Dear Aurora Loan Services (a unit of Lehmann Brothers) and Citibank Mortgage (who took the TARP money):
Between the two of you, you hold my fate in your hands. In July 2005, approaching 65 years of age and having been an enrepreneur for forty years, I bought a home in Half Moon Bay, about three miles from one of my daughters. I put 10% down and got a 5-year interest-only mortgage for about $576,000 and a HELOC at prime +2 for the remainder, about $154,000.
I was really happy to live close to my daughter, and the two of us encouraged my other daughter to move home from the Netherlands to join us. For three years, everything seemed fine. I made friends, I continued to run my business in Arizona, invest in my startup companies, and assume I’d be in Half Moon Bay full time one day. Prescient about Arizona real estate, I sold my house there and rented.
And then two people on my block in Half Moon Bay had to use short sales to get themselves out of their obligations, and the value of my home suddenly dropped. All of a sudden, the home I paid $769,000 for, and then spent $45,000 modernizing, thinking I’d live in it for at least ten years, became worth $699,000.
I’m no dope; I’ve been in business all my life. I saw everybody starting to turn in their keys. I knew it was a bad financial decision to keep paying on the mortgage, but I was loving the house, spending quite a bit of time in Half Moon Bay as my daughter was now pregnant, and determined to make it through this momentary drop.
And then November came, and the value of my house dropped to about $659,000. More important, my business began to go away. And I mean go away. Suddenly, four deals I was in, all of them capable of making me financially secure, either fell out of escrow or went on “hold.”
However, Obama got elected, and I kept on paying. I did make a call to you at Aurora in December, asking if I could get some help, and you advised me that you couldn’t help me because I wasn’t behind. Of course I wasn’t: I was struggling to preserve my excellent credit.
Well now it’s February. I am scrambling for small projects. My deals recede in the background under the weight of our crumbling economy. Congress argues over the stimulus bill. And I have taken a deep breath and realized I am going to fall behind on this mortgage.
Like Rome, I am burning while Congress fiddles. And I’m not getting any younger. I’m an optimistic person, a healthy person, and a person willing and anxious to work. No, I don’t want to move in with my daughters. I want to ask you to re-finance my mortgage at the current value of my house at a 4.2% rate, like everyone in Congress is suggesting.
Otherwise, I have to let you foreclose. And this will not benefit you or me. Me, it will ruin my credit. You, it will give you yet another foreclosed property to sell at even less than if I could keep it for a few years and then sell it for you. And it will further erode the property values in my little subdivision, full of other families.
Do I want to bare my soul to you, or to the online world? Of course not. But my highest and best use right now is to offer myself as an example, a data point. I’m articulate. I’m not a person who should never have been given a mortgage. Not an uneducated victim of a greedy mortgage broker. And not a speculator. Just a person caught in something much bigger than all of us.
I’d like to take a moment to thank my parents and all my teachers, who gave me the gift of writing, so I can at least convey my feelings to the world. Namaste.
Update: I’d like to take a minute to answer you in a group, as many of you are saying the same thing:
1)As for asking for a handout: I’m not. I’m asking for something that will help both of us move forward. I fully believe my business will come back in a couple of years, as it always has. When the tech economy slows down, my business slows with it. When it comes back, it will come back. I had rainy day money. I tried to use it to start a new bank with some colleagues, but the FDIC has held up our charter because there’s so much to do bailing out the bad banks
2)As for buying a house out of greed and living beyond my means, I had the means to buy the house when I bought it, and the means to pay for it for four years. Hello, my business stopped in November. And what happened to everything else in November? Same thing.
3) Unless you have full access to someone’s financials, you can’t accuse them of greed for buying a house that costs $769,000. That happened to be a low end home in the Bay Area when I bought it
3) I’m alarmed at the schadenfreude shown here. Even if you live below your means and save for a rainy day, there are life events that can take you down for a while. When those events occur, what I was trying to demonstrate was an entrepreneurial way to create a win-win situation.
Clearly, many of you are in the win-lose zero sum mentality; if I win, somehow YOU lose, because you are paying taxes. Did it ever occur to you that a person who can afford the house I could afford in 2005 pays taxes, too? When you have paid taxes for fifty years (although I hate to say it), you can tell me I have no right to a mortgage modification because it will affect your taxes. It will also affect my children’s taxes, and their children’s. Yes. And I wish Bush hadn’t spent our tax money in Iraq for the last six years. That was MY money.
4) At the end of the day, thank for your comments, although some have disturbed me because they seem not to care that someone is losing her home. They have, indeed, taught me that the way I live is not the norm. I guess I don’t have to create jobs anymore for you guys, because you are safe with your 30-year fixed rate mortgages and don’t need me to take anymore risks on your behalf. But I do now have a better idea why the mortgage modifications haven’t been done earlier at the government’s stipulation.
5) If your comments do not appear, it’s because AKismet thought they were spam. I let every one through that I saw, and answered a substantial number of them in an effort to keep the conversation going, as the blogosphere demands. This is, after all, the country of free speech.
6) Look into your hearts. What is happening in our country isn’t about money. It is about closed off hearts. I have had a business setback. We all have them. We all fail. What is wrong with asking the bank to cooperate? If the bank can ask for $50 billion, I can ask for a lower mortgage rate. The bank can say no. And I can be foreclosed. And prices can fall further, and neighborhoods degrade.
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So when and where can i collect the mortgate for the house which i cannot afford?
Am I the only one utterly shocked by the fact that this woman is supposed to be some sort of small business mentor?
From the front page of their site: “Companies that are accepted into the Stealthmode Partners portfolio receive coaching, consulting, and connections to the people and resources they need to reach success.”
I really don’t think this person is in a position to be handing out advice and counseling.
You took loans of $769k and gave the money to a 3rd party in return for an asset. Now you want to switch the price of that asset to be $659k and renegotiate the loan to be at 4.2%. You want the institution(s) you took the $769k from to eat the $110k loss.
I think that is unreasonable. You should certainly feel free to try to renegotiate the interest rate – that is your prerogative. Of course it is the institutions right to refuse. If you default on the loan then they can seize the asset. Whether that makes sense or not is none of your concern; it’s their right and you agreed to it when you signed the contracts.
Why don’t you go an ask the person you bought the asset from for your $110k handout? They should rightfully laugh at you. You signed the contract and made the deal. The loss is yours to eat.
I know what property costs in California. I live in the SF Bay are and am just a renter because I could never justify the overinflated prices to purchase. I have family I wish I could spend more time with. I’ve worked hard, saved hard, and just like you my taxes are being sucked into this mess.
Frankly, I feel I have karma to burn after so many years being fiscally and socially responsible.
I fail to see why we should reward those that are in over their heads. That goes for both banks and for individuals. I have long been disenchanted with where my taxes are going. To give a sense of balance I send $1000 a month to various charities to those suffering from a lack of basic needs like access to drinkable water. For the rest of the spoilt people in this once great country, I say let you all fall down and be forced to pick yourselves up and rediscover what made this country great. Come join the real world.
Exactly. how can you of all people possibly ask for assistance from a Bank? Your laughable public persona (if you want to call it that) is all about ‘entrepreneurship’, but when it doesn’t work out for you, you suggest a cleverly worded form of socialism? If the State of Arizona is supporting your idiotic business classes, I hope they pull it immediately.
How on earth can you ask for sympathy as the owner of a luxury $750,000 home? Are you crazy? Are you on Prozac?
You’ll be making deals alright… for government cheese and a nice spot in a government retirement facility. You’re a waste of life. Please remove yourself from any relevant functions of my countries political system.
I don’t mind being foreclosed on.I happen to practice non-attachment to material things, and I’ve long ago become detached from the house. That isn’t the issue, and I am amazed that so many people don’t understand what the issue is: it is injustice. It’s how the results of the last eight years have caught innocent people, not just speculators. Of course I won’t starve, of course I made a deal, and of course I know that.
BUT: I did what you did for my entire life. I worked, lived responsibly, and I saved money. You cannot dismiss me as a greedy speculator and tell me free markets should pertain here.
I am not speaking for myself. I’m speaking for everyone who was taught that the American dream consisted of a house and a job, and who doesn’t have either right now through large global forces. It is naive to think that if the banks don’t renegotiate mortgages the entire economy will recover by itself.
The american dream is not a house and a job! It is opportunities to do whatever you want to do…you can be a drug dealer or a CEO. Whatever it is, the bottom line is to be ACCOUNTABLE.
You had 50K money that you blew decorating the house. Did it occur to you to save it for a rainy day?
“That isn’t the issue, and I am amazed that so many people don’t understand what the issue is: it is injustice. It’s how the results of the last eight years have caught innocent people, not just speculators. Of course I won’t starve, of course I made a deal, and of course I know that.”
What injustice? You signed a contract you can not live up to. Economies move up and down. Assets appreciate and depreciate. It is foolishness of the highest order to assume property prices will never move down as well as up. Or that an economy will not contract. That bubbles will not happen. etc. etc.
Have speculators done harm? Yes, of course. As have aging babyboomers tying up assets and pricing younger people out of markets. Is this unfortunate? Yes. Is it somehow unjust to those people now caught with their pants down? No. Frankly you sound like you had little concept of the cost and risk associated with the loans; risk that it is your responsibility to understand. Now you pay the price for not being suitable hedged and over-extending yourself.
“You cannot dismiss me as a greedy speculator and tell me free markets should pertain here.”
I am not dismissing you as a greedy speculator. I’m dismissing you as someone who over-extended themselves and now has to readjust to your actual circumstances. Why shouldn’t the free market be allowed to adjust?
“I am not speaking for myself. I’m speaking for everyone who was taught that the American dream consisted of a house and a job, and who doesn’t have either right now through large global forces.”
That is hardly what the American dream consists of. What kind of entitlement problem do you have to think it does? Welcome to the real world. You are much better off than 99.9% of people on the planet, even without your house. You spent a large sum of money redecorating but don’t seem to have had money put away to cover these ups and downs? Its shameful having been quite well off, and by the sounds of it you were, and not be able to ride this out.
Like Anthony I’m a CA resident and a renter in a low-cost area. If I lose my job? I have 14 years worth of emergency savings at my current spending level and need not earn another penny in that time. That 14 years worth of living expenses? It wouldn’t even cover the price of your house but I know which I’d rather have right now.
“It is naive to think that if the banks don’t renegotiate mortgages the entire economy will recover by itself.”
Actually, it will. Will things get a lot worse? Oh yes. I expect the next wave of resets to do severe damage to morale and wipe out overextended people:
http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/monthly-mortgage-resets.jpg
Will the economy survive and thrive after some time? Absolutely. Get a sense of perspective. Imagine the sacrifices made during the Second World War. Essentially all that is happening is that we’ve had a bubble that is unwinding. We’re resetting asset prices to be in line with historical averages.
Take a look at this:
http://forum.globalhousepricecrash.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=1627
House prices are insanely out of line with wage levels. Instead of 5x we should be glad if they reset to 2 or 3x. Nevermind a 14% drop, I want a 50 or 60% drop.
Injustice? Don’t make me laugh.
It really pains me to read some of the cruel and heartless comments people have left in response to your heartfelt post.
It’s clear, at least to me, that you posted it with the hope of letting those “in power” know that this crisis is affecting EVERYONE! Perhaps some commenters have had the good fortune, or what they would call good judgement, to have been in their home since the last time interest rates were low. Fixed-rate mortgages were not so difficult to come by back then.
Things changed after that. Mortgages were no longer help by the bank or mortgage company that originated them. Once the mortgage was approved and the funds disbursed, the mortgage “paper” was sold on the secondary market.
The loan officers who, in reality, sold the mortgages to the homeowner earned their living on an incentive basis. Some were paid commissions and other were paid on the basis of how many mortgage loans they sold. Often, loan officers were paid higher bonuses for the less conventional loans, like variable rate mortgages. Because of that, some mortgage loan officers didn’t even offer the option of a fixed-rate conventional loan as an option.
This in no way imply that you, Francine, didn’t know what your options were and what you were buying. Far from it. My point with this comment is that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
I’m sure not ALL is well in EVERY part of their lives. It’s easy for people to call names on a blog comment because they think they know it all and there is no way for anyone to come back on them for their venomous comments. The harsher the venom, the more troubled and twisted the person is who is throwing stones at you.
Forget them or pray for them. Whatever you do, never let them harm your warm and generous spirit, Francine! Of course that would never happen because, as I know you, your spirit is a very strong one too.
Namaste
Not your fault. I lost my home because of those companies. I got a lawyer and they told me not to pay until the issues were resolved. At the last minute, my lawyer told me she couldn’t help me to get another lawyer. I did and by then my home wasn’t mine anymore. I got a buyer for the home and would be able to pay the mortage off but they just didn’t want to hear that.
A few months passed, after losing my home and I got a call from the city telling me to resolve another issue with the home, I gave them the banks phone number.
Francine…
Please don’t let the hecklers here get ya down as they are at heart VULTURES circling what they consider to be roadkill…They also have a moral blind spot when it comes to Reagan and Bush 1 & 2 all three of whom pursued policies that have created the current business models…That have allowed the top 1% (like the guys who ran BOA and other financial institutions who set up these Ponzi like schemes that led to the housing and technology bubbles) to make a lot of money in the short run only to take their millions as they cut their losses and ran when the economy overheated and fell into a recession that cut the legs out from under people like us…
BTW did you know that Bush II’s Paternal and Maternal grandfathers were in the banking industry prior to WWII and helped the Nazi’s get the financing they needed to build their war machine…I learned this by reading the book “The Rise of the Fourth Reich” written by Jim Marrs…
BTW one of my first comments I made here is still in moderation…
This is sad. I’ts really sad. Got in over her head in Calif. realistate market – it turned – and going south. I’m like a lotof other folks here; suck it up, deal with it and get on. There’s nothing responsible about taking an interest only loan. You gambled and you lost. And ou are correct- lots of others will be in this same boat but it doesn’t make it any less irresponsible just because others were doing it also. Like lots of other folks I spent the thirty years you keep mentioning living within my means, a modest home and am currently urging my kids to purchase a home within their means while the prices and interest reates are down. Get over it – move on.
“However, Obama got elected, and I kept on paying. I did make a call to you at Aurora in December, asking if I could get some help, and you advised me that you couldn’t help me because I wasn’t behind.”
Enough said. Your an idoit looking for big fat government for direction. Grow the fuck up. Send the keys in the mail and let the market figure it out.
Your responsibility is self preservation.
Our country would be a lot better off if we esteemed self reliance.
I have a comment still sitting in moderation too.
I feel sorry for you but in a different way. Your simply a victim of your own greed.
Did you ever think that that the other 600,000 or so you borrowed to finance your castle, was actaully money that someone else scrimped and saved?
I am Canadian, the same thing is happening here, only two years later than the USA, and god help us is all I can say.
I listened for years to all the fat egos, living in luxury, bragging at the cocktail parties about thier rising property values trading ,up constantlytaking out equity in thier grossly inflated house prices to finance lavish lifestyles, living in mansions with vaulted ceilings, buying cottages for ‘investment” etc.
These same business people scream at the municipal politicians to lower thier damm business taxes, then they take the money they saved and spend it on winter vacations. I dont feel sorry for anyone, in fact Im laughing at how stupid you all look now.
And whats worse, you people who overpaid for yoru houses, were victims of the con artist mortage and real estate brokers, now send all your “toxic assets” overseas so now the entire world is a victim of the rapacious greed of Americans. phooey…
Sell the damm castle and live in your means, even of it means renting a tiny apartment.
I have a lot of sympathy for anyone facing the loss of their house. It is not an something I have ever faced or would wish upon anyone. Having said that, this post highlights to me two of the fundamental problems that helped create the economic crash we all face.
Firstly, buying anything on credit without the income to support the loan is a big risk. Admittedly, this is a tough one for the self employed. I also work for myself. Not every self-employed person will have sufficient confidence in always being able to earn enough to pay the mortgage. If in doubt, rent.
Secondly, and most crucially, a home can never be a speculative asset. It is worth nothing. You cannot sell it. Its value to you is purely as a means of warmth and shelter. Far too many people in this country (I am in Scotland) bought their house, and a lot more beside, because prices were rocketing skywards. Nobody seemed to recognise that if the property is sold at twice the price it was bought at, the owner is only going to have to pay the same amount for another house!
So I say to you Francine, concentrate on your business. Develop that and if necessary, find an accountant to help you manage your cash. It doesn’t matter what your neighbours are doing. Your house is your home. You live there because it suits you to do so, not because it has a market value of this or that.
Look, I realize you’re in a tough spot and I’m not trying to take a cheap shot while you’re down. But you put this out in a public forum, and as a member of the general public, I’m going to take that as permission to share my thoughts.
I’m an entrepreneur, too, and I don’t buy it that your bank needs to rescue you.
I make decent money, enough to provide for our four children and to allow my wife to stay at home, go to school, or have a career as she sees fit. We live within our means, which means not having massive debt over our heads that we might or might not be able to pay later. We chose to live in a house we could afford, not a house that we thought we could afford “monthly payments” on. That’s called living within your means, and it’s kind of a radical concept in America.
Now, of course, even though our house is nice and is adequate for our family, we too aspire to bigger, better and nicer, so we continue to put money away toward buying a larger house eventually. The difference here is that we won’t buy it until we have the money in hand rather than relying on fictitious money (i.e. credit, the polite term for incurring massive amounts of debt) to pay for what we want but can’t afford.
So I have a really hard time buying into this argument that you were somehow smart about things. Smart is not saying, “Well, I have enough money to get banks to allow me to incur over half a million dollars in debt (on a SECOND HOUSE, no less) and since I can presently afford the monthly payment, I’ll go for it.” You don’t automatically qualify as smart, either, by being wealthy enough to receive large amounts of credit, or by being an entrepreneur for decades, or by being a good writer (which, to keep the ego in check, you’re not a bad writer but you’re no Hemingway, at least not from this open letter).
And I don’t buy that you’re just caught up in bad circumstances. Being the victim of a bad situation is being paralyzed and no longer able to work, or having to spend your life savings on medical bills not covered by insurance, or having your home destroyed in a natural disaster. But counting on future income that you haven’t yet earned, then recklessly incurring massive debt, and then being unable to pay back your debt when inevitable economic changes occur is not being a victim. That’s called making poor choices.
And I daresay it’s these common, but nonetheless poor, choices that many Americans like yourself have made that are responsible for the financial meltdown we’re witnessing.
As for my family and me, we may not have multiple mansions, but we’re largely unscathed by what’s happening in the financial sector because we haven’t set ourselves up to be affected by it. I’m not going to lie, that’s a really good feeling.
Wow!
“I guess I don’t have to create jobs anymore for you guys, because you are safe with your 30-year fixed rate mortgages and don’t need me to take anymore risks on your behalf.”
You seem to have a passive/aggressive victim complex combined with delusions of grandeur and a nice dose of paranoia. Get over yourself.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Susan
http://pay-dayadvance.net
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Susan
http://pay-dayadvance.net
sorry for your troubles. i am currently in a hopelessness mode (hence no caps because it's easier to type this way). I need to just talk because if i don't i might do something stupid. my husbands' father screwed us big time with a prior business. he sold it after he a family discussion and left my husband out of the loop. we received nothing except all the debt. while my husband and his dad made up (which was a good thing because the old guy died 4 years later) we had and received no money. the business wasn't a big deal but when we purchased our house it was enough money to pay a 700.00 mortgage a month. we had trouble finding jobs. without going into much detail after aabout 3 years we were bringing our life back to somewhat normal. we still a back payment of 2000 on the house but had a plan worked out with the then current mortgage lending. ocwen took over and our livves went down the tubes . they refused to honor the agreement asked for money we didn't have and wow after 15 years of hell and a tremendous amount of ruined credit — we declared chap 13 numerous times to stop them worked deals but they were always way more than we could afford. we tried but we lost the battle after the last hastely put together deal they gave us a payment they thought we could afford. everyone or most people jump at the chance to keep their homes and we agreed but i believe we have the war. we are not blameless — but we are certainly naive in the ways of the financial world. it is the most frustrating thing when the mortgage company is in another state and you don't know each other. we are not bums or lazy or irresponible we were told to sue the “parents” but how can you do that? we owe back payments of about 20,000 on our house with interesst penalties etc. etc. etc. etc. whatever ocwen wanted to do they did. attorneys told us it was hopeless and no one cares. i guess they were right. i am in the gutter now feel totally hopeless and thank you for the oppotunity to air this
Sucks, Vickie. Your story is everyone's these days. Here's what I've learned: 1)the US does not have debtor's prisons, and it's no shame to be in bad financial shape during this period. 2) All the money keeps going to the fat cats — banks and mortgage companies 3)If you quit struggling and worrying, you will live a longer happier live. That's what I decided.
Linked today from an old Dave Winer post to your piece. Wonderfully written piece, examining a complex, difficult issue in a logical way.
What was the fallout of your request?
While I sit here an read everything, all the comments and not one person states the true facts.
The fact of the matter is we as a society have allowed the lenders to promise the world without any just believable reason that all would come true.
I will be the first to admit that some of the problem lies at the foot of the borrower, who for whatever reason allows the lenders to think all will be ok. The truth of the matter is all MAY and I mean MAY be ok should things keep rolling along and all promises made live up to their protential. Reality is this is very rarely the case. Lenders allow borrowers to get in way over their heads and the repercussions are they go bankrupt and the lender forecloses. No foul right?
Of course there is, the lender should be looking out for all involved and that also means me the investor,
A lender who looks only at the best means of making a buck without looking at the long term implications do not deserve the right to foreclose or cause harm.
One only needs to look at how messed up this world has become, we have lenders sitting there begging college and university student who are just kids to go into debt up to their eyeballs, without even blinking an eye. Our children are being taught, debt is a good thing. Just look at the average student loan in any country. Most students without well off parents who can afford to send their children on to higher education are in debt for 1000's of dollars before they even get their first real job.
The sell job is borrow now, when you get out you will be making enough money to easily pay off these debts. Then the crash hits, no jobs to be had anywhere, certainly not for a student just out of school with no real experience to speak off. Now the students the same as the over extended borrowers can not pay their loans, the lenders cry foul and beg for tax payer relief and get it, but the poor borrower who may or may not of ever been given the loan loses all.
The arguments heard here make very little sense to me, to say one person is at fault because a lender has allowed them to get to the point of no return does not wash, a lender should not be lending money unless they are willing to take the loss period. If in the real world all at fault paid the price maybe things would not be were they are today. For each loan unpaid just adds another payment to those of us that can pay. The lender forecloses, all the cost and loss that the lender entails just gets dumped onto those that can pay. It can be in the form of tax relief to th lender, a bailout or just increased fees because the lender needs to make up for its loses.
In the end we are the ones paying and therefore should have some say in what is happening to the credit market. I for one would sooner see people paying whatever they can and keeping them in their house, even if it means morgages with no interest.
Lenders need to be found accountable for the actions they are doing. We need to get back to reality where those who do not have the means to pay, do not get the loans.
People who feel I have do everything right, I live within my means, I own a smaller house or rent etc.
Reality is that currently you may live within your means, this does not mean you always will.
Rents can skyrocket, interest rates can skyrocket, taxes can skyrocket and honestly all of these things will happen if we are to get out of this mess, just the facts of time proves this. A correction will need to be made at some point in time.
Just in the last 3 months at where I am employed 750 employees were let go, all with 20-25 years of stellar service. Ask anyone of those 750 people if they ever thought this would happen to them?
I would dare to guess that not one of them would of.
How long before these people begin to run into the same problem with their credit ratings?
Do we just blame them?
Everyone needs to give their heads a shake and ask what can we as a society do to improve things and lay the blame where it belongs on the lenders who are so eager and willing to loan money out like it was water, without once looking at the person they are lending too!
JMO
Such an excellent, well composed letter and eye opener!! Thanks for sharing it.
Interesting blog. I found it as I was searching for a solution to my situation. Very similar, but on different levels.
I have actually moved friends into my home to help pay bills and have maintained my 720+ plus credit score. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and I know my rates will go up at some point and there will be nothing I can do about it.
I wish I could better understand how the banks allowed these mortgages to be sold on the open market. They offered insanely awesome deals that I ignorantly grabbed onto and now I am trapped. I don't mind paying the price for my mistakes as long as everyone that made mistakes pays with me. I do find it frustrating that the banks received bailouts and they get to go upon there merry way.
To answer everyone's question, my mortgage was sold on the secondary market. There are NO modification programs for this type of loan. As I was told.
I'll eat beans and rice to pay my bills, I would just like to know what's the best direction and if there is a chance? Do I really need to let everything go before I can get help? I would much rather take my medicine. After all, I'm a Marine, there is not much I haven't endured.
At some point when rates climb, I will be stuck, that's the realistic part. No equity and upside down. Stones are welcome, but direction is preferred. Thank you.
Actually, there are now modifications available for these kinds of loans.
The best bet is to call your servicer. I actually spent one year working
with mine, but it looks like I got a modification. I did what you did; moved
people in with me.
Are you still reviewing/ monitoring this? My family is very much in this same situation with Citibank. I have been going crazy trying to deal w/ them and at the same time find or reach out to others in this same predicament. This is dated a year ago… mine is NOW. I'm sorry to say I am not very internet savvy. I'm trying to find blogs or other chats or something to see how many folks, especially in and around my area in South Florida are battling the same issues. I believe in the strength of “numbers”. It is absolutely criminal in my mind that the banks are getting away with forcing people from their homes or giving no alternative to struggling families to ruin their credit by defaulting on 1st or 2nd mortgages (if you happen to have 2 like us).
Is anyone out there that can direct / help me find the “numbers” of folks battling this right now?
I don't know anything about citibank, but I have written two more
recent posts about this. Please see the archives
Hi all,
I just really love your article thank you for giving us such an article.
====================
Jeff
Finance
Please give me more information. I love it, Thanks again.
Bravo o you. We did actually lose our home. My son has been trying to buy for months and can't because he is our son. Ironic. They are afraid we will pocket “extra” money. What extra money. There is none. We owe them 120,000 and they agreed to sell it to him for 120,000. He even had an agreement of sale from our company but no one would finance him. We also did not buy a house above our means — a single family ranch 3/4 of an acre, at only 122,000. It is probably now worth only about 156,000. A real estate agent tried to tell me the house is worth over 250,000. Not llikey. No central air, 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Who is he trying to kid?
Bravo to you and I for one don't believe you are asking for a handout. I feel fair is fair. Our loan modification — when I sit back and think about it — they made it for MORE thant the mortgage payment actually was. It's a long story and all I can say is my husband and I work 7 days a week 12 hour days. He is self=employed and I help him. I work full time to get benefits as well. We have no life so no we aren't asking for a handout either. It angers me that people assume the worst. His business went down the tubes with the economy as well. It is creeping back up but the key word is creeping.
Anyway, thanks for letting me air and good luck
Bravo o you. We did actually lose our home. My son has been trying to buy for months and can’t because he is our son. Ironic. They are afraid we will pocket “extra” money. What extra money. There is none. We owe them 120,000 and they agreed to sell it to him for 120,000. He even had an agreement of sale from our company but no one would finance him. We also did not buy a house above our means — a single family ranch 3/4 of an acre, at only 122,000. It is probably now worth only about 156,000. A real estate agent tried to tell me the house is worth over 250,000. Not llikey. No central air, 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Who is he trying to kid?rnrnBravo to you and I for one don’t believe you are asking for a handout. I feel fair is fair. Our loan modification — when I sit back and think about it — they made it for MORE thant the mortgage payment actually was. It’s a long story and all I can say is my husband and I work 7 days a week 12 hour days. He is self=employed and I help him. I work full time to get benefits as well. We have no life so no we aren’t asking for a handout either. It angers me that people assume the worst. His business went down the tubes with the economy as well. It is creeping back up but the key word is creeping.rnrnAnyway, thanks for letting me air and good luck
Learn from experts how to start or grow your business, even in this economy. Come to AZEC10 (http://www.azec10.com).
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I’d like to remind you that we have significant discounts for early registration at http://azec10.eventbrite.com
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AZEC10 is the premier Arizona conference directly geared to entrepreneurs, and people come from everywhere (even Canada) to attend.This year’s speakers include industry analyst and wen-strategist Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang); Bay Area VC Dave McClure (@davemcclure), Flowtown co-founder Ethan Bloch (@ebloch), Infustionsoft founder Clate Mask (@infusionsoft), and entrepreneurial photographer Kris Krug (@kk).
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This is a personal invitation to you, to join me.
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Here’s my personal invitation to attend AZEC10 (http://www.azec10.com), the premier conference in Arizona to help entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. Here, VCs and entrepreneurs and resources meet and learn from each other.
rnrn
This year’s cast of characters includes Bay Area VC Dave McClure (@davemcclure), web strategist and industry analyst Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang), Infusionsoft founder Clate Mask (@infusionsoft), legendary entrepreneur/photographer Kris Krug (@kk) and a host of Arizona companies and resources,
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Early Bird Registration is available at http://azec10.eventbrite.com, and I hope to see you there!
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Mr. President, please allow me to introduce you to Americau2019s small business owners. They reside in every state and town in the country. These men and women are the backbone of the communities where they live. They represent the 20% that do 80%. They are the ones who serve on school boards and hospital boards, coach Little League, lead Boy Scout troops, serve in Indian Guides and volunteer in their churches and synagogues. They pay a disproportionate share of the property taxes that build the public schools and hospitals.Commercial Mortgages
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