By Michael and Stephen Szakos / Guest contributors
Happy New Year! May 2012 be a tremendous year for each of you. A fresh start. A new beginning. We know that 2011 was a very difficult year for many of you for various reasons. Many people lost their jobs, their homes and witnessed families broken apart because of the aforementioned reasons. All of this is so difficult to wrap our heads around, so hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. The following occurred with one of the families we spoke to recently:
During one of our Café on A meetings, a family came in to tell us of their housing situation and the story was so heartbreaking. They had recently been told to vacate their home and that the house had sold 10 months previous! Their attorney had made promises that were not kept. Thousands of dollars were lost, their home was lost and the unlawful detainer lost, which makes it very difficult to rent a home. All of this was just too much for this family. Their teenage daughter broke down during the meeting stating that she wished she could just end it all, their lives.
After listening to this and witnessing the sadness and heartbreak going on in this family, the best thing we could do for them was tell them the truth, which is something that was not given during the entire saga they were going through. At this point, they did not have a lot of options as far as saving their home, but we were able to encourage them to save their family; to move forward, no matter how difficult a process that may be.
Clients, listeners, readers and friends, we know how difficult these situations may be. Your family does as well and they see right through the things that are attempted to be hidden or swept under the rug to be dealt with later. Please, for the sake of your family, get help with your housing situation immediately.
— This guest commentary is contributed by Michael and Stephen Szakos of Cobalt Realty, 940 E. Santa Clara St., Suite 100, Ventura. They can also be heard live each Wednesday morning on the David Cruz bilingual radio program on KOXR AM-910. The show is aired from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday. They also host a free community information forum on the mortgage crisis at 8 p.m. Wednesdays at Café on A., 438 So. A St., Oxnard. For more information, call (888) 700.9658, visit http://www.teamszakos.com/ or send an email to michaelszakosandassociates@gmail.com