more of our conversation.

I really love this stuff!

* * *

We’re beginning a new year together and I hope you’ve made some New Year’s resolutions too, even if you suspect they may be doomed. It feels good just to make them. A New Year’s resolution is all about hope, and hope is the main thing we have going for us right now.

Keep those cards and letters coming in, and let’s have a conversation as we work our way through the troubles and into a future that I believe is bright.