Who are you People?

and why should I give you any money?

We're just ordinary people, we could be a relative, your next door neighbor, the people down the street, a coworker. We worked hard to buy a little piece of the 'American Dream' and like a lot of other people all across the country, we hit a few bumps along the way. That's how we ended up getting involved in a real estate trust. We didn't expect things to turn out like this. During our 2 years with the 'trust' we fully expected to be able to re-finance our way out of this. Instead, here we are again, in financial difficulty and struggling, not to make ends meet, but just to survive.

I can't single out any one thing that caused our difficulties, a lot of things combined create this situation. A big part of the problem is my continued unemployment. When my last employer went bankrupt in 2003 I was so sure I would have another job in a few weeks. In May of '03, I put my name on the (then 2 year) waiting list to get into the Applied Arts Program at Quinsigamond Community College, more as a whim than a serious consideration. As the months ground on and my self esteem was crushed under the weight of the 460+ resumes I sent out, which generated no response, the date my college classes would start loomed ever closer. I applied for jobs right up to the week before classes started. And, I would have taken a job over going to school, if one had presented itself.
Another part of the problem is that, the few manufacturing jobs left here in the U.S. don't pay very well. Ray has worked in manufacturing his whole life and really doesn't know anything else. Ten years ago his 40 hours of work brought home $282 a week. Today those same 40 hours bring home $387. Yes that is an increase of $5460 annually, but that adds up to an increase of $2.63 an hour or $105.00 a week. When you break it down it doesn't come close to catching up with the cost of living. How much has the average cost of living increased in the last ten years? Are you paying less than $100.00 a week for the same things today as ten years ago? Didn't think so. The price of gasoline in1999 averaged $1.10 a gallon compared to 2009's $2.64 here in MA. A difference of $1.54 or almost $25 more a week to fill a 16 gallon gas tank.

In 2003 when I lost my job, prices weren't quite so high and while we expected to have to cut back on things, we thought we'd be able to hang on until I found a job and or got through school. Things changed a lot faster than we expected and jobs became a lot tougher to find. The Associates Degree I received with 'Highest Honors' from 'Quinsig' that would have gotten me a job 2 years ago is now inadequate. The vast majority of graphics positions in the U.S. today require a Bachelors Degree. That's a minimum of 2 more years of college. I'm not giving up, I'll do what ever I have to to put myself in the best possible position to land a job that pays something close to a REAL living wage. To that end, I applied to, and was accepted at, the very prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah GA. I've had to put that idea on hold while I try to figure out where we;re going to live. I'm not afraid of working hard or fighting for what I want, but I also know that there are times when you need to ask for a helping hand. What little family we do have, and our close friends have all been helping out as much as they can but unfortunately right now, it's just not enough.
Worrying about how to pay for more college is bad enough, adding where and how we're going to live is something else again. Why don't we just pack up and move to GA? Well, I just finished at Quinsigamond in December and Ray does have his job here. At just shy of 60 years old finding a job someplace else with his limited skill set is, well, not very promising. Having both of us out of work wouldn't be much of a solution would it? While we have managed to save the house from sale by the Trust, we are still in a very precarious position. The housing market right now is very unstable and our chances of selling the house before the bank takes it and being able to walk away with some money to move with is questionable at best.
I'd still like to try to save our house, but even if I don't succeed, I'd like to get enough publicity through my actions to alert people to the pitfalls of getting involved with this kind of potentially predatory homeowners 'assistance' that we did.

So, I hope now that you know a little more about us, that you'd like to help us win this fight to save our house. If you don't want to make a donation, maybe you know someone who has a job for me. This link will take you to my Online Resume & Portfolio. (please note this link will take you to another site and you will have to navigate back here as there is no direct link)
Yes we've made some mistakes with our lives, who hasn't?
We didn't deserve to have this happen, nobody does.

Ray with Oliver