Foreclosure
Monday, January 29th, 2024 12:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio |
37F and overcast today.
I was up by 10:30AM and, after walking Yvette, was finally ready to begin the struggle with BMO to deal with the delinquent HELOC.
Today was always gonna be the day I finally called them back, but back on Friday I found in my mailbox a letter from a law firm giving me a head's up that a foreclosure suit had been filed against me.
That letter was a pitch for me to hire them to help... it wasn't from BMO's lawyer, but it did give a warning that things have gotten more serious.
So today, I called BMO's Loss Mitigation department, first thing, and they did confirm that the old HELOCs gone to foreclosure, but I can still apply for Loss Mitigation and try to work it out with them.
So she said she'd email me that form to get things started... and for some reason even when they email stuff, it takes a few days?
I also got the phone number of their lawyers on this case and gave them a call but it went to voicemail.
So I left a voicemail with those lawyers, asking for a call back, or to leave me a message if I can't pick up.
After that I checked my own voice mailbox, because I saw that I'd received three messages over the past week.
But none of them were from BMO or their lawyers.
It was just three spam messages.
So... on the one hand, I probably should've called BMO back like... the week between Christmas & New Year or something, I guess... to prevent it going to foreclosure.
But on the other hand, it can't have been in foreclosure very long, because I haven't received any notice about it from either BMO, or their lawyers yet.
What little I know right now is this... BMO would like the 14K paid in one lump sum.
I have to prove that I can't afford to do that, but if I can prove hardship, then I guess they'll work with me.
I don't know what foreclosure on a 2nd mortgage for only 14K, when the first mortgage is in good standing would even look like.
Would it just be a lien slapped on the house?.. or could they force me to sell the house to pay off the debt?
February is gonna be all about getting answers to these questions, and hopefully avoiding a catastrophe.
After making calls and checking voice mails, I then went online and filed my 2023 taxes.
I'd gotten my W2 last week, so I took care of filing today, and will be getting around $240.00 back... that's Federal & State combined.
Not a ton, but I can use any extra money right now.
So the only other thing I need to deal with in Februrary is the car registration.
I've got that notice now too, but the new sticker's gonna be like $150.00, so I'm not rushing to get it right now.
Over the weekend, I did get guitars and other instruments together on the album's 2nd song, New York City Gargoyles.
It felt a little overwhelming at first, because I really had no idea what the guitars were gonna do, but this is a faster song that needs them throughout the whole thing.
So what I did was clone all the bass patterns as guitar patterns, and transposed them all up an octave.
Then I went through each pattern and... just kinda fleshed out guitar chords around the root notes.
There was a lot of fussing and tweaking of notes and velocities... but also of the guitar's sound, and the quality of the distortion.
I also added horns, and a little marimba here and there.
I took my shower and started my laundry around 9PM, but still wasn't done with, NYC Gargoyles until about 11PM.
I'm pretty happy, though, with the weekend's work.
So, that's two songs for the current album that now have the music together.
And meanwhile, I'm finally making progress with the lyric videos for the oldest album.
The first four videos for, Coffeehouse Boyfriend are in the can, in WebM format, and I've gotten a start on the fifth one.
So far, they're all pretty visually interesting... using old drawings, culled from my old notebooks and sketchbooks... arranged into little collages on the screen, with different elements appearing or disappearing as the song goes, and the lyrics read out.
I did get a good video of the key chime spinning, which I slowed down to 1/4 speed, and used as the video for, The Keys, and it looks great!
I also figured out how to move the lyrics up to the top, to be out of the way of the video as it plays out.
I have uploaded the new four videos, but I can't create a playlist with them until I have some kind of introductory video, with the album cover as it's thumbnail... so that the playlist inherits that as it's own thumbnail.
So, I'm thinking about doing just a voice over with different illustrations from the album fading in and out on the screen... to briefly talk about the album.
But I have to write that script out first, and record myself reading it.
It may seem silly or irresponsible to be working so hard on music related stuff when I'm in such dire financial straits, but... this is what's keeping me centered.
It is winter, and I can't do anything about these problems on the weekends, so... it's better to spend that time in the studio, as planned since before the refi was torpedoed... rather than wringing my hands in grief and worry.
The video work, I'm doing on the weekdays, of course, but... as of today, dealing with BMO is the top priority.
Meaning, I'll only be working on videos when I've come to a stopping point for the day on what I can do about the foreclosure.
My siblings don't seem overly worried about my fate right now.
They're all taking the attitude of, "Oh, you'll figure it out, I'm sure!"
And, of course, that's an easy stance to take when you're comfortably a thousand or two miles away, and doing okay in your own life.
I'm the one who has to actually jump through the hoops of fire, over here.
But they may be right.
I get paid at midnight, and February begins on Thursday, so there will be some nail biting before the weekend, paying the mortgage and the minimums, and the car payment.
And I will start February, still using a Discover card to cover all the daily expenses.
But I do feel weirdly positive about February anyway.
The snow is melting, and the outlook is 40sF and even low 50sF for highs as far out as they can see.
And I am happy to be back to the normal work routine.
I'm happy that I have the studio to use on the weekends, and that I'm able to make decent progress on a two-day weekend now... thanks to the fact that I got all the bass lines and drum tracks created during the longer breaks.
I really am looking forward to my 2024 being about working my job and recording on the weekends.
For years I couldn't even imagine having the freedom to record again... much less back in my old room where I first began recording, decades ago.
It's a life worth defending... and the dog and cats are also worth defending... so I need to use that as my motivation to take care of these nagging, scary bank issues.
Two of the four new lyric videos.
Well, BMO did send the link to the application for Loss Mitigation, and it looks like I can do it all online.
Also, the BMO lawyer called me and left a voice mail, saying she was out to lunch when I called.
So tomorrow morning I have those things to follow up on... talk to that lawyer and get started with the application.
I also created an account with GoFundMe tonight, which I'll be following up on as well.
It depends on social media for exposure however... has no audience of it's own... but I can name people as fundraising team members, such as Sheila, Colleen, Brian, etc.
So there's a possibility it could at least make a dent in the 14K.
Meanwhile, Gargoyles did not sound very good upon sober reviews today.
The guitar is too loud and obnoxious, and the chorus effect is too pronounced on it, and makes it sound out of tune.
The song's gonna take another weekend to get into shape.
I need to create two different guitars... one for quieter parts, and one for louder parts... and do a little better with the other instruments.
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