One day you're in, and the next day you're out...

Last April I was in the Hospital for an appendectomy (ouch!) when I received a phone call from the front desk at my apartment building.

“Brickell Bitch, we have a process server here to see you.”

Oh shit. As it turned out, my landlord had stopped paying his mortgage in November 2008, about 3 months after my roommate and I had moved in. Suffice to say, we stopped paying him immediately in order to recoup our losses for the last month rent and security deposit that we had pre-paid upon move-in.

Fast forward to a year later… today, May 10, 2010. My roommate and I are still living in our apartment but at a VERY good rent. That’s the foreclosure process for you. The courts are so backed up with hundreds of foreclosures that they are not holding a sale for our apartment until the end of May. Hopefully I won’t be homeless!

Unfortunately, this is a very common story these days, especially in the Brickell area. Has this happened to you?

The silver lining in the housing situation is the great deals you can get now on condo purchases. Prices have dropped dramatically from $300 a sq. ft. at this time last year to $200 a sq. ft. in the Brickell area. Now is the time to buy.

On another note… I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day! Check out this picture of my proud Nonny reading her favorite granddaughters blog (and no, that’s not her beer)