Make Homes Affordable

As many of you may know, Ron and I are both attending graduate programs and expect to graduate next summer of 2010. What many of you may not know, is that when we started our programs, it was highly recommended that Ron quit his job since he'd be immersed in school and anesthesia five long days out of the week! So, we weighed the options.... It was a toss up, should I return to school at the same time? Or wait another year so I could work full time and support us financially. Surprisingly enough, I had utmost support from not only my husband, but from my co-workers and friends at Kaiser Permanente. "Your dreams don't come with a price tag, work will always be there," and with that I started my first quarter last fall. We prepared accordingly, clearing out $30,000 in credit card debt, saving what we could, and altering our travel-go-lucky lifestyle. I qualified for a stipend from work and many of my coworkers picked up my shifts during the week days. In addition, my parents started to help out alot. We'd come home for food or grocery shopping, school supply shopping etc, and we'd even do our laundry there every other week!

To offset our lack of income, we pulled out more school loans than necessary. You know, in case of a rainy day. And in Southern California, it has seriously rained more this year than it has in a loooong time! Times have been extremely hard for many people out there and alot of them have resorted to sheer desperation. Did you know that someone stole my LICENSE PLATE a few days ago?! I'm sure it was all because my Tags were brand spankin' NEW. But instead of taking solely the tags, they took my ENTIRE LICENSE PLATE and left the frame! I didn't know whether to consider that an insult or a descent gesture that atleast they left me something (and my car in one piece)!

With the economy taking a plunge and the foreclosure rate on the rise, I started to wonder if the government would ever step in and help its people from losing their homes. I even began to question that maybe it was a bad idea for me to go back to school again. I also thought that maybe it was a bad idea to have invested in this home back in 2006. But that notion quickly faded when this year, our tax preparer praised us for owning because otherwise we would have been owing the government nearly $4000 in taxes. I didn't know what my other options were, but I knew it didn't matter because just like any other federally funded program such as Medicaid, most government programs were designed for the poor, or those who became poor after paying for all their bills. And technically I wasn't poor, its just that the money I had in the bank wasn't mine. Maybe about 98% of it belonged to Uncle Sam, an IOU if you will, since payment coupons would start rolling in the minute my hot little hands got a hold of my graduation diploma next summer. Sure I still worked but again, we were living off one income, and a part time income at that. And my mortgage payment was in my opinion, SO UNFAIR compared to the deals people were getting nowadays! Many have told us that the monthly mortgage for our condo is what alot of people pay for their 2 story homes! Why couldn't there be something to reward those who never missed a mortgage payment and paid so loyally ????

Fortunately, I don't foresee ourselves plunging in our current situation. Like I said, we planned accordingly. I had health benefits through my employer and I had the "borrowed money" to diligently pay my mortgage. I knew that once school was over and done with, Ron and I would be set financially because just like my co-workers promised, works would always be there. It's advantage that comes with being in healthcare,and the career paths we chose to take.... I just wish that we qualified for some kind of break as well.

On that note:

Thank you President Obama for kicking off the "Make Homes Affordable Program" this morning! I'm super excited that there's HOPE out there!

As a senior Treasury Department official told reporters, "It's not intended to prevent every foreclosure or to help every homeowner. It's really targeted at responsible homeowners."

To find out more info:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_housing

or watch this news clip
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=4226712&cl=12323073&src=news