The Rush For Fool’s Gold
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “A San Francisco woman has broken back into the house she lost in a foreclosure. Neighbors cheered as Carolyn Gage promised to defy a court-ordered eviction in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. Gage says she did everything she could to keep the house her father built. When reporters asked about the particulars of her case, she wouldn’t give any details, but a check of court records show that in November 2006, Gage took out a $525,000 adjustable rate mortgage that started at 11.99 percent.”
“Her first payment was due two months later, but she never made it. She didn’t pay the next month, nor did she pay the following month. Lawyers for the company that owns the mortgage told ABC7 Gage never made a payment, declared bankruptcy multiple times, filed a case in federal court and lost for failing to state a relevant claim.”
“When asked again if she could answer some of the details, she said, ‘at a later date, as I said before, I will speak to you.’”
“Saturday night turned to Sunday morning in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. Before the protest, Lauren DiGioia, 26 years old, was living with her father in Clifton, N.J., in a home facing foreclosure. ‘My dad was a music teacher in the Jersey City public school system for a long time,’ she continued. ‘He’s a musical genius. He went to Julliard. .. He’s a conservative Republican. .. He was tenured. And they cut funding.’”
“‘He’s 65,’ she said. ‘He’s tried to make money any way he can. He’s tried getting into real estate. He’s tried these get-rich-quick online things. He gives music lessons privately. He plays the organ at churches. He really does whatever he can, but he’s running out of options.’”
“DiGioia has lost dreams, too. She left college after a couple of years. She also sang in a band, and wants to sing in a band again. ‘This occupation is basically a microcosm of our current society,’ she said. ‘Everything that is already wrong with our world is magnified here.’”
“More than 100 Minnesotans from faith, labor and community groups rallied outside of the annual meeting of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. Sheronda Orridge has owned her home in St. Paul since 1997 and has stayed current on her mortgage—even when her small business struggled in the economic downturn and even after her payment increased. After she refinanced six years ago she noticed that despite making her payment every month, her loan balance kept going up. She found out that she had a type of loan called a ‘negative amortization.’”
“‘I’ve done everything right and everything they asked me to,’ Orridge said. ‘We need to hold the banks accountable.’”
“More than 500 people packed the auditorium of Eberhart Elementary School. Stepping up to the microphone was Anna Medina. Through a series of events, Bank of America has decided to foreclose on her mortgage. They can afford their mortgage payments but not the amount they are in the arrears. ‘My family has income. We can now pay. We just need a fresh start,’ said Medina.”
“Tens of thousands of homeowners facing short sales or foreclosure may be able to catch a break between now and Saturday at the Tampa Convention Center, where Bank of America is holding a loan modification event. William Pfanakuch says he’s about $100,000 upside-down on his home in Port Charlotte, but he wants to stay in it.”
“‘I haven’t paid in about a year and a half now. I’ve been trying to re-negotiate the loan for about two years now,’ he said, ‘and they’re finally setting up programs like this. It’s a great event.’”
“Housing Counselors at the South Bay Homeownership Fair had encouraging news for homeowners on at a gathering on Saturday. Access to a $2 billion fund called Keep Your Home California is now easier, so more people qualify for federal and state funds that could reduce the amount they owe on their mortgages. ‘If any homeowner ever refinanced their property, took any cash out, again, they were barred from the program. I’m happy to say that as of last Monday, that restriction was removed,’ said Ali Tarzi of Community Housing Works.”
“Taking aim at government housing policies for the poor, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann argued this week that ‘the federal government demanded politically correct loans be made by banks, and they demanded that the lending standards be lowered so that people who lacked credit-worthiness were given loans by banks, not necessarily because the banks wanted to give those loans.’”
“Not everyone agrees with Bachmann’s interpretation. ‘The law doesn’t require lenders to make risky loans,’ said Ed Goetz, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota. ‘The housing crisis was fueled by subprime lending and a lending market that was out of whack.’”
“The majority finding of the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, appointed by Congress, reported in January that Fannie and Freddie ‘followed rather than led Wall Street and other lenders in the rush for fool’s gold.’ Now, as aftermath of the crash becomes a central fault line in the 2012 elections, voters will have their pick of villains.”
“‘Regarding the housing meltdown,’ said Peter Bell, a TCF Bank board member, ‘no one’s hands are clean.’”
“Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) and his fellow Democrats — as well as self-proclaimed socialist senator Bernie Sanders — voted unanimously to protect subsidies for millionaires’ mortgages. In fact it was another measure Menendez himself sponsored: an amendment to an appropriations bill that will allow Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration to back home loans as large as $729,750. With help from a handful of Republicans, his measure cleared the Senate 60–38.”
“Menendez proclaimed that Congress must raise the limit back to almost three-quarters of a million dollars in order to save the ‘middle class.’ Not raising the limit ‘makes it harder for middle class homebuyers to get credit when credit is tight,’ Menendez said. A Wall Street Journal editorial noted, ‘the average sales price for existing homes in September was $212,700.’ And even in Menendez’s home state of New Jersey, the median sale price of homes was only $303,100 in August, as calculated by Zillow.”
“If this increased loan limit becomes law, it would mean that purchasers of these expensive homes — millionaires and near-millionaires almost by definition — could save thousands of dollars from below-market interest rates thanks to government guarantees. Yet so far, there have been few if any condemnations of this government privilege for the wealthy from groups involved in the supposedly populist Occupy Wall Street. And this — as well as the movement’s general silence on the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie and Freddie’s outsized role in the financial crisis - exposes the stink of hypocrisy (on top of the many other reported scents) from much of the OWS movement.”
“In a February white paper, the Obama administration had commendably recommended letting the loan limit expire so ‘larger loans for more expensive homes will once again be funded only through the private market.’”
“A San Francisco mansion has sold for $29.5 million. Nearby properties listed for $40 million to $60 million in the Pacific Heights section known as the Gold Coast never sold, said Patrick Barber, head of the San Francisco office of Pacific Union International, the property’s listing brokerage. The 1922 mansion sold for 24 percent less than the original listing price of $39 million and below the most recent asking price of $33.9 million.”
“‘Homes now are priced realistically, and they’re selling,’ Barber said.”
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “A San Francisco woman has broken back into the house she lost in a foreclosure. Neighbors cheered as Carolyn Gage promised to defy a court-ordered eviction in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. Gage says she did everything she could to keep the house her father built. When reporters asked about the particulars of her case, she wouldn’t give any details, but a check of court records show that in November 2006, Gage took out a $525,000 adjustable rate mortgage that started at 11.99 percent.”
She did everything she could - EXCEPT pay back the money.
$525,000 gone - and yet she thinks she is a victim…
“The house her father built.”
Yep. What did she spend the money on? I vote hookers and blow.
Yep. What did she spend the money on? I vote hookers and blow.
And the rest she wasted…
I don’t think she ever had any money. I bet she had to buy out siblings.
That is probably a very good guess. She might not have used all $525K for the buy out, but what was a house like that worth in 2006 or when her father died (or one year after the date her father died)?
Her siblings probably made out pretty well.
I’m not exactly pro-big-bank, but in this case it’s the bank that got screwed. Laws WERE passed that required them to lend in areas like Bayview/Hunters Point, where you could reasonably expect this sort of thing (refi, no payments) to happen - and when it does happen they’re being asked to eat the loss. At one time banks were accused of not making enough loans in poor areas. This is why!
Point of information: Most of the subprime loans of the recent boom did not originate from institutions covered by the Community Reinvestment Act.
So, don’t blame the CRA and those poor people for this problem. Find another scapegoat.
I was talking to a veteren Realtor a couple weeks ago and she mentioned the same laws, that banks would be fined for not making loans. I pressed her on it and she didn’t have specifics, but thought “they were passed in the early 2000s.” So maybe there was something — perhaps as part of the Ownership Society.
Most of the subprime lending that went so horribly wrong was done by non-bank institutions. Think mortgage brokers, not banks. And I’ll betcha money that running the loans through non-banks was a way of getting around the fines.
CRA required that they not red-line entire neighborhoods. But they only had to make loans that were equivalent in underwriting to the ones they would make in other areas. So if they required the payment not to exceed 31% of gross income in other neighborhoods, they could require it in all neighborhoods. If they required no more than 80% loan to value ratio other areas, they could require it in all areas. And, I suppose that this means that if they gave a loan to anyone who could fog a mirror in other areas, then they had to make loans to anyone who could fog a mirror in all neighborhoods.
The problem is in giving loans to anyone who can fog a mirror (and ignoring paymenents compared to income and loan to value ratios), not in the CRA which requires you treat minority neighborhoods the same way you treat other neighborhoods.
Has it occurred to this woman that $525K is more money than she most likely would earn in ten years?
And did she check a mortgage calculator to see how big her payments would be? The article doesn’t say what length of time the mortgage is for, so I used 30 years, $525K, 11.99% interest and entered all that into my Google Mortgage Calculator,but entered 0 for insurance and taxes and downpayment.
The payment, mortgage payment ONLY, exclusive of insurance and taxes, came to $5,623.68. Never mind insurance and stratospheric San Fran property taxes.
I have a feeling this woman was a scammer from the start and never had any intention of paying back this money. She got a cash-out loan because she could and because she feels entitled to “gimmes”. She ought to be charged with bank fraud, because she surely knew that she was in no way, in this lifetime or any other, capable of servicing this loan.
“DiGioia has lost dreams, too. She left college after a couple of years. She also sang in a band, and wants to sing in a band again. ‘This occupation is basically a microcosm of our current society,’ she said. ‘Everything that is already wrong with our world is magnified here.’”
About 0.00001% of singers make enough money to live on by just singing. About the some percentage as basketball players.
Go learn a skill that someone will pay you for…
Go learn a skill that someone will pay you for…
Like tap dancing.
…or lap dancing.
i wanted to be a cowboy.
I wanted to be a clown, but I turned out to be a clown with a job
Momma told me not to grow up and be a cowboy.
The late Mexican-American musician Lalo Guerrero recorded a song called “Mama, don’t let your children grow up to be busboys.” It’s tongue-in-cheek satire of how people from south of the border are viewed in this country.
I know more than a few local musicians. And, surprise, just about all of them make their living elsewhere.
This makes for some very interesting combinations. Like the gal who’s an accountant by day and a rock and roll drummer by night. Or the guy who’s a software developer by day and bluegrass mandolin and fiddle player by night. He also owns a recording studio.
I could go on, but you get the point.
“DiGioia has lost dreams, too.
Yeah, that happens. Suck it up.
Well.. then… I guess the bank should pay for these “lost dreams”
Old musicians joke:
Q. How do you get the bass player off your front porch?
A. Pay for the pizza.
My brother is an ultimate loser….
His day job is a photographer for a print newspaper in a tiny town.
His fun job is playing banjo in a Dixieland Jazz group.
Boy he shure picked winning careers.
Well, the article does not say what sort of degree Lauren was pursuing, but I’ll take a wild guess that it was not, for example, petroleum engineering….
My neighbor just got her PhD from the Divinity School. But she doesn’t want to be a minister, she wants to be a scholar. I asked what was the topic of her thesis, she said: “Religion and Magic” Right. And she’s complaining that she can’t find a job commensurate with her skills.
What? She can’t find job that is willing to pay her for skills as a religious scholar? But what about all that knowledge she has in the field of magic? Cummon, ya gottabekiddinme.
Lots of people with Phds can’t get tenure track professor jobs.
Sheronda Orridge has owned her home in St. Paul since 1997 and has stayed current on her mortgage—even when her small business struggled in the economic downturn and even after her payment increased. After she refinanced six years ago she noticed that despite making her payment every month, her loan balance kept going up. She found out that she had a type of loan called a ‘negative amortization.’”
1. You had a house “pre-bubble” in 1997
2. HOW MUCH MONEY DID YOU TAKE OUT IN 2005???? AT THE TOP OF THE FREAKING BUBBLE?
3. Did you read the document which you signed? You are a small business owner - you should know to read documents that you are signing.
4. No – you are NOT a victim.
Access to a $2 billion fund called Keep Your Home California is now easier, so more people qualify for federal and state funds that could reduce the amount they owe on their mortgages. ‘If any homeowner ever refinanced their property, took any cash out, again, they were barred from the program. I’m happy to say that as of last Monday, that restriction was removed,’ said Ali Tarzi of Community Housing Works.”
No moral hazard here. Move along. Government just doing its job.
To all those fools who rent or sacrifice to pay your mortgage on time…keep voting for bigger and bigger government.
This is the one that’s going to send me to the Jack Daniels. It’s one thing to hoodwink a young couple of first-time buyers who still think the banks operate like it’s 1973. But the HELOCers should have known better.
She took out a loan on a paid-up house and never paid a penny on the loan. Would anyone have sympathy for someone who signed a lease and never paid a penny and then broke back in after being evicted? Yet her supporters say:
“the particulars of this case aren’t really that important. What’s wrong with our economic system is that you have 11 people in one block who are all facing foreclosure,” said Avalos. “That’s not the fault of people, that’s the fault of our economic system. The banks aren’t doing enough at the macro level to support us against foreclosures.” Wow!
I remember a day when the people were complicit with the system and would not listen to reason. I was told by many that:
“I can’t lose money on this overpriced house because the government CAN’T let the market fall”
“If the price goes down, then I can just send the keys back to the bank”
“You are crazy if you think house prices will go down”
“You are stupid if you think house prices will go down”
“Follow the smart money”
“The government should lend me more money so I don’t have to work”
Ya know, right now I’m not feeling real sympathetic with all the housing FBs out there in the world. I was only one of the people trying to warn them all and save them from financial ruin. They would not listen because they were too stupid/cocky/smug. Who’s fault is that?
Don’t forget all the rabid advice to “LIBERATE YOUR EQUITY”
“Gage says she did everything she could to keep the house her father built. When reporters asked about the particulars of her case, she wouldn’t give any details, but a check of court records show that in November 2006, Gage took out a $525,000 adjustable rate mortgage that started at 11.99 percent.”
Sounds as though she did everything possible to lose the house her father built.
It could be said that she sold it to the lender for $525k. I don’t see what she’s complaining about.
Yesterday, walking out of the grocery store, “they” (you’ll know who “they” are right?) had a beautiful handwritten sign with large number$:
2.99% Equity loan
(eyes don’t know anyone personally, who would loan ol’ Hwy50 $525,000 @ 2.99%, well, ok eyes do, but then iffin’ anything went wrong it might strain our friendship. So, yeah I don’t know anyone’s who eyes wants to borrow that sum of money from. That’s my story and eyes stickin’ with it.)
I don’t see what she’s complaining about.
“Her first payment was due two months later, but she never made it. She didn’t pay the next month, nor did she pay the following month. Lawyers for the company that owns the mortgage told ABC7 Gage never made a payment, declared bankruptcy multiple times…”
Maybe has dementia, can’t relate the past vacations photo’s to current feelings/sen$ations?
(The nightmare $cenario is iffin’ she had to use it for the MedicalIndustrialComplexInc.’$ low-co$t type $olutions, but given the facts as stated, I.don’t.think.so.)
She made $525,000 tax free (she won’t have to pay it back, right?). Do they neighbors that are cheering from know they stole from them? She stole $100,000 from the U.S. Treasury in income tax on that $525,000 she’ll never pay.
If this were Florida, or a state with a similar “Castle Doctrine” law, they bank could wait inside the home and legally shoot and kill her if she forcibly broke in! ( http://www.gunlaws.com/FloridaCastleDoctrine.htm ). OK, my legal theory may be a little stretch, but not by much!
No, NOT tax-free!
She is in for a really nasty surprise. The lenders may write off the loss, but the IRS sure as hell will not.
The $500K plus she extracted would be considered Capital Gains and she will owe taxes on it. Plus penalties and interest.
And the IRS will collect even if it puts you on the sidewalk. It will take the clothes off your back.
Let’s see, her father built it, so when she took possession there was probably very little, if anything, owed on the house. Somehow I don’t think the $525,000 is residual from her father’s original construction loan.
Unless she had siblings.
And her lawyer encouraged her to break back in! This is like a script for a really bad movie.
“Gage’s former attorney, Michael Pines, encourages his clients to take back their foreclosed homes. In September, Pines was found guilty of attempted burglary trying to help one of his clients.”
What a great scheme to rebuild our nation’s retirement funds!
Take out a loan for half a mil, default on repayment, declare bankruptcy. Keep “your” house. Insurance indemnifies the bank. Fed bails out insurers. Everybody’s happy.
Oh, wait….
Michael T. Pines got himself disbarred last spring.
See http://members.calbar.ca.gov/fal/Member/Detail/77771
To quibble he wasn’t “disbarred” but he was “ordered to inactive status” which is just about as bad. That’s like having your boss catch you doing something illegal and telling you if you don’t quit you will be fired.
http://members.calbar.ca.gov/courtDocs/11-TE-10948-1.pdf
Here’s the hilarious PDF file from the CA Bar website explaining Mr. Pines’ “mistakes”
“Menendez proclaimed that Congress must raise the limit back to almost three-quarters of a million dollars in order to save the ‘middle class.’
Ok - I am done. I am just going to drink JD for the rest of the day before my head explodes…
I am just going to drink JD for the rest of the day before my head explodes…
JD-$65 a liter or $9 a shot or/on the rocks in Rio.
Here’s an interesting twist. There’s a brand of Scotch called Teacher’s and it’s not bad, it has a lot of malt for a blend. They distill and blend it in Scotland but add water and bottle it in Brazil so it costs $25 a liter where a comparable Scotch bottled in Scotland costs $40 a liter in Brazil. Brazilian Whiskey costs about $15 a liter and tastes like a cheap American blend that’s made in South America.
Import duties, to protect your local brew. What is your local brew?
Shipping concentrate, an ingenious way to cut down on the barrel tarrif!
What is your local brew?
In beer: Scol, Antarctica, Brama, Itipava, Bohemia, Sol, (some of these are ImBev brands) In Rio they now have a “micro” brewery chain called Devassa and sell a canned version that Paris Hilton did ads for because it means “blond”. (or dumb blond I guess)
Made here under license: Heineken, Stella Artois, (I think Bud again after an absence)
In Whiskey: Wall Street (seriously) Old 8, Drury’s
Wine: Swill, better swill and Miolo but Chilean and Argentinian wines are cheaper than European wines because of the Mercosul trade agreement but wine is not cheap here.
What is your local brew?
But the “national” liquor: $3-$50 a liter
Cachaça (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈʃasɐ]) is a liquor made from fermented sugarcane.
It is the most popular distilled alcoholic beverage in Brazil. It is also known as aguardente, pinga, caninha and many other names.[1] Cachaça is mostly produced in Brazil, where, according to 2007 figures, 1.5 billion litres (390 million gallons) are consumed annually, compared with 15 million litres (4.0 million gallons) outside the country.[2] It is typically between 38% and 54% alcohol by volume.[3] When it is homemade it can be as strong as the distiller wants. Up to six grams per litre of sugar may be added.”[4] The major difference between cachaça and rum is that rum is usually made from molasses, a by-product from refineries that boil the cane juice to extract as much sugar crystal as possible, while cachaça is made from fresh sugarcane juice that is fermented and distilled.[5] wiki
Hahahah. If the middle class is comprised of people who can afford a $750 house, then I am drastically underpaid! The minimum wage should be at least $25/hour.
The median wage has to be $144/hour to justify that price of a house.
So I guess that means the minimum wage should be like $43/hour.
Here’s more about people who have lost their shirts at the development near my house:
http://www.goblueridge.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13729
I love the (probably) unintentional choice of wording in the first sentence: “the former Heavenly Mountain site”. No longer a heavenly mountain any more?
Victims of housing crisis my behind. People made financial decisions that did not work out. Tough cookie, tell the bank to come and get it if you do not want to make payments BUT do not cry us a river of how you have been wronged. If you cannot or did not have someone read the mortgage before signing, then consider the economic loss an expensive learning lesson. Next time you have a huge economic decision, you will consult someone other than your realtor.
‘The majority finding of the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, appointed by Congress, reported in January that Fannie and Freddie ‘followed rather than led Wall Street and other lenders in the rush for fool’s gold’
So what’s the difference? I clearly remember the GSEs jumping into subprime loans because they didn’t want to lose ‘market share’.
I’ve heard that the Occupy people have decided to make foreclosures a big issue. I’ve tried to keep an open mind about this thing, but I can’t recall them mentioning even one time that houses cost too much. Here in Flagstaff the median house costs just under $300k, in a town with a median income of an 8th or 10th of that.
Some of you have said, ‘Ben go to the protests and bring up this point’. Well, I’d like to but I have to work all the time to pay my rent and bills.
So yeah Occupy people, your movement isn’t motivating me right now. What about these GSE loans for houses only rich people can buy? Why haven’t you noticed that the vast majority of foreclosures are held by non-banks? I was raising hell about wall street when some of these protesters were running up student loans and playing drums, so I know about the sins of these bankers. But what about the used house salespeople, the mortgage brokers, the builders, the appraisers? What about the congress who took lobby money from the GSEs they were supposed to be regulating? What about the people who expected to get rich from these “homes” they were buying? Or even took out $500k in refinancing and never paid back a dime?
I disagree with OWS on the foreclosure issue. They do not seem to understand the root cause of the problem, so they can’t know how to fix it. They think the foreclosures are “criminal”, but they’re not. The foreclosures are the only thing that will enable house prices to come back down to reality, so people don’t feel like they have mortgage their grandchildren just to get a house.
Besides, isn’t it “criminal” to lie on a mortgage about your income too?
They have a lack of understanding of the issue similar to the rest of the population. Kinda like their student loans. They know they got screwed, but everything else is a bit fuzzy…
Preach on. As to this comment from article above: “‘Regarding the housing meltdown,’ said Peter Bell, a TCF Bank board member, ‘no one’s hands are clean.’”
On that I call BU11SH*T. For us they pay our bills, did not defraud, did not profit from this turmoil, my hands are clean but my rear hurts because I feel like I am getting up the back door.
Yes, OWS is wrong on the foreclosure issue.
And the cat food issue. *DO NOT* mention your cat.
Muggy:
You know, dog owners are really getting hit by inflation days. A can of Alpo is up to $0.99 can. That’s eight bucks in dog money.
“inflation these days”
“People made financial decisions that did not work out.” Bingo! And they see Congress aiding and abetting the other skunks playing the victim card and they think hey, maybe that’ll work for me.
‘they see Congress aiding and abetting the other skunks playing the victim card’
It’s the media too. But isn’t it interesting that all these boo-hoo themes end up serving the function of keeping house prices higher? Look at the robo-signing thing; it just gives the loan servicers an excuse to manipulate inventory.
‘I haven’t paid in about a year and a half now…and they’re finally setting up programs like this. It’s a great event.’
More shadow inventory! And how many of you have not paid anything for the roof over your head since 2009?
But it has been going on for a while.
I went to a lecture almost two years ago and someone was very insistant that people who had taken money out of their house had to be able to stay in them forever. When I said that they had already sold their house and generally close to the top of the market, her reaction was that they had to live somewhere.
I responded, “Yes. Somewhere clean. Somewhere safe. But not necessarily someplace that they own or the place that they are living in now.” She was pretty much shocked into silence. I’m not sure that she had previously contemplated moving as equalling anything except living on the street.
“…where Bank of
AmericaOppoortunity is holding a loan modification event.”“The book is open, the names are being written” Israeli Defense Minister
“Makin’ a li$t, checkin’ it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice, $anta Clau$ is coming to town.”
He knows when you are working
He knows when you’re ready to break
He sees if you’ve equity or cash
So have neither for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry.
Better not pout, I’m telling you why.
$anta Clau$ is coming to town.
$anta Clau$ is coming to town.
FBs abound!
So, she refinanced SIX YEARS ago, and she is complaining today about negative amortization. She knew it was neg-AM to begin with, but she didn’t care because she just wanted the cash. Now she wants to keep the cash and keep the house. Jimminy Cricket, I’d want that too.
There is nothing in the article to suggest that she is mentally competent. Daddy might have been her only advocate.
“Saturday night turned to Sunday morning in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. Before the protest, Lauren DiGioia, 26 years old, was living with her father in Clifton, N.J., in a home facing foreclosure. ‘My dad was a music teacher in the Jersey City public school system for a long time,’ she continued. ‘He’s a musical genius. He went to Julliard. .. He’s a conservative Republican. .. He was tenured. And they cut funding.’”
“‘He’s 65,’ she said. ‘He’s tried to make money any way he can. He’s tried getting into real estate. He’s tried these get-rich-quick online things. He gives music lessons privately. He plays the organ at churches. He really does whatever he can, but he’s running out of options.’”
Lauren, Slim here.
Your father needs a daughter’s protection right now. As in, if you see him venturing anywhere near one of those get-rich-quick schemes, you sound the loud trumpets and sirens and warn him away from ‘em. Yell. Scream. Do what you have to do.
Ditto for real estate. That’s like selling insurance. A lot of people try it, only to wash out a few months later. Tell him to stay away from stuff like that.
Now that I’ve gone all medieval on you, I’m going to be nice and suggest that you and your dad read David Cutler’s excellent book, The Savvy Musician. It’s about being a successful and prosperous musician. It can be done. Especially with the track record that your dad has.
With regards from your HBB Librarian…
“Lauren DiGioia, 26 years old, was living with her father in Clifton, N.J., in a home facing foreclosure…He’s 65,’ she said.”
Two interpretations of this.
Why the hell did her father take out a mortgage that wouldn’t be paid off until after age 65?
Why the hell did her father’s bank give him a mortgage that would not be paid off until age 65?
My parents got married soon after he finished college, and had me soon after that. While I was in college is was in his early 40s. He took out a second mortgage, a fraction of the home’s value, to pay for tuition. The bank would only give him a 10 year loan because of his age.
Age discrimination in making of loans was stopped a few years ago.
But now they have to consider ability to pay over the life of the loan so they are going to have to make sure that someone would be able to make the paymnent on their projected retirement income. It is sort of beautiful.
When reporters asked about the particulars of her case, she wouldn’t give any details, but a check of court records show that in November 2006, Gage took out a $525,000 adjustable rate mortgage that started at 11.99 percent.
Back when I was in the mortgage market, I made the mistake of dealing with a company that was pushing stuff like this. And, since I’d done my homework in advance, I knew that ARMs were big trouble.
But that’s me. I’m a homework-doer. So’s just about everyone else on this blog.
And, sorry to say, there aren’t a lot of people like us these days. There are way too many people who are wooed by those friendly sales people with the wonderful-sounding pitches. Unfortunately for Gage, she’s probably one of them.
Gage says she did everything she could to keep the house her father built. When reporters asked about the particulars of her case, she wouldn’t give any details, but a check of court records show that in November 2006, Gage took out a $525,000 adjustable rate mortgage that started at 11.99 percent.”
“Her first payment was due two months later, but she never made it. She didn’t pay the next month, nor did she pay the following month. Lawyers for the company that owns the mortgage told ABC7 Gage never made a payment, declared bankruptcy multiple times, filed a case in federal court and lost for failing to state a relevant claim.”
////
She should be committed, stupid beeeotch. She already sold the house for $525K and now she wants it back?
“……$525,000 adjustable rate mortgage that started at 11.99%……”
This smells to high heaven. I think we’re looking at two crooks. The borrower, and the Mortgage broker who actually approved this POS loan. I’d be looking at the mortgage broker’s bank accounts, if I was a government interested in prosecuting financial fraud.
Or are we to the point where we just can’t afford to put 50% of the population in jail?
Good point. In the case of the mortgage broker I dealt with back in ‘04, the long arm of the law finally caught up with them.
Wasn’t due to writing subprime mortgages that later exploded. But I know that they were pushing subprime pretty hard. I had to fend off a pretty hefty sales pitch for ‘em.
What finally did them in was a rent-to-own scheme whose aftermath included the still-unsolved murder of one of the mortgage guys involved in it.
As for the mortgage company itself, the state of Arizona closed it down. The owner is forbidden from opening another mortgage company in this state. But he still can be employed by one.
A $750K mortgage and you’re “middle class” ?? What kind of middle class is that and how much would your PITI be on that large an obligation? Assuming 4.5% and property tax and insurance nut of 7500/year plus PMI, you’ve got $4750/month.
Assuming your mortgage obligations are 1/3 of your gross income you’d need 175-200K annual. Is that middle class? Even in California that’s 3 times the median…
Do the math and weep…
Lets see we paid cash for our home and it is down about 45% with all the losers in the area being short sale or foreclosure sales.
I’m going to call my Senator and ask for check to be mailed to us because we did everything right and we want our money back for the loss in our value. I BET THEY HANG UP ON US!
““More than 500 people packed the auditorium of Eberhart Elementary School. Stepping up to the microphone was Anna Medina. Through a series of events, Bank of America has decided to foreclose on her mortgage.”
Don’t reporters ask any questions?
They didn’t “decide to foreclose” because of any “series of events” other than the fact that she didn’t pay her friggin’ mortgage.
There’s nobody who “lost his home”.
They should all attend Gamblers Anonymous.
They’ll have fun with Step 4 - making a searching and fearless moral inventory of themselves.
Every once or twice a year a business friend of mine and I go to the “Ballet” to hoot and holler and watch the fine scenery.
Tonite we noticed that only half the place was occupied. One of the “tap” dancers said that she had just come to Canada from Florida because patrons of the art there did not have much money to spend and she couldn’t live on what she was making. Most of the “performers” were university students too.
Whats this world coming to when you cannot even afford “entertainment”? And you have to sell your looks to get an education ! And probably your soul.
Chuck Berry
You Never Can Tell
It was a new Mcmansion, and his young wife liked it so well well
You could see that Pierre did truly love the madamoiselle
It had a stainless kitchen with granite, it was gated as well
“C’est la vie”, say the Deadbeats, it goes to show you never can tell
They bought a sixty inch plasma leather sofa and a dinning room set
A new Range Rover put a pool in so their friends could get wet,
But when Pierre got fired the lack of money didn`t work out so well
“C’est la vie”, say the Deadbeats, it goes to show you never can tell
They had to refi twice but, boy, did they have a blast
Two hundred thousand beans, through the layoff it surely would last
But then the bubble popped, and the value of the home fell
“C’est la vie”, say the Deadbeats, it goes to show you never can tell
Well now their in foreclosure,
it`s been three years since they have paid,
And if you ask Pierre, he says the best move I ever made
He`s gotten used to livin` rent free with the madamoiselle
“C’est la vie”, say the Deadbeats, it goes to show you never can tell