You think, “I cannot do this anymore. It is crazy. There is no hope for this economy. I cannot hold on any longer. I am sinking. I need to foreclose now. I will do it.”
But wait! At the back of your mind, you are thinking – is there another option? Options? You are thinking – I think I may have heard of something.

There is one: through a short sale. But again, it is not that simple.

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It was one of the hardest decisions you had to make.
In your mind, okay, I will let go of the house. I cannot pay it anymore. It makes no sense to pay for a steep mortgage when the value of the house has gone down by half. No sense. Everybody is doing it anyway. I should be fine.

You do it, sign the papers, let the bank foreclose and rest on your laurels.

Then while sitting on the living room of your new rented apartment, you get a bill, a huge tax bill because – guess what – you have made money on the foreclosure of your home. Money? But where is it?

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Having a house is the ultimate dream. I have dreamed about it but never thought I would have it so soon, thanks to parents who have generously thought of providing for their children while they and the children are still young and the parents can see and feel the gratitude of the children for that wonderful (and needed) gesture (okay, dole-out).
Indeed why wait for death, or why imagine that your children are waiting for your death, before giving your children what you are thinking of giving them anyway? But this is for another story and for another time.

In the year 2009, the world was rocked by stories of foreclosures, foreclosures which have been instrumental in bringing down the single most powerful economy in the world – that of the United States.

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Live within your means, an old saying is what one is religiously expected to follow. But in reality, it isn’t implemented always. This is evident from the statistics which tell us about innumerable mortgage delinquencies. How will you avoid deviating from the old saying? Effective money management skills are called for.

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Fast forward to 20 years after. I read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Kiyosaki said in that book that one can learn the basics of finance with Monopoly, such as “trade four green houses for one red hotel.” I could not believe my eyes as I was reading, I know this game! I immediately downloaded it to my Treo and played, and played, and played.

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