This has been quite a year, of fighting to hold onto my house….actually several of them. I have worked hard to do everything possible to find buyers, get the loans modified, satisfy the banks in some way. After a year of waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak, I have decided to give up fighting.
Letting go of all power over the situation and leaving it in God’s hands has actually been the best choice I could make. I am beginning to feel a freedom I haven’t felt in thirty years. And I am looking around at mounds of “stuff” that is going to go away in one way or another. Whether I use technology to scan old pictures into a file that only takes up space on my hard drive, or whether I donate items to charity or sell things on Craigslist, I know that all I really need is more time and a little money to enjoy it. While I still love helping people find their dream home, I am encouraging them to look no bigger than a quarter of their income and to always have at least six months mortgage payments in a safe deposit box somewhere! To me, that is responsible home-ownership, as it was in our grandparents early days, and it will remain so over the rest of my and other baby boomers’ lifetimes. I want to see people succeed in having a full life, not just a place to call home. Safe, sound, secure and most of all, sustainable.