Know when to hold em’, Know when to fold ’em…

Never thought I’d be working Kenny Rogers into a blog posting, but here goes nothing….

In the song, “The Gambler,” Rogers gives us those proverbial words of advice that almost every one of us remembers by heart: “You gotta know when to hold ‘em; know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away; know when to run…”

Many New York home owners, these days, are feeling the heat to sell a Long Island house ‘fast’. But it is no easy task right now to sell a house in Suffolk County ‘fast’, or to sell a home in Nassau County, either. Some home owners who cannot sell a home in NY (or are not able to get the right value) persist in finding ways, month after month, to be able to meet their mortgage obligations. Every month is just, for them, another sad and stressful episode of a show they star in, called, “Delaying the Inevitable.”

Such folks make mortgage payments by relying on plastic, and go further and further into credit card debt with every statement. Others cash out retirement savings to be able to make their payments, and others end up borrowing dangerously large amounts from friends and family members to keep their heads above water…

When it comes to situations like these, I’d like to take a minute – as a Long Island real estate guru – and give you a few words of advice.

But first, consider these questions:

• Does it make sense to go into insurmountable credit card debt in a desperate attempt at staying in a house you simply cannot anymore afford?
• Is it smart to continue to borrow money from friends and family members, knowing full well that the small amounts they can give will, ultimately, not come anywhere close to helping you catch up and will most likely lead to the dissolution or possible souring of the most important relationships in your life?
• Lastly, if you cash out all of your retirement to try and hold onto your house (which, by the way, is not going to ever again, or anytime soon, be worth what it was in 2006), then what was the point of working so hard for all of those years toward retiring in comfort?

The point is this: If you are in a situation where you owe more than the value of your home, or cannot make your mortgage payments, then the writing is on the wall.

Sure, you can find ways to delay what is coming, and hold onto what is (for you) a mirage of ‘happy, healthy home-ownership.’ But you are going to likely end up paying more in the long run for your desperate attempt at keeping your home or ‘status.’

My advice is simple and straightforward: Forget about it.

Save your retirement money.

Put your plastic away.

Don’t bug your friends and family – they will probably help you if you twist arms hard enough, but it will have a long-term negative effect on your relationships.

A short sale is the answer for you, and I can help you. Do not hesitate, because a short sale – for those having a hard time in trying to sell a Long Island house ‘fast’ – can often be the point at which you can dump all your stresses and financial shortcomings and, truly, start fresh.

If you do get in touch with me to handle your short sale needs, you can avoid the pitfalls of trying to avoid reality and maintain the untenable. And, best of all, when you work with me and my team to get a short sale accomplished, you WILL have the luxury of, “time enough for counting, when the dealing is done.”

Tags: sell a home, sell a home new york, sell a house, Sell a House Fast, sell a Long Island house fast, short sale, short sale NY