Faces Of Foreclosure

Fear is paramount. Self-blame and a sense of failure is part of the package, even though we are surrounded by extraordinarily qualified professionals who are also out of work . . . most for the first time in their lives. Sadness for people who take advantage of the situation is prominent, starting with bankers who are given bonuses for no reason.

I’m out of work for the first time in 50 years. Given this market, it has taken awhile to get back on track . . . six months actually. I finally managed to increase my salary to my December 2008 pre-layoff-numbers by working several jobs, 10-14 hours days, seven days a week (half-day off over the weekend for spiritual renewal, family and an occasional movie). Income shortfalls are made up by unemployment insurance.

During this time of severly reduced income, I tried to renegotiate my loan with Wells Fargo Bank. It’s been like walking on fire. Wells Fargo has lost papers, been non-responsive, and has not disclosed the holder of the note — which they sold some time ago. During one 7-day-period they sent a letter indicating we would discuss options, followed by a conversation indicating that the noteholders (whomever they may be) do not want to negotiate so there are no options.

Foreclosure papers filed by banks have had inaccurate information, yet they signed under penalty of perjury—meaning that they did in fact perjure themselves. THIS is a BANK; aren’t banks under Federal Charter?

This is an extraordinary news story. Banks are stealing enmasse from taxpayers; they are giving themselves bonuses while people erect tents under freeways.

I just saw the movie “The Hurt Locker.” You know what happens during war? People are forced to leave their homes under duress. Yes, that is a stretched analogy, but more and more people are being forced out of their homes. Is this not a war? There have been tent cities under America’s freeways for at least 20 years; they are growing and, oddly, some reporters just noticed them and wrote articles about this “epidemic.”

We’ve done many many fundraisers for other countries; given that the banks have bowed out—and can we PLEASE have all that money back?— isn’t it time to do fundraisers for people in this country?

This is the fodder for TV series such as “Lie to Me” and “Leverage.” Which, of course, made me think the only people that can/might do something about this nightmare would be producers of movies and television series. (Book publishers could also, but the traditional book publishing process is staggeringly slow.)

We all need shelter yet almost two million working families have lost their homes and more will unless powerful proponents actually take a stand.

During a county meeting years ago, a San Francisco human rights social worker said that even very solid and sane people are nuts within 7-10 days of living on the streets. It is a frightening place to be. There is no peace. There is no safety.

How do the new(er) immigrants feel about moving to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave with the promise of a home, a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage? Many escaped from Wherever to find peace, opportunity and freedom only to be told “Oh, too bad, you have to move. You have lost your home. Oh, you didn’t read the mortgage papers correctly. All 9,000 words. So sorry.”

And those who have not been struck by lightening as yet think, “Oh, well, ‘they’ got into bad loans. ‘They’ went in over their heads.” Certainly that’s true in some instances . . . but 1.9 million! Seems unlikely. People face illnesses and/or job losses. Some people did have the requisite 6-12 months savings for emergencies. I know people who have been out of work up to 20 months! What do we tell our children? Work hard . . . it may come to nothing, but work hard anyway . . . and pay your taxes so the federal government can give it to for-profit, privately held, quite irresponsibly managed auto dealers and banks.

In The San Francisco Chronicle, Matier and Ross commented about a man who has lost his home because the “bank” wouldn’t negotiate. What about naming the banks when these stories are told.

Some weeks ago, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat told the story of James Madison, a Santa Rosa Coldwell Banker agent, who is proud of how much money he is making by “helping” people get out of their homes so he could sell them to someone else. Madison has approached CRYING men and told them the bank foreclosed on their home. I don’t know James Madison. I don’t want to know him. He is a shark swimming in blood-filled waters. I feel sorry for his wife and children. I feel sorry for him. What goes around comes around. I worked with real estate agents who refuse to deal in these blood baths.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 5:51 pm and is filed under faces of foreclosure, film industry, what's going on?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.