When Marci Needle and her husband began to contemplate divorce in June, they thought they had enough money to go their separate ways. They owned a million-dollar home near Atlanta and another in Jacksonville, Fla., as well as investment properties.
Now the market for both houses has crashed, and the couple are left arguing about whether the homes are worth what they owe on them, and whether there are any assets left to divide, Ms. Needle said.
“We’re really trying very hard to be amicable, but it puts a strain on us,” said Ms. Needle, the friction audible in her voice. “I want him to buy me out. It’s in everybody’s interest to settle quickly. That would be my only income. It’s been incredibly stressful.”
Chalk up another victim for the crashing real estate market: the easy divorce.
“It’s in everybody’s interest to settle quickly. That would be my only income.”
What about working, could you get income there? I will refrain from a snarky comment based on looking at her photo….
A house is a durable consumer good. Period. And there’s no way that land it’s sitting on is worth $1.5M unless you plan on converting it to a chicken farm.
This woman’s previous life is over and she refuses to believe it. She will just have to sell whatever she has that won’t fit in an apartment and walk away from the whole mess. She will probably have to declare bankruptcy as well. Her social class got quite a ride thanks to monetary inflation and artificially cheap credit but reality bites us all. She needs to get a job and attend an orthodox Christian church. And if she wants to go out for dinner some time, I’m available.
I think you mooks ought to check out the sticker on that model before volunteering for a test drive.
Ha!
Friend J., I think what is shaping up here is a buyer’s market.
Yay! Death to the easy divorce.
Byzantine–
It may be a buyers market but you’re looking at high maintenance costs whether you buy or lease!
I was looking at taking a job in a neighboring town (100 miles away). To avoid pulling my son out of a very (VERY) good school, we decided we would have to rent or buy a mobile home, while keeping this house.
Guess what? In this ‘buyers market’, rent is still over $650 a month for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment, some as high as $750. There was one complex that advertised a studio apt for $515. The stench drove me out gagging.
Mobile homes START at $35,000 for a 2 bedroom single wide, and not an available lot to be found on any park in that area. Set it up on land we’d buy? Not for less than $90,000.
Thinking we could buy a house instead, we found that small square footage houses still ran over $140,000. We did find ONE foreclosed home at $90,000. The roaches wouldn’t choose to live there.
So, we decided NOT to take the job after a very sleepless couple of nights and heavy discussion days. I have also decided to NOT look at jobs in other towns that require any type of move, and take ANYTHING that is offered here.
Yes, I can see how this could be a factor in curbing the tendency to divorce and split the house-hold.
Jim Elliott <>< (Still jobless in) Florida
[i] Comment deleted by elf. [/i]
This could well be a great blessing because the possibility of financial distress could well make couples give third, fourth, and fifth thoughts to trying to recover their marriage rather than breaking it up.
[i] Comment referring to #8 deleted by elf. [/i]
Just what t19 needs. Another inane comment. Mine. I have looked at the severity of their housing situation: Two BIG house plus investment properties. These people are obviously poor and need help. I want them to know, in my inane way, that I feel their pain, that I am deeply sympathetic, that their distress is extreme, that T18.6 should help them out and counsel them with loving kindness. And a few other things, I forget what. Oh, and the GigsGirl is so really today.
In short, the complaint in the blog entry fills me with contempt
and anger and all sorts of unChristian feelings because we are looking at the Spoiled Rotten complaining because the cost good house servants has gone up and peacocks tongues are not what they used to be.
Library Jim is telling a much more important truth, and one that deserves more real attention by those who are giving away billions and billions. Here’s a cure, Library Jim. If we take the give-away billions and divide it by the adult population, we get a check of about $100,000 a piece. Do you think this would alter the recession faster than at present? Incidentally, I am in entire sympathy with your desire to keep your child in a REALLY good school, and I suspect every parent here is of the same mind. Larry
As in so many situations, one asks “who gains?” In this case, our friends in the legal profession. “…their lawyers still cannot agree on what their remaining assets are worth. Their wealth is ticking away at $350 an hour, times two.
“It’s got to end,†Mr. Goerke said, “because at some point there’s nothing left to argue about. ”
If you remember your Dickens, this is the “Bleak House” outcome and, perhaps the title of this novel would do quite well as a subtitle for this whole story. (There is also a clear parallel with the current legal battles in TEo, but let us stay with the matter at hand, marital dissolution.)
I was also struck by the comments toward the end of the article to the effect that the inability to sell the house keeps the husband in the “power position” and requires the wife to be nicer to him than she otherwise would be to keep him sweet. If that was the basis of the couple’s marriage, then it’s little wonder they are divorcing.
a) I didn’t mention the name of the school because it’s not important. We home-schooled a bit because the quality of public schools is so wretched, that when we found a school that is actually good we want to hold on to that for him. Is that so wrong? And it’s not a better job, it’s A job.
b) I sympathize with anyone looking for a job in this market. But notice, this couple has a MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE, another in another city and investment properties. How much sympathy do they need? I have ONE house, worth MUCH less than $1 mil, no investments, but, a blessing! no debt either and some savings, and I was just looking to rent and found it impossible on a offered $38,000 salary, of which I wouldn’t see a paycheck for two weeks after starting work.
c) Larry, I could use the money, 100,000 could keep us going for quite a few years, at my previous salary fo 38,000. But, really, I’d rather work for my keep rather than accept a ‘hand-out’ from the government — local, state or federal.
d) anything that keeps the divorce rate down can’t be all bad. If there is abuse involved, then there are agencies in place to provide emergency shelter and job training.
e) Cigs girl, I sincerely hope that you aren’t either clergy or a social worker/counsellor. Your response is as devoid of empathy/sympathy as you accuse everyone else, and was just plain snarky and mean.
Wishing all a Peaceful New Year in His Name
Jim Elliott <>< Florida
#13,it was just an example, that 100G. I don’t want a 100g handout either, but I tell you what, such a gift would fix the economy faster and more efficiently than anything the gov is handing out now. Since when has handing fortunes to the rich ever done anything except make the rich richer – maybe even owning two BIG houses and a lot of investment properties? L
Larry,
OK, I see what you are saying. And I agree.
Peace to you this day!
JE <><
Peace to you too, libraryjim; my hopes and prayers are with you for a good resolution to your employment situation.
[i] Comment responding to #8 deleted by elf. [/i]
#10, You are being presumptuous as most people who gossip are. You don’t have a clue why she needs the money and why isn’t he willing to split it or buy her out? Should I presume he is a mcp?
#13, As far as being snarky and mean, what does it feel like? You take one case that isn’t about divorce at all, but about the economy and you turn it into a story about two people in which you determine what their problems are and belittle the woman, not the man. What is his problem? Now, should I presume that your son is in a “public” school? Perhaps I am guilty about being presumptuous also, but is it more important to you that he be in that school than it is for you to earn a living to support your family???? Do you have so little faith in your ability to provide the guidance for him? Since you have a good reason, as far as you are concerned, not to take a job, maybe this woman has an equally good reason not to do so. Isn’t it interesting how we make excuses for ourselves, but belittle others about whom we know nothing at all, except very superficial reporting about one situation as it relates to the economy. Does that make us better than they or their judge? As far as being a counselor is concerned, I don’t purport to being one, nor do I take a side without knowing the facts and make snide remarks about the appearance of this woman. There is no real excuse for doing what has been done to her on this web site.
What is it about your situation that needs sympathy? Where is your sympathy and empathy for the woman in question? OH, you aren’t a woman!!!! There are probably a lot of people who would give their right arm just to have that job you turned down. I do pray that you get what you are looking for, but you might try considering what God has planned for you and maybe not put limitations on what’s on the other side of the door that opens for you, especially if you are not working. Fear is the opposite of faith.
#14 – two big houses are no good to you if you can’t profit from them. Yes, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and soon we will have no middle class to pay the taxes. Sounds like the fall of the Roman Empire to me.
#17
Now there is an example of agape love! What happened to loving someone without expecting something in return?
Well, I am sure that you all would love for your tax money to take care of this gal when she goes on relief while she learns a trade. I mean, what does this guy owe her anyway? Maybe he does owe the taxpayer something, though; perhaps enough to get her to school and get started so she won’t be a burden on society. For all you know he has a honey waiting in whichever port she does not occupy at the time. It isn’t enough for men these days that a woman take care of the home and the kids, she is to “bring something to the table” besides. . . and then you wonder why there are so many divorces?
I lived in the south where Bubba marries the pretty high school sweetheart who doesn’t have a clue and thinks she is too stupid to know the things he may be doing, or where Momma and Poppa say “you made your bed, now sleep in it” . . . where a well-known chiropractor said if your woman got out of line you should shoot here and throw her in a ditch. Well he shot her, because she tried to divorce him and get away from his abuse, but he had two buddies fly her to south Georgia to dump her where they got caught by police checking for drugs and found her body in a tool box. (Oh, by the way, one of his “buddies” was a lawyer.)
What is so very ironic about the attitudes here is that you expect women to be “domesticated” and stay home with the kids (don’t know if there is that concern here or not, but it is a very popular attitude with which I agree up to this point) while Dad goes out about his business, BUT, no matter what he does you are supposed to stick it out and/or go out and get a job without having had any opportunity to have been trained for anything. It would behoove our women to move to Africa.
We all should see at least one thing from this little adventure and that is not to worry about storing up things that are perishable. I do hope you find that job and I do think it is admirable to be concerned about your son, but no matter how good a school is, that is NOT where they learn about ethics and morality. Look at that good school named “Columbine” where people thought that they had protected themselves from the “lower class” (by the way, in which you and I would both fall, if we are judged by our income). Appearances can be very deceptive. I suspect that gal is scared to death about what she has to face. People here just don’t seem to get it, but are too quick to judge before they know any of the facts except the finances.
Well, Giggirl, your above is so radically feminist, so agenda driven, it is almost impossible to respond rationally. The essence of the complaints above come to this, the the woman complaining is clearly among that class most of us call crawling with money since this is the sine qua non for maintaining her real estate (In Jacksonville no less) – and for buying it in the first place. Can she not sell her houses? Does this mean she has no money save what will come from the sale of these houses? Do you really believe that? And she wants her ex husband to go her bail, if I may put it that way. Sounds pretty non-femininist traditional to me, what?
How about this? She lives in one house, he lives in the other, they sell the invest ment property for whatever the market will bear, and they both get a job? But that won’t work will it, because of the high probability that BOTH want a ton of money and don’t want to have to work for it and because each wishes to stick it to the other.
I waas talkin to a woman some twenty years older than I. We spoke of the depression and how hard it was. I agreed. My fa ther had all he could do to get a job as a teacher and it meant that we HAD to live in Teaneck New Jersey! He earned $800 a year, I believe. She She nodded sympathetically and remarked that she had NEVER had such a time finding reliable servants; She couldn’t get a cook once for three weeks! And once she had to do the housework herself for over a week! This IS suffering. Hum. Well. I felt her pain, did I not? Sound familiar somehow?
As a friendly suggestion, try taking the chip off your shoulder.
Give it to someone who needs to start the woodstove. Larry
[i]What happened to loving someone without expecting something in return?[/i]
A pretty little lie. No human being is going to love someone without getting anything in return, much less the role of checkbook with legs.
[i]I suspect that gal is scared to death about what she has to face.[/i]
What she has to face is a drop in socio-economic status. She is not going to starve and if she’s afraid of being alone, again, there are plenty of good men out there but it is going to be slim pickings if her chief criteria is the unqualified provision of an upper class lifestyle.
[i]It would behoove our women to move to Africa.[/i]
No it wouldn’t. Big Man cultures are very hard on women.
Elves, feel free to delete my reply to a deleted comment. I’ll refrain from discussion that has been determined to be unproductive.
[i] Thank you, Byzantine. [/i]