...Thursday September 30th 2010 will be our last day in our home of 20 years.
The bank could have worked with us;
The VA could have worked with us;
The court could have given us more time but in the end everyone passed the buck
and the system failed us.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
After the Auction
It's been a long time since my last post and I suppose I should have been more diligent about writing things here as it is supposed to be a blog. Well I've been busy with what little bit of a life I actually do have left and I neglected it more than I should have. For those of you following the sister site to this blog at Save My House, you'll know that we have finally lost the battle. On December 15th 2009 at 11 AM they auctioned off the house for $96,000 and change. It went back to the bank and then to the Veterans Administration because we had a VA loan. Boy was that a big mistake but that's a whole other story. Any way, the VA pays the bank all but $4,000 of the outrageous amount of fees and charges they associate with the foreclosure process and the VA now 'owns' the house. Here in Massachusetts there is a whole eviction process that has to take place after the foreclosure so we are still in the house...for the time being. Please do go to the link off this blog if you're being foreclosed and are seeking some information or help. E Mail me even if you don't live in MA as I can more than likely give you some info on what happens in your state. It has been my experience that very few agencies you call actually give you much information that is either accurate or useful.
Keep trying and try to keep your spirits up. I know it's tough but you can't let this get you down. Unfortunately we are not alone in this housing fiasco.
Cherie
Keep trying and try to keep your spirits up. I know it's tough but you can't let this get you down. Unfortunately we are not alone in this housing fiasco.
Cherie
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
I'm still NOT Joe the Plumber...
…I’m Cheryl the unemployed graphic designer. To date, no one has offered me any kind of a job, not even one as a correspondent. I don’t have to worry about what the tax rates are because I haven’t paid any taxes for years. I’m not worried about Wall Street or the stock market, personal savings, investments or retirement accounts because I no longer have any of those things. I’m not interested in restoring the banking industries ability to provide credit so people can finance cars, vacations or houses.
I gave up my car in 2004, haven’t been anywhere on vacation since 1962 and my home is in foreclosure and can be auctioned off with 30 days notice. Even though the bank, Citi-Mortgage, is allowing us to make partial payments, it’s a temporary solution that they could discontinue at any time. I’ve been out of work since 2003. I went back to college, polished my resume, studied potential employers, personalized cover letters and targeted my resume submissions. I’ve applied for over 700 jobs since the company I worked for went bankrupt and I’m still unemployed and the job outlook is getting worse by the hour.
Because I lost my job, we used up all our savings, we’re behind on all our bills and our credit rating is pitiful. Because I can’t find a job, we’re could lose our home and we can’t even afford the rent on a studio apartment. People keep telling me I’m doing all the right things, just keep trying hang on and keep a positive attitude. If I’m doing everything right, why is my life going so terribly wrong?
All the tax cuts and stimulus packages in the world aren’t going to help people who don’t have a job, whose credit rating is non-existent, who are on the verge of losing it all. Keeping people in their homes is vital to the recovery of the country. A place of residence is essential not only because it provides shelter and a sense of security but because you need an address for just about everything associated with day to day living. Have you ever tried to get a job without a home address? How about health care? File your tax returns? Get an unemployment check? I suppose it’s possible but the red tape could probably stretch from Boston to L.A. and back more than a few times.
The new administration and the banking industry need to come up with a plan to modify mortgages and existing home refinancing to include people who don’t have perfect credit. Who may have to make partial payments for the several years it may take for the employment situation to improve. Having a huge quantity of bank owned properties will only serve to prolong the recover process. They not only decrease the value of surrounding properties, they increase costs to the remaining residents through the higher cost of utilities, food and services. Please help us to Save Our Homes.
I gave up my car in 2004, haven’t been anywhere on vacation since 1962 and my home is in foreclosure and can be auctioned off with 30 days notice. Even though the bank, Citi-Mortgage, is allowing us to make partial payments, it’s a temporary solution that they could discontinue at any time. I’ve been out of work since 2003. I went back to college, polished my resume, studied potential employers, personalized cover letters and targeted my resume submissions. I’ve applied for over 700 jobs since the company I worked for went bankrupt and I’m still unemployed and the job outlook is getting worse by the hour.
Because I lost my job, we used up all our savings, we’re behind on all our bills and our credit rating is pitiful. Because I can’t find a job, we’re could lose our home and we can’t even afford the rent on a studio apartment. People keep telling me I’m doing all the right things, just keep trying hang on and keep a positive attitude. If I’m doing everything right, why is my life going so terribly wrong?
All the tax cuts and stimulus packages in the world aren’t going to help people who don’t have a job, whose credit rating is non-existent, who are on the verge of losing it all. Keeping people in their homes is vital to the recovery of the country. A place of residence is essential not only because it provides shelter and a sense of security but because you need an address for just about everything associated with day to day living. Have you ever tried to get a job without a home address? How about health care? File your tax returns? Get an unemployment check? I suppose it’s possible but the red tape could probably stretch from Boston to L.A. and back more than a few times.
The new administration and the banking industry need to come up with a plan to modify mortgages and existing home refinancing to include people who don’t have perfect credit. Who may have to make partial payments for the several years it may take for the employment situation to improve. Having a huge quantity of bank owned properties will only serve to prolong the recover process. They not only decrease the value of surrounding properties, they increase costs to the remaining residents through the higher cost of utilities, food and services. Please help us to Save Our Homes.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Save My House
The "Save My House" web site was originally created on June 26, 2007 in an effort to right a wrong. The site is now primarily focused on trying to keep the roof over our heads while I search for a job. Please click here if you want to help us out by making a Donation. This blog was created so I could post my thoughts, frustrations and information and also, so that people could post their remarks to us.
Ultimately, even more than catching up the payments we're behind or paying off
our mortgage, I want to find a job, I need a chance, and I would really like to be able to
pay my bills again. Here is a link to my resume if you, or some one you know is looking for a talented, experienced employee.
Another goal of the site is to help other people to find information that might help them in their own efforts to try to keep their home.
On Christmas Eve, Worcester Magazine wrote an article about us which appeared in their City Desk section. Titled "Brother, can you spare a dollar?" You can read the whole story from links on the documentation page on the web site.
Please DO...
... link to this blog and the web site.
Tell people about it and us.
Talk about it at work, school, at a party...
Get in touch with me if you're going through a foreclosure yourself.
Recommend this as a story to your local news papers and TV stations.
We can sure use the publicity to help spread the word not only about us, but about other people like us who are facing difficult times.
Ultimately, even more than catching up the payments we're behind or paying off
our mortgage, I want to find a job, I need a chance, and I would really like to be able to
pay my bills again. Here is a link to my resume if you, or some one you know is looking for a talented, experienced employee.
Another goal of the site is to help other people to find information that might help them in their own efforts to try to keep their home.
On Christmas Eve, Worcester Magazine wrote an article about us which appeared in their City Desk section. Titled "Brother, can you spare a dollar?" You can read the whole story from links on the documentation page on the web site.
Please DO...
... link to this blog and the web site.
Tell people about it and us.
Talk about it at work, school, at a party...
Get in touch with me if you're going through a foreclosure yourself.
Recommend this as a story to your local news papers and TV stations.
We can sure use the publicity to help spread the word not only about us, but about other people like us who are facing difficult times.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Funds for Foreclosures
This isn’t a joke. It isn’t a scam. It’s a request, an appeal if you want, for help.
The current economic crisis is not going to go away overnight. No one knows if we’ve hit bottom or when we will begin to see better financial times. Most of us already facing the loss of our homes are going to be joined by many more people who will be in the same situation very soon. Due to the huge number of foreclosures and the lack of any realistic help from either the banks or the government, we homeowners need to help ourselves.
Yes, I am asking for help for myself but I also want to help other people too. I know I can't help everyone who's going to lose their house but if I can help three other people save their house...well I think you can see where I’m going. If I help three people and they in turn help out three people we can change a lot of lives for the better.
What I’m proposing something very simple but very powerful. Give a dollar. That’s right 1 dollar, 4 quarters, 10 dimes, 20 nickels, 100 pennies, however you want to do it. get your friends to also give a dollar, your coworkers, church group, school, anybody. I’m going to be posting people in need of help on a web site titled Save My House located at http://www.house.phantazm.com/ along with information on how to donate to help them. If you want to get started right away get in touch with a local church or a group that deals with homelessness. I’ll have some of those listed on the website soon too. There are millions of people in America. At one dollar each, think of what we could accomplish.
Ultimately, my goal is to raise enough money, to not only make mortgage payments but to pay off some of the mortgages of homeowners who can no longer afford to make payments do to loss of income, medical issues or some other financial distress. Jobs are going to be very difficult to find until the economy starts to recover and people shouldn’t have to worry about the roof over their head along with how their going to survive a monetary disaster.
Don’t say “I can’t help” Skip the coffee or doughnut on the way to work one morning a week, collect 20 soda cans if your state has a deposit on them, pick the change out of the couch, pick up all the pennies you see on the sidewalk. Give a dollar just once if you like. Give a dollar a week if it makes you feel good to be helping people out. If you can, and want to, give more than a dollar, you’re amazing and thank you so much. Please pass this along; spearhead a local effort for people in your area. Just remember, it won’t help anyone, if no one knows about it.
Thank you
The current economic crisis is not going to go away overnight. No one knows if we’ve hit bottom or when we will begin to see better financial times. Most of us already facing the loss of our homes are going to be joined by many more people who will be in the same situation very soon. Due to the huge number of foreclosures and the lack of any realistic help from either the banks or the government, we homeowners need to help ourselves.
Yes, I am asking for help for myself but I also want to help other people too. I know I can't help everyone who's going to lose their house but if I can help three other people save their house...well I think you can see where I’m going. If I help three people and they in turn help out three people we can change a lot of lives for the better.
What I’m proposing something very simple but very powerful. Give a dollar. That’s right 1 dollar, 4 quarters, 10 dimes, 20 nickels, 100 pennies, however you want to do it. get your friends to also give a dollar, your coworkers, church group, school, anybody. I’m going to be posting people in need of help on a web site titled Save My House located at http://www.house.phantazm.com/ along with information on how to donate to help them. If you want to get started right away get in touch with a local church or a group that deals with homelessness. I’ll have some of those listed on the website soon too. There are millions of people in America. At one dollar each, think of what we could accomplish.
Ultimately, my goal is to raise enough money, to not only make mortgage payments but to pay off some of the mortgages of homeowners who can no longer afford to make payments do to loss of income, medical issues or some other financial distress. Jobs are going to be very difficult to find until the economy starts to recover and people shouldn’t have to worry about the roof over their head along with how their going to survive a monetary disaster.
Don’t say “I can’t help” Skip the coffee or doughnut on the way to work one morning a week, collect 20 soda cans if your state has a deposit on them, pick the change out of the couch, pick up all the pennies you see on the sidewalk. Give a dollar just once if you like. Give a dollar a week if it makes you feel good to be helping people out. If you can, and want to, give more than a dollar, you’re amazing and thank you so much. Please pass this along; spearhead a local effort for people in your area. Just remember, it won’t help anyone, if no one knows about it.
Thank you
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Bail Out Oversights
This applies to Wall Street, the Banking Industry, The Big 3 Car companies and a lot of others out there.
When I was growing up I remember hearing about mergers and take-overs that were stopped by laws here in the US against monopoly organizations. Today as an adult there seem to be very few individually owned companies; most are subsidiaries of huge corporations based in far off locations. My dad and his fellow workers were treated as respected assets who were essential to the success of the company where they worked. Those companies were for the most part owned and operated by people who lived in the same communities where their businesses operated. They knew their employees and the people in the towns where they did business. Today’s worker is treated with disrespect, even contempt because their needs and needs of the municipalities where they operate cut into the corporate/shareholders profits.
What happened to those laws which were supposed to keep companies from getting so large that they would cause financial collapse on not only a national scale but a global one?
What happened to corporate responsibility? Today companies do what ever it takes to make the most profits with the least expense up to and including cutting all the corners they can get away with. Outsourcing has been a tremendous boon, especially to manufacturing companies that have moved to countries where oversights are lax or even nonexistent.
Before ANY company in ANY industry gets ANY kind of assistance from the government, which, by the way, represents the American People, they should be required to sign agreements limiting the salaries of CEO’s and dividends paid to investors. These CEO’s made the bad decisions which brought their companies to the brink of disaster. These investors backed those CEO decisions and therefore should also suffer the consequences of investing in questionable practices. Why, if the government agrees to fund an attempted recovery, should there not be some oversight and penalties for the people who created this mess?
OK I can hear people now saying that this is America and we can’t regulate companies like that…True, if these companies want to take responsibility for and pay the price of their bad policies they are free to do what they want, on their own. However, if they want government help to keep their companies from failing, they should be required to agree to take drastic cuts in profits and put that money back into their own companies. Further, if they want help from the American people they should be required to use American workers on American soil for any product or service sold or provided to the American people. If they don’t like that let them find private funding for their bailouts.
When I was growing up I remember hearing about mergers and take-overs that were stopped by laws here in the US against monopoly organizations. Today as an adult there seem to be very few individually owned companies; most are subsidiaries of huge corporations based in far off locations. My dad and his fellow workers were treated as respected assets who were essential to the success of the company where they worked. Those companies were for the most part owned and operated by people who lived in the same communities where their businesses operated. They knew their employees and the people in the towns where they did business. Today’s worker is treated with disrespect, even contempt because their needs and needs of the municipalities where they operate cut into the corporate/shareholders profits.
What happened to those laws which were supposed to keep companies from getting so large that they would cause financial collapse on not only a national scale but a global one?
What happened to corporate responsibility? Today companies do what ever it takes to make the most profits with the least expense up to and including cutting all the corners they can get away with. Outsourcing has been a tremendous boon, especially to manufacturing companies that have moved to countries where oversights are lax or even nonexistent.
Before ANY company in ANY industry gets ANY kind of assistance from the government, which, by the way, represents the American People, they should be required to sign agreements limiting the salaries of CEO’s and dividends paid to investors. These CEO’s made the bad decisions which brought their companies to the brink of disaster. These investors backed those CEO decisions and therefore should also suffer the consequences of investing in questionable practices. Why, if the government agrees to fund an attempted recovery, should there not be some oversight and penalties for the people who created this mess?
OK I can hear people now saying that this is America and we can’t regulate companies like that…True, if these companies want to take responsibility for and pay the price of their bad policies they are free to do what they want, on their own. However, if they want government help to keep their companies from failing, they should be required to agree to take drastic cuts in profits and put that money back into their own companies. Further, if they want help from the American people they should be required to use American workers on American soil for any product or service sold or provided to the American people. If they don’t like that let them find private funding for their bailouts.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Reprieve !
To everyone following our story, We have gotten a temporary reprieve on the auction of our home. It has been postponed to December 5th while our paperwork is being reviewed for yet another new program. To anyone out there in a similar situation, keep looking for help, keep trying, and don’t give up. I can’t say you’ll be able to save your house but don’t give up. As to our own house, we have 32 days to work a miracle…
Monday, October 20, 2008
Proposal for Alternative Mortgage
Proposal for Alternative Mortgage
I would like to propose the following idea as a means to allay some foreclosures, keep people in their homes and ultimately help not only the Wall Street economy but also the people on Main Street America. The Alternative Mortgage would be available to people who don’t qualify for, and or in addition to, the HUD, Hope for Homeowners and other programs.
I believe this plan would be most beneficial to all parties by allowing for the maximum retention of homes by homeowners, maintaining home values in municipalities and minimizing losses to the banking/mortgage industry. The Alternative Mortgage would work something like this:
1. Starting with the date of signing a modification the past due Principal, Interest, (and if applicable) Home Owners Insurance and Property Taxes, be added to the end of the existing Mortgage extending its term. Depending on the financial situation of the homeowner the bank should be required to cede attorney and other associated foreclosure fees.
2. To facilitate keeping people who are in temporary financial crisis in their homes the mortgage payment should be based on a percentage of the household income. Income to be determined based on total household Federal tax returns and reviewed annually. (children living at home under a certain age and or still in college should be exempt unless particular circumstances prevail) This would allow banks to adjust mortgage payments as the home owner becomes financially stable again.
3. In the event of sale of the property or re-financing the total amount of principal and interest due on the reformed mortgage would be due and payable as in the due on sale clause of a regular mortgage.
Example: The homeowners can’t afford their mortgage payments due to the loss of income of one of the household members. They fall behind on their mortgage by 6 months. Their home is worth the same or more than the original mortgage. They agree to pay their mortgage company 25-33% of their after tax income as a mortgage payment while the unemployed person finds work. Their current arrears less late fees, attorney fees and foreclosure fees are added to the end of their mortgage extending the term by 6 months. For the period they maintain the alternative mortgage they provide their mortgage holder with copies of their Federal tax returns for annual review. Their mortgage payment can then be adjusted as their income stabilizes, up to but not more than, the amount of their original mortgage payment. (original mortgage payment with property taxes and insurance $1000.00, Reformed/modified mortgage payment @ 25% of homeowners household income, $750.00. per month with 9 months added to the term of the original mortgage, 6 - $1000 payments to cover the 6 missed payments and 12 - $250 payments to cover the 12 income adjusted payments. At the first annual review the homeowner has sufficient income to resume regular payments of $1000 and the reformed mortgage reverts to a regular mortgage with the additional 9 months added to make up the missed and adjusted payments.)
This would allow the economy to stabilize, people to keep their homes and banks to incur less financial costs than those associated with traditional foreclosures. This would also prevent further decline in the housing market helping to slow the depreciation of house values.
I would like to propose the following idea as a means to allay some foreclosures, keep people in their homes and ultimately help not only the Wall Street economy but also the people on Main Street America. The Alternative Mortgage would be available to people who don’t qualify for, and or in addition to, the HUD, Hope for Homeowners and other programs.
I believe this plan would be most beneficial to all parties by allowing for the maximum retention of homes by homeowners, maintaining home values in municipalities and minimizing losses to the banking/mortgage industry. The Alternative Mortgage would work something like this:
1. Starting with the date of signing a modification the past due Principal, Interest, (and if applicable) Home Owners Insurance and Property Taxes, be added to the end of the existing Mortgage extending its term. Depending on the financial situation of the homeowner the bank should be required to cede attorney and other associated foreclosure fees.
2. To facilitate keeping people who are in temporary financial crisis in their homes the mortgage payment should be based on a percentage of the household income. Income to be determined based on total household Federal tax returns and reviewed annually. (children living at home under a certain age and or still in college should be exempt unless particular circumstances prevail) This would allow banks to adjust mortgage payments as the home owner becomes financially stable again.
3. In the event of sale of the property or re-financing the total amount of principal and interest due on the reformed mortgage would be due and payable as in the due on sale clause of a regular mortgage.
Example: The homeowners can’t afford their mortgage payments due to the loss of income of one of the household members. They fall behind on their mortgage by 6 months. Their home is worth the same or more than the original mortgage. They agree to pay their mortgage company 25-33% of their after tax income as a mortgage payment while the unemployed person finds work. Their current arrears less late fees, attorney fees and foreclosure fees are added to the end of their mortgage extending the term by 6 months. For the period they maintain the alternative mortgage they provide their mortgage holder with copies of their Federal tax returns for annual review. Their mortgage payment can then be adjusted as their income stabilizes, up to but not more than, the amount of their original mortgage payment. (original mortgage payment with property taxes and insurance $1000.00, Reformed/modified mortgage payment @ 25% of homeowners household income, $750.00. per month with 9 months added to the term of the original mortgage, 6 - $1000 payments to cover the 6 missed payments and 12 - $250 payments to cover the 12 income adjusted payments. At the first annual review the homeowner has sufficient income to resume regular payments of $1000 and the reformed mortgage reverts to a regular mortgage with the additional 9 months added to make up the missed and adjusted payments.)
This would allow the economy to stabilize, people to keep their homes and banks to incur less financial costs than those associated with traditional foreclosures. This would also prevent further decline in the housing market helping to slow the depreciation of house values.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Hours to work a miracle
I wrote this because I’m angry and frustrated. Angry because the people we elected to represent us in decision making matters, people who are supposed to be more knowledgeable than we ordinary citizens, dropped the ball big time and they did it more than once. I’m frustrated because no matter what I do to try to get my life back on track, circumstances beyond my control make things go horribly wrong and as the whole world is getting to know right now, it’s very disturbing to find that you really have no control over your own life.
…I have only a few hours to work a miracle.
That’s when our house is due to go up for auction in a foreclosure sale.
I know we aren’t alone; there are thousands of us out here losing our homes. Some people will be lucky, they’ll be able to work something out with their lender or take advantage of some home save program. Either way it requires you to have enough income to afford the plan.
What happens if you don’t make enough money?
Nobody seems to be addressing this issue.
When we bought our house in 2000 for $72,000.00 both my husband and I were working.
In 2003 when the company I worked for went bankrupt we lost 2/3 of our income overnight. Between April of ‘03 to present, with the exception of 2 ½ years spent going to college full time, I’ve applied for over 700 unique jobs. I’ve been asked to interview by 7 of those companies, 4 since I finished school. The last interview I went on had over 170 applicants for a single position. Even so, it seemed the most promising opportunity to date. They just informed me that they decided to hold off hiring because of the economy but they’re going to hold on to my application for when things get better. By then it will probably be too late for us. With the current financial crisis, jobs are going to be even tougher to find. I’m really beginning to feel like I’d have a better chance of winning the lottery than of landing a job. How are we supposed to save our house when we don’t have enough income for anyone to consider working with us?
Hope Now, Hope for Homeowners, workable solutions…none of them is going to do any good if you can’t make the payments.
Unlike Wall Street, there’s no bail out on our horizon, in fact there doesn’t seem to be any viable solution at all, at least not anything that can be done in less than one days time.
We have no place to go. We can’t afford an apartment. We have no family who can take us in. We don’t have any children, are too old, too young, don’t make enough money, make too much money. Waiting lists for subsidized housing are years long.
I don’t want one more person to tell me they feel sorry but they can’t help us.
I’d like to find someone who actually cares. Someone who can tell me where to find some real help. Someone who can tell me where all the jobs I keep hearing are out there, have gone.
Does anybody really care?
I am 53 years old. I am permanently partially disabled with arthritis in both knees.
What that means is I can’t do anything that requires long periods of standing, walking, lifting or carrying and I’m not disabled enough to get SSI or disability. I really don’t want disability anyway; it really doesn’t pay all that much and I want more from life than just survival. I have more years of experience than I care to think about, but experience doesn’t mean much any more. I graduated college with highest honors, Phi Theta Kappa. But I only have an Associates Degree and I learned very quickly that that doesn’t mean much either. I’d like to get a Bachelors Degree but Where am I supposed to live and how am I supposed to pay for school if I can’t get a job? Aside from these last 5 years, I’ve been working since I was 14; sometimes 2 jobs; not having a job makes me feel really miserable.
My husband just turned 59. He works in a small factory plating wire for the music industry. In 1998 he was making $9.19 an hour. His gross pay was $367.60. Gas was $1.25 a gallon and heating oil was $0.89. It cost $15.00 to fill up the pick up and $244.75 to fill the oil tank. Today he makes $11.90 an hour, grosses $476.00 a week; it costs $45.00 to fill the truck and $1050.00 to fill the oil tank. Over the ten year period from 1998 to 2008 my husbands pay has increased by less than 30%. The price of gas has gone up by more than 200% and heating oil has risen by more than 325%. This doesn’t even address the rise in the cost of food, clothing, housing services and utilities.
Is it just me or does anyone else see something wrong with the cost to income ratio?
…I have only a few hours to work a miracle.
That’s when our house is due to go up for auction in a foreclosure sale.
I know we aren’t alone; there are thousands of us out here losing our homes. Some people will be lucky, they’ll be able to work something out with their lender or take advantage of some home save program. Either way it requires you to have enough income to afford the plan.
What happens if you don’t make enough money?
Nobody seems to be addressing this issue.
When we bought our house in 2000 for $72,000.00 both my husband and I were working.
In 2003 when the company I worked for went bankrupt we lost 2/3 of our income overnight. Between April of ‘03 to present, with the exception of 2 ½ years spent going to college full time, I’ve applied for over 700 unique jobs. I’ve been asked to interview by 7 of those companies, 4 since I finished school. The last interview I went on had over 170 applicants for a single position. Even so, it seemed the most promising opportunity to date. They just informed me that they decided to hold off hiring because of the economy but they’re going to hold on to my application for when things get better. By then it will probably be too late for us. With the current financial crisis, jobs are going to be even tougher to find. I’m really beginning to feel like I’d have a better chance of winning the lottery than of landing a job. How are we supposed to save our house when we don’t have enough income for anyone to consider working with us?
Hope Now, Hope for Homeowners, workable solutions…none of them is going to do any good if you can’t make the payments.
Unlike Wall Street, there’s no bail out on our horizon, in fact there doesn’t seem to be any viable solution at all, at least not anything that can be done in less than one days time.
We have no place to go. We can’t afford an apartment. We have no family who can take us in. We don’t have any children, are too old, too young, don’t make enough money, make too much money. Waiting lists for subsidized housing are years long.
I don’t want one more person to tell me they feel sorry but they can’t help us.
I’d like to find someone who actually cares. Someone who can tell me where to find some real help. Someone who can tell me where all the jobs I keep hearing are out there, have gone.
Does anybody really care?
I am 53 years old. I am permanently partially disabled with arthritis in both knees.
What that means is I can’t do anything that requires long periods of standing, walking, lifting or carrying and I’m not disabled enough to get SSI or disability. I really don’t want disability anyway; it really doesn’t pay all that much and I want more from life than just survival. I have more years of experience than I care to think about, but experience doesn’t mean much any more. I graduated college with highest honors, Phi Theta Kappa. But I only have an Associates Degree and I learned very quickly that that doesn’t mean much either. I’d like to get a Bachelors Degree but Where am I supposed to live and how am I supposed to pay for school if I can’t get a job? Aside from these last 5 years, I’ve been working since I was 14; sometimes 2 jobs; not having a job makes me feel really miserable.
My husband just turned 59. He works in a small factory plating wire for the music industry. In 1998 he was making $9.19 an hour. His gross pay was $367.60. Gas was $1.25 a gallon and heating oil was $0.89. It cost $15.00 to fill up the pick up and $244.75 to fill the oil tank. Today he makes $11.90 an hour, grosses $476.00 a week; it costs $45.00 to fill the truck and $1050.00 to fill the oil tank. Over the ten year period from 1998 to 2008 my husbands pay has increased by less than 30%. The price of gas has gone up by more than 200% and heating oil has risen by more than 325%. This doesn’t even address the rise in the cost of food, clothing, housing services and utilities.
Is it just me or does anyone else see something wrong with the cost to income ratio?
Friday, October 3, 2008
Wall Street Bail Out
I tried to call CSPAN today about the bail out bill.
I wanted to tell them that my husband and I are both very much against it.
I did call our congressman.
I look at this situation on a much smaller scale by comparing it to our own personal situation.
My husband and I are facing the loss of our home to foreclosure.
We didn’t buy a big expensive house we couldn’t afford.
We were both working and we bought a little house for $72,000.
We didn’t get into this situation over night. I lost my job when my work place went bankrupt in 2003.
We used up all our savings, retirement, everything we could think of to save our home.
I went back to college and got a degree to improve my marketability.
I still don’t have a job.
If someone came in today and paid off our arrears it might help us today but not long term.
The bottom line is, unless we increase our income to at least our previous level, (actually with the way prices are going up we need a lot more) we’ll end up in the same situation in a very short time. If and when I manage to find a job it’s going to take a long time to get out of hole we’re in.
Wall St. didn’t get in this mess over night.
They made bad choices.
Buying up their bad paper today isn’t going to resolve this problem any more than ours would be solved by bailing us out of our immediate problem.
The underlying causes need to be identified and addressed.
A means of resolving the issues on a long term basis needs to be deliberately determined in a calm informed way.
Decisions made in panic and fear, are seldom reliable lasting solutions.
Our economy is in crisis.
Providing people with more credit without the means to repay that credit is not a sound policy.
People need jobs, I am one of many thousands of long term unemployed people, who no longer gets counted in unemployment polls.
We don’t pay taxes because we don’t have any income.
We don’t buy anything because we don’t have any income.
I and others like me, want to work, We want jobs that pay a LIVING WAGE so that we can buy cars, houses, pay for continuing education…
Without a strong foundation, a building will collapse.
Working people are the foundation of the United States economy.
Over the last couple of decades we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas.
We’ve frozen wages, cut wages and allowed prices to increase.
Our foundation is not only weak, we’ve taken a wrecking ball to it and now we’re trying to add a few more floors to the building it’s trying to support.
That we need to do something is obvious but make it about resolving the actual problem.
Paying off our mortgage isn’t going to resolve our problem and bailing out wall street isn’t going to resolve the problems in our country.
I wanted to tell them that my husband and I are both very much against it.
I did call our congressman.
I look at this situation on a much smaller scale by comparing it to our own personal situation.
My husband and I are facing the loss of our home to foreclosure.
We didn’t buy a big expensive house we couldn’t afford.
We were both working and we bought a little house for $72,000.
We didn’t get into this situation over night. I lost my job when my work place went bankrupt in 2003.
We used up all our savings, retirement, everything we could think of to save our home.
I went back to college and got a degree to improve my marketability.
I still don’t have a job.
If someone came in today and paid off our arrears it might help us today but not long term.
The bottom line is, unless we increase our income to at least our previous level, (actually with the way prices are going up we need a lot more) we’ll end up in the same situation in a very short time. If and when I manage to find a job it’s going to take a long time to get out of hole we’re in.
Wall St. didn’t get in this mess over night.
They made bad choices.
Buying up their bad paper today isn’t going to resolve this problem any more than ours would be solved by bailing us out of our immediate problem.
The underlying causes need to be identified and addressed.
A means of resolving the issues on a long term basis needs to be deliberately determined in a calm informed way.
Decisions made in panic and fear, are seldom reliable lasting solutions.
Our economy is in crisis.
Providing people with more credit without the means to repay that credit is not a sound policy.
People need jobs, I am one of many thousands of long term unemployed people, who no longer gets counted in unemployment polls.
We don’t pay taxes because we don’t have any income.
We don’t buy anything because we don’t have any income.
I and others like me, want to work, We want jobs that pay a LIVING WAGE so that we can buy cars, houses, pay for continuing education…
Without a strong foundation, a building will collapse.
Working people are the foundation of the United States economy.
Over the last couple of decades we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas.
We’ve frozen wages, cut wages and allowed prices to increase.
Our foundation is not only weak, we’ve taken a wrecking ball to it and now we’re trying to add a few more floors to the building it’s trying to support.
That we need to do something is obvious but make it about resolving the actual problem.
Paying off our mortgage isn’t going to resolve our problem and bailing out wall street isn’t going to resolve the problems in our country.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Just Ranting
For most people having their home foreclosed on is a violation of their life, it’s not unlike being broken into or personally assaulted. Unlike selling a house, which is a conscious decision you plan for, often look forward to because it can mean a positive change in your life. Our society doesn’t make the trauma any less poignant. Loss is synonymous with defeat and failure, it implies that who ever loses is somehow at fault because they’re weak or somehow flawed in what they do or think. So here you are, average American, and you decide to buy a home. This isn’t just someplace to live, like an apartment, you invest in it, and it becomes part of you and your family. You decorate it inside and out and it becomes an extension of your collective personalities. This is the place you come to relax, a safe haven from the world, it’s like a trusted friend. When you bought the house you and your significant other (if you have one) sat down went over your finances and determined that you could afford it. After all, you’ve got a good job with a solid company and as you gain experience your value as an employee will increase…won’t it? A couple years down the road your wife’s work relocates but she can still get there even though it means more than twice the travel. Neither one of you gets the expected pay raises you were counting on to offset the rising cost of food, gas, property taxes, the list goes on. Then the company you work for does layoffs, or moves over seas or closes altogether. Still, you’re not worried, after all, you’ve got years of experience a great resume, you’ll have another position in no time. Six months later when your unemployment runs out and you’ve sent out a couple hundred resumes you’re really worried. One thing leads to another and you start getting nasty letters from the bill collectors, utilities and worst of all, the mortgage company. You try to talk to people and you get some extra time. But still no job. Now you’re seriously behind, you stop everything you can live without, get rid of the second car, use up your 401K. Still no job. The folks at the mortgage company tell you unless you do something they’re going to foreclose. You ask what you can do and they tell you that your only option is a work out. You need to come up with a large lump sum and make your regular mortgage payment and an additional amount over and above that for a period of time. But you can’t come up with the lump sum and you weren’t able to make a regular mortgage payment, never mind additional money. Agencies that are supposed to be there to help homeowners keep telling you to sell but with the economy and the housing market being the way it is chances are you won’t make a sale before you lose the house. The housing market has collapsed and thousands of homes are on the market either for sale, bank owned or in foreclosure. The people you talk to want to know what happened. Why didn’t you plan better? Why didn’t you have more money saved? Why don’t you have a job? Can't you just borrow from a friend or relative? They have jobs, they have homes, and they can pay their bills. You feel that somehow, you haven’t done everything you could, you’ve failed and these people must be smarter, stronger, better than you.
Guess what? They aren’t. It just hasn’t happened to them.
I don’t know anyone who asks to have the company they work for close or move off shore or burn to the ground.
No one asks to have a family member get ill and use up all their savings on medical treatment.
They don’t ask for skyrocketing costs, stagnant pays, or lack of opportunity.
It’s very easy when you have a job, to tell someone who’s looking for work what they’re doing wrong.
It’s very easy when you have a home to go to, to tell people who are facing homelessness where they failed and to just move on.
It’s very easy when your life hasn’t been turned upside down, to tell a person whose reality has been shattered, that this is really a great opportunity to get a fresh start.
This is a traumatic event; it’s not unlike being the victim of a fire, flood or some other disaster. Some people lose everything, some escape with bits and pieces of their lives. But it isn’t the same. Fires, floods, tornados…people can’t prevent them…people who loses their houses to foreclosure are made to feel like they could have done something but simply chose not to.
Maybe it’s time we choose to change the way we think.
Guess what? They aren’t. It just hasn’t happened to them.
I don’t know anyone who asks to have the company they work for close or move off shore or burn to the ground.
No one asks to have a family member get ill and use up all their savings on medical treatment.
They don’t ask for skyrocketing costs, stagnant pays, or lack of opportunity.
It’s very easy when you have a job, to tell someone who’s looking for work what they’re doing wrong.
It’s very easy when you have a home to go to, to tell people who are facing homelessness where they failed and to just move on.
It’s very easy when your life hasn’t been turned upside down, to tell a person whose reality has been shattered, that this is really a great opportunity to get a fresh start.
This is a traumatic event; it’s not unlike being the victim of a fire, flood or some other disaster. Some people lose everything, some escape with bits and pieces of their lives. But it isn’t the same. Fires, floods, tornados…people can’t prevent them…people who loses their houses to foreclosure are made to feel like they could have done something but simply chose not to.
Maybe it’s time we choose to change the way we think.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Regarding Anonymous Comments
As of today I will NOT publish any comments from anonymous posters. I'm not ashamed to put my name on what I write. I welcome your views and opinions even if they differ from or go against mine but I don't think it's too much to ask that you put your name on those thoughts so I and others reading them know who you are. If you can't sign your posts then please either keep them to yourself or start your own blog.
Monday, August 18, 2008
In Response to Anonymous
Dear Anonymous
Regarding your response to my last posting...and I apologize for the delay in posting it and this reply as well.
I am obviously neither sophisticated nor a scam artist. If I was I wouldn’t be in this situation. I do at least have the integrity and courage to put my name on what I publish. I AM posting your comments because you are entitled to your opinion and people reading this have a right to know that there are other points of view in the world. I freely admit on the house site and here that my husband and I HAVE made mistakes. I was NOT ‘taken out of bankruptcy’ I had the bankruptcy discharged. By the way we had very little unsecured debt, so we weren’t living in the lap of luxury. The exact amount of money involved in the ‘legitimate program’ was not disclosed and is incorrect. We did have the option of selling our house back in 2005 at which time it was worth quite a bit more and in a much more secure market. By the way, the person who invested in our equity did so by way of an “Uninsured investment” which had no FDIC or bank guaranty of loss and because he or she would be get almost 100% return on their “investment” at the end of those 2 years. We did “Get back on our feet” and tried to ‘finance’ our way out of the “Investment” which, by the way, had we been successful would have seen said investor end up with a tidy profit. BUT, because of the somewhat questionable way the ‘legitimate program’ was managing the title to our property, no bank or finance company would lend us money. The reason being, as we were finally told on our fifth attempt. “No one is going to lend you money on that house…you don’t own it!”
No, I don’t feel ‘sorry’ for the person who "bought a piece of our homes equity." The person knew they were taking a substantial financial risk but with the promise of quick turn over and significant profit which was their temptation. So it seems that they were also suckered in by the ‘legitimate program’ run by people who make their money by pulling in both homeowners in trouble and investors looking for easy money.
Also…I’m not the only person in Massachusetts who was involved in this ‘legitimate program.’ There were many others who lost their houses when the ‘legitimate program’ sold them and got not only the amount owed to the ‘investor’ (Who in these cases made their 100% profit) but a tidy profit from the sale for themselves. There is and was no “big payday” for us. All we wanted was to get the title to the house back and to warn people about becoming involved with such “legitimate programs” unless they are aware of ALL of the terms of the programs. The “legitimate program” we were involved with WAS determined by the State Attorney General to be in violation of MGL 940 CMR 25.00.
Our house isn’t a huge, hundreds of thousands of dollars house. It’s a small house in a working class neighborhood with a city lot worth less than $100K in this market. In other words a little old house on about 1/10th of an acre of land, actually 50ft x 90ft plot of land. As to hard working people, my husband and I are. He’s been working at the same factory for over 12 years. I worked my way up the ladder at my last job and have been working since I was 14. I never expected to be out of work this long. I never expected to be out of work period. I even followed the advice of the DET and went back to school but since I finished classes in December of 2007 have not found a position yet. I’ve at least had interviews but no job yet. Yes, we’ve made bad choices; one of them was becoming involved with this ‘legitimate program.’ We have to take responsibility for signing papers that we didn’t fully comprehend. (Then again all the attorneys we spoke to including the ones who finally got our title back, couldn’t understand them either and said they seem to have been written to be intentionally confusing and misleading) That mistake taught us a hard lesson. Ah…but can’t the same be said for our investor? Did they not knowingly take a risk by investing? Isn’t our investor also responsible for his or her own reality which he or she CHOSE to create? Are they any more deserving of sympathy because of their involvement? They did lose money on this one investment…but isn’t that the point of high risk investment? Taking a risk on something with the potential of above market yield? They did lose some money; and we can still lose our home unless we manage to change our situation, even if that means asking others for help. We don’t want anyone’s sympathy, we don’t want a free ride, we want what any self respecting individual does, an opportunity.
Yes, with any luck the REAL truth will come out, if someone has the guts to say something…and Karma usually has very little to do with it.
Regarding your response to my last posting...and I apologize for the delay in posting it and this reply as well.
I am obviously neither sophisticated nor a scam artist. If I was I wouldn’t be in this situation. I do at least have the integrity and courage to put my name on what I publish. I AM posting your comments because you are entitled to your opinion and people reading this have a right to know that there are other points of view in the world. I freely admit on the house site and here that my husband and I HAVE made mistakes. I was NOT ‘taken out of bankruptcy’ I had the bankruptcy discharged. By the way we had very little unsecured debt, so we weren’t living in the lap of luxury. The exact amount of money involved in the ‘legitimate program’ was not disclosed and is incorrect. We did have the option of selling our house back in 2005 at which time it was worth quite a bit more and in a much more secure market. By the way, the person who invested in our equity did so by way of an “Uninsured investment” which had no FDIC or bank guaranty of loss and because he or she would be get almost 100% return on their “investment” at the end of those 2 years. We did “Get back on our feet” and tried to ‘finance’ our way out of the “Investment” which, by the way, had we been successful would have seen said investor end up with a tidy profit. BUT, because of the somewhat questionable way the ‘legitimate program’ was managing the title to our property, no bank or finance company would lend us money. The reason being, as we were finally told on our fifth attempt. “No one is going to lend you money on that house…you don’t own it!”
No, I don’t feel ‘sorry’ for the person who "bought a piece of our homes equity." The person knew they were taking a substantial financial risk but with the promise of quick turn over and significant profit which was their temptation. So it seems that they were also suckered in by the ‘legitimate program’ run by people who make their money by pulling in both homeowners in trouble and investors looking for easy money.
Also…I’m not the only person in Massachusetts who was involved in this ‘legitimate program.’ There were many others who lost their houses when the ‘legitimate program’ sold them and got not only the amount owed to the ‘investor’ (Who in these cases made their 100% profit) but a tidy profit from the sale for themselves. There is and was no “big payday” for us. All we wanted was to get the title to the house back and to warn people about becoming involved with such “legitimate programs” unless they are aware of ALL of the terms of the programs. The “legitimate program” we were involved with WAS determined by the State Attorney General to be in violation of MGL 940 CMR 25.00.
Our house isn’t a huge, hundreds of thousands of dollars house. It’s a small house in a working class neighborhood with a city lot worth less than $100K in this market. In other words a little old house on about 1/10th of an acre of land, actually 50ft x 90ft plot of land. As to hard working people, my husband and I are. He’s been working at the same factory for over 12 years. I worked my way up the ladder at my last job and have been working since I was 14. I never expected to be out of work this long. I never expected to be out of work period. I even followed the advice of the DET and went back to school but since I finished classes in December of 2007 have not found a position yet. I’ve at least had interviews but no job yet. Yes, we’ve made bad choices; one of them was becoming involved with this ‘legitimate program.’ We have to take responsibility for signing papers that we didn’t fully comprehend. (Then again all the attorneys we spoke to including the ones who finally got our title back, couldn’t understand them either and said they seem to have been written to be intentionally confusing and misleading) That mistake taught us a hard lesson. Ah…but can’t the same be said for our investor? Did they not knowingly take a risk by investing? Isn’t our investor also responsible for his or her own reality which he or she CHOSE to create? Are they any more deserving of sympathy because of their involvement? They did lose money on this one investment…but isn’t that the point of high risk investment? Taking a risk on something with the potential of above market yield? They did lose some money; and we can still lose our home unless we manage to change our situation, even if that means asking others for help. We don’t want anyone’s sympathy, we don’t want a free ride, we want what any self respecting individual does, an opportunity.
Yes, with any luck the REAL truth will come out, if someone has the guts to say something…and Karma usually has very little to do with it.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Looking for a Miracle
This is the time of year when strange and wonderful things happen. A time for magic and miracles, when the extraordinary becomes the ordinary.
Over the last few months we have been trying desperately to find some way to save our home. While finishing the last of the college courses for my Associates Degree, I’ve been applying for jobs. We’ve got a group of Attorneys working on a law suit and trying to get the title to the house back. I even set up a web site to try to collect enough money to buy the house back from the people trying to sell it out from under us. Unfortunately, as the holidays hurtle towards us, we still have no answers. Getting through school has taken way to long, jobs are still way to scarce, the law works way too slowly and I couldn’t even find 1,000 people willing to donate a dollar each to us, never mind the 165,000 we needed to buy the house back. Christmas is just days away; people are rushing around shopping, going to parties, saying Happy Holidays. My husband and I haven’t had a happy holiday since 2002, when I had a job.
To the hand full of people who stepped up to help us by donating money, thank you so much. You have no Idea how much it means.
To the two media sources, TV 38 and WCCA TV 13, who saw fit to publicize our plight, thank you, for having the integrity to report news, not script it.
To the media sources, celebrities, corporations, government officials and individuals I appealed to over those months, who chose to ignore us and our plight, I sincerely hope that you, your friends, families and loved ones never find themselves in the same kind of untenable situation. Or, if any of you do, that you find more sympathetic and generous people than we did. (If you read any of the letters or information I sent and posted you will know that we aren’t just losing our home in an ordinary foreclosure.)
Our house, our home, is set to be auctioned off on January 9th 2008.
Partly because of those same holidays, I just don’t see any way out of this dilemma, there isn’t enough time. The Attorneys would have to get the title to the house back, I’d have to get a good paying job and we’d have to work something out with the bank in just over ten business days. Things just don’t happen that quickly in our modern, fast paced world. Sadly, fifty or so years ago you could have…things were less complicated,
So, unless someone out there has a miracle in their pocket, we’re out of time, out of luck and out of hope.
Oh, regardless of everything we’ve been through, and are going through,
Happy Holidays.
Over the last few months we have been trying desperately to find some way to save our home. While finishing the last of the college courses for my Associates Degree, I’ve been applying for jobs. We’ve got a group of Attorneys working on a law suit and trying to get the title to the house back. I even set up a web site to try to collect enough money to buy the house back from the people trying to sell it out from under us. Unfortunately, as the holidays hurtle towards us, we still have no answers. Getting through school has taken way to long, jobs are still way to scarce, the law works way too slowly and I couldn’t even find 1,000 people willing to donate a dollar each to us, never mind the 165,000 we needed to buy the house back. Christmas is just days away; people are rushing around shopping, going to parties, saying Happy Holidays. My husband and I haven’t had a happy holiday since 2002, when I had a job.
To the hand full of people who stepped up to help us by donating money, thank you so much. You have no Idea how much it means.
To the two media sources, TV 38 and WCCA TV 13, who saw fit to publicize our plight, thank you, for having the integrity to report news, not script it.
To the media sources, celebrities, corporations, government officials and individuals I appealed to over those months, who chose to ignore us and our plight, I sincerely hope that you, your friends, families and loved ones never find themselves in the same kind of untenable situation. Or, if any of you do, that you find more sympathetic and generous people than we did. (If you read any of the letters or information I sent and posted you will know that we aren’t just losing our home in an ordinary foreclosure.)
Our house, our home, is set to be auctioned off on January 9th 2008.
Partly because of those same holidays, I just don’t see any way out of this dilemma, there isn’t enough time. The Attorneys would have to get the title to the house back, I’d have to get a good paying job and we’d have to work something out with the bank in just over ten business days. Things just don’t happen that quickly in our modern, fast paced world. Sadly, fifty or so years ago you could have…things were less complicated,
So, unless someone out there has a miracle in their pocket, we’re out of time, out of luck and out of hope.
Oh, regardless of everything we’ve been through, and are going through,
Happy Holidays.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Disappointed
I really don’t know which is more disappointing. Loosing the house on October 30 or not being able to find 165,000 people willing to donate $1.00 to a fellow human being. I’ve contacted TV stations, radio stations, news papers, corporations, politicians, even people on the street. I’ve sent out hundreds of emails and I have to say the return has been really pathetic.
The estimated population of Massachusetts in 2006 was 6,437,193. If only 1 out of every 40 people in my own state donated $1.00 I would have enough money to save the house.
The estimated population for the entire US in 2006 was 299,398,484. That amounts to one person out of every 1814.
Donations that I’ve received from countries outside the United States have accounted for almost 1/3 of all the donations I’ve gotten to date. Have we as a nation become so stingy that we can spend $1.00 in gas to drive to our favorite coffee shop for a cup of coffee but we can’t make a charitable gesture to our fellow man?
Our house has become more than just a home to us; it’s become a symbol of our being able to triumph over a fraudulent monster that’s preying on ordinary people. People like us, people like you. How can you not care? How many of you out there are saying, there but for the grace of God go I? That’s happening to me now, that happened to me and I wish someone had stood up then or I know someone who’s in that situation. When someone stands up and says ‘Enough! I’m not going to let these people get away with taking advantage of me or anyone else like me any more.” We should rally around that person and show some support. I’ve seen very little support. I’ve gotten sympathy, thank you very much but I don’t need your sympathy. I have asked over and over, if you can’t or won’t donate a dollar, please give us some publicity, Talk about us, create a link to us from your web site, contact your local news paper or TV station and suggest they do a story about us. I’ve also asked that any media that covers us asks the people listening or watching to contact us if they’re being victimized by a foreclosure rescue scam. We will do what we can to help you.
When did an obtuse 19 year old woman with a blinking circuit board and a wad of clay become more news worthy than an average citizen taking on modern day gangsters who are bilking thousands of people out of millions of dollars?
The estimated population of Massachusetts in 2006 was 6,437,193. If only 1 out of every 40 people in my own state donated $1.00 I would have enough money to save the house.
The estimated population for the entire US in 2006 was 299,398,484. That amounts to one person out of every 1814.
Donations that I’ve received from countries outside the United States have accounted for almost 1/3 of all the donations I’ve gotten to date. Have we as a nation become so stingy that we can spend $1.00 in gas to drive to our favorite coffee shop for a cup of coffee but we can’t make a charitable gesture to our fellow man?
Our house has become more than just a home to us; it’s become a symbol of our being able to triumph over a fraudulent monster that’s preying on ordinary people. People like us, people like you. How can you not care? How many of you out there are saying, there but for the grace of God go I? That’s happening to me now, that happened to me and I wish someone had stood up then or I know someone who’s in that situation. When someone stands up and says ‘Enough! I’m not going to let these people get away with taking advantage of me or anyone else like me any more.” We should rally around that person and show some support. I’ve seen very little support. I’ve gotten sympathy, thank you very much but I don’t need your sympathy. I have asked over and over, if you can’t or won’t donate a dollar, please give us some publicity, Talk about us, create a link to us from your web site, contact your local news paper or TV station and suggest they do a story about us. I’ve also asked that any media that covers us asks the people listening or watching to contact us if they’re being victimized by a foreclosure rescue scam. We will do what we can to help you.
When did an obtuse 19 year old woman with a blinking circuit board and a wad of clay become more news worthy than an average citizen taking on modern day gangsters who are bilking thousands of people out of millions of dollars?
Monday, September 17, 2007
Creative = Deceptive?
When did the word 'Creative' become synonymous with deception? In some cases it isn't even as subtle as deception it's outright illegal. I looked up Creative and found it was equal to words like Imaginative, Resourceful, Inventive, Productive and Inspired. These words all seem to imply positive helpful and constructive qualities. Deception, on the other hand relates to Scam, Scheme, Con, Swindle, Racket, Cheat and Fraud. That last group of words doesn’t sound very inspiring does it?
Lately we’ve been bombarded with a plethora of ‘Creative’ services and ventures. Creative marketing, Creative financing, Creative investing…Granted most of the questionable ideas revolve around the Real Estate scene. But ultimately doesn’t it really all come down to money and how to make ones self wealthy?
I guess the ‘Creative’ part comes in when some imaginative, resourceful and inventive individual discovers a loophole, flaw or inconsistency in an existing law.
By carefully manipulating or interpreting the wording of the law they manage to pervert the intent of that law to suit their own purposes. Unfortunately for the people they victimize it may take quite some time before justice catches up with these ‘Creative’ thinkers. As some one who has been on the victim side of one of these schemes I can tell you it isn’t very pleasant to learn your trust has been abused by someone who not only wants to profit from your misfortune but wants to take it all and leave you with less than you started out with.
There is a fine line between what’s legitimate and what’s questionable from not only a legal but possibly more importantly a moral standpoint.
Most of us want to make money and live a comfortable life. When you get involved in any kind of money making venture make sure to ask your self what the real cost will be.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Clarification
OK I feel the need to clarify a few things for people out there that are interested but hesitant to help out. This is a very complicated situation and it’s difficult for me to know what I should post and what I shouldn’t. I know I won’t be able to answer everyone’s questions but I’m going to try to hit the most important ones. I think the easiest way to do this is to create a sort of time line so you can get an idea of what happened. I’m going to try NOT to go into the intimate details of every little thing so I know there will still be some people with questions. All I can say is, don’t hesitate to contact me if you need to know more.
2000 February 29, Leap Day. We signed all the papers buying the house we paid
(with closing and other costs) $72,000
2003 April The company I work for goes bankrupt.
June I file Ch 13 myself in an effort to try to control mounting bills and lack of income.
2005 My unemployment exhausted and no indication of any kind of a job forthcoming, we are again feeling a financial pinch. I begin searching for some way to keep our house and come in contact with a group called ‘Trust Program”. In May we sign papers with them putting our house (actually the title to it) into a real estate trust.
August, Ray injures his back and is out of work for 3 months.
September, I return to college to get my degree in Graphic Design.
2006-7 We make numerous attempts to re-finance our house so we can pay off the trust and get the title to our home back. No one has told us that we won’t be able to re-finance because now we actually don’t own our house due to the title being in the name of the trust.
2007 January, We have to have our truck repaired to pass inspection. Due to the fact we have been putting off a number of repairs we end up paying over $2500 to get everything done. We are now behind on the payments to the trust. We get a letter dated January 11th indicating we need to make our monthly payment of $978.61 plus additional late and unspecified charges for a grand total of $3481.00. We can not raise enough money to satisfy this. Until we can pay this and additional monies which are now accumulating monthly our mortgage will not be paid.
May 6, the trust has come to term and is officially terminated. After the failure of our last attempt to re-finance we resign ourselves to having to sell the house. Without our knowledge or approval the attorney for the trust signs a real estate agreement with a real estate agent we had been talking to about selling the house. We were NOT given the opportunity to read the agreement or sign it ourselves and were NOT allowed to set the sale price of the house.
September 11th we are named as the plaintiffs in a class action suit against all of the parties involved in the trust transaction. (Yes we finally found an Attorney)
As of this writing our home is still listed for sale.
Our mortgage is in foreclosure and headed for a foreclosure sale.
We can’t stop the foreclosure by doing a work out of our back mortgage payments with our mortgage company because the trust still holds the title and we would need to get the trustees permission to work directly with our mortgage company.
The trust isn’t about to cooperate because:
1. We have filed a law suit against them.
2. According to the terms of the trust the only way we can regain title to the house is by paying the trust the amount originally invested plus any and all fees they deem reasonable.
3. Where the trust has now expired we are now required to purchase our house from the trust for the agreed upon fair market value.
The attorneys are trying to get the trust rescinded so we can work with our mortgage company, but that could take months and by then the bank will have foreclosed on the house.
We aren’t looking for a hand out and we don’t just want people to pay for our house for us because we’re too lazy to do anything for ourselves, we are trying.
Ray is a wire platter; he makes $11.40 an hour and works overtime when it’s available. Living on one income in Massachusetts is tough to do when you’re on salary, when you work by the hour if you don’t work, you don’t get paid.I still have 2 years of school left to get my degree and still haven’t been able to find work. Aside from lacking a college degree I’m permanently partially disabled. While ineligible for disability or SSI I am limited as to what I can do. (In case you’re wondering I’m an honor student with a GPA of 3.92.)
We're also trying to help other people like us who have been victimized by unscrupulous 'investors' taking advantage of people in a difficult situation. That's why we're involved in the law suit.
So, that’s the story behind the 165,000 dollar question. (so far)
2000 February 29, Leap Day. We signed all the papers buying the house we paid
(with closing and other costs) $72,000
2003 April The company I work for goes bankrupt.
June I file Ch 13 myself in an effort to try to control mounting bills and lack of income.
2005 My unemployment exhausted and no indication of any kind of a job forthcoming, we are again feeling a financial pinch. I begin searching for some way to keep our house and come in contact with a group called ‘Trust Program”. In May we sign papers with them putting our house (actually the title to it) into a real estate trust.
August, Ray injures his back and is out of work for 3 months.
September, I return to college to get my degree in Graphic Design.
2006-7 We make numerous attempts to re-finance our house so we can pay off the trust and get the title to our home back. No one has told us that we won’t be able to re-finance because now we actually don’t own our house due to the title being in the name of the trust.
2007 January, We have to have our truck repaired to pass inspection. Due to the fact we have been putting off a number of repairs we end up paying over $2500 to get everything done. We are now behind on the payments to the trust. We get a letter dated January 11th indicating we need to make our monthly payment of $978.61 plus additional late and unspecified charges for a grand total of $3481.00. We can not raise enough money to satisfy this. Until we can pay this and additional monies which are now accumulating monthly our mortgage will not be paid.
May 6, the trust has come to term and is officially terminated. After the failure of our last attempt to re-finance we resign ourselves to having to sell the house. Without our knowledge or approval the attorney for the trust signs a real estate agreement with a real estate agent we had been talking to about selling the house. We were NOT given the opportunity to read the agreement or sign it ourselves and were NOT allowed to set the sale price of the house.
September 11th we are named as the plaintiffs in a class action suit against all of the parties involved in the trust transaction. (Yes we finally found an Attorney)
As of this writing our home is still listed for sale.
Our mortgage is in foreclosure and headed for a foreclosure sale.
We can’t stop the foreclosure by doing a work out of our back mortgage payments with our mortgage company because the trust still holds the title and we would need to get the trustees permission to work directly with our mortgage company.
The trust isn’t about to cooperate because:
1. We have filed a law suit against them.
2. According to the terms of the trust the only way we can regain title to the house is by paying the trust the amount originally invested plus any and all fees they deem reasonable.
3. Where the trust has now expired we are now required to purchase our house from the trust for the agreed upon fair market value.
The attorneys are trying to get the trust rescinded so we can work with our mortgage company, but that could take months and by then the bank will have foreclosed on the house.
We aren’t looking for a hand out and we don’t just want people to pay for our house for us because we’re too lazy to do anything for ourselves, we are trying.
Ray is a wire platter; he makes $11.40 an hour and works overtime when it’s available. Living on one income in Massachusetts is tough to do when you’re on salary, when you work by the hour if you don’t work, you don’t get paid.I still have 2 years of school left to get my degree and still haven’t been able to find work. Aside from lacking a college degree I’m permanently partially disabled. While ineligible for disability or SSI I am limited as to what I can do. (In case you’re wondering I’m an honor student with a GPA of 3.92.)
We're also trying to help other people like us who have been victimized by unscrupulous 'investors' taking advantage of people in a difficult situation. That's why we're involved in the law suit.
So, that’s the story behind the 165,000 dollar question. (so far)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
My own 911
As I was reflecting on the 911 tragedy of six years ago, remembering where I was and how I and every other American felt that we had been violated by this attack on our home. That got me thinking about my own home and the people who, under the guise of 'helping' me save my home during a difficult time, have also made me feel violated. I am in no way trying to down play what happened to our nation as a whole. Just point out that a nation is the sum total of its individual citizens. Many of us, most of us in fact were not personally impacted by the actual events six years ago, but as citizens, as Americans, every single one of us was affected. It made us realize that at any given time any one of us could be a target. How sad is it that we not only have to worry about threats from foreign venues but from people who are fellow Americans, who live on our native soil, often in our own state, our home town. Historically in every war, every disaster or tragedy, there are those who loose out and those who benefit. The people who benefit are the ones with vision who see how to turn misfortune into a fortune. The difference between an entrepreneur and a fraud is that one makes his money by providing people with a beneficial product or service and the other gets rich taking advantage of people by creating the illusion of benefit, when in fact he never intends anyone to profit but himself. While there are swindlers everywhere, my focus here is on the robber barons of real estate. The Gurus who teach other people to ignore or twist existing laws to suit their purpose. They rely on the inability of their victims to pursue them and the complexity of our legal systems to cover their indiscretions. Their targets are carefully chosen from people with financial difficulties and homes that have a reasonable amount of equity. In our case the value of our home had almost doubled from the purchase price. Through the guru’s “interpretation” of various laws and statutes they believe they can ‘legally’ acquire people’s homes which they either sell for a substantial profit or rent for continued income. The results are that a lot of hard working cash poor families become displaced in a very cruel and devastating way.
I may be cash poor, but I am first last and always an American and I refuse to give in to any kind of injustice regardless of where it comes from. As part of my personal 911 I again want to encourage anyone else out there who has been victimized in a real estate trust scam to contact me. If we share our information we CAN bring these people down.
Six years ago, each of us said with one voice, I am an American, I won’t tolerate someone threatening my home and I won’t give up without a fight. Will you join me today as I, an American, stand against this resident threat to our homes?
I won’t give up without a fight! Will you?
I may be cash poor, but I am first last and always an American and I refuse to give in to any kind of injustice regardless of where it comes from. As part of my personal 911 I again want to encourage anyone else out there who has been victimized in a real estate trust scam to contact me. If we share our information we CAN bring these people down.
Six years ago, each of us said with one voice, I am an American, I won’t tolerate someone threatening my home and I won’t give up without a fight. Will you join me today as I, an American, stand against this resident threat to our homes?
I won’t give up without a fight! Will you?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Finally, It shows up on Google
After months of promoting, submitting, resetting and getting people to visit the site. It finally shows up when you do a Google search for Save My House. And it shows up in the top ten!
I still wish that I could get some media coverage. If not national at least something local so that I could get other people in Massachusetts to contact me. I just feel that if a bunch of people who were victimized got together we might be able to do something to help one another.
I still wish that I could get some media coverage. If not national at least something local so that I could get other people in Massachusetts to contact me. I just feel that if a bunch of people who were victimized got together we might be able to do something to help one another.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
940 CMR 25.00 It's a LAW !
Thanks to both public and political interest, I am pleased to anounce that 940 CMR 25.00 has been made into a permenant law here in Massachusetts. This is a link to the Attorney Generals Site with information about the anouncment. It's a Law ! Now we just need to urge the federal government and the rest of the states to pass similar laws.
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