December 27, 2024 • 37 mins
Imagine facing a financial storm so severe that it uproots your entire life. Mike Russell, a veteran in the real estate world with three decades of experience, lived through this during the 2008-2009 economic downturn. Mike shares his deeply personal narrative of navigating the treacherous waters of foreclosure and bankruptcy, revealing how vulnerability and self-compassion became his anchors in rough seas. His story isn't just one of survival; it's a masterclass in resilience, offering hope and guidance to anyone grappling with similar hardships.
Listeners will gain valuable insights into practical solutions for homeowners teetering on the brink of foreclosure. With Mike’s expert guidance, we uncover the paralyzing fear many face in financial distress and the crucial importance of maintaining open communication with banks. From loan modifications to reinstatement terms, this episode shines a light on the proactive steps homeowners can take to secure their properties. Mike’s dedication to helping others without charging for his services is an inspiring testament to his commitment to community and personal growth.
The conversation also navigates the complexities of bankruptcy, exploring its potential impact on one's financial future. Mike candidly shares lessons learned from his own experiences, emphasizing the power of gratitude and mindset in financial recovery. By using personal struggles as a driving force to help others, Mike exemplifies how adversity can be transformed into a tool for empowerment. This episode serves as a powerful reminder that financial setbacks are merely chapters in our life stories—chapters that, with the right perspective, can lead to new beginnings and personal triumphs.
To connect with Mike:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-russell-3395baa/
https://www.century21.com/real-estate-agent/profile/michael-russell-P25357887
https://www.facebook.com/Hope4Hardship
https://hope4hardship.org/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHbu6lleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHQPDMtTicfWl9aP68cZN-z_r1wMtatdN0IS3-YYtla8LpdyfUAUcfY2JGA_aem_fju_mzuQBneRthOdo8FhlQ
Sarah Thress
614-893-5885
First Time Home Buyer course: https://sarahthress.graphy.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarah_thress_realtor/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SarahThressRealtor/
https://www.youtube.com/@LIFEINCOLUMBUS
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of Come to
Find Out.
This week we have Mike Russell,who has unfortunately gone
through some life circumstancesthat kind of knocked him down,
but I love the fact that he tookhis circumstances and he turned
it into a superpower.
(00:22):
So, mike, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing, you know
, some of your story and alittle bit of your superpower.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Sure, yeah, no, I'm grateful for the opportunity.
It's always nice to meet peopleall over the place, so I'm, I'm
, I'm very excited to be here.
So let's, let's talk aboutanything you want to talk about.
I'm an open book, so I love it.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I love it.
Well, as we were talking about,you know, kind of off screen,
you know, before we startedrecording, you know there
unfortunately is a large uptickin foreclosures or people just
you know, unfortunately they gotinto a house and then it
appreciated exorbitantly overthe past few years and now their
(01:04):
property taxes have made it towhere their home is unaffordable
or their job has changed.
Any number of things can happento cause you to miss a payment,
and I've done episodespreviously on foreclosure and
how to kind of avoid it andthings like that.
But I think it's always very,very powerful to hear from
(01:27):
someone who had to go through it.
And you know, just knowing that, like you know, stop judging
yourself, give yourself somegrace and just know that you're
not alone.
So I just really appreciatethat you, you know, have taken
this, turned it into yoursuperpower and try and help
people know that you know you'renot alone.
There are ways to get out ofthis.
(01:48):
It's not the end of the worldand so you know, I just
appreciate you kind of takingthat on and making that your
superpower.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, it's.
Look, I'm a firm believer thatthe one thing in life that you
can't fake is shared struggle.
You know, I can fake a lot ofthings, but I I can't fake that
right, it's, it's, um.
It's very challenging to uhfight back feelings of shame and
embarrassment and less than andnot good enough.
(02:17):
Uh, when you face financialcrisis.
Um, and the financial crisis Icertainly faced, you know, I'm
sure, with a lot of other peoplein 08 and 09, you know the
country really had the hardesthit economy that we've ever seen
.
But I can't blame the economy.
If I'm being honest, you know itwas my own decisions.
You know there's a lot ofself-sabotage involved in what I
(02:39):
did.
I did not understand money.
I did not understand I mistookcash flow for wealth, Never
really once taking intoconsideration that cash flow
could go down and suffer, sure,and and I lived day by day, in
(03:04):
the moment and I didn't reallythink much.
You know I'm invincible.
You know I was in my mid 20s andI just thought that it would
never end, and the reality isthat it ended and, and I guess
you know what got me here, whatwas the turnaround in my life,
why I started doing this isbecause I turned my life around,
(03:26):
you know, for the last you know15 years I guess, but really 10
years my life has really beenabout recovery in a million
different ways, and so that'swhat got me here is turning my
own life around from thisfinancial crisis and the strife
in relationships that I createdwhen I caused foreclosures and
(03:48):
had to short sale someproperties and ended up filing
corporate bankruptcy andpersonal bankruptcy, got
divorced and the collateraldamage that ripped through my
family as a result of thatlasted the better part of a
decade, and I had to pick up thepieces of that for a very, very
long time, and so I understandwhat this can do to the psyche.
(04:14):
You know the financial part'sactually easy.
It's the rest of it that'sreally challenging.
Finances are not thatchallenging, you know.
Really all you have to do is bemature and you can get an 800
credit score.
It's really like that simple inmy experience and so.
But what keeps me here is beingable to bear witness to and play
(04:40):
a small role in the turnaroundof other people's lives, and so
for many years in my life, youknow, I look at everything kind
of like we all have a lifeline,and when you meet someone, you
interject yourself into theirlifeline in some fashion, and I
had a tendency for a long timein my life to create a negative
(05:00):
trajectory from that pointforward in people's lives, and I
just don't do that anymore, andI find great pride and reward
in interjecting myself intosomeone's lifeline and playing a
small role in improving thetrajectory of their lives from
that point forward by helpingthem make good decisions.
(05:20):
That's what keeps me here,that's what keeps me doing this
and keeps me wanting to meet newpeople, hear new struggles
relate to new struggles and it'sa unique thing because I've
owned a real estate companyreally my whole life, since I
was 19.
It's the first real job I everhad, and so I've been doing this
(05:42):
for 30 years on every level ofthe spectrum in some fashion.
And what always struck stuckout to be more were the sad
instances.
You know there's, you know whenyou're, when you're involved in
real estate transactions.
You have the very excited,jubilant first time homebuyer,
you have the leveling up hey,we've made great decisions,
we're getting the dream home.
(06:03):
What always stuck out to memore and resonated with me more
were the sad stories.
You know I represented FreddieMac for about a decade listing
their foreclosed assets and Iwould witness lockouts.
Now, lockout here inMassachusetts is one of the
worst things to witness reallyever and it's once the bank buys
(06:25):
the property back.
They show up, uh, with thesheriff, um and two movers and a
box truck and they knock on thedoor and they say whatever can
fit in the truck, you can take,we'll store it for 30 days.
Then it's your problem and whenwe're done, we're going to
change the locks and you're out.
And I probably witnessed 200 ofthose you know, between 08 and
(06:48):
13.
And that stuck out to me.
You know, you really saw thehuman condition and human
behaviors when they're upagainst it, desperation, and I
related to that.
I understood what thosefeelings were.
I related to that.
I understood what thosefeelings were.
And the unique blend is thatyou know, after 30 years, I have
(07:16):
all the tools and toolbox to beable to help people navigate
with banks and avoid the samestrife that I did, Because the
fact of the matter is no one hasto be foreclosed on Nobody.
The two truths that make itpossible for us to do this work
anywhere is anywhere in thecountry.
No bank in America wants toforeclose and no homeowner in
(07:37):
America wants to be foreclosedon.
The rub is they don'tcommunicate effectively.
Because when you're riddledwith those feelings of shame and
regret and remorse and whateverelse is going on in your life
divorce, death, health, sickness, job, whatever it is double
that with the fear and lack ofunderstanding that the true fact
(08:01):
is that the very entity that isthreatening your home is the
one who can help you.
The bank wants to help everyconsumer and that's with any
secure debt in America.
I don't care if it's a boat, acar, a house, whatever it is.
If it's a collateralized debt,the bank doesn't want the
(08:22):
collateral.
They don't know what to do withit.
They want to keep the personthat's in it.
They want to get them back ontrack, keep them and get them
back in the good graces andcontinue making payments.
And the best thing that we cando for people that I, that I, if
you act fast enough and itseems as though it's about 300
days, if you're less than 300 orso days behind on your mortgage
(08:44):
, so the better part of a year,10 months most banks will give
you something that's called apartial claim mortgage and what
that is is they take thearrearage the past due amount
and they tack it on to a secondmortgage on the back end of the
note which allows people to keeptheir current note in place.
And a lot of those notes are atfantastic interest rates.
(09:07):
So you don't have to modify andget into a current rate, seven
percent mortgage, so you keepyour two and a half percent.
They take the 30 or 40 or 50thousand dollars in a rearage,
tack it onto the back end atzero percent with no payments
due and you don't have to dealwith that note until one of two
things, three things I guess thematurity of your original note,
(09:29):
you know, 26 years in thefuture if you refinance or if
you sell.
But the average consumer has noidea that this is reality and
what we work against on aregular basis is when this
becomes public record.
All the sharks come out of thewoodwork, they all come out and
everyone is trying to capitalizeon what they perceive to be the
(09:49):
misfortune of others andthey're trying to buy the house
for cheap, force them to sell,force them to file bankruptcy,
do all these things thatactually just can often make the
problem worse and just or itjust isn't necessary.
And so it to me.
It me it's foolhardy to not tryevery option prior to all those
(10:10):
things to retain the property,and banks will do that in a
million different ways.
The best one is the partialclaim mortgage.
They'll offer reinstatementterms.
Some people have 401ks, whateverit is.
They can pay off the lump sumreinstatement.
They do payment plans on thatstuff and, of course, you can do
a loan modification if you canafford it at the new rates.
(10:31):
So many different tools in yourtoolbox and I understand what
it's like, because there was atime in my life when I had two
years of unopened mail on mydining room table.
In hindsight I can tell youthat the answer to my problem
was in that pile, but I didn'twant to open it and look because
(10:53):
I thought they were justthreats and I thought that if I
ignored them, I don't know whatI thought Maybe the mortgage
fairy would come pay off mymortgage.
I don't know, but you knowthere is no such thing.
It turns out.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
I was going to say if you found that mortgage fairy,
please send them my way.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
No, it doesn't, yeah, it doesn't doesn't work out
that way.
So so it's just it's.
It's a unique blend of personalcircumstance why this means so
much to me and why it'spersonally important to me.
But then, professionally, 30years in the real estate
(11:34):
business and understanding allthese years later, that boy,
there were so many solutionsavailable to me If I had just
picked up the phone and gotengaged proactively engaged is
what I see people struggle to do, and it's fear-based and they
are paralyzed in fear and sothey make no decision.
They don't trust anyone andyeah, so the vast majority of
the work that I do on anyday-to-day basis is I help
(11:57):
people get out of their own way,because that's what they're in
they're in their own way.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And that's so true because you know, I think we're
all just so, we're all just kindof stuck in our own little
world.
And you know, unfortunatelysocial media makes it so easy
for us to portray that we havethis perfect life and
everything's great, and you know.
So then someone that'sstruggling, they're watching
that social media and they'relike, well, Jim over there has,
(12:25):
you know, a new boat like andthey've got this and that, and
you know what is he doingdifferently than I'm doing?
And you know I like, and whoknows, jim may be also
stretching himself so thin thatyou know something else is going
to happen to him, just like ithappened to you.
You never know.
So I think, unfortunately, weall kind of, you know, like you
said, we all get in our own way.
And I love the fact that you'vereally done kind of a deep dive
(12:48):
and have like a blueprint tohelp people, because I know
whenever I get you know,contacted, it's generally you
know the person's like hey, thebank is literally about to
foreclose on my house, like canyou help me?
And at that point, you know, Ialways recommend that they call
their bank.
They see what they can do.
(13:08):
Some banks are easier to workwith than others.
Obviously, some want you tostay in the house and some could
care less, and so then I justalso kind of show them, like
this is what the market'slooking like, this is what you
know, if you're already, ifthey've already started the
process of foreclosure, here is,you know, like a short sale,
(13:30):
here are your options.
Just you know, because, likeyou, I want to make sure that
everyone has all of theirinformation.
And if I can help someone stayin their house which obviously
means nothing for me, like I'mgetting no compensation at all
perfectly fine with me, becauseultimately I just want to do
(13:50):
what's best for the client, forthe consumer, whatever they need
, and so if I can help them dothat and stay in their house and
afford it, that's what I wouldmuch rather do than try and sell
something that you know,because in a short sale you're
not keeping anything extra.
If there is anything extra, youknow you're going to walk away
(14:11):
with zero dollars.
Yes, you've wiped away thatdebt, but you are walking away
with zero dollars, whereas ifyou get into, let's say, you
miss your first couple ofpayments and you're feeling that
stress and that overwhelm eventhe first payment you're about
to miss call your bank, talk tothem, see what you can do.
(14:32):
And then this is the advicethat I give people.
I always say call them, seewhat they can do.
If they can't do anything, wecan look at the market and let's
figure out what makes the mostsense for you and your situation
.
So I love that you've kind oftaken some of that guesswork out
.
So do people just reach out toyou and say, hey, like I saw
(14:53):
your story, or you know how doyou work with people?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
So it excuse me.
So we operate off a very basicservice agreement.
It's the same deal.
We don't charge anything forwhat we do, and the service
agreement really just lays outthe expectations of us, and
those expectations are reallythe most important.
One is to produce supportingdocumentation in a timely manner
(15:18):
.
That's really where we losesome people throughout the
course of the year is they getdisengaged, and so it all starts
with a phone call to the banktogether and, you know, giving
authorization for me to speak ontheir behalf with the bank, and
I negotiate the best terms thatare available.
(15:39):
It's a relatively simple thing,and it's you know.
You find your way to theirassistance application and you
fill out the assistanceapplication with the guidance of
the consumer, and then wefollow up every three business
days, because that's where therub is.
You know.
You said some banks are easierthan others.
I've yet to find the easy one,but it's.
But listen, there, it's just.
(16:01):
You know.
Everything is, you know, fiveto seven business days out.
You send a piece of informationand it's gonna be five to seven
business days before the bankeven acknowledges that it exists
.
And I've grown quite skilled atcreating applications that help
people retain their property.
But even still, I don't thinkI've ever submitted one one time
(16:25):
and had the bank deem itcomplete.
There's always something more.
They need Always, no matterwhat you do, no matter how many
boxes you think you checked off.
Oh yeah, we got it, but this is, we need this as well.
You know, whatever got it, butwe need this as well.
Whatever it is, there's alwaysa litany of things, and that's
really what we do.
The work that consumers can'tbring themselves to complete.
(16:50):
The vast majority of the peoplethat I meet started one oh, we
did that or we sent it, but thenit's the follow through that
really keeps everything togetheris you have to get these
applications to what the bankcalls certified complete status
and only then will they send itto underwriting, put it under
(17:10):
review and kick back someoptions.
But it doesn't work withoutgetting to that certified
complete, and so that is reallyyou know.
I would say the most valuablething we do is we are an
emotional barrier.
Right, and just as an example,I can't talk to Comcast about my
own account.
I can't do it.
I hate them.
(17:31):
Every time I get on the phonewith Comcast and I'm trying to
like upgrade my DVR or dosomething like I'm ready to kill
them, upgrade my DVR, or dosomething like I'm ready to kill
them?
Obviously not really, but, andso I understand.
That's exactly how the consumerfeels when they're dealing with
the bank and they said I sentyou that and they're like what
do you mean?
You don't have it, I said, andthe emotional angst that is
(17:54):
created is cannot be addressed,it can't be fixed, it's yours,
it's I don't feel that emotionwith these banks.
It's emotionless to me.
It means nothing to me thatthat communication is
tremendously simple and this islike everything in life breaks
down to sales.
Right Is be charming, becomplimentary, be cooperative,
(18:17):
don't raise your voice, voiceand great things will happen.
So I'm able to do that.
My team is able to do thatwithout having this emotional
baggage that other people have,rightfully so, and so our
ability to stay in touch, followthrough, see it to the end,
will generate a results letterin six weeks or so from the time
(18:39):
we start.
The end we'll generate aresults letter in six weeks or
so from the time we start, wherethe bank issues results and
every bank.
You spoke about something.
So here's a universal rule inbanking with real estate
nationwide.
Every bank has this seeminglyarbitrary figure and they all
hold true to it.
If there is an auction datescheduled in the future you've
(19:03):
actually had an auction datescheduled they will not
entertain any assistance optionswhere they play a role in the
assistance of doing somethingwith the asset, either retention
based or non-retention based.
If there's less than 37 daysuntil the auction, that's the
(19:24):
sweet spot.
So you have pillars to operatewithin, and so if you're less
than 37 days, the bank is notgoing to help you.
They're not going to help you.
Even they won't even entertaina short sale.
Not enough time to review theshort sale package.
So you have pillars that youhave to operate in.
You know like can't be morethan 300 days behind in order to
(19:45):
get some really greatassistance.
Can't be within 37 days of anin order to get some really
great assistance.
Can't be within 37 days of anauction to get any assistance.
And so there's a sweet spot,and so that the value of not
letting mail pile up on yourdining room table is immense.
And along the lines of whatyou're talking about is you're
afraid of them, and I get it,but they are the ones who can
(20:07):
solve your problem.
So pick up the phone and haveactive, engaged discussions.
You know it's listen, thereisn't a relationship in the
world, in the human existencethat I've seen, that effective
communication doesn't solve.
Effective communicationremedies all struggles in all
(20:27):
relationships.
It may end relationships, buteffective communication is
needed.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah Well, and I love .
Excuse me, I wish I would havemet you sooner, because I had a
gentleman that came to me and hewas trying to sell his property
and it, you know it obviouslyneeded a lot of work.
He was behind on mortgage, hewas behind on keeping up with
(20:53):
the house, all the things, andso we were working on doing kind
of a private sale because hehad found someone that wanted to
do it.
So I was just trying to helpfacilitate it so that he, you
know again, could get out of itwithout, you know, a huge ding
on his credit and to be able topurchase something you know
sooner, because obviously ashort sale looks way better on
(21:17):
your credit than a foreclosure.
So not as good as just sellingit, but you know it is better.
So but I had a gentleman thatyou know, like I said, when he
came to me he was so far behind.
He had called the bank andsubmitted forms and asked for
assistance hundreds of times andhe and his wife were just so
(21:38):
fed up with the entire processthat they just thought they had
no hope.
So I was like, well, let me seewhat I can do.
I reached out to the bank and Isaid would you entertain a
short sale?
I have someone.
I know you already have it,you've already set a date for
the auction, but I would love toget this out from underneath
(22:01):
all of us sooner than that andallow him to walk away with just
at least some dignity.
And so we went through the wholeprocess.
They kept telling me yep, yep,yep, that's totally fine, we go
through it all, submit all thepaperwork, everything we come to
like days before closing.
And they were like, oh,actually it's going to be a
(22:22):
hundred thousand dollars morethat your buyer is going to have
to bring.
So, sorry, that's what we'restarting the auction at.
And I was like what?
And so the buyer was like, well, I'm not coming up with an
extra $100,000.
Disney didn't even appraise atthat, so I don't know where they
(22:42):
got their number, but yeah, sounfortunately, that one did end
up going to auction and it wasvery sad because, you know, they
came in and put the locks on itand he had to have everything
out before the auction.
Otherwise, like that was it.
You know, while I'm not, Idon't niche in it, it is
(23:14):
something that I come across andI'd like to always be
well-versed in how to helppeople where they are in that
process.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah, it's a yeah, 37 days.
That's kind of the sweet spot,you know, and it's, and it's
understandable to a degree.
You know, the bank has givenyou, uh, in their mind, um,
plenty of rope, right Is, istheir belief, um, and and there,
there just isn't really anyeffective guidance out there in
the world on how to navigatebanks.
(23:46):
Um, and those are just thingsthat I've just learned, you know
, over the course of a career,right Is you?
Just, you're involved in allthis stuff, you see it, and I'm
curious in nature, right, I'mtremendously observant and I'm
very curious, and so every timeI see something that a bank does
, I want to find out what right.
(24:07):
So what is what?
What's up?
Does every bank do this, does?
Why did this happen?
And I'll call my attorney hey,talk to me, go look this up.
Why did this bank choose thislength of a cure, a right to
cure and all this kind of stuff?
And so it's just, I'm observant, I'm curious, I want to learn
this stuff.
I, I'm observant, I'm curious,I want to learn this stuff.
(24:30):
Um, I look at it like a map,like it can be figured out, you
know, figured out, and then, ifyou can operate within the
parameters and the boundariesthat these banks set.
And then you have state law, ofcourse.
That, um, that comes into playtoo.
And so I have some connections,some, some relationships that
I've made, uh, state officesover the course of my career.
Um, and these, these guys Idon't know how they do it they
(24:50):
have a direct line to somebodyimportant at the banks.
They can stop a foreclosure inthree minutes, you know, and um,
and so there's always a way tobuy time to extend things, and
it's a function of beingcreative and resourceful.
Um, there are some.
Even if there's an auctionscheduled, you know we can get
those delayed.
(25:11):
I don't.
I'm not a big proponent, I mean, I know.
I know a lot of bankruptcyattorneys.
I know a handful that I trustand I'm always looking for more
that I trust.
Bankruptcy is a tool, but it'sjust like foreclosure it's a
public record on your creditreport and filing bankruptcy in
(25:31):
hindsight.
For me, it was one of thebiggest mistakes I ever made.
I didn't have to, I chose to,and there are people in the
world who have to.
I just wasn't one of them.
I took what I thought was theeasy way out and I regret it.
I regretted it.
It made the next five years ofmy life tremendously challenging
(25:57):
, more so than it needed to be.
But you know when bankruptcyattorneys out there there are a
bunch of them that when they seethese public events a notice of
intent to foreclose they starthounding the consumer and you
know they push them.
You know, give me $4,500 andfile bankruptcy.
And it's tough because you know, when you own real estate and
(26:17):
you file bankruptcy, it'stypically a Chapter 13.
It's a cure and maintainprogram, and what a lot of
people don't understand is that,yes, it will put a stay on the
auction proceeding, but in avery short period of time 60
days from now, you are going tobe expected to make your current
mortgage payment plus a paymentto the bankruptcy court every
month, like clockwork, and sorarely, in my opinion, is it the
(26:41):
great move.
Every case is different, ofcourse, but I just I think that
it behooved everyone toinvestigate every single
opportunity short of a publicevent being recorded to the
credit bureau in your name.
I think that was the best way todo it and the hard thing yeah,
go ahead.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
No, I was just going to say now, um, if you look back
cause you mentioned that, youthought that was like the worst
thing you could have done.
So now, with the knowledge youhave, obviously you did the best
you possibly could with theknowledge you had at the time.
So, completely you know.
Again, I want to make sure thateveryone knows that, like, none
of this is coming from judgmentat all from anyone and no one
(27:23):
should ever feel judged, youknow, because we all have these
circumstances.
I mean, I think there's astatistic out there that, like
everyone's like three paychecksaway from being homeless.
You know, or not everyone, butyou know there are a large
majority of people are, you know, three paychecks away from
being homeless.
But so I just wondered, likeyou know, you mentioned that you
(27:44):
wish you hadn't done that.
Now that you have differentknowledge, what do you wish you
hadn't done that now?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
that you have different knowledge.
What do you wish you would havedone instead?
Negotiated, negotiated my wayto terms that were acceptable,
you know, and that's and I?
I never even tried.
I never even tried.
I saw it as a rip cord, like youknow, bills piling up
everything, and the first thingI'll say is that, um, in my
(28:11):
experience, the very last billthat a family or a household
stops paying is their mortgage.
If you stop paying yourmortgage, you have some other
delinquencies.
That's the last one you protect.
You know you protect that witheverything you can.
One you protect.
You know you protect that witheverything you can.
And and so I, I would have justnegotiated, I would have opened
(28:33):
up dialogue.
And the reality is and I saythis to people all the time I
wish I knew somebody like meback then, but I didn't have
anyone that I could, that Ididn't, and maybe I did and I
just didn't go looking.
But the reality is, I didn'thave what I thought was
reasonable guidance anywhere toprotect me from these things,
(28:56):
and so I, like I said, I filed acorporate and a personal
bankruptcy and that made it.
You know, you become unbankablein traditional lending for an
extended period of time, and itwas a time suck for me, and five
years of my life I essentiallyjust spent in a hole, waiting
for my credit to repair on itsown, just as a result of time.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, and so that's rarely required in my opinion,
and you know, no bankruptcyattorney in the world wants me
to say that, but I just, youknow, I.
I know of other ways prior tothat.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
And I love you know again, that's why I say that you
have developed your superpower,because I think that if more
people took the hardships thatthey went through and, you know,
remembered what it felt likegoing through that, and knew
that they didn't want anyoneelse to have to feel that, I
think that, you know, our worldwould be so much better off.
So, um, you know, I I think youdeserve huge kudos for, you
(30:09):
know, having the, thevulnerability to say, hey, look
like I screwed up.
This is what I did, and I wantto take this and turn it into um
a way to help others so thatthey, you know, don't have to
feel the, you know the angst andthe hardship that you felt, and
they don't have to wait youknow, five years sitting in a
(30:30):
hole, you know, waiting for itall to to kind of, you know,
flush out so that they can moveon with their life.
So, you know, I I reallyappreciate that you do that.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Um, thank you, I'm grateful for you to say that.
Listen, that that's whatrecovery is all about, right,
when you, when you recover in away, um, like I have you, I just
, um, I, I pay it forward to thenext man or woman.
That's the deal, that's thebargain, right?
That's the fair bargain that Imade.
(31:01):
That's, that's all, that's allI want to do, and it's and
you're right, and it comes froma place that I don't listen.
It's impossible for me to judgesomeone.
I've yet to hear a story thatthat made me cringe, like
whatever, like, we all makechoices in life and a lot of
them are the wrong ones and theyhave consequences.
A lot of those consequencesdon't show up until later and
(31:25):
you're not to be judged for that.
You know, and struggle is achapter in our lives.
The only reason it ever becomesthe whole story is usually
because of us ourselves.
We make it the whole story, butit's really just designed to be
a chapter and no one avoids it,and if they, if they say they
don't they avoided it, they'relying.
(31:47):
Yeah, and that goes back to yoursocial media story.
There's a reason that there aremultimillion-dollar businesses
that literally all they did isbuy a private jet fuselage, so
it can be parked in a warehouse,so people can take pictures of
it, making it look like theywere in a private jet.
There's societal norms, youknow.
(32:12):
Societal pressures in Americaare on next level, for men and
for women, you know, and for mentypically it's.
You know, you have to bewealthy or you suck.
Women you must look perfect oryou suck.
And that's just a story.
It's a lie.
It's a lie.
It's not what it's about.
It's not about money.
It's not about anything.
It's about, you know, I don'tknow how, about waking up in the
morning, being happy?
(32:34):
Yeah that's, that's real well tome.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, I totally agree and I mean honestly, you know,
after going through my divorce,you know I've kind of turned
that into my superpower is, youknow, helping women going
through it.
But as a result of that, youknow, I mean it's been over a
decade now.
So you know, since all of thattook place, but you know, since
(32:59):
then I've gone on this likespiritual journey of just trying
to figure out, you know, likejust just who I am, what I want
to be, what you know, what is mypurpose.
You know things like that andyou know one of the biggest
things that continues to come upis just mindset.
And you know being grateful forwhat you have.
You know, whenever you'regrateful for what you have, then
(33:20):
more things are.
You know you attract morethings into your life.
And so you know, I think, evenwhenever you're having those bad
days, there's always, alwayssomething to be grateful for,
always.
So you know I, you know to yourpoint, you know trying to work
on that mindset.
Don't let this be your.
You know, just make this a blipin your story.
(33:42):
This is not your story, thisdoes not define you.
You know we all make mistakes,they all have consequences and
that's okay.
Let's learn from them, let'smove on, let's find three things
that we're grateful for everysingle day, so that we don't get
stuck in that story and thatdoesn't become who we are.
It doesn't.
It's not who we identify as,it's just something that
happened to us, that we learnedfrom and we moved on from.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
The spiritual component inpeople is lacking in general
terms, from where I sit.
And it's not about perfection,it's about progress for all of
us.
That's what it's about.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Exactly Progress over perfection.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
No question.
And you can't you know if you,if you focus a little bit of
time on being grateful andhaving some gratitude, it's
impossible not to see theprogress.
It's impossible.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yeah, absolutely so.
If someone is listening to thisand they're thinking, holy crap
, he just literally explainedeverything that I'm going
through right now.
What would they do to work withyou?
Like, how would they?
Yeah, call me 508-501-9214.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Call me.
That's my cell.
Call me anytime we can schedulean intake and just kind of go
over your story and whatsituation you're in.
How long has it been since youwere current, what have you
tried and who's your bank?
Since you were current, whathave you?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
tried and who's your bank.
It all starts there, you know.
Perfect.
Yeah, I love that and hopefullyeveryone has been able to see,
like I have, that you genuinelycare about people.
I mean, I literally just metyou right now and I can already
see.
You know, we're not even faceto face and I can already.
I can feel your energy and youare.
(35:27):
You know you're such a givingperson and you have a servant
heart and so you know all ofthat came through.
So hopefully anyone listeninggets that and they realize that
you are not that ambulancechaser that's trying to take
advantage of them.
You're not trying to sell thema whole load of crap that they
don't need, you know.
You just genuinely want to helpthem.
(35:48):
So I love that.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, sure, I'd be honored to just bear witness to
it, if not just play a smallrole.
Like I said, that's all.
If I can turn my life around,absolutely anybody can.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I believe, that.
Yeah, I believe that too.
I love it.
Well, thank you so much, mike,for taking time out of your busy
, busy day.
Uh, you know, come on kind ofwalk us through.
You know being so vulnerableand, uh, you know, making sure
that everyone knows that.
You know this isn't, it's not aunique problem.
Uh, lots of people face it andyou know, if you can just face
(36:27):
it head on, you can name it andthen, you know, work with you,
uh, that you know is going tomake a world of difference in
their lives.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I love it and I will have um anything in the show
notes that, uh, you know I'llput your cell phone number in
there.
Any social media you know, anywebsite links, anything like
that will all be in the shownotes for people to be able to
reach out.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Awesome.
Yeah, you can go to my site andlearn about me.
Yeah, easy I love that.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Thank you so much.
So, please make sure that yourate and review this episode,
because feedback is the greatestgift you can give.
Also, make sure that you rateand review this episode, because
feedback is the greatest giftyou can give.
Also, make sure that you aresharing this with others,
because that is the greatestcompliment that you can give
Mike and myself.
And make sure that you arefollowing along so you never
miss another episode.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou next time on Come to Find
(37:20):
Out.
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of Come to
Find Out.
This week we have Mike Russell,who has unfortunately gone
through some life circumstancesthat kind of knocked him down,
but I love the fact that he tookhis circumstances and he turned
it into a superpower.
(00:22):
So, mike, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing, you know
, some of your story and alittle bit of your superpower.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Sure, yeah, no, I'm grateful for the opportunity.
It's always nice to meet peopleall over the place, so I'm, I'm
, I'm very excited to be here.
So let's, let's talk aboutanything you want to talk about.
I'm an open book, so I love it.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I love it.
Well, as we were talking about,you know, kind of off screen,
you know, before we startedrecording, you know there
unfortunately is a large uptickin foreclosures or people just
you know, unfortunately they gotinto a house and then it
appreciated exorbitantly overthe past few years and now their
(01:04):
property taxes have made it towhere their home is unaffordable
or their job has changed.
Any number of things can happento cause you to miss a payment,
and I've done episodespreviously on foreclosure and
how to kind of avoid it andthings like that.
But I think it's always very,very powerful to hear from
(01:27):
someone who had to go through it.
And you know, just knowing that, like you know, stop judging
yourself, give yourself somegrace and just know that you're
not alone.
So I just really appreciatethat you, you know, have taken
this, turned it into yoursuperpower and try and help
people know that you know you'renot alone.
There are ways to get out ofthis.
(01:48):
It's not the end of the worldand so you know, I just
appreciate you kind of takingthat on and making that your
superpower.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, it's.
Look, I'm a firm believer thatthe one thing in life that you
can't fake is shared struggle.
You know, I can fake a lot ofthings, but I I can't fake that
right, it's, it's, um.
It's very challenging to uhfight back feelings of shame and
embarrassment and less than andnot good enough.
(02:17):
Uh, when you face financialcrisis.
Um, and the financial crisis Icertainly faced, you know, I'm
sure, with a lot of other peoplein 08 and 09, you know the
country really had the hardesthit economy that we've ever seen
.
But I can't blame the economy.
If I'm being honest, you know itwas my own decisions.
You know there's a lot ofself-sabotage involved in what I
(02:39):
did.
I did not understand money.
I did not understand I mistookcash flow for wealth, Never
really once taking intoconsideration that cash flow
could go down and suffer, sure,and and I lived day by day, in
(03:04):
the moment and I didn't reallythink much.
You know I'm invincible.
You know I was in my mid 20s andI just thought that it would
never end, and the reality isthat it ended and, and I guess
you know what got me here, whatwas the turnaround in my life,
why I started doing this isbecause I turned my life around,
(03:26):
you know, for the last you know15 years I guess, but really 10
years my life has really beenabout recovery in a million
different ways, and so that'swhat got me here is turning my
own life around from thisfinancial crisis and the strife
in relationships that I createdwhen I caused foreclosures and
(03:48):
had to short sale someproperties and ended up filing
corporate bankruptcy andpersonal bankruptcy, got
divorced and the collateraldamage that ripped through my
family as a result of thatlasted the better part of a
decade, and I had to pick up thepieces of that for a very, very
long time, and so I understandwhat this can do to the psyche.
(04:14):
You know the financial part'sactually easy.
It's the rest of it that'sreally challenging.
Finances are not thatchallenging, you know.
Really all you have to do is bemature and you can get an 800
credit score.
It's really like that simple inmy experience and so.
But what keeps me here is beingable to bear witness to and play
(04:40):
a small role in the turnaroundof other people's lives, and so
for many years in my life, youknow, I look at everything kind
of like we all have a lifeline,and when you meet someone, you
interject yourself into theirlifeline in some fashion, and I
had a tendency for a long timein my life to create a negative
(05:00):
trajectory from that pointforward in people's lives, and I
just don't do that anymore, andI find great pride and reward
in interjecting myself intosomeone's lifeline and playing a
small role in improving thetrajectory of their lives from
that point forward by helpingthem make good decisions.
(05:20):
That's what keeps me here,that's what keeps me doing this
and keeps me wanting to meet newpeople, hear new struggles
relate to new struggles and it'sa unique thing because I've
owned a real estate companyreally my whole life, since I
was 19.
It's the first real job I everhad, and so I've been doing this
(05:42):
for 30 years on every level ofthe spectrum in some fashion.
And what always struck stuckout to be more were the sad
instances.
You know there's, you know whenyou're, when you're involved in
real estate transactions.
You have the very excited,jubilant first time homebuyer,
you have the leveling up hey,we've made great decisions,
we're getting the dream home.
(06:03):
What always stuck out to memore and resonated with me more
were the sad stories.
You know I represented FreddieMac for about a decade listing
their foreclosed assets and Iwould witness lockouts.
Now, lockout here inMassachusetts is one of the
worst things to witness reallyever and it's once the bank buys
(06:25):
the property back.
They show up, uh, with thesheriff, um and two movers and a
box truck and they knock on thedoor and they say whatever can
fit in the truck, you can take,we'll store it for 30 days.
Then it's your problem and whenwe're done, we're going to
change the locks and you're out.
And I probably witnessed 200 ofthose you know, between 08 and
(06:48):
13.
And that stuck out to me.
You know, you really saw thehuman condition and human
behaviors when they're upagainst it, desperation, and I
related to that.
I understood what thosefeelings were.
I related to that.
I understood what thosefeelings were.
And the unique blend is thatyou know, after 30 years, I have
(07:16):
all the tools and toolbox to beable to help people navigate
with banks and avoid the samestrife that I did, Because the
fact of the matter is no one hasto be foreclosed on Nobody.
The two truths that make itpossible for us to do this work
anywhere is anywhere in thecountry.
No bank in America wants toforeclose and no homeowner in
(07:37):
America wants to be foreclosedon.
The rub is they don'tcommunicate effectively.
Because when you're riddledwith those feelings of shame and
regret and remorse and whateverelse is going on in your life
divorce, death, health, sickness, job, whatever it is double
that with the fear and lack ofunderstanding that the true fact
(08:01):
is that the very entity that isthreatening your home is the
one who can help you.
The bank wants to help everyconsumer and that's with any
secure debt in America.
I don't care if it's a boat, acar, a house, whatever it is.
If it's a collateralized debt,the bank doesn't want the
(08:22):
collateral.
They don't know what to do withit.
They want to keep the personthat's in it.
They want to get them back ontrack, keep them and get them
back in the good graces andcontinue making payments.
And the best thing that we cando for people that I, that I, if
you act fast enough and itseems as though it's about 300
days, if you're less than 300 orso days behind on your mortgage
(08:44):
, so the better part of a year,10 months most banks will give
you something that's called apartial claim mortgage and what
that is is they take thearrearage the past due amount
and they tack it on to a secondmortgage on the back end of the
note which allows people to keeptheir current note in place.
And a lot of those notes are atfantastic interest rates.
(09:07):
So you don't have to modify andget into a current rate, seven
percent mortgage, so you keepyour two and a half percent.
They take the 30 or 40 or 50thousand dollars in a rearage,
tack it onto the back end atzero percent with no payments
due and you don't have to dealwith that note until one of two
things, three things I guess thematurity of your original note,
(09:29):
you know, 26 years in thefuture if you refinance or if
you sell.
But the average consumer has noidea that this is reality and
what we work against on aregular basis is when this
becomes public record.
All the sharks come out of thewoodwork, they all come out and
everyone is trying to capitalizeon what they perceive to be the
(09:49):
misfortune of others andthey're trying to buy the house
for cheap, force them to sell,force them to file bankruptcy,
do all these things thatactually just can often make the
problem worse and just or itjust isn't necessary.
And so it to me.
It me it's foolhardy to not tryevery option prior to all those
(10:10):
things to retain the property,and banks will do that in a
million different ways.
The best one is the partialclaim mortgage.
They'll offer reinstatementterms.
Some people have 401ks, whateverit is.
They can pay off the lump sumreinstatement.
They do payment plans on thatstuff and, of course, you can do
a loan modification if you canafford it at the new rates.
(10:31):
So many different tools in yourtoolbox and I understand what
it's like, because there was atime in my life when I had two
years of unopened mail on mydining room table.
In hindsight I can tell youthat the answer to my problem
was in that pile, but I didn'twant to open it and look because
(10:53):
I thought they were justthreats and I thought that if I
ignored them, I don't know whatI thought Maybe the mortgage
fairy would come pay off mymortgage.
I don't know, but you knowthere is no such thing.
It turns out.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
I was going to say if you found that mortgage fairy,
please send them my way.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
No, it doesn't, yeah, it doesn't doesn't work out
that way.
So so it's just it's.
It's a unique blend of personalcircumstance why this means so
much to me and why it'spersonally important to me.
But then, professionally, 30years in the real estate
(11:34):
business and understanding allthese years later, that boy,
there were so many solutionsavailable to me If I had just
picked up the phone and gotengaged proactively engaged is
what I see people struggle to do, and it's fear-based and they
are paralyzed in fear and sothey make no decision.
They don't trust anyone andyeah, so the vast majority of
the work that I do on anyday-to-day basis is I help
(11:57):
people get out of their own way,because that's what they're in
they're in their own way.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And that's so true because you know, I think we're
all just so, we're all just kindof stuck in our own little
world.
And you know, unfortunatelysocial media makes it so easy
for us to portray that we havethis perfect life and
everything's great, and you know.
So then someone that'sstruggling, they're watching
that social media and they'relike, well, Jim over there has,
(12:25):
you know, a new boat like andthey've got this and that, and
you know what is he doingdifferently than I'm doing?
And you know I like, and whoknows, jim may be also
stretching himself so thin thatyou know something else is going
to happen to him, just like ithappened to you.
You never know.
So I think, unfortunately, weall kind of, you know, like you
said, we all get in our own way.
And I love the fact that you'vereally done kind of a deep dive
(12:48):
and have like a blueprint tohelp people, because I know
whenever I get you know,contacted, it's generally you
know the person's like hey, thebank is literally about to
foreclose on my house, like canyou help me?
And at that point, you know, Ialways recommend that they call
their bank.
They see what they can do.
(13:08):
Some banks are easier to workwith than others.
Obviously, some want you tostay in the house and some could
care less, and so then I justalso kind of show them, like
this is what the market'slooking like, this is what you
know, if you're already, ifthey've already started the
process of foreclosure, here is,you know, like a short sale,
(13:30):
here are your options.
Just you know, because, likeyou, I want to make sure that
everyone has all of theirinformation.
And if I can help someone stayin their house which obviously
means nothing for me, like I'mgetting no compensation at all
perfectly fine with me, becauseultimately I just want to do
(13:50):
what's best for the client, forthe consumer, whatever they need
, and so if I can help them dothat and stay in their house and
afford it, that's what I wouldmuch rather do than try and sell
something that you know,because in a short sale you're
not keeping anything extra.
If there is anything extra, youknow you're going to walk away
(14:11):
with zero dollars.
Yes, you've wiped away thatdebt, but you are walking away
with zero dollars, whereas ifyou get into, let's say, you
miss your first couple ofpayments and you're feeling that
stress and that overwhelm eventhe first payment you're about
to miss call your bank, talk tothem, see what you can do.
(14:32):
And then this is the advicethat I give people.
I always say call them, seewhat they can do.
If they can't do anything, wecan look at the market and let's
figure out what makes the mostsense for you and your situation
.
So I love that you've kind oftaken some of that guesswork out
.
So do people just reach out toyou and say, hey, like I saw
(14:53):
your story, or you know how doyou work with people?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
So it excuse me.
So we operate off a very basicservice agreement.
It's the same deal.
We don't charge anything forwhat we do, and the service
agreement really just lays outthe expectations of us, and
those expectations are reallythe most important.
One is to produce supportingdocumentation in a timely manner
(15:18):
.
That's really where we losesome people throughout the
course of the year is they getdisengaged, and so it all starts
with a phone call to the banktogether and, you know, giving
authorization for me to speak ontheir behalf with the bank, and
I negotiate the best terms thatare available.
(15:39):
It's a relatively simple thing,and it's you know.
You find your way to theirassistance application and you
fill out the assistanceapplication with the guidance of
the consumer, and then wefollow up every three business
days, because that's where therub is.
You know.
You said some banks are easierthan others.
I've yet to find the easy one,but it's.
But listen, there, it's just.
(16:01):
You know.
Everything is, you know, fiveto seven business days out.
You send a piece of informationand it's gonna be five to seven
business days before the bankeven acknowledges that it exists
.
And I've grown quite skilled atcreating applications that help
people retain their property.
But even still, I don't thinkI've ever submitted one one time
(16:25):
and had the bank deem itcomplete.
There's always something more.
They need Always, no matterwhat you do, no matter how many
boxes you think you checked off.
Oh yeah, we got it, but this is, we need this as well.
You know, whatever got it, butwe need this as well.
Whatever it is, there's alwaysa litany of things, and that's
really what we do.
The work that consumers can'tbring themselves to complete.
(16:50):
The vast majority of the peoplethat I meet started one oh, we
did that or we sent it, but thenit's the follow through that
really keeps everything togetheris you have to get these
applications to what the bankcalls certified complete status
and only then will they send itto underwriting, put it under
(17:10):
review and kick back someoptions.
But it doesn't work withoutgetting to that certified
complete, and so that is reallyyou know.
I would say the most valuablething we do is we are an
emotional barrier.
Right, and just as an example,I can't talk to Comcast about my
own account.
I can't do it.
I hate them.
(17:31):
Every time I get on the phonewith Comcast and I'm trying to
like upgrade my DVR or dosomething like I'm ready to kill
them, upgrade my DVR, or dosomething like I'm ready to kill
them?
Obviously not really, but, andso I understand.
That's exactly how the consumerfeels when they're dealing with
the bank and they said I sentyou that and they're like what
do you mean?
You don't have it, I said, andthe emotional angst that is
(17:54):
created is cannot be addressed,it can't be fixed, it's yours,
it's I don't feel that emotionwith these banks.
It's emotionless to me.
It means nothing to me thatthat communication is
tremendously simple and this islike everything in life breaks
down to sales.
Right Is be charming, becomplimentary, be cooperative,
(18:17):
don't raise your voice, voiceand great things will happen.
So I'm able to do that.
My team is able to do thatwithout having this emotional
baggage that other people have,rightfully so, and so our
ability to stay in touch, followthrough, see it to the end,
will generate a results letterin six weeks or so from the time
(18:39):
we start.
The end we'll generate aresults letter in six weeks or
so from the time we start, wherethe bank issues results and
every bank.
You spoke about something.
So here's a universal rule inbanking with real estate
nationwide.
Every bank has this seeminglyarbitrary figure and they all
hold true to it.
If there is an auction datescheduled in the future you've
(19:03):
actually had an auction datescheduled they will not
entertain any assistance optionswhere they play a role in the
assistance of doing somethingwith the asset, either retention
based or non-retention based.
If there's less than 37 daysuntil the auction, that's the
(19:24):
sweet spot.
So you have pillars to operatewithin, and so if you're less
than 37 days, the bank is notgoing to help you.
They're not going to help you.
Even they won't even entertaina short sale.
Not enough time to review theshort sale package.
So you have pillars that youhave to operate in.
You know like can't be morethan 300 days behind in order to
(19:45):
get some really greatassistance.
Can't be within 37 days of anin order to get some really
great assistance.
Can't be within 37 days of anauction to get any assistance.
And so there's a sweet spot,and so that the value of not
letting mail pile up on yourdining room table is immense.
And along the lines of whatyou're talking about is you're
afraid of them, and I get it,but they are the ones who can
(20:07):
solve your problem.
So pick up the phone and haveactive, engaged discussions.
You know it's listen, thereisn't a relationship in the
world, in the human existencethat I've seen, that effective
communication doesn't solve.
Effective communicationremedies all struggles in all
(20:27):
relationships.
It may end relationships, buteffective communication is
needed.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah Well, and I love .
Excuse me, I wish I would havemet you sooner, because I had a
gentleman that came to me and hewas trying to sell his property
and it, you know it obviouslyneeded a lot of work.
He was behind on mortgage, hewas behind on keeping up with
(20:53):
the house, all the things, andso we were working on doing kind
of a private sale because hehad found someone that wanted to
do it.
So I was just trying to helpfacilitate it so that he, you
know again, could get out of itwithout, you know, a huge ding
on his credit and to be able topurchase something you know
sooner, because obviously ashort sale looks way better on
(21:17):
your credit than a foreclosure.
So not as good as just sellingit, but you know it is better.
So but I had a gentleman thatyou know, like I said, when he
came to me he was so far behind.
He had called the bank andsubmitted forms and asked for
assistance hundreds of times andhe and his wife were just so
(21:38):
fed up with the entire processthat they just thought they had
no hope.
So I was like, well, let me seewhat I can do.
I reached out to the bank and Isaid would you entertain a
short sale?
I have someone.
I know you already have it,you've already set a date for
the auction, but I would love toget this out from underneath
(22:01):
all of us sooner than that andallow him to walk away with just
at least some dignity.
And so we went through the wholeprocess.
They kept telling me yep, yep,yep, that's totally fine, we go
through it all, submit all thepaperwork, everything we come to
like days before closing.
And they were like, oh,actually it's going to be a
(22:22):
hundred thousand dollars morethat your buyer is going to have
to bring.
So, sorry, that's what we'restarting the auction at.
And I was like what?
And so the buyer was like, well, I'm not coming up with an
extra $100,000.
Disney didn't even appraise atthat, so I don't know where they
(22:42):
got their number, but yeah, sounfortunately, that one did end
up going to auction and it wasvery sad because, you know, they
came in and put the locks on itand he had to have everything
out before the auction.
Otherwise, like that was it.
You know, while I'm not, Idon't niche in it, it is
(23:14):
something that I come across andI'd like to always be
well-versed in how to helppeople where they are in that
process.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah, it's a yeah, 37 days.
That's kind of the sweet spot,you know, and it's, and it's
understandable to a degree.
You know, the bank has givenyou, uh, in their mind, um,
plenty of rope, right Is, istheir belief, um, and and there,
there just isn't really anyeffective guidance out there in
the world on how to navigatebanks.
(23:46):
Um, and those are just thingsthat I've just learned, you know
, over the course of a career,right Is you?
Just, you're involved in allthis stuff, you see it, and I'm
curious in nature, right, I'mtremendously observant and I'm
very curious, and so every timeI see something that a bank does
, I want to find out what right.
(24:07):
So what is what?
What's up?
Does every bank do this, does?
Why did this happen?
And I'll call my attorney hey,talk to me, go look this up.
Why did this bank choose thislength of a cure, a right to
cure and all this kind of stuff?
And so it's just, I'm observant, I'm curious, I want to learn
this stuff.
I, I'm observant, I'm curious,I want to learn this stuff.
(24:30):
Um, I look at it like a map,like it can be figured out, you
know, figured out, and then, ifyou can operate within the
parameters and the boundariesthat these banks set.
And then you have state law, ofcourse.
That, um, that comes into playtoo.
And so I have some connections,some, some relationships that
I've made, uh, state officesover the course of my career.
Um, and these, these guys Idon't know how they do it they
(24:50):
have a direct line to somebodyimportant at the banks.
They can stop a foreclosure inthree minutes, you know, and um,
and so there's always a way tobuy time to extend things, and
it's a function of beingcreative and resourceful.
Um, there are some.
Even if there's an auctionscheduled, you know we can get
those delayed.
(25:11):
I don't.
I'm not a big proponent, I mean, I know.
I know a lot of bankruptcyattorneys.
I know a handful that I trustand I'm always looking for more
that I trust.
Bankruptcy is a tool, but it'sjust like foreclosure it's a
public record on your creditreport and filing bankruptcy in
(25:31):
hindsight.
For me, it was one of thebiggest mistakes I ever made.
I didn't have to, I chose to,and there are people in the
world who have to.
I just wasn't one of them.
I took what I thought was theeasy way out and I regret it.
I regretted it.
It made the next five years ofmy life tremendously challenging
(25:57):
, more so than it needed to be.
But you know when bankruptcyattorneys out there there are a
bunch of them that when they seethese public events a notice of
intent to foreclose they starthounding the consumer and you
know they push them.
You know, give me $4,500 andfile bankruptcy.
And it's tough because you know, when you own real estate and
(26:17):
you file bankruptcy, it'stypically a Chapter 13.
It's a cure and maintainprogram, and what a lot of
people don't understand is that,yes, it will put a stay on the
auction proceeding, but in avery short period of time 60
days from now, you are going tobe expected to make your current
mortgage payment plus a paymentto the bankruptcy court every
month, like clockwork, and sorarely, in my opinion, is it the
(26:41):
great move.
Every case is different, ofcourse, but I just I think that
it behooved everyone toinvestigate every single
opportunity short of a publicevent being recorded to the
credit bureau in your name.
I think that was the best way todo it and the hard thing yeah,
go ahead.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
No, I was just going to say now, um, if you look back
cause you mentioned that, youthought that was like the worst
thing you could have done.
So now, with the knowledge youhave, obviously you did the best
you possibly could with theknowledge you had at the time.
So, completely you know.
Again, I want to make sure thateveryone knows that, like, none
of this is coming from judgmentat all from anyone and no one
(27:23):
should ever feel judged, youknow, because we all have these
circumstances.
I mean, I think there's astatistic out there that, like
everyone's like three paychecksaway from being homeless.
You know, or not everyone, butyou know there are a large
majority of people are, you know, three paychecks away from
being homeless.
But so I just wondered, likeyou know, you mentioned that you
(27:44):
wish you hadn't done that.
Now that you have differentknowledge, what do you wish you
hadn't done that now?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
that you have different knowledge.
What do you wish you would havedone instead?
Negotiated, negotiated my wayto terms that were acceptable,
you know, and that's and I?
I never even tried.
I never even tried.
I saw it as a rip cord, like youknow, bills piling up
everything, and the first thingI'll say is that, um, in my
(28:11):
experience, the very last billthat a family or a household
stops paying is their mortgage.
If you stop paying yourmortgage, you have some other
delinquencies.
That's the last one you protect.
You know you protect that witheverything you can.
One you protect.
You know you protect that witheverything you can.
And and so I, I would have justnegotiated, I would have opened
(28:33):
up dialogue.
And the reality is and I saythis to people all the time I
wish I knew somebody like meback then, but I didn't have
anyone that I could, that Ididn't, and maybe I did and I
just didn't go looking.
But the reality is, I didn'thave what I thought was
reasonable guidance anywhere toprotect me from these things,
(28:56):
and so I, like I said, I filed acorporate and a personal
bankruptcy and that made it.
You know, you become unbankablein traditional lending for an
extended period of time, and itwas a time suck for me, and five
years of my life I essentiallyjust spent in a hole, waiting
for my credit to repair on itsown, just as a result of time.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, and so that's rarely required in my opinion,
and you know, no bankruptcyattorney in the world wants me
to say that, but I just, youknow, I.
I know of other ways prior tothat.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
And I love you know again, that's why I say that you
have developed your superpower,because I think that if more
people took the hardships thatthey went through and, you know,
remembered what it felt likegoing through that, and knew
that they didn't want anyoneelse to have to feel that, I
think that, you know, our worldwould be so much better off.
So, um, you know, I I think youdeserve huge kudos for, you
(30:09):
know, having the, thevulnerability to say, hey, look
like I screwed up.
This is what I did, and I wantto take this and turn it into um
a way to help others so thatthey, you know, don't have to
feel the, you know the angst andthe hardship that you felt, and
they don't have to wait youknow, five years sitting in a
(30:30):
hole, you know, waiting for itall to to kind of, you know,
flush out so that they can moveon with their life.
So, you know, I I reallyappreciate that you do that.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Um, thank you, I'm grateful for you to say that.
Listen, that that's whatrecovery is all about, right,
when you, when you recover in away, um, like I have you, I just
, um, I, I pay it forward to thenext man or woman.
That's the deal, that's thebargain, right?
That's the fair bargain that Imade.
(31:01):
That's, that's all, that's allI want to do, and it's and
you're right, and it comes froma place that I don't listen.
It's impossible for me to judgesomeone.
I've yet to hear a story thatthat made me cringe, like
whatever, like, we all makechoices in life and a lot of
them are the wrong ones and theyhave consequences.
A lot of those consequencesdon't show up until later and
(31:25):
you're not to be judged for that.
You know, and struggle is achapter in our lives.
The only reason it ever becomesthe whole story is usually
because of us ourselves.
We make it the whole story, butit's really just designed to be
a chapter and no one avoids it,and if they, if they say they
don't they avoided it, they'relying.
(31:47):
Yeah, and that goes back to yoursocial media story.
There's a reason that there aremultimillion-dollar businesses
that literally all they did isbuy a private jet fuselage, so
it can be parked in a warehouse,so people can take pictures of
it, making it look like theywere in a private jet.
There's societal norms, youknow.
(32:12):
Societal pressures in Americaare on next level, for men and
for women, you know, and for mentypically it's.
You know, you have to bewealthy or you suck.
Women you must look perfect oryou suck.
And that's just a story.
It's a lie.
It's a lie.
It's not what it's about.
It's not about money.
It's not about anything.
It's about, you know, I don'tknow how, about waking up in the
morning, being happy?
(32:34):
Yeah that's, that's real well tome.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, I totally agree and I mean honestly, you know,
after going through my divorce,you know I've kind of turned
that into my superpower is, youknow, helping women going
through it.
But as a result of that, youknow, I mean it's been over a
decade now.
So you know, since all of thattook place, but you know, since
(32:59):
then I've gone on this likespiritual journey of just trying
to figure out, you know, likejust just who I am, what I want
to be, what you know, what is mypurpose.
You know things like that andyou know one of the biggest
things that continues to come upis just mindset.
And you know being grateful forwhat you have.
You know, whenever you'regrateful for what you have, then
(33:20):
more things are.
You know you attract morethings into your life.
And so you know, I think, evenwhenever you're having those bad
days, there's always, alwayssomething to be grateful for,
always.
So you know I, you know to yourpoint, you know trying to work
on that mindset.
Don't let this be your.
You know, just make this a blipin your story.
(33:42):
This is not your story, thisdoes not define you.
You know we all make mistakes,they all have consequences and
that's okay.
Let's learn from them, let'smove on, let's find three things
that we're grateful for everysingle day, so that we don't get
stuck in that story and thatdoesn't become who we are.
It doesn't.
It's not who we identify as,it's just something that
happened to us, that we learnedfrom and we moved on from.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
The spiritual component inpeople is lacking in general
terms, from where I sit.
And it's not about perfection,it's about progress for all of
us.
That's what it's about.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Exactly Progress over perfection.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
No question.
And you can't you know if you,if you focus a little bit of
time on being grateful andhaving some gratitude, it's
impossible not to see theprogress.
It's impossible.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yeah, absolutely so.
If someone is listening to thisand they're thinking, holy crap
, he just literally explainedeverything that I'm going
through right now.
What would they do to work withyou?
Like, how would they?
Yeah, call me 508-501-9214.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Call me.
That's my cell.
Call me anytime we can schedulean intake and just kind of go
over your story and whatsituation you're in.
How long has it been since youwere current, what have you
tried and who's your bank?
Since you were current, whathave you?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
tried and who's your bank.
It all starts there, you know.
Perfect.
Yeah, I love that and hopefullyeveryone has been able to see,
like I have, that you genuinelycare about people.
I mean, I literally just metyou right now and I can already
see.
You know, we're not even faceto face and I can already.
I can feel your energy and youare.
(35:27):
You know you're such a givingperson and you have a servant
heart and so you know all ofthat came through.
So hopefully anyone listeninggets that and they realize that
you are not that ambulancechaser that's trying to take
advantage of them.
You're not trying to sell thema whole load of crap that they
don't need, you know.
You just genuinely want to helpthem.
(35:48):
So I love that.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, sure, I'd be honored to just bear witness to
it, if not just play a smallrole.
Like I said, that's all.
If I can turn my life around,absolutely anybody can.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I believe, that.
Yeah, I believe that too.
I love it.
Well, thank you so much, mike,for taking time out of your busy
, busy day.
Uh, you know, come on kind ofwalk us through.
You know being so vulnerableand, uh, you know, making sure
that everyone knows that.
You know this isn't, it's not aunique problem.
Uh, lots of people face it andyou know, if you can just face
(36:27):
it head on, you can name it andthen, you know, work with you,
uh, that you know is going tomake a world of difference in
their lives.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I love it and I will have um anything in the show
notes that, uh, you know I'llput your cell phone number in
there.
Any social media you know, anywebsite links, anything like
that will all be in the shownotes for people to be able to
reach out.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Awesome.
Yeah, you can go to my site andlearn about me.
Yeah, easy I love that.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Thank you so much.
So, please make sure that yourate and review this episode,
because feedback is the greatestgift you can give.
Also, make sure that you rateand review this episode, because
feedback is the greatest giftyou can give.
Also, make sure that you aresharing this with others,
because that is the greatestcompliment that you can give
Mike and myself.
And make sure that you arefollowing along so you never
miss another episode.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou next time on Come to Find
(37:20):
Out.
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