April 2020 News Update
Stay At Home...
This is the time of year that our children typically get antsy and so do we. Texas spring weather shows up and it's warm and beautiful outside. None of us want to be cooped up in our offices or sitting behind a school desk. Suddenly we have this time to be at home and work remotely, but it isn't quite so ideal.
In 2015 the Oil and Gas market took a tremendous hit. Those employed in the deep water drilling side of the industry were unexpectedly out of work. And it wasn't for a brief period of time. In fact, many of these people, thousands of them, did not return to Oil and Gas at all. My husband is one of them. He was out of work for 16 months and then when he went back to work, it was at a third of his previous income. We learned a lot of hard lessons in that tough time. Below are the ones I feel are most valuable if you are concerned about your finances.
First, cut all extra expenses. Immediately. Do not wait until next month or even next week. Do it today. Talk to all your financial institutions, credit card companies, insurance companies, etc. and request a better interest rate or raising deductibles to reduce premiums. Cut all small costs. They add up. If you have a good deal of equity in your home, you could open a home equity line of credit, just for the purpose of having access to more liquid cash in the event you need it. But this will need to be paid back, so if you take a draw from it, you will have a new payment. Take an inventory of all your assets and decide what you absolutely need. If you have an extra car, jet skis, boat, etc. this might be the time to part with those things and save the money in case you need it later.
If job loss means you cannot pay your mortgage you need to know the difference between forbearance and loan modification. Forbearance means the mortgage company will allow you to skip a certain number of payments. However, those skipped payments will be due all at once along with the current month's mortgage. Some mortgage companies will allow for smaller sums to be added to the monthly note. Loan modification means the lender has agreed to allow you to add mortgage payments to the back end of your loan. It is a modification to your current loan. Be careful with these two. Also, make sure that if you are not sure you can make your payment, you CALL your mortgage company right away. See what they can do to help you. It may be better to sell the home than do these other things. This is a process of decisions to be made. However, selling your home is better than foreclosure! If you are not sure what to do, call me so we can talk it through.
In all the uncertainty know this: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. We will come through this together. After Harvey, we rolled up our sleeves and worked together to help each other. We shared our clothes, our food, our furnishings, even our homes to help our neighbors. Texans are generous and we will get through this together!
If you have more questions about tightening your financial belt or anything related to real estate, please feel free to reach out to me. I would love to hear from you.
Stay healthy!
