It Happened To Me... A True Foreclosure Story.

Well, in a few weeks I will technically be homeless. It's hard to believe that it has come to this point. I try to look back at all of the things that my husband and I did wrong but I just get upset and angry so why bother. I fear what will happen to our family. Our two year old son needs a place to live, a home, but I can not give him what he needs.

A few years ago things were at a polar opposite. My friends teased me about being 'rich'. I wasn't rich by any means but my husband and I worked hard everyday and owned successful businesses and could buy what we wanted when we wanted. I took that for granted and I'm sure my husband did too. To go from that to not being to buy enough food for our family is a hard blow to the ego. I have to keep that smile on my face and pretend all is well for my son and also my husband who's stress level is higher than I can imagine. It's difficult to do but I don't want my son to know there is anything wrong at all. He has everything he needs (thanks to help from his grandparents and us going without so he can have what he needs.) I guess that is all that matters. Our son.

Back in 1996 we decided to get into real estate. How do you go wrong in real estate? We were destined to be rich and retire at an early age. I was 18 at the time. We bought our first house. Things got side tracked and we ended up buying a finewine shop and the building it was in. For four years we turned a small liquor store into a reputable wine shop winning 'Best of Baltimore' in 2001. We got an offer that we couldn't refuse and sold the store and property and made a very large profit. We put half of our money into the stock market/bonds/IRA's etc and bought a few investment properties with the rest. Well, two weeks later was September 11, 2001. Needless to say, we lost 85% of our stock portfolio. We didn't lose hope because we still had our properties.

Over the years, we rented, sold, bought and were living a pretty darn good life. Then the real estate market began to fall. And, of course, this is when we needed to sell some houses to put money in the bank. For over three years we had two houses on the market. We paid those mortgages every month until there was no money left. We were banking on selling those houses to get us into a newbusiness. The bank took the first house and then the second. Then, our home. I don't know if my house sold at auction, when I need to leave or where I will go. All I know is that I need to keep that smile of my face and pray that we will be ok.