So, John and I are moving in a couple of weeks. Like many people before us, we are victims of this great? economy. I've been out of work for over a year now and, at 60 years old, it isn't easy to find a new job.

Our condominium was put on the market a couple of weeks ago...at an almost $50,000 difference between what we owe on it and what it has been initially priced at. So far, there hasn't even been one inquiry on it.

Our bank, Chase, pretty much refused to cut us a break on our mortgage payments because, despite my unemployment, we are not behind on any of our bills. That means that we have exhausted our savings and are now cutting into my retirement money to keep us afloat.

Our attorney tried to get Chase to agree to a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure with us. That means that we'd sign over our deed to them and that they would accept it and wipe our mortgage clean. We'd still be hit with a 2-5 year mark against us on our credit report, but we'd be able to walk away from this place free and clear.

Of course, the bank refused and insisted that we go through the Short Sale route first. Considering that no one has even looked at the place yet, it's doubtful that it's going to sell any time soon. The attorney advised us to stop making the mortgage payments...saying that the bank is more likely to accept a low offer on the property to minimize their losses. Personally, I expect that we'll end up in foreclosure at some point.

At least we're in no worse situation moving, at the beginning of December, into the apartment that we found. The rent is a little lower than our mortgage was, but all the utilities are included, so we do save that.

Of course, the Condo Association will have a hard time recovering after we leave. We'll still pay our condo fees, but no one else in the association is up to date with theirs. It's a small association...only four units.

So far, one unit is up for foreclosure after the owner walked away around six months ago. That was after she spent almost a year trying to do a short sale with her bank...yep, it was Chase, too. She currently owes about $1,600 in condo fees and late payments.

Then there is the owner who decided to leave after we told her that we were moving out. She's going to try the short sale route as well, but she gets to move in with her boyfriend without having to pay any rent. So far, she plans to catch up on the $600 that she owes in condo fees and interest with the money that she'll be saving by not paying her mortgage.

The last owner, who currently owes over $1000, told me that he's going to try to catch up...but he's going to be the only one left here (and having 3 out of 4 units empty is not going to help any of them sell because the banks are not going to want to finance them). Since he's not exactly what you'd call reliable to pay the bills, I'm trying to get a management company in here to do that and watch over the place.

Being the Trustee for this place has been a perpetual headache for the past three years. The stress associated with it has gone a long way to push us out of here. If it wasn't for the fact that we were "underwater" with our house value, we would have left here a long time ago.

I am so looking forward to resigning as Trustee.

Oh yeah, the pic is a fairly realistic representation of the view from the living room of the condo into the kitchen. The representation of John and I is fairly accurate as well...at least it would have been about 30 years ago.