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news · Joined: 14 Jul 2007 Posts: 0 Location: Greater Boston

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Description: Fearing sale of house, Taunton woman kills herself before foreclosure auction
URL: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/24/the_anguish_of_foreclosure/
Info/Broken?: http://www.bostonbubble.com/link_info.php?id=1820

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admin · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:16 pm GMT Post subject:

Please don't imitate this. What makes it even worse is that she killed herself with the intent of having her family use the life insurance money to pay off the mortgage. That's a sad an unnecessary prioritization to begin with, but it's also unlikely to work as life insurance policies (almost?) always exclude suicide. Bankruptcy is a much better alternative and offers the chance of a fresh start with time.

The Middlesex North Registry of Deeds in Lowell had a good blog entry on this story, particularly this insight:

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

Although I'm a real estate junkie, this was so disturbing that I think my defense mechanisms wouldn't allow me to even accept it and get close to it mentally.

People commit suicide when they get fired, someone breaks up with them, or even from being bullied in a school yard.

What I will accept is that being foreclosed upon does bring a considerable amount of stress and anxiety like a black cloud that seems overwhelming.

When I bought, right around the P&S and the closing you get this flood of emotions, you're moving, you're going through old pictures, your negotiating etc. During that emotional tempest, knowing that we did your homework gave us confidence that we were prepared to make the best call we could during that time. I'm just trying to come closer to this in my mind, but if you add in the fear of not knowing what to do, being flooded with regulations, fancy talk that sounds like Chinese, debt collectors that are in your face, and the feeling like life is slipping and you're losing must be seriously overwhelming.

Although I think the woman was most likely unbalanced and troubled to begin with, not everyone is perfect and what we're talking about today isn't just statistics, it is real pain and suffering. I care less about those that knew better or didn't try at all to do due dilligence, but just like a typical white collar businessman might not know how to change the oil in his car, some people have no idea what a LIBOR index is or an adjustable rate mortgage; they think the guy in the fancy nice suit has a responsiblity to act within a certain parameter and that the Government wouldn't give them a license if they set people up to fail.

I'm projecting a whole lot on this and everything I'm saying is pure speculation; I guess this is how some of us try to come to understand such tragedies. if you are someone who spends some time researching this sort of stuff, make your family members and friends know so that they ask you about it and you can steer them in the right direction. We can't trust that the academic egg-heads and politicians are out there looking out for us, it is safer to assume that they're not and we've got to figure it out on our own.

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

Shiller was a really good guy, egghead and all.

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

I wish more people thought like john p. To compete in buying a house here, you have to think like other people think. If other people think that 38% of their income is an acceptable amount of money to spend, then if I want a house I have to spend the same amount. Of course, I also want to avoid foreclosure so I just don't buy until I can get that ratio down. According to housingtracker.net, at the end of 2007 the average Boston homeowner spent 32.9% of their income on just their mortgage payments!