All Forum Posts by: Delma Gordon

Here’s my update.

Again, thanks to all of you who took time to respond to my question. All offered excellent suggestions, some even funny.

Joel, you touched an important point. Yes, something drastic happened in the area.

My property manager told me that almost all the houses on that street are now rentals, some Section 8, lots of families with kids and, per her words, “it’s crowded.”

After thinking and thinking about it, considering all my options, I decided to sell the house at a loss. What triggered my decision was that now I have a repair that costs close to $1000. I really want to disconnect completely from this nightmare. Also, everything is “different” in MS and I won’t even go there.

It has not been an easy decision. It’s so hard to accept our mistakes and failures. I really appreciate your help.

Ok, Steve, now you've made me laugh. Good suggestion, and it has crossed my mind. But the truth is I could not live in MS. I need to be where the action is. I moved 2 yrs ago to LV and I love it here.

Hi guys! Thanks for your suggestions!! In the few years that I’ve owned this house, I’m on my third property manager. She is very good and works for a reputable company in Biloxi. I agree that she is not being aggressive to market the house, but I think that when a commission is so small, there’s not much motivation. Jon, the liability policy is the one that costs $900. It’s just ridiculous.

Michael, I read your response several times. I never heard about cash value policies before, so I will check into that. But “dump it” – oouch! - this is still pondering on my mind. Ha! Not that I haven’t thought about it before, but it’s such a painful option. Since I bought the house from my home equity line, I’ll be without a house and with a mortgage debt. I know, c'est la vie.

Again, I appreciate your suggestions and time to respond to my question. You’ve offered me options that I will seriously consider. I have important decisions to make.

I live in Nevada and bought a little house in Mississippi in 2008 for $65K, as an investment. It has 2 BR/2Bth and I thought it would be a good investment because the price was right, it’s about a mile from the beach, and it has a huge back yard in case I later wanted to expand the house. I bought it cash using equity funds from my home. It’s been always hard to rent the house. Now the house is worth $25K and it has been vacant for 8 months. The house was renting for $800 when I bought it and now it doesn’t rent for $500.

The worst part is that the fire insurance is $900, extremely high for a house worth $25K. This is because to rebuild the house will cost $130K. Because this is Katrina area, I also need Wind Insurance, Fema, etc. which I can no longer afford, living off a pension. Taxes are high too: $700. I have attempted to get taxes reduced to no avail. I didn’t know about the high taxes and insurance at the time I bought it. I know, my mistake. I’ve never made a penny off this house. Everything goes to pay the property manager and all expenses.

What do I do with this house? It hurts losing so much money. What would be the best thing to do? I even thought about donating the house , but I don’t know how that works and if it’s worth it.

The biggest mistake of my life. Suggestions, please!