Bankruptcy: When life doesn’t go as planned

LIFE just happens. Sometimes even the best laid plans can go wrong. How do you respond when this happens to you? Do you easily give up when you’re overwhelmed? Remaining calm can be difficult when things are chaotic so the usual reaction is panic. As a bankruptcy attorney, I often see this when people are facing a financial crisis. But let me tell you that even the worst problems rarely mean that it’s the end of the world. What may seem like a dead end may actually turn out to be a new path for a better life.
Recently, a middle-aged couple came to my office for bankruptcy help. A few years ago, they decided to invest in a few rental properties. With no prior real estate investing experience, they purchased three properties with “zero down” hoping to make some money “flipping” homes. Each property had a 2nd mortgage for more than $75,000.
The plan was a complete fiasco from the beginning. They immediately found out after purchasing that they couldn’t even rent the houses for enough money to cover the mortgage payments, property taxes and HOA fees. They also haven’t been lucky in keeping good tenants so at different times over the last few years, some of the properties were vacant for months at a time. Every time cash was short, they would take money out of their 401K plans and use their credit cards.
Three years later, after deciding to engage in real estate investing with the good intentions of building a comfortable nest egg for themselves, this couple instead found themselves financially drained and with all 3 properties in foreclosure. The 2nd mortgage holders on the 3 foreclosed properties are attempting to collect on the now unsecured promissory notes and one of them has already filed suit. To top it all off, they are also now buried in more than $120,000 of credit card debt. After going over their legal options with me, they decided to seek bankruptcy protection. They realized that that it was pointless to continue stressing over a problem that is beyond their financial capacity to handle and blaming themselves for past mistakes.
If you are currently facing a financial crisis, it may be tempting to just throw in the towel and give up all hope for a better financial future. But let me tell you that instead of getting frustrated and angry about things that you cannot control or change, your energy will be better spent focusing on finding a solution. Stop analyzing everything that happened and quit being too hard on yourself. In life, things will not always go your way but keep your head up and focus on putting the pieces of the puzzle back together.
For a free personal consultation, you can schedule an appointment by calling TOLL FREE 1-866-477-7772. We have offices in Glendale, Cerritos, West Covina and Valencia.
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None of the information herein is intended to give legal advice for any specific situation. Atty. Ray Bulaon has successfully helped over 4,000 clients in getting out of debt. For a free attorney evaluation of your situation, please call Ray Bulaon Law Offices at TOLL FREE 1-866-477-7772