Does anyone know anyone personally, a friend / family member / coworker / neighbor who has faced a foreclosure this year? I hear about it in the news but I've never heard the story behind the news. What happened and how are they doing now?

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There are several foreclosed homes in my neighborhood, including one next door, but I do not know the circumstances. My first husband's home was foreclosed on about 2 years ago, but I found out about it right after his funeral. I knew he had quit working for some years to care for his bedridden MIL while his wife worked. My theory is that when the MIL died, and he had trouble finding another job for a long time as he'd been out of the work force & there are no jobs in Michigan, and then the MIL's social security income was no longer coming into the house, that they fell behind.

I let my house go into foreclosure...around the end of 2006 I think it was. It was pretty much the result of ending my first marriage - I had bought the house for us, as my ex couldn't be on the mortgage - bad credit (hello red flags?) After I filed for divorce, he moved back home to live with his parents and sister, and I stayed in the house for a little while, until I got it ready for sale and placed on the market. I ended up moving to an apartment closer to work (house was over an hour from my job, apartment was 10 mins). My ex was supposed to pay 40% of the mortgage and household bills, but getting money out of him was like getting blood from a stone. Since the market sucks here, I ended up having the house for sale for longer than we even lived in it, plus I was trying to pay the mortgage and my apartment rent. Since the marriage was also short (less than a year), the idea of dragging it out forever and dealing with my deadbeat ex was more than I wanted to do. I paid on the empty house for just under a year, and then told my ex to "F off" and keep his money that he wouldn't pay, and told the bank to take it. I did have a short sale offer, but the HELOC company refused to negotiate, though the main mortgage company was willing to accept. I ended up telling them to take the place and shove it - I couldn't sell the house, and I couldn't afford a mortgage and rent every month. I'm not sure when it foreclosed or what, but I haven't heard from the bank in over a year now.

Yes, my credit got bashed, but it was my own fault for getting in that situation (Dad was right when he said to get a full financial report from anyone I date/marry! LOL) I am not getting "bailed out", nor do I expect or did I expect any help then. A little bit of me gets irritated with all the talk about helping out people who are in foreclosure...we make our own choices, and I'm not keen on my taxes (when I was working LOL!) going to pay for someone's mistake - be it like my mistake (divorce), job loss, or not understanding the fine print of the mortgage.

Today - I haven't been working since August, but DH and I still keep up on the bills. I make extra money selling stuff on Craigslist, save money by couponing, and we just try to be super frugal. I'm content with our financial situation - I'd like to work again to have more spending/saving money, but I'm ok where we are at now.

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I don't.

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I don't know anyone facing foreclosure. I heard on the radio, so I have no idea if it's true, that 97% people with a mortgage are current on their payments so it doesn't surprise me that I don't know anyone. I think all the talk is because the foreclosure rate is higher then in the past, but that doesn't make it a huge percentage of the population.

Good for you! I have no doubt that you will come out ahead after all this because you seem to have a great attitude.

So are there any foreclosures in Canada?

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I don't know of any people personally, although I've heard about friends of friends... so it's more removed for me. I think it depends on geographic location, too. I saw a piece on 60 Minutes that reported Stockton, CA as the worst place in the US for foreclosures. It seems like other California communites are pretty bad off too:
California cities fill top 10 foreclosure list - Aug. 14, 2007

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My parents are going through a foreclosure right now. It is a very hard situation for everybody.

The story starts back in 2003 when my very healthy and very active dad, then 62 years old, had to have a liver transplant. He had PSC which is a disease of the bile ducts in the liver...it's an auto-immune disease..not caused by drinking or drugs, etc.

Anyway, he needed a transplant almost immediately after diagnosis and the wait for a donor would be too long. He needed a live donor. All of us kids (there are 5 natural plus one adopted) went to be tested to see if we were a match. My little brother was a match. The transplant happened in December 2003.

My brother had major complications and had to have a life-saving surgery in October 2004 (and again in December 2004) as his colon was 100% blocked. He hadn't been able to work steady since the transplant the year before. He had a lot of stomach problems that really couldn't be explained until after that life-saving surgery. When they removed half of his liver, his colon moved into the open space. Then the liver grew back to it's normal size and pinched part of his colon, leaving his colon 100% blocked.

Anyway, my dad had his share of health problems from the transplant too. He was forced into a 'disability' retirement and his health insurance somehow got all screwed up. My parents ended up paying for many things out of pocket. MANY trips to Chicago (we live in Michigan) for re-checks and follow-ups, etc. Things like hotels and parking really add up quick.

My brother had his own financial problems. His wife had a baby one month before the transplant and he lost his regular job the following year because of missed work due to his stomach issues.

My parents gave all their extra money to my brother, hoping to pull him out of financial straits. They refinanced their house to help him. They didn't realize they were setting themselves up for failure.

My brother had to sell his house in 2005, or lose it. Luckily it sold just 15 days after being put on the market. They moved into a duplex owned by his wife's grandma. Free rent for caring for grandma. It has worked nice for them and my brother has a great job now, with freedom to miss a little work if stomach issues arise. He is holding his own financially, but too late for my parents.

Back to my parents. After doing all they could for my brother, they started having issues with having to pay for meds out of pocket. My dad is on a lot of meds. They went with several different policies, but they still had to pay a lot. In the midst of this, they asked the bank to refinance the house for a smaller payment. The bank said they would refi, but couldn't add in the home equity for another 3 months (I wasn't there, and this makes no sense to me, but I do believe my parents). They told them they could refi again in a few months and add the home equity at that time. Well, after 3 months, the bank said they didn't qualify to refi. My parents couldn't afford the mortgage, home eq, bills, meds, etc. They called the bank several times asking them to help them somehow. They just needed a lower payment, they wanted to pay their mortgage, but they couldn't afford it. The bank said there was nothing they could do about it.

I talked to the bank personally and they wouldn't work with my parents at all.

My parents finally just stopped paying. They knew they couldn't make it with that payment so they knew it was going to be foreclosed on. They didn't have a choice at that point.

After 3 months of not paying, it was in the newspaper that the house was going up for auction. My parents hadn't heard anything from the bank in those 3 months. They knew it was coming, but it was a surprise to see it in the paper.

Three days after it was in the paper (first of December), somebody came and posted a foreclosure notice at the house. The house went up for auction in January, but didn't sell. My parents have to be moved-out by June this year. They have 6 months, even if the house was sold, from the time of the auction.

That gives them 9 months to save money for a down-payment or rent. Their credit is ruined but they have talked to several landlords and have several options for a place to go already. They are waiting a few months to save a bit more money, and because the move would be hard in this winter weather. It will be hard anyway, with dad's health and the fact that they've lived there for 20+ years.

I honestly don't feel sorry for most people who get foreclosed upon, but my parent's situation really opened my eyes to the exception. Senior citizens really get tossed around with the insurance policies and doctors and hospitals, and blah blah blah.

My dad especially is having a very hard time with not paying the mortgage. My mom has just said that it might be for the best as dad is having a hard time keeping up with the maintenance on their place now. Renting is probably their best option in that regard.

My dad talks to me about it a lot. He really wanted to pay the mortgage, but the bank just wouldn't work with them at all.

Anyway, that's probably more information than you were looking for, but I thought I should give the history as to how they ended up in the situation they are in.

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That is so sad. That story just breaks my heart. I am so sorry for your parents! To think they have paid on something for 20 years and now they will have nothing to show for it is just terrible.

I don't know anyone that has personally been affected by foreclosure. I live in Atlanta and the newspaper says that our metro area, particularly a couple of counties south of the city, has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. I live intown and I don't see any evidence of foreclosure around me at all, but I know that there are many mega-subdivisions in the suburbs that are really suffering. The property values are plummeting out there and there are tons of new houses just sitting empty. Luckily that is not happening intown and our market has not been affected at all by the housing problems.