Fear does Motivate

Email to me from a mom that I will simply call B.

With your banks, if you get a lien, do they hold your draw, too? Are your banks pushy or do they get it? Will they accept shorts? Mine won't. No way in hell!
So, here's my thought. On my one that I can't pay the interest, I damn sure shouldn't be hiring any labor because I won't be able to pay for it. So the house will sit unfinished? Wow, what a double edged sword! Just the day to day, is really wearing on me! I haven't had a happy day in a long time. I don't have a switch that I can turn on and off and be miserable at work, then come home and be happy. I'm trying so hard to be a good MOM! My son is a senior and having the year of his life, and then there's me, a bitch most of the time. Nice memories huh?
I'm just afraid mostly about the personal repercussions....................I'd sell my house and downsize, but then what. Give it away? Not a chance in hell. So here we sit. It's scarier than I like to live.

My response to B:

B - I am sharing your episode and my response with a few others, I hope you don’t mind. Besides the fact you are a MOM there are no clues to expose your identity. That said, I am sort of gathering a few from the industry and trying to get some traction in telling a story, real life, as it happens. That takes testimony and fear. Yeah, I am back on the fear thing. Fear does motivate and I promise if you are scared of loosing something you will fight harder than if you are pacified. With the stories and my candid approach in letting others in our spot know how it hurts rather than hide it, I am finding some pretty good reason to push back. If I can convince a group of industry leaders to unite, and rewrite history we can save a lot of people from the butter knife episodes.

Liens. Ugly little buggers in a normal environment no one wants to have happen, it shows something did not happen the way it was supposed to and someone got hurt. In these times, they happen, and right now, even though someone is hurting, it does not make them bad enough for you to jump. Take them serious, but do not jump, you are not worth as much dead. Some of my best advisors are now helping me create little sayings. “It is just a piece of paper…it can’t eat you…” That should help, it did for me.
Remember, the subs that lien, are just protecting a right to collect what is due. If you can’t pay today, and you fight every day to live, you will take care of them, that will define your character and the people will remember you were the one that paid them back, others quit. The builders, subs, realtors, mortgage, banks, and anyone in our industry that end up admitting this is all of our problem to fix will be the ones you work with in the future. You are forging new relations daily.

Draw, yes, the banks will flex on the whole no draws if there is a lien. They too are using their collection tactics at their disposal, they don’t want you to do anything but play in an environment that will ultimately destroy you, and they just want to be the ones that scared you into one more payment, one more lien paid off, before they do what the book says and kick your ass. It is written. One of my recent communications with Bank X said “no draw, no pay, expect a lien, no pay, no work, no work, no finish, no finish, no sell, no sell, no pay off, no one wins.” This actually got me a draw, after 60 days of holding that amount we had many liens piled up, and we paid every one of them with the draw, along with 2 months of interest, that takes the loan out of default and also allows funding of draws. This is a good solution for the bank, and the bank does not have to report a loss or default in that quarter. Remember, they are still trying to bluff the shareholders things are not bad, otherwise they have to sell off stock and they begin to weaken on the balance sheet, pretty soon they have to admit they are sick too. Far be it for the ones that wanted to take you golfing and give you money and buy you gin and tonics 6 months ago actually suggest a solution. They are not offering solutions. My guess is you will not get to borrow from them for some time even if you play by the rules and survive, they will NOT lend to you for at least another year. The only thing they are doing is pushing good people off the edge. I will find a way to make an example of one bank that is pushing too hard, by pushing back, going for a weak balance sheet bank, finding its biggest customers, banding together to rewrite history. Once we get the point across we mean business we are going to continue on this warpath through each bank until we put everyone on the same psychological playing field. Once there, you are the customer, they are the bank, you borrow and make homes, you need money to do it, they need you to sell money, they need deposits to do that and if the share holders are privy of an uprising of the slaves, they may listen. Put your butter knife away, today is not your day to die.

Another thing some good mentors are telling me is when you get done with a hard day of battle, your kids and family are the true believers. Be good to them, they will admire your valor as a soldier. Even if you are wounded and dying, they will be behind you. If you fall in battle, but live, they will help you rebuild a castle, they have to, they are blood. Try to preserve the best years of that boy’s life, be good to him and create a good memory. The possessions will come and go, the money can come and go. Family, your sphere of influence, what you can salvage from your character and your credit, protect with your life. People will not remember the ones that give up and fade away, they will tell stories about the ones that figured out how to fight hard enough to preserve themselves. Now be a good soldier and find me a few who have some guts to fight and get them to me so I can gain some momentum. The faster we organize the quicker history can be corrected.

It is ok to be scared.