Mortgage foreclosure,

I wanna hear about migraines since my house is paid for. I used to take fiorinal for them but don't anymore after overdosing a couple times.

So sorry to hear that.

What would you like to hear about? I'm going to assume from your post that you're looking for a cure or a way of dealing with them. If you're looking for more, please let me know.

First, a little background. There are a lot of people who have very painful headaches which they call "migraines". This isn't always accurate... like finding a lump on your skin and calling it a "tumor". It may or may not be.

Migraines happen when (for reasons scientists aren't clear on), the blood vessels in the back of your neck and scalp* contract and then dilate. The contraction lasts for about an hour and the dilation can last for what seems like years, but in reality is only six to eight hours. Everyone is different and reacts slightly differently, but what's common is seeing a blind spot that turns into flashing lights as the flow of blood to your optic nerve diminishes (due to the contraction), a few minutes of calm and then hours of misery as blood comes rushing through your brain far too fast. It can also cause:
[LIST]
[*]Nausea & vomitting
[*]Diarhea
[*]Hypersensitivity to light & sound
[*]A state of general misery
[/LIST]

Here's what I found works for me. I've been able to turn the above from six hours of agony into about an hour of discomfort. It's a three-part equation (and I feel like numbering things today):

1) Frova. It's a perscription drug in the triptan family. You take it on the onset of migraines. It works by causing the blood vessels to contract and lessening the effect of the second part of the migraine. I cannot stress how important it is to take this stuff the INSTANT you know you're having a migraine. Delaying ten minutes can mean hours of suffering.

2) At the same time I take the Frova, I also take over-the-counter excedrin migraine. It helps by blocking some of the pain and having about a cup of coffee's worth of caffeine in it. Caffeine also causes blood vessels to contract.

3) Mind over matter. When I first started getting migraines, I was a basket case. As soon as I saw the blind spot, I'd get really depressed and why not? It took me years to get Frova. So for years I would (at the onset) think, "Oh f***. I'm having a migraine. ****. This is gonna be terrible. I hate my life. etc." Doing that is a sure fire way to make things worse. Instead, (and I know how cheesy this is going to sound) I try to go to a happier place. I tune out everything and think about getting a massage or having sex or a really funny comedian that made me laugh till I couldn't breath. It helps... as does jerking off if you're able to (please don't try that at the office).

Another tip I can give you is to find a dim area, not a dark area, and stay there. A lot of people who get migraines are super-senstive to bright lights. What I find is that I'm actually more sensitive to [I]changes[/I] in the light level. Dim to dark. Dark to bright. Bright to dim. They all hurt just as much. Find some place with a constant light level and just zone out. If you're able to fall asleep, go for it. What you [I]don't[/I] want to do is go someplace really dark where you know some idiot will open the door letting really bright light in to ask "are you okay?"

That's my $0.02. Hope you found it helpful.

*I used to know the Latin names for these. If you need them, let me know and I'll look them up.

Fortunately i haven't gotten them lately but i totally relate to that oh my god i'm screwed i'm getting a migraine its gonna be hell.........you have to take fiorinal at the very begining too or it doesn't work, and in my case i end up taking more and more, so i was just relying on ibuprofen which would dull it a little. I also have these blue eye cover things that help, you put them in the freezer first. Thanks for the info.

Do you have any hints about how long this housing downturn is going to last and when I can expect sanity to gain hold in Southern California real estate prices?

I rent, I don't ever see the market getting back to normal here. Speculators ruined it sometime in the past 8 years.

[QUOTE=morey;1075187] I also have these blue eye cover things that help,

I tried something like that once. It worked great until I took it off to re-adjust it at which point my head nearly split in half. Maybe the eye covers will work better. I'll have to check them out. Thanks.

[QUOTE=monkeywright;1075216]Do you have any hints about how long this housing downturn is going to last

We've got at least another year or two to look forward to if not longer. There's another set of nonprime (also known as "subprime") rates that are going to adjust in about 17 months which will cause more woe for unwary home buyers. The mortgage industry has ways for people to stay in their houses after situations like that, but people have to be proactive, which not many people were. I'm afraid the the mortgage version of Punxatony(sp?) Phil has seen his shadow.

[QUOTE] and when I can expect sanity to gain hold in Southern California real estate prices?[/QUOTE]

Define sanity.

If you're looking for houses that are affordable to normal human beings then you're out of luck. California has a huge population that all wants homes and in spite of having a huge land mass, there really isn't a lot of space especially in socal. If anything, the housing prices are going to go up... which is good news if you own a home. Not so good if you're looking to buy.

On the bright side, if you've got a decent home in California, you can sell it and live like a king nearly anywhere else. You're one million bungalo in San Diego (provided it didn't burn...) would net you an amazing house in Columbus, OH. While we have snow here, we don't have wildfires.

Kinda complex question:

I already own a home, refinanced once when the rates really dropped (back in early 2002 I think, our rate is 5% fixed). My payments including taxes are now less than it costs to rent a decent one-bedroom around here. Everything is sweet so far.

However, my wife took a job with a long commute so we're thinking maybe we can sell this and move closer to her job (I can telecommute a few times a week). Because of the housing explosion, we have about 50% equity in our current home. But any house we'd look at now would definitely be more expensive than ours because the housing prices are higher as we get closer to her new job, and we want something a little bigger too.

Right now in Upstate NY the housing market is kinda crappy compared to two years ago. People are selling all around us and prices are dropping. Same thing is happening where we'd likely move.

My question is: Given our situation, would you say it's best to try such a move when the market sucks, when it's in transition, or when it's back up?

Strictly money-wise, it seems smarter to try something like this when the market sucks. We'd get less money for our house, but proportionally the new house should drop even more. However, I've also noticed that people let their houses go to shit when the market is crappy, meaning there will be a lot more move-in costs.

Any tips, stories, etc. are appreciated.

I moved the thread here because you are claiming to be knowledgable in these areas - hence you get put in to the "Area of Expertise." The general research forum is for questions if you need information about something. No big deal.

Also - all these areas are really interesting - but you will probably get better response to them if you break them down into seperate threads. Everybody opening this thread is expecting to read only about Mortgage Foreclosure and you have all this other cool stuff you can talk about.

These are just my suggestions...

[QUOTE=PGoutis01;1075243]I moved the thread here because you are claiming to be knowledgable in these areas - hence you get put in to the "Area of Expertise." The general research forum is for questions if you need information about something. No big deal.

Good point. Thanks.

i love this thread. brilliant idea.

i always figured that if you always pay your mortgage on time, then you'll find no trouble. we have a fixed rate and im pretty sure it's an fha--we're first time home buyers. at the end of two years, the payment goes down a hundred and seventy bucks.

i dont forsee any troubles heading our way, but it's nice to at least understand how so many people at once meet foreclosure. very discouraging.. we've paid our mortgage twice thus far and the price stayed exactly the same.
-kabol

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[QUOTE=jase;1075231]Kinda complex question:

I already own a home, refinanced once when the rates really dropped (back in early 2002 I think, our rate is 5% fixed). My payments including taxes are now less than it costs to rent a decent one-bedroom around here. Everything is sweet so far.[/quote]

That's great.

However, my wife took a job with a long commute so we're thinking maybe we can sell this and move closer to her job (I can telecommute a few times a week). Because of the housing explosion, we have about 50% equity in our current home. But any house we'd look at now would definitely be more expensive than ours because the housing prices are higher as we get closer to her new job, and we want something a little bigger too.

Right now in Upstate NY the housing market is kinda crappy compared to two years ago. People are selling all around us and prices are dropping. Same thing is happening where we'd likely move.

My question is: Given our situation, would you say it's best to try such a move when the market sucks, when it's in transition, or when it's back up?

Strictly money-wise, it seems smarter to try something like this when the market sucks. We'd get less money for our house, but proportionally the new house should drop even more. However, I've also noticed that people let their houses go to shit when the market is crappy, meaning there will be a lot more move-in costs.

Any tips, stories, etc. are appreciated.[/QUOTE]

My tips? Be sure about what you're getting into. If you think a house you're going to buy will devalue, then don't purchase it. Be sure first. I know a long commute is no fun (I've done my share), but it's FAR more fun than watching your money get flushed away. Be patient and see if you can find a good & trusted realtor in the area you want to be in... which is challenging, I know. Where people get into trouble is the rush into a loan that's not what they expected it to be for whatever reason. Do your homework (not implying that you wouldn't). Look at the market. See what housing prices are going to do in your best guestimation.

My father told me, "If it sounds too good to be true, it [I]is[/I] too good to be true. That may be the best advice I can offer.

That's about as specific as I can get without actually knowing where you're going to be or having some numbers to play with. No. I'm not asking you to share personal information online.

[QUOTE=JKabol;1075256]i love this thread. brilliant idea.

i always figured that if you always pay your mortgage on time, then you'll find no trouble. we have a fixed rate and im pretty sure it's an fha--we're first time home buyers. at the end of two years, the payment goes down a hundred and seventy bucks.

i dont forsee any troubles heading our way, but it's nice to at least understand how so many people at once meet foreclosure. very discouraging.. we've paid our mortgage twice thus far and the price stayed exactly the same.
-kabol[/QUOTE]

Let me begin by congratulating you on the purchase of a home Good for you.

The best advice I think I can impart to you is to be prepared for your mortgage payment to change. Does your lender pay taxes and insurance for you? Is that part of your monthly mortgage payment? Are you planning on doing a whole lot of cool things to your house? Adding a deck maybe? The things you do to add equity to your house are a good thing. Just be aware that your property taxes are based on the value of your property.

If your property value goes up, your property taxes will probably go up (depends on your local laws). Without getting too much into it, if you're [I]just barely[/I] making your mortgage payment, you have a problem. If you have some money left over then you're in good shape.

Hope I didn't rain on your parade too badly.

the reason we bought a home was a pretty simple reason: the rent on our townhouse went up from seven and a quarter to eight hundred a month. we were just affording it at seven and a quarter. so we traded a mortgage note for the rental note, and our payments are now less. yay. the man who sold us the house really tried to hardball us. we stuck to our guns and hit him back with a very lowball but enough to keep things moving. we met in the middle. we wouldnt have been able to outbid for the house had the man put a decent amount of work into it prior to putting it on the market:

we've replaced most of the switches and switch plates, and youd be surprised how many of the electrical outlets didnt work. the bathtub shower didnt work. we had to replace the flu above the water heater downstairs.. we're currently working on the outside drainage and the landscaping. much of the roof is entirely without gutter rails. in the spring, we hope to save enough skrill to replace the insulation and the house trim--we hate the lacquer look, too much paint over everything. it will be nothing like it is when we resale it in a few years.

our property value goes up based on the market. changing out the trim and adding gutters and installing a drainage system and sprinkler system into the yard, these are things thatll up the value of a house when we resell it, but none of that will be taken into consideration come tax time each year--which is handled through escroll anyway.
i want to say that we've done a pretty good job of handling ourselves in this crazy big fish take little fish pond. but everyone wants to say that.
/kabol

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Sounds like you've got a good start. If you run into trouble, PM me. While I promise I won't have a magic wand to wave it all away, I may be able to direct you in the direction of some help. Again, good luck.

Generally good advice anyway, I'd prefer not to share actual numbers of course so we can just leave it at that.

If you know about property taxes though, can you think of any reason the value of a house would double but the property taxes would go [I]down[/I]? Because I kid you not, this actually happened to us.

There's only one thing I can imagine that would have caused this. Property taxes are reassessed every 10 years. The assessment was done last year, before that it was in 1996. At that time, the owner of the home had finished the basement, moved down there, and began renting the other three rooms to Vassar college students. To this day, I still get junk mail for people with "Apartment B" or "Apartment D" on it. I still have the hook-ups for four separate phone lines and two separate cable lines sitting outside. The only thing that wasn't divided up was electricity.

My guess is that in 1996 when they reassessed the property, they taxed it as if it were a multi-apartment home rather than a single family home.

Anyway, when the assessment came back last year, I looked through the values and saw a lower yearly payment for both school and property taxes. Not by much, a few hundred combined, but still, it went *down*.

I was so certain that I had misread the form that I called to confirm it. The woman on the other line told me I must be reading it wrong, too, that they *never* go down. I read off all the figures and she just sighed and told me to be happy, because she's getting flooded with complaints all day and this is the first she'd heard of such a thing, but all the figures lined up and that it was in fact genuine.

Anyway, the multi-apartment thing is the only reason I can imagine this would have happened. What do you think?

I have a question for you about Migraines. How can you tell if you have Migraines or just headaches. I've been having headaches for all of my life off and on. I have the sensitivity to light thing. My headaches don't always feel the same or feel like they are in the same area all the time.

So, yeah, how do I know if I've got a Migraine or a regular headache and what is the difference?