Hello everyone,

TEAM MIKE has had a difficult few weeks in discussions with an unsettlingly large number of clients who are all struggling to keep their homes.

Please, if you are overburdened with your house payments and seriously struggling to keep up, or you owe considerably more than what you think your home is actually worth, contact us. Please. Or contact whomever you feel comfortable talking to about what is obviously not a very pleasant subject.

There are things that can be done to help, or even solve, the difficult situations way too many of us are facing right now.

Please, listening to the media for your advice and direction on what is for most of us our largest financial asset is ludicrous!! I fully realize the irony of reading that sentence on an online newspaper blog, but there are far too many people losing their homes that don’t need to put themselves, their families, and their financial futures through the pain and turmoil of foreclosure and bankruptcy.

There are options.

Hearing reports of thousands of Californians mailing their house keys to the banks that hold their mortgages makes for great news copy, but is horrible advice for most Americans.

There are options, and the earlier you seek them, the more proactive you are, the greater the number of options that may be available and the more help they may be to you.

We are all living amidst a very challenging time for Traverse City real estate, for the State of Michigan as a whole, and for the national and international economies in general. This is a time when you want to be sure you are doing everything you can for your health, security and success.

This is a situation where your local decisions and actions will have a great affect on much more than your own experience. The more we lose our homes to foreclosure, the weaker our Grand Traverse area real estate market, the weaker our Michigan real estate market, the weaker our national economy, the more people no longer reaping the benefits of home ownership, and so on.

Obviously, an appreciable percentage of our national economic woes are tied to the struggle of the American citizenry with the cost of home ownership and the debt load on families, the vigor and operation of our residential lending institutions, and the affects of foreclosure on those families, those institutions, and the real estate markets they live and operate in.

We can all generate positive effects in our own lives as well as those around us by making informed and savvy decisions and following up with focused and determined actions, as we all try to work our way through challenging and dangerous times. Your actions and decisions are important not only to the path that you lead through life, but the nature of your community as a whole, both locally and globally.

Please, contact someone who can help you if you are struggling. The strength of working together is one of the greatest traits of humanity. Stomach your embarrassment and worry and reach out. There is no reason to lose your home without at least inquiring about your possible options.

We fully understand that this blog entry reads like a plea, but we are begging. It’s very difficult to watch so many of our neighbors and fellow Northern Michiganders struggle and suffer and lose their homes.

There are options. Seek them out. We can help. So can a number of other honest and hard-working folks around. You are not alone.

Don’t lose your home!

Don’t hesitate to respond directly to TEAM MIKE with a comment below, or you can email either one of us at MikeGaines@C21Northland.com and Mike.Annelin@C21Northland.com. We will always respect your privacy.

TEAM MIKE

C21 Northland Website