An Interview With A Dan

As some of you already knew, but most found out about by reading Sunday’s edition of The Press Democrat, Keli, the kids and I are going through a rocky patch right now, relating to our housing situation.

We were renting a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house with a garage and nice yard and because our landlords foreclosed on the house we’re in the midst of our 60-day notice. Near the end of the month we’ll be moving into a much smaller 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment. Talk about a reality check!

While the transition will be a big adjustment for the four of us, I’m also sort of looking forward to it for a few reasons:

• We’ll be within walking distance of great schools and places to take the kids during the warmer weather for evenings to play. Where we live currently, the neighborhood isn’t terrific and walking around with little children at nights is a less than relaxing event.
• Our new home will be in the neighborhood I grew up in. I’m looking forward to being able to walk around with my kids and show them the house I grew up in, where I used to ride my bike (maybe even the same dirt ramp I did jumps off of), where I went to school, etc.
• We’ll be much closer to some parks that have amazing trails which will hopefully allow me to get back into mountain biking.

Keli and I have absolutely zero animosity towards our former landlords. Their choice to foreclose on the house has certainly been an inconvenience to us, but we also realize that it was a difficult decision for them to make which, unfortunately, means part of their world – their dreams – came crumbling down around them. I cannot imagine what that must be like and we wish them nothing but the best in the future.

I’ve been asked how we became involved in that article and it was a pretty spontaneous process. I’ve been using Twitter (@deguia) for some time now and one of the people I follow is Nathan Halverson (@paperwords), a reporter for The Press Democrat. Last week he posted a message stating:

This week I’m working on Sunday biz story about impact of bankruptcies on SoCo economy. 1,550 in 2008, up 77%. Have a story to share? DM me.

So I replied to Nathan with a 140-character summary of our situation. From there we spoke over the phone, one thing let to another and we scheduled a time for one of the paper’s photographers to come by and photograph us at our home.

I chose to do the interview for one single reason and that was to get the word out to help people realize that not everyone caught up in the foreclosure crisis got in over their heads. Not all of us were direct victims of a lender’s unethical business practices.

There are definitely attitude adjustments that need to be made with some people who are handling these foreclosures. I’m sure they put in long days and I’m sure they’re tired of the “sob stories” but they need to realize that they are dealing with people’s failed ambitions and that some of us are innocent bystanders. Their snarky comments and rude behavior are inappropriate and uncalled for – both professionally and as a fellow human being.

The outpouring of support since the article was published has been staggering! I’ve received emails and online messages – from good friends, acquaintances and professional contacts – sending us kind words and good luck wishes. Thank you to all of you!

What is my point in all of this? Just a simple request: If you’re on the business end of a foreclosure, please, try to be understanding, patient and tolerant when someone, as my wife and I have had to do a lot over the past month, calls with very little information and only seeks answers to some basic questions. We understand your time is precious, but your willingness to help will most likely save you time and money with that particular foreclosure in the near future.

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