The house next door to us is empty now. The family that had lived there for the last 3 and a half years moved out over the weekend. There had never been a for sale sign posted, or a realtor's key box on the front door, so I assume (and I hope that I am wrong) that they were another casualty in the sub-prime mortgage mess that seems to have hit Ohio particularly hard.
We didn't know them well, but there seemed like nice people: A mom, dad and three kids ranging in age from teen to toddler. I would see the teenage daughter every day as I walked Dakota, and she walked to the school bus stop at the end of the street to wait for her little sister to get off the bus and walk her home. The little girl would always smile and say hello to Dakota when she saw him. They are good kids, and I hope that moving isn't too traumatic for them.
I waved at the mom as they were moving things out of the house on Saturday. We exchanged good mornings, but after that I was not sure what else to say. "So, I see you're moving..." just didn't seem appropriate. especially when we never really talked much, other than the occasional "Hello" when seeing each other outside.
When I think about it, Steve and I are lucky that even though our interest rate is adjustable, it can only go up by a small percentage each year, and only to a max that is a fraction of what some of the sub-prime rates out there have hit. We may have to adjust our spending a bit, cut back on things like dinners out and trips to IKEA, but we are not in danger (knock on wood) of losing our house. Many of our neighbors are not so lucky.
Since it is public record, I know that there are several houses in our subdivision that have been foreclosed upon and are now in the hands of the banks. This affects the property values of the other houses, and I'm worried about having an empty house next door to us will do to the value of our place. Am I wrong to worry about that? Am I selfish to worry about the effect of others losing their homes on my pocket?
I sincerely hope that people that need help to keep their houses get it, and that the current mess in the real estate market is over soon. I don't think our neighborhood can take much more before the bottom falls out completely.