[quote]Duke wrote:
Not familiar with the Florida real estate thing but as a property investor here in Aus, I’d be keen to hear what the caper is. Can I assume it’s the Sub-Prime mortgage crisis? If so, how has this affected you and your investments?
Anything is a valid discussion for T-Nation, as we’re all T-Men and I doubt anyone who’s read your thread here, will have any objection to it, in fact, I reckon we’d like to hear more.[/quote]
Duke, one of my dreams and goals in life, for some reason, was to live on the ocean in Florida. Florida oceanfront homes have started at about a million dollars for the past ten or fifteen years. I put my life savings into a down payment to get one, feeling confident since everyone I talked to, CPA's, realtors, investors, rich patients, EVERYONE said it was the best investment I could make. Foolproof, they called it, and bound to double or triple in value over time.
Well, it grew in value, but it was a house with problems which is why I got it for less than surrounding houses worth a lot more. I continued to put everything I earned extra into it, adding a floor, making it top of the line, and figuring we'd live in it for ten years or so and then sell it, making a million or two dollars profit.
It could have been a solid plan. I had the house under contract, in 2004 for $2.1 million dollars, which would have netted me a cool million. Hurricanes were coming, and three days before closing the buyers weasled out, claiming they wanted a mold inspection. They had already had it inspected, this was a bogus way to walk. The hurricane, a cat 2, came and damaged it, but I and a loyal group of friends frantically spent 14 straight days, 20 hour days, repairing it back to almost good as new. But before we could even try to remake the deal, a second hurricane, Jeanne, cat 3, came and this time basically destroyed the house to rubble.
I then went into frantic insurance fight mode, was a FEMA victim like the Katrina folks, getting screwed around with no place to live. We lived in moldy leaky shacks for over a year. Insurance paid for only half the reconstruction, and I spent another $500,000, all borrowed, to repair the house even better than before the two hurricanes. The day it was finished, I got it appraised by two appraisers, both giving me the same figure. $3.2 million dollars!!! I thought I was rich, secure, and the smartest damn guy on the planet for not giving up on the house, like many had told me to do since it was nearly condemned by the city.
Then, as a result of hurricane fear, excessive bad mortgages, war, and who knows what else, all of a sudden I couldn't even get a buyer to look at the house. Drop the price, 2.8. Nobody, drop it again, 2.4. Nobody. Meanwhile, my swollen mortgage gets increased by 50% by insurance rates tripling. Drop the price to 1.9. Nobody. Drop it to 1.6, just break even and walk away. Nobody. This is a 6000 sq ft luxury mansion on prime Florida oceanfront. Not a single LOOKER, in a year.
Now we're into desperation mode, trying what's called a short sale, meaning selling it at a loss, with the bank writing off part of the note. Had one buyer, he didnt come to closing, another, same, another, same, and then finally this past week the fourth one did the same damn thing.
The real estate market is so bad in Florida that luxury homes have lost half their value or more, and in general there are few to no sales going on.
So now I can no longer afford the monthly payment and insurance, and the house is unsellable at any price. I have to foreclose and then go bankrupt. I found out that if I only foreclosed, the IRS would tax me for the "phantom income", the difference between the bank write off price and the original note, meaning I would still owe several hundred thousand dollars after giving up my home for nothing. It is the ultimate no-win situation, and it is particularly painful considering it was, at one moment in time, the culmination of my life's financial planning for a good retirement. I'm broke, Duke. That's what broke is. No money, no options, and a broken spirit.
Fuck, I hate writing all this. It sounds like whining to me, and I really hate whiners. But I think, just maybe, I started this thread because I knew I needed somewhere to vent, somewhere to lay it on the line. This is very unnatural for me to do this, I am usually an extremely private man, and the problems my extended family have faced puts this problem to shame. My uncle died in the Holocaust, my brother died in Nam AFTER the fighting was over, my Mom and Dad went through three wars and started a new life in America with nothing. So I should probably just SHUT THE FUCK UP and deal with it. I am living in Costa Rica because it was the only place I could afford to live once I realized where all of this was heading.
My lifting comeback, to be honest guys, is fueled more by the stress and uncertainty of my life than my little testosterone injections. Sorry, you HRT guys, but HRT can only go so far. Maybe I need this victory, this victory over my disabilities and aging body, to give me the strength to fight the battles I face in my personal life. My body hurts like hell still every morning, but that pain comes nowhere near the pain in my mind and heart. I believe I have the strength to overcome all of this, but I have recently found out that my wife of twenty years no longer does. I will fight this one on my own. Sad story, sorry if it brings any of you down. I never intended to share this part, and I'm really not sure I should have, but I'm like a bottle ready to explode. I guess I needed to tell it. Doc