Faces Of Foreclosure

THE FORECLOSURE SECRETS GUIDE. I apologize going into this because the link takes you to one of those ugly pitch pages AND because I think this PDF publication is overpriced at $197 (or $67 through mid-November). However, it comes with a money-back guarantee from the writer/publisher and his strategies WORK; I saw a piece in action during a Visit to the Sheriff’s Office. If you can get through more battling (I know I’m really tired of this!), this may save your home. Apparently you have the right to a full disclosure of how fees are applied AND you have the right to ask for ALL of the original documents (with signatures in blue ink) so that you actually know who owns your house. If we do not fight back. this inept and/or illegal behaviour on the part of lending institutions will continue! The Guide contains Ways to negotiate Workout proposals Foreclosure, what it means, timelines, laws by state, etc. Legal defenses of a borrower, including a letter requesting the original notes!

This is very sad. Most of us just wanted to get through a rough time and responsibly requested assistance from our mortgage holders in compliance with President Obama’s plan(s). After months (and sometimes more than a year) of negotiating, many of us haven’t gotten anywhere. It MUST cost the lenders more to deal with all of this than it would have to fix it . . . and talk about bad PR. The lenders’ marketing firms have to be reeling; what lies could you possibly spin to cover this stuff up?

Foreclosures Increase – Produce The Note Offers Hope
October 29, 2009

The third quarter of 2009 has been labeled the ‘worst three months of all time‘ for foreclosures. Even though we’re seeing signs of economic recovery, people are still fighting to stay in their homes. Some get the run-around from banks, some are told by their lender they won’t renegotiate the loan, while others fall prey to lenders profiting from their foreclosures.

Using the “Produce The Note” strategy has proven successful in cases all across the nation as judges are increasingly holding mortgage lenders more responsible for proving their right to foreclose in the first place.

One bankruptcy court in New York has taken that burden of proof to a whole new level – not only stopping the foreclosure dead in its tracks . . . but THEN entirely waiving the homeowner’s mortgage debt of $461,263.
We certainly find this encouraging and look forward to how this kind of decision impacts the foreclosure crisis as it continues to unfold.

Consumer Warning Network cites an increased tendency in judges to hold lenders to the letter of the law in the surging number of foreclosure cases, including a report in The New York Times of an Ohio federal judge who threw out 14 cases in 2007 when investors trying to foreclose could not prove ownership. April Charney, head of foreclosure defense for the Jacksonville, Florida Area Legal Aid also uses and strongly advocates the “produce the note” strategy. As reported in the Florida Union Times, she says that for some of her clients, it has put foreclosure on hold for years.

From a consumer warning network: During the lending boom, most mortgages were flipped and sold to another lender or servicer or sliced up and sold to investors as securitized packages on Wall Street. In the rush to turn these over as fast as possible to make the most money, many of the new lenders did not get the proper paperwork to show they own the note and mortgage. This is the key to the produce the note strategy. Now, many lenders are moving to foreclose on homeowners, resulting in part from problems they created, and don’t have the proper paperwork to prove they have a right to foreclose.

In response to blogging this to real estate agents, an agent who has also been subjected to the insane loan modification process, wrote: “Even though I am in the industry, I am so soured on mortgages and mortgage lenders, I may never buy another property again.”

THE FORECLOSURE SECRETS GUIDE I apologize going into this because the link takes you to one of those ugly pitch pages AND because I think this PDF publication is overpriced at $197 (or $67 through mid-November). And I shouldn’t say this, but it is also poorly written . . . but the techniques apparently work and it IS a low price if it helps save your home. I saw a piece in action during a Visit to the Sheriff’s Office and I will let you know next week if this helped save Dennis’ home. If you can get through more battling, this may help you save your house. I added the book to the site immediately following a response from a realtor who wrote saying that the bank did not disclose how they applied her late fees. Apparently you have the right to a full disclosure of how fees are applied AND you have the right to ask for ALL of the original documents so that you actually know who owns your house. If we do not fight back. this inept and/or illegal behaviour will continue!

The lending institutions behind every story here may have YOUR money in one of their checking, savings or investment accounts; THAT is a frightening thought.

I do not expect lenders to “have a heart;” I don’t care if they have hearts. I do expect them to be ethical and fiscally responsible. That is not being exhibited across the nation.

I don’t know what is going on or what is more disconcerting:

1. that the lending institutions are completely confused;
2. that they might be as corrupt as it appears;
3. that they are so insulated that they actually think their “bonus behaviour” is acceptable;
4. that they are as inept as is being exhibited!
5. mortgages have been sold and resold to such a degree that many lending institutions have trouble proving ownership.
6. uninformed real estate agents who assure you that “short sale” is the way to go; most do not know or are not disclosing the consequences of that.

All are extremely uncomfortable suggestions and, in my opinion, none are acceptable for those institutions that purportedly manage our dollars.

The Foreclosure Secrets Guide on this page was written by Alfonso Inclan, self-described “financial educator, credit analyst, real estate investor and online marketing coach.” He is not an attorney and a copy of his PDF guide was given to me by a legal advocate who is successfully using the techniques in this book — combined with others — to save homes. These techniques have been effective in saving at least five homes per the legal advocate and we will know next week whether or not it has saved Dennis’ home come Monday.

The book was written in 2008, the author has dozens of testimonials on his site attesting to the effectiveness of his guide. As you know if you are in the middle of this, most attorneys who claim that they can help save your home for fees ranging from $1500 to $30,000 or more have no specific power to do so. (In fact, the practice of charging upfront fees for such a service is now illegal in California — as well it should be.) Most lender negotiations are NOT successful, no matter who conducts them.

Here is an example given in the guide:

One of the largest subprime lenders was New Century. New Century went bankrupt. Loans were taken over by Countrywide, who then began foreclosures on homes. (After the guide was published, Bank of America was stuck with Countrywide . . . and Countrywide had more toxic loans than any other bank). Unless whomever took over their notes can provide the appropriately signed paperwork proving that they are the holders of the note, the borrower (you, the homeowner) may well be the owner.

It seems that my own mortgage holder cannot prove their ownership and did not provide notice of any sale of my note at any time.

I’m sure you do not want to go down this path. Neither do I. Because of the cost of getting in housing in California, it took me years to “purchase” a home and all I want to do is live happily ever after in it. However, it seems that it has come to “do battle or lose.”

The Foreclosure Secrets Guide contains:

• Ways to negotiate
• Workout proposals
• Foreclosure (including links to “Foreclosure Laws by State” and “Foreclosure Procedures by State.” These are crucial for you to know as they can help save your home because many lenders are NOT following the rules and are therefore in default.
• Legal Defenses of a Borrower. MOST IMPORTANT, i.e. things lenders don’t want you to know, letters requesting validation of debt, FTC and HUD complaints . . .
• Difference between mortgage and deed of trust

A group of high-spirited, well-organized, caring and sometimes scared neighbors at Marin Family Action in San Rafael, California have been working to help save homes for a couple of months. They have covered quite a bit of ground (and uncovered a considerable amount of duplicity) in a short time.

Their immediate focus: Dennis, a dapper 60-something-year-old gentleman who has owned his home for 37 years is facing eviction somewhere between 9 a.m. and midnight on Monday, November 2nd.

Dennis’ story: Dennis has lived in his house for 37 years. Due to economic downturns, he asked lender for a restructure. The lender said “You are current. Miss three months and we will talk.” After missing three months’ worth of payments, lender said no to restructure and said they were going to foreclose. Dennis sent them full payment to catch up. They refused the payment. Dennis went in with his attorney and a check. The lender again refused payment (which, apparently, is against the law). Bank sold the house to an investment group (soon to be named . . . and who have reportedly purchased 80 homes through shortsale, some LESS THAN other all-cash offers, which is also questionable).

Dennis is supposed to be out of his house on Monday. We are staging a sit-in on that day. Papers have been served on the Sheriff’s department to cease due to illegal activity, and on the purchaser of the note. Local media will cover, as will PBS out of Canada.

Through Marin Family Action, Dennis has been working with Jeff Smith. Jeff is neither an attorney nor a paralegal; he is a brilliant legal advocate that has had success in saving homes by documenting the illegal machinations of lenders . . . particularly through the Common Law court in Washington DC.

Lawsuits are underway: The first was FedEx’ed to Washington, D.C. for filing and returned within 24 hours. The paperwork was faxed to all parties involved and a group of us went to Marin County Sheriff’s Department on Thursday, October 29th, to apprise them of the situation with a request to hold the eviction until there is time to prove that Dennis is wrongfully being evicted. This suit includes a petition for declaratory relief and an order to cease and desist. This should stop the eviction and allow time to follow up with the second suit which will be an “action to quiet title.”

At this point, it’s a matter of what the sheriff’s department decides to do.

The group supporting Marin Family Action has grown from a few people three months ago to more than 150 concerned residents of Marin and Sonoma Counties . . . is prepared to “sit in” at Dennis’ house on Monday.

Once this fire is put out, the group will continue working with others who have been or are being duped by lenders. Some of the illegal activity going on with foreclosures is surely due to staggering incompetence; other activities are clearly coverups on the lenders’ parts; sadly, I have proof of this and will be naming names soon.

Update: November 4, 2009
Dennis is still in his home. Eviction papers have not been served. It is down to the wire and the legal advocate is waiting for papers from the Federal Court in Washington to see about a stay a “cease and desist order,” something.

If it matters, the person writing this has never been an activist, not even during the Vietnam War when it would have been appropriate to speak up. I prefer anonymity, have always kept my head down, worked hard, and volunteer to help endangered animals. But it is clearly time to speak up at the injustices being inflicted upon American homeowners.

As I’ve written throughout these pages, I don’t care if lenders have hearts; I do care that they are ethical and fiscally responsible; neither of those traits are being exhibited by todays mortgage lenders in America.

PLEASE keep in mind: “There But For God Go I” and “You.”

This IS an unprecedented time in our country; if we don’t stand by each other, if we do not work to halt illegal activities, what is the point of this country?

God Bless Us All! And God Help Us All!

Edward Abbey. Do you remember Edward Abbey? Do you know who he was? Southwestern author who wrote: “If you are not angry, you are not paying attention.” And, as I wrote somewhere else in my ponderings, I added, “If you are not angry, not only are you not paying attention, you are sound asleep.”

What’s going on?

If you are a student of history, you would know that in the takeover of any given country in any century, generally the heads of several major foreign powers got together and decided who would own what. Apparently, America was divided up by England, Germany and The Vatican. I didn’t make this up. You have to dig, but it’s there. I’ll find sources later. I’m tired and mind-boggled by it all right now. One of the gentlemen of the group is steeped in law; he recommended Black’s Law Dictionary. Various formats are available, including a digital bundle and pocket law dictionary. He also recommended locating the oldest one you can find. There are laws that govern us that have been buried by elimination. I know this sounds nuts, but look around!

For months, I’ve been wondering about the “men” who run America into the ground, about their countries of origin. What types of names are Bush, Madoff, etc.? In a magazine entitled “The American Way of Life,” David Novak — once incarcerated in federal prison for mail fraud — wrote “The White-collar Crook’s Guide to Life.”

In the event you are pondering your white collar crime career, this is from Novak’s interview:

American Way: What kind of mindset does the typical white-collar offender bring to this experience?
David Novak: They’re successful, tenacious people who think they can overcome all obstacles. They rarely, if ever, think they’ll really go to prison. Once there, they tend to identify more with the staff members than their fellow inmates, which can get them into trouble.

I love my country. I have travelled to 26-28 other countries, often with the thought “I’m outa here,” on top of my mind. However, while all countries are beautiful and all have something to offer, America’s open spaces have always drawn me back home . . . my family has been here since the 1700s. But the promise of America is (was?) so unique. It embarrasses me to say this because I have a strong veneer, but it hurts my heart to see what people are trying to get away with to gain more dollars. How stupid. How absolutely stupid.

It pains me to watch as people have heart attacks or commit suicide because the loss of their homes. It pains me to know that behind that loss are all-too-often the illegal machinations of mortgage/financial institutions.

Next on this site will be sample letters to send to your bank asking for formal documents showing the sale of the note to your home. We were advised today to “act quickly,” because the lenders WILL find a way around giving these to you. There are too many “white boys” on top of the pile and they do not care what they have to do to stay on top of the heap. If you are going through this, document every conversation: Date, time, who you talked to, what they said. In 11 months (as I write this) of dealing with my mortgage lender, not once have I talked with the same person. On the same day I received a letter saying that they will negotiate, I received a phone call saying the “holder of the note does not want to negotiate,” only to find out that the entity purportedly holding the note did NOT hold the note . . . it was again sold and I was not notified. Apparently THAT is illegal.

I hear repeatedly that “bankers have no heart.” Who cares? I don’t expect them to. But I do expect them to be honest and ethical given their charge . . . which is OUR money.

Does anyone care that 3 million foreclosed homes translates to 7 million men, women, children (and their dogs, cats, parakeets, etc.) forced out of their homes, sometimes with a gun-toting sheriff nearby to ensure a “peaceful” departure?

Add their friends and associates and you have at least 10-20 million upset, hurt, angry, disenchanted people. What is this carnage going to do to America’s working families? What is this going to do to this country’s work ethic? Work for what? (The displaced homeowners WERE working families or they would not have been able to purchase homes in the first place.)

Financier Warren Buffet, in talking about our current economy and foreclosures said, “This is war.” Indeed.

This is NOT about empty houses waiting to be re-sold. It is about millions of U.S. citizens being thrown into the streets. A Marin County, California, Supervisor said that because of these losses, more than 1,000 children are sleeping in cars and their parents, unaccustomed to asking for assistance, are too embarrassed to say anything to anyone. If they did tell anyone, they stand to lose their children also as they are unable to providing housing for them.

Why aren’t the one million members of the National Association of Realtors screaming about the homes they sold being taken away from their former clients? Taxpayer dollars are sitting in some stimulus program somewhere; these dollars belong to the very people being evicted. These dollars are purportedly slated to help families STAY in homes. Why isn’t NAR or someone establishing systems to keep people in their homes? Surely, they could figure out how to profit from their “efforts.”

This is either a marketing nightmare or a marketing opportunity for NAR, Realtors®, lenders, etc. What is the matter with all of you? People you displaced will NOT forget. You hurt them. Some are elderly and frail and will not survive this displacement. The dream of living in the U.S. is to have one’s own home. Why aren’t you fighting for the people you sold homes to?

If you need proof of how long an injustice on our own soil lasts, travel around the Southern United States—they are still angry about the Civil War, which ended 144 years ago.

You can’t completely disrupt millions of lives and expect them to be “fine” shortly. Some will never recover. Why aren’t Realtors® marching on Washington? What is the matter with you people?

If this doesn’t inspire your creative spirits for a crime drama, I don’t know what will:

“The Cuomo report – prepared over nine months – argues that some banks paid out larger bonuses than their profits, while simultaneously taking exceptional state emergency funds.

Ten banks were given money as part of the government’s $700 billion financial stimulus plan.

In 2008 Goldman Sachs paid $4.8 billion in bonuses, representing more than twice its income. Similarly, Morgan Stanley awarded bonuses of $4.5 billion while earning just $1.7 billion.

All the while a painful global recession – partly caused by bankers’ excess – was depriving less fortunate citizens of their livelihoods. The government provided both firms with $10 billion as part of the its wider Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp). Goldman recently reported a better-than-expected net profit of $3.44 billion for the three months to June.

Citigroup and Merrill Lynch paid bonuses of $5.33 billion and $3.6 billion respectively while seeing losses of more than $27 million each, said the report.

Under the scripts category are sections for “Bones and Booth,” “Burn Notice,” “Criminal Minds,” “CSI,” “Law and Order,” “Leverage,” “Lie to Me,” “Numbers,” “Without a Trace.” I have a few other favorites that need to go on here, and you can add your own.

Join me on this. Bite back. These are TV shows. You can burn these Bonus Bankers, hang them, have drive-by shoot outs, lose them off beaches to sharks (will sharks eat sharks?), bury them anywhere, deplete their off-shore accounts (Leverage!!!!), have whole conventions of mortgage brokers strangely disappear in deserts. CSI’s team tracks them, “Without a Trace” can’t find them, but “Bones and Booth” do.
Feel free to include an appropriate assortment of politicians and real estate agents . . . Just have at ‘em. What goes around comes around. Very important that mortgage industry professionals end up in very very very long job lines for jobs that they cannot have as they are “over qualified,” and have “police records.”

Again, your potential base audience is 1.9 million people who have lost their homes due to foreclosure.

Perhaps there is an angry Wells Fargo employee or two who have been caught up in this mess. Wells Fargo/Wachovia’s new ad: “We’re with you when you need someone to stand by you.” Really! What about this from Wells Fargo’s website:

Welcome

A home is likely one of the biggest and most worthwhile investments you’ll ever make. And a Real Estate-Owned property, commonly called an REO or foreclosed property, may be a smart way for homebuyers who want to get into a home. Specializing in Foreclosures.

Since 1997, Premiere Asset Services (PAS), together with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and our partner REALTORS®, has helped more than 30,000 homebuyers nationwide realize their dream of homeownership through the purchase of foreclosed properties.

From Listings to Mortgage Assistance: We offer a wide selection of foreclosures, representing several financial institutions that work with PAS to manage and market their REO properties. To make these properties available to homebuyers, we maintain free online listings. Whether you’re a first time homebuyer or a seasoned investor, we provide assistance with the buying process, from application to closing.

Leading the Way for Homebuyers and Agents: For over a decade, Premiere Asset Services has led the way in the sale of foreclosed properties. We have the satisfied homebuyers and agents to prove it.

NoteEmployees of Wells Fargo and their immediate family members are prohibited from purchasing properties sold by Premiere Asset Services

WHAT IF each of the major crime dramas, i.e. “Lie to Me,” ” Criminal Minds,” “Without A Trace,” various “CSI” programs, “Burn Notice,” “Numbers,” “The Closer,” “Leverage,” the new “White Collar Crime” (which is excellent — check out the “young blue eyes” lead), Hawaii 5.0, etc. presents their spin on our current mortgage nightmares/foreclosures during a season, all on separate evenings so they don’t touch each other’s ratings.

This real estate debacle is war on our own soil, so what about staging a national fundraiser through crime television programs, each of whom present their own take on the story of an individual or family (a real family) who has lost their home through foreclosure? And what about photographing just one day in every state; every state has dozens of foreclosures per day.

WHY? ‘Cause SOMEONE has to do something effective! And because many denizens of Hollywood care deeply about their craft and country. Movies and television dramas do bring truth to light and light to truth.

These are the images you see on the news. You seldom see the men, women, children, dogs, cats, birds, etc. that have had to move. Some of these people have been out of work for awhile and have no money to move and/or can’t find rentals that will accept their pets. Where do they go? What happens to the uprooted children?

Have you done the math for the millions of homes that have been lost to foreclosure? It’s a shocking revelation. Surely lending institutions are not thinking of their future. Two million foreclosures (this year alone) translates to an average of 2.6 people per home (5.2 million people), times a 50% expected population growth by 2050 (41 years). More than 10 million people, all passing down the stories of how they lost their home because Wells Fargo or Bank of America or Chase would not assist even though they received billions in taxpayer dollars to help families keep their homes.

If the lenders think this is going to go away, it isn’t. People in the Southern United States are STILL upset over the Civil War which ended in 1865.

Think about the goodwill of such a project. And, again, that audience. Many of these shows have audiences exceeding 2 million anyway; this could add a few million more viewers to each show.

Depending on your position in our home foreclosure saga, you will be damned or you will be praised.

My daughter and I love movies and certain television shows, as do many of our friends. We developed a list of individuals who obviously care about our world and who have reached out in many ways to make a difference.

With “nothing ventured, nothing gained,” along with “desperate measures for desperate times” and “feel the fear and do it anyway” to push me along, I began this project by eMaililng Erin Brockovich . . .

Speaking of movies, we have just been invited to “The Ugly Truth” and I have to run out the door . . .

The list will go up when we return.

We’re back . . . Following is the start of a list. I will begin contacting everyone I can find immediately, sometimes with pleas for assistance, sometimes with specific reqeusts for types of visibility/coverage. I have worked with a few of these fine people and am hopeful that some will have the time and the desire in helping save homes.

Some years ago, I played a tiny part in getting visibility for a media conference staged at San Francisco’s Fort Mason by The North Face. It was designed to bring attention to the plight of the Tatshenshini River in British Columbia. A copper mining operation proposed building its plant on a site that happened to be an earthquake faultline. Trailings from the mine would have killed all life downstream, including rare glacier blue bears. Because of an article written by Paul McHugh of The San Francisco Chronicle, Al Gore unexpectedly attended the conference. For years, efforts to stop the mining operation had been spearheaded by Ric Careless and Donna Real of British Columbia; this was their last-ditch effort to gain visibility. After the event, within months, Gore met with the appropriate people and the Tatshenshini River is protected.

• Dr. Phil: Obvious reasons
• Erin Brockovich: Subject of the movie
• Don Cheadle: Human rights activist
• Sean Combs: Community activist, excellent businessman (and he dresses SO well)
• Russell Crowe: Social activist
• Danny Devito: Producer of “Erin Brokovich”
• Leonardo deCaprio: Environmental activist. May be a stretch, but tent cities are ugly and unsanitary, so perhaps this will interest him
• Dave Eggers, Author, and a fabulous person
• Al Gore, Activist who has effected change
• Michael Moore: Activist and documentary filmmaker
• Sean Penn: Activist . . . and showed in a rowboat with a rifle during Katrina
• Brad Pitt: Democratic candidates and causes
• Robert Redford: Devoted activist and filmmaker
• Steven Segal: Environmental and animal rights activist. “Above the Law” and other movies that make a point
• Rick Smollens: “Day In The Life” book series. Imagine someone of his caliber pulling together photo images of people around the U.S. being forced out of their homes . . . and naming the mortgage companies/banks responsible for each . . . perhaps with images of the bank executives that received bonuses
• Kanye West: Political activist with millions of followers
• Producers/cast of “Leverage,” “Lie to Me,” etc. (All of these are listed under the “Scripts” category)
• Bite Back Productions: Don’t know who they are. Love the name. I tried to register BiteBack.com and found their site