Service Member Struggles with Plummeting Price of Bethlehem Home

Capt. Suzanne Keith, a member of the U.S. Army, bought her house in Bethlehem for $136,000.

When the housing market went sour, the value of the home dropped to $102,000, then fell to $88,000 when a property in the same neighborhood went into foreclosure. 

The Augusta Chronicle reports Keith, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer at Fort Gordon and cannot live farther than an hour away from her doctors, doesn’t want to do a short sale to unload the house because she can’t afford to pay the taxes.

“I’m stressing out,” Keith told the newspaper. “Not only am I dealing with cancer, but we’ve lost all this money on our property."

Keith's difficulty is a common enough problem, the newspaper reports, that Fort Gordon is planning to hold the Army’s first Military Mortgage Assistance Outreach event to bring together homeowners with their bank lenders for immediate assistance and information on the options available on their loans.

Is Keith's situation common? Do you own property in Barrow County for which the value has significantly dropped? Tell us in comments.