MARYSVILLE — Losing a house can happen in just a few weeks.
The story behind how it happens is different for each person who finds themselves faced with no other choice but to sell their home.
Nancy Reedy-Elstrom, 71, never thought she would be selling the house she has lived in for almost 11 years because she couldn’t afford her monthly mortgage payment. But now the retiree is in exactly that position.
A sign went up in her front yard and the home listing was posted in January: A short sale, a 1,342 square-foot rambler for $140,000. Reedy-Elstrom said she owes $222,000 on the home*. She stopped being able to afford her mortgage payments shortly after her husband, Florman “Bill” Elstrom died.
He never told her the retirement money he collected following his 30-year career as a shopkeeper at Boeing was scheduled to end after his death.
“I don’t know why he didn’t tell me,” Reedy-Elstrom said. “The retirement (money) when he died, it died with him. I would think that would be something very important to tell your wife. It was a very big surprise.”
It was a second marriage for both she and Elstrom, Reedy-Elstrom said. Their first spouses both died.
She remembers the day they met, in April 2001.
She was bowling at Strawberry Lanes Bowling alley on Columbia Avenue.
“I got a strike and squealed,” said Reedy-Elstrom. “He heard all this fussing and he couldn’t do anything until he met me.”
Four months later they were married and living in a three-bedroom house on 49th Drive NE.
Retired life was good for the couple. They enjoyed church together at Victory Foursquare Church. In 2006, they combined their religious beliefs and love for writing poetry when they published their collection of poetry, “Poems Inspired From God.” And at one point, they bowled well enough to win a year’s worth of free bowling at the alley.
As time went by, her husband became ill with Parkinsons and dementia. After a while, Reedy-Elstrom could not care for him on her own. He lived in a nursing home for two years before he died in September at age 75.
A month later, his grieving widow found out his monthly pension checks would stop. Without those, she couldn’t afford to keep up on her house payments.
She had enough in savings to pay the $1,700 mortgage in September and October. In November, she started to fall behind.
Her only option was to try to sell her home.
Real estate agents are helping her through the short sale process.
Friends help lift her spirits by driving her to attend Turning Point’s Sunday service. She’s slowly packing things she’s taking with her when she moves. She doesn’t know when her home will sell.
Reedy-Elstrom would like to move back into the same apartment building she lived in before she met her husband, by the Strawberry Lanes Bowling alley.
“I’m hoping somewhere along the way I get to continue bowling,” she said.
Although optimistic about her future, Reedy-Elstrom is still anxious for her ordeal to be over.
“Living here is pressure because I’m not able to have what I want,” she said. “It’s like losing your dream and that isn’t fun.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
Your story
If you and your family are currently going through a foreclosure, Herald photojournalist Sarah Weiser would like to hear your story. You can reach her at sweiser@heraldnet.com or 914-216-2154
*Correction, Feb. 6, 2012: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the amount owed on the mortgage.
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