Community Center Lost to Foreclosure: the Brycc House (now moved)
The Brycc House Community Center was acquired as a mortgage purchase from a local bank nearly 7 years ago… give or take a year. After 10 years of paperwork and legal submission, the facts and figures become oppressive to recall precisely. There were long and arduous struggles to address inherent structural compromise of the property which often lead to inspection/review/revision of methods and professional services. Plumbing, roofing, and HVAC issues stayed at the top of the list year in and year out as payments were made and insurance was paid…. Sadly, payments were often late and nearly $2500 in late fees continued to hang over our heads.
The bank was exceptionally lenient with late payments up to 45 days until it became apparent that other issues were in play. In the last 2 years of our mortgage, we got our payments to fit within 30 day turn-around times, and the bank was continuing to be cooperative – save for the constant reminder of the late fees. Ultimately, we went into foreclosure when a member of the board was not in regular communication with our insurance agent and let our insurance payment slip. When the other members of the board found out about this we did our best to remedy the situation. The actual insurance writers had no problem starting back up while the agency itself told us that it wanted all $4000 up front to renew the policy. Ultimately a late insurance payment turned into a call for payments in full on the remainder of the insurance, which triggered notification of the bank who started foreclosure.
The bank let us know unless we could come up with a minimum of $12,000 as a security for missed or late mortgages (including the payment of all late fees) then the property would be lost. In effect, it put forward the notion that it was willing to try to find a way to give us time to remedy the conditions of extreme financial duress in a building which was not affordable up to the very sale date by the Commissioner. Sadly we decided to not dispute the Catch-22 scenarios that landed us with a nearly impossible set of tasks which were beyond our scope of renovation and attention. So… the Brycc House has moved down the street and resides as a rental now at 825 South Floyd Street. The site was not really the first choice of location for current members but providing service in Old Louisville from our new location can continue to be a part of our vision. We prefer to be proactive instead of fighting beyond our means in a struggle between commercial and governmental authorities.
Come visit us on Sundays at 3pm when we discuss how other folks can learn more and join the process of Occupying Economics affordably and sustainably. www.brycchouse.com
Have you been foreclosed upon? Are you fighting a foreclosure? Click here to contribute your story (will open in a new window) or call (502) 437-9513 to contribute your story by phone.
Pending Foreclosure: MA
Submitted by MA
Like so many others, I believed that a house was a good investment. I had pets and was renting another house already. I was told by the mortgage broker that America was becoming an ownership society and that in the near future clear lines would be drawn between those who owned homes and those who didn’t. I qualified for an adjustable rate mortgage and the payment was actually less than my rent had been. But the troubles began almost immediately.
I offered to do some of the leg work to reduce the processing fee of my mortgage. When I contacted banks for the documentation I needed, I was treated with suspicion and told that the request usually comes from the mortgage company. In the end, the broker decided to charge me the full fee, a fact I learned at the signing meeting. I knew that a proposed park would be adjoining my new home on two sides of the property. I thought of this as a bonus. The park was to be a nature attraction. Before purchasing the house, I contacted the local park board to make sure that my property would not be affected in any way by the park. I was reassured by the chair of the park board that it would not be affected at all. He lied. The area that I use as my driveway was actually an easement. The plan was to use that area as an entrance into the park. It would no longer be my driveway. Also, there would be a public restroom very near my home. I did not want that. So I began a petition drive and undertook legal action to stop the park board. They sued me and I lost. This all cost tons of money, money that I could have used to make necessary repairs to the property.
My mortgage reverted to the adjustable rate and I had to refinance. When I did that, I used the equity to pay off my credit card bills. I refinanced another time too, but with no cash out. Then, I had surgery for a nasty fall that resulted in a broken arm. That took a lot of money. Also, I developed ulcerative colitis and the medication was extremely expensive. Now I cannot afford the medicine at all. I use only over the counter products and get only minimal relief.
Long story short, when I pay my mortgage, I cannot afford my utility bills. I had lived for long periods of time in my house without running water, or electricity, or heat. Often, I don’t have all three utilities on. I had been a student and was using student loan funds to make up the difference, but lately I have been too sick to succeed in school, so I quit. I should also mention that I work part-time and I am on disability. I would love to go full-time at my job, but so far, that has not been possible.
I was on disability when I bought the house. Sometimes I think that the banks should have screened me out. Other times I think this is mostly my own fault because I should have closed my credit card accounts rather than running them up. I will say this much, as a full-time student and as a homeowner, I was targeted by the credit card companies and offered every kind of product imaginable. I have recently filed for bankruptcy and I still get offers for credit cards.
I would like to keep my house, but it needs serious repairs. I do not have the money to put it in order. Since I am on disability, I am limited to how much I can earn or I lose my check. This actually happened once and I proved to the Social Security Administration that the earnings were not all in the same calendar month, but they denied my appeal because they said the case was too old. I get a disability check and Medicare, but I still have co-payments and there is the donut hole in prescription drug coverage. I cannot always get the medicines I need. Because I work, I don’t qualify for food stamps or help with insurance coverage, or many other programs for low-income persons. I am proud to have a job, but no matter how hard I work, it seems like I can’t get ahead.
I joined Occupy because I am tired of the lies and the corporate bailouts. No big corporation needs the help as much as I do. If the government had structured the bailouts so that the banks had to give up claims on their bad investments, me and a lot of other homeowners would have been much better off. I love my neighborhood. I don’t really want to leave, but I know it’s only a matter of time. I was nearly foreclosed on once before. I was able to make payments for three trial months, but then my reserves ran out and I am currently not able to pay the mortgage. I don’t know what will happen to me. It is hard to get into public housing, and my income may be too high for that. I feel like I am in limbo.
Awaiting A Potential Loan Modification: RC
submitted by RC
I guess one too many people told me, “You should buy a house! You can get one for the same cost as what you’re paying in rent.” So I found myself at a mortgage broker to get a loan to buy a modest house. I thought it would be a good investment. Buying a house always had been, or so I was told. A couple of years after buying the house, due to being laid off from a job and the end of my marriage, I saw financial troubles coming. I asked CHASE Bank for help on three separate occasions. I asked for a refinance, but they said I hadn’t been there long enough to have enough equity to do it. I asked again, and they said that they would refinance but that I would have to pay over $700 in fees up-front. I asked a third time and still they would only work with me if I could pay up-front fees that were almost equal to the mortgage payment I was telling them was out of reach.
So I struggled. I paid the mortgage first, and if I ran out of money after that, other expenses had to go unpaid. I paid my mortgage with my unemployment benefits for almost six months before finding new work. During that time I was forced to make partial payments on my mortgage. I paid through the website, paying half the mortgage and then coming back two weeks later to pay the second half plus the late fee. I did this three separate times, and not even three times in a row. But CHASE put me into foreclosure.
I had no idea what to do. I was working three part-time jobs at that point to try to get enough money together to get caught up. But CHASE refused any further payments and blocked me from signing into their website to even view my account. I was served papers from a group of lawyers that CHASE hired to foreclose on me. All of a sudden, not only was the entire past due amount required but also thousands extra in attorneys’ fees in order to reinstate my loan. And the number just kept rising. Every time I tried to get the total together, it would have gone up to just out of my reach. I cashed out a retirement plan from my former job to try to pay it, but by the time I paid penalties to receive the money early, the reinstatement amount had again raised out of my reach. I instead spent my savings to pay down other debts and to fix my car, since I figured that if CHASE made me homeless I could live in the car and wouldn’t have other debts to worry about.
I went to a financial counselor who helped me apply for a loan modification. I’ve been in the modification nightmare for almost a year now. It is a constant process of calling CHASE to speak to people who give conflicting information and them faxing them documents that they then claim not to receive or receive only some pages but not all. I’ve been hung up on. I’ve been lectured. I’ve had to prove every penny coming in and justify every penny going out – to people who alternately belittle me and lie to me saying that CHASE wants to keep me in my home.
Because of internal misunderstandings at CHASE and improper assignment of my case, I got within two days of my house being auctioned before they sent my paperwork on to the next department. I’ve been rejected once for modification and then encouraged by CHASE to reapply. Now I’m waiting their decision. While I wait I’m consulting lawyers of my own, considering filing bankruptcy, and trying to come up with a contingency plan for where I will live if they foreclose on me.
CHASE should be forced to work with me since my tax money helped bail them out! I have started speaking out about the unnecessary difficulty of the modification request process and I’ve joined the Occupy Louisville Stop Foreclosures Workgroup. I’m Occupying Louisville because none of this has been clear, none of this has been fair, and none of this is right. I have full time employment and the desire to pay my mortgage.
