Property investment gone wrong: Lenders will negotiate
Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment
I’ve learnt valuable lessons about behavior through my current lack of funds, such as - not having two pennies to rub together makes me negotiate hard - because I have to. I give the impression of being a tough negotiator, when really I haven’t got the option to tread the middle ground. It’s all or nothing.
If I had the funds – I would have paid, as Formula 1 racing drivers would say – ‘for sure’. Yet in this game of chicken – which I didn’t realize I was playing – it’s the mortgage lenders who have blinked first.
To give you some background: After one of my properties was sold with a thumping great loss, the lender pursued me for the unsecured debt. Following a brief telephone call, I’m informed that the lender will accept a settlement of 50% of the total.
What’s wrong with education?
All the way through the repossession process I am reminded that our education system isn’t what it could be. My situation is down to a simple calculation – more money went out than came in. After a few months, I couldn’t make up the shortfall so I stopped paying the mortgage and the property was repossessed. So the lender in its infinite wisdom gets the village idiot to phone and ask if I can pay a cash settlement of tens of thousands of pounds, and guess what – I can’t.
Hard ball
Weeks and months go by with weekly calls requesting that we come to an agreement. Then we reach the end of the road. The lender sent a demand with the next step being bankruptcy. I call to discuss the situation and immediately the lender agrees to slash the debt by a further 50%, for an instant cash settlement. I explain my financial situation and the lender agrees to accept a few hundred pounds in full and final settlement. The lender has finally recognised that they are looking up the barrel of a gun, and so accepts something rather than nothing. I’m relieved that this battle is over, and look forward to many more soon.
What’s the lesson?
The lesson is: Always negotiate as you will be surprised by how much money you can save. It was easy for me, because like I said – there was no middle ground for me to tread.
This is a lesson learnt and one that I will use when I start to see better times ahead. The lesson for you is: Just because your not looking down the barrel of a gun, don’t think that you shouldn’t negotiate hard on anything. What’s the worst that could happen?
