These days it's hard to make it out of the house in the morning without hearing something on the news about mortgage loans, loan modification, homeowners insurance, foreclosure, or debt. The newspapers are full of stories about corrupt lenders, predatory lending institutions, and families in dyer straights. The morning television news seems to repeat itself with stories of foreclosures and lending companies that seemed, suddenly, to collapse under the weight of their own mistakes. Get in your car to make your morning commute to work, and the radio picks up where the T.V. left off. Once your seated at your desk at work, the Internet is lousy with tips, suggestions, and advice for people who have defaulted on their loans, and for people who are seeking loan modification. What started as a small problem that seemed only to be affecting a few homeowners and companies is now a country and even worldwide economic crisis of proportions the United States has not experienced since the Great Depression.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty, they say, but even the experts are divided on what should have been done and when to avoid the current economic downturn. The Federal Reserve Chairman says one thing. Congress says another. The President sits and turns to his advisors, but everyone seems to have their own agenda, and no one wants exactly the same thing. What everyone can agree on is that something needs to be done, and on a large scale, to keep the country from plummeting into pit out of it which it would be extraordinarily difficult to dig. As the comparisons to the Great Depression continue to be made, those who were alive to live through it and those who have only heard stories are beginning to tighten their belts. From loan modification, which might be able to save you a not insignificant amount of cash each month on your mortgage payment, to raising chickens in the backyard, it's time to take stock (no pun intended) of your assets, and take an axe to the unessential.
It can be scary as a homeowner to think about how you are going to make your mortgage payments every month when people are being laid off from their jobs at an alarming rate, and you wonder each day if you could be next. It's hard not to panic when even the country's government doesn't seem to know what the next move should be. Look at the whole picture, and it may seem like just too much for one person, for one family to handle. You might even feel like giving up. But especially in times like these it is key to do what you were probably told to do as a kid when you complained of having too much homework, "Just take it one step at a time."
Just take control of your economic situation one step at a time. Worry about the fate of the world another day. First, make sure you and your family have a place to take shelter from the madness, and make sure your home loan is manageable. Look into loan modification as a way of adjusting what might have initially seemed like a realistic amount to pay each month, but is now just too much money for your bank account to put out to one source. And don't forget to feed those chickens.
