Good News...??

This weekend I talked with a Realtor and I met with a contractor about the marital home.

Real quick update for new readers:

I separated from "Ex" in January 2000, and divorced in Dec 2001. She got to keep practically everything including the marital home. She lived there with her new husband and my kids until Sept 2006, after she bought herself a new $170,000 home on the outskirts of the school district - good for her. She put the marital home up for sale.

I lived in rental apartments for 7 years until I was able to buy the duplex building I have been living in for the past 3 years. I closed on the duplex in May 2007, and in July I rented out the second apartment.

In June 2007 the "Ex" had not yet sold the marital home, and decided that she no longer wanted to pay the two mortgages on the old marital home, and since I had all this money to buy my property that she would stop making payments on the mortgages. In the seven years of our separation she never refinanced the mortgages, so they were still in my name, and when she stopped paying on them, my credit rating took a nose dive. To stop the credit score "bleeding" I had her sign the property's title back over to me, and I paid the back mortgage payments, and have continued paying the mortgages and utilities since then.

Now back to the present:

My tenant has not been a reliable, on-time rent payer, so I don't have the rent money to offset the new expenses and I have had to use my credit cards more than I would like in order to survive. I have stopped the downward spiral of the credit rating, but in it's place I now have a downward spiral of available money.

So, I have decided to try to get rid of the marital home. This past week I contacted a Realtor who is supposed to be really good at moving properties, even in my real estate depressed area. The Realtor reviewed the property and told me that it could definitaly sell, but that I had to do some repairs to the place to make it appealling to potential buyers. Before this, I had already had a few people look at the place and give me estimates. Just to be sure they were good estimates, I had a new contractor come out this weekend and give me another quote.

The property needs about $10,000 worth of work to make it "sell-worthy". The Realtor said that with those repairs it could be listed for an amount that if it sold at that amount I would would be able to recoup the repair money, and still make a profit. The really good news is that I could accept an offer much lower than the listing price, and still break even or make a few bucks. The Realtor is pretty confident that the property could move pretty easily with the right advertising at the right places. So if the Realtor is right, I could be rid of the drain on my income and get a little extra money to pay off all my credit card debt, and finally get my head above the debt level.

There is only one road block to this whole scenario... coming up with the $10,000 to do the repairs. I only have roughly $6,500 in available credit, and my savings have been pillaged to purchase my duplex back in May. I am roughly about $4,500 short, and I don't know how to get the remaining amount.

I have already tried my local bank, my immediate family and other mortgage/loan places. No one is willing to loan an amount that small to someone who has the credit rating I have. As a matter of fact, one of my credit card companies recently reduced my "available credit" from $2,000 to $0 because of the dip in my credit rating... Yeah, thanks "Ex" for bailing on the mortgages in May, you were very thoughtful! (yeah, right!)

Anyway, I may have to take Tysgirl up on her offer to start a phone sex company... Or maybe I could have a bake sale?

Later Lou