Real Estate Matters
www.reporterherald.com • Saturday, October 15, 2011 • Reporter-Herald
Giving back the keys ILYCE GLINK TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
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uestion: My wife bought the home we currently live in back in 2003. We find we can no longer pay for the house. Is it possible, instead of a nasty foreclosure, to give the house back to the mortgage company? Also, if we do give it back and vacate the home, what are the consequences? Ultimately, if a loan modification or mortgage restructure is not possible and we know ahead of time that we cannot keep the house, we want to honorably give it back. Do we have any options? Answer: First of all, you should know that you own the house. It is your home and not the lender’s. You can’t “give back” the house to a lender because, for business and legal purposes, the home is yours to keep, maintain, and to make a profit or loss from. At issue in your circumstances is whether the lender would be willing to accept the home in lieu of you and the bank becoming involved in litigation involving the foreclosure of your home. When you purchased the home, you signed documents with your lender under which the lender agreed to give you the loan and you agreed to repay it under the terms set forth. You weren’t specific in your email about why you are no longer able to pay the expenses associated with your house. You might have lost your job, become ill or had a death in the family. Or you may have decided that the home’s value is now less than what you owe and you can’t or won’t continue to make the payments. Each of these situations may evoke different sympathies from lenders, your neighbors and people in your community. However, the contract you entered with your lender does not provide for exceptions or distinctions. In other words, the fact that you, say, lost your job doesn’t matter legally to the lender. If you fail to make your loan payments, the lender has the right to initiate legal proceedings against you to recover what is owed. Those legal proceedings are generally foreclosure proceedings leading to a sheriff sale, auction or other sale of your home. When you miss payments, it gets reported to the credit reporting bureaus. You can expect the foreclosure process to result in a fairly big drop in your credit score — which is used not just by lenders but also by employers, insurance companies and other companies that seek to evaluate your credit before offering a job or pricing a product or service. If you go through the process of foreclosure or other transaction with your lender that results in your credit history showing obligations not having been paid in full or I See GLINK/Page D4
Culture on Display Make a statement with cultural pieces EMMA CASTLEBERRY REPORTER-HERALD
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hether it’s a souvenir from last year’s vacation, a funky garage-sale find or an exotic gift a cousin brought back from her honeymoon, many people have a piece (or several pieces) of a different culture they want to display in their home. Though this can be intimidating, interior designer and coowner of Longmont boutique Encore! Dena Blackburn said it’s a risk worth taking. “What we find more often than not is that people are afraid because they feel like they don’t know how to do it, so they just don’t do anything,” Blackburn said. “People shouldn’t be afraid. If they really fall in love with something, go with it. Make a statement with it.” Blackburn co-owns Encore! with her mother and fellow designer, Judi Supplee. She advises paying attention to color schemes and style when trying to incorporate an exotic piece. “Stick with the same color tones,” Supplee said. “A lot of Asian and Indian art looks really good with a contemporary or modern aesthetic, whereas, with a country aesthetic, not so much.” In their experience as interior designers, Supplee and Blackburn have seen decorations from many cultures, from Indian Buddha heads to African tribal masks. Supplee urges souvenir shoppers to spend their money wisely if they want to incorporate a piece into their home design. “If people are actually going to be on vacation thinking about buying a souvenir, don’t buy a small one, because it’s going to look like clutter,” Supplee said. “Buy something substantial. Spend a lot of money on one piece as opposed to a lot of money on a whole bunch of little pieces. That will usually be more easy to incorporate into every design situation that you have.” Christine Costigan of Alabaster Design in Longmont, said it’s important that you can appreciate whatever item you’re displaying. “Put it somewhere where you can see it and enjoy it,” Costigan said. “That could be your kitchen, your living room, on your coffee table. Put it
“People shouldn’t be afraid. If they really fall in love with something, go with it.
Make a statement with it.” — Dena Blackburn, Encore!
somewhere prominent in an unobtrusive way.” In addition to these tips, it is important to know the background and meaning of the item being displayed. Discoveries Egyptian Imports, a Longmont store specializing in Egyptian handcrafts, offers providence cards informing the buyer of their purchase’s significance. Marlene Collins, who co-owns the store with her husband, Steve Collins, said there are few concerns when displaying Egyptian items, but that isn’t always the case.
“I know I’ve looked at Tibetan and Buddhist things and there is a sensitivity around displaying things that are sacred and symbolic,” Collins said. “But as far as our merchandise, I haven’t come across any kind of sensitivity to displaying it.” Most people will display their exotic items respectfully by default, Collins said. “Usually people that are buying something have a connection with that ancient culture,” Collins said. “There is almost sort of a reverence around what they take home.” Supplee said she thinks people will be naturally inclined to display their
exotic items tastefully, as well as respectfully. “Typically people are going to buy what appeals to them and its all going to be cohesive anyway because they’re not going to step outside their box too much,” Supplee said. While cohesion often comes naturally, Supplee said the best rule of thumb is to consider room design before purchasing an exotic item. “I’d rather see people really spend their money wisely when they do go cultural,” Supplee said. “It’s good to buy something that they’re going to be able to display, that’s going to be an important piece in their home.”
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