Detroiters show unity through community

[sumas]

Recently our EEV Neighborhood Community sent out the plight of a neighbor regarding her battle with a mortgage company. We are tired of the foreclosure crisis and we are starting one person at a time. I plan on making two posts due to length, the first post is the flyers and emails sent to neighbors. The second is the coverage given in Metrotimes regarding this event.

Belva wants to pay her mortgage
A Florida bank is trying to evict her
Do we want a good EEV neighbor thrown on the street, a lovely home trashed by vandals?
Belva Davis takes great pride in her home in East English Village -- she did a gorgeous job painting, sanding the floors and decorating. She fell behind on some mortgage payments when she lost her job, but now that she’s again working full-time, she wants to pay off her mortgage.
But the mortgage servicer in Palm Beach Florida, Ocwen Financial, refuses to modify her loan - - even after Ocwen pocketed $695 million from the Obama Administration on the promise that they would modify all such loans .
Do we want another vacant, foreclosed eyesore in our neighborhood?
A Wall Street investment fund run by Wells Fargo rushed to foreclose on Belva’s home last December. Many EEV neighbors braved the snow and frigid weather to come out and show their support for Ms. Davis, as she began a long legal fight to keep her home. She’s been putting money in escrow each month.
Belva is willing to pay the inflated mortgage [[more than twice what the bank told the IRS the home was worth) -- if only the bank will modify the terms, as required by the Home Affordable Modification Program. But Ocwen won’t budge. Belva is still in her home, but time is running out. [[See back for more info.)
Support our neighbor Belva Davis
Help stop banks from abusing our neighborhood
Join a Rally on Sat. Sept. 12, 2 p.m. At Belva’s home,

East English Village, Detroit
And please: Contact Ocwen President Ronald Faris Phone: 561-682-8000 ext. 8650. Fax: 561-682-8177. Email: rfaris@ocwen.com.
We can make a difference!
Facts you should know
Across the country, people are getting fed up with companies that foreclose rather than negotiate.
“Billions of dollars the government is spending to help financially pressed homeowners avert foreclosure are passing through – and enriching – companies accused of preying on the people they’re supposed to help, an Associated Press investigation has found.�
-- Detroit Free Press, Aug. 23, 2009
Wells Fargo and Ocwen, which own and service Belva Davis’s mortgage, are key players in sabotaging the Obama Home Affordable Modification Program. It’s crazy– a foreclosed home plunges in value, especially in Detroit; but the servicing companies make money through delays and foreclosures – no matter what the cost to people and their neighborhoods.
Money pocketed from taxpayers on the promise to modify home loans:
Eligible loans actually modified
Ocwen
$695 million
5%
Wells Fargo Bank
$2.8 billion [[on top of $25 billion bank bailout)
6%

[sumas]

Here is the Metrotimes Coverage:

Davis and Goliath on Bishop Street


By News Hits staff
Two guys with a truck got Belva Davis into her three-bedroom bungalow on Bishop Street in Detroit's East English Village back in 2003.
On Saturday, 125 or so folks — neighbors, anti-foreclosure activists, politicians and others — gathered outside her house in an effort to keep her there.
Davis' neighbors talked about what brought them to a diverse, stable community — and their fears that foreclosures will undo it. They chastised Wells Fargo Bank [[which wrote the original mortgage) and Ocwen Financial [[the mortgage servicer) for taking in billions and millions, respectively, from the government's mortgage modification program. The same companies, they said, are stonewalling rather than negotiating with her.
"Wow," said Davis, when it was her turn with the microphone. "I'm just one little person, and sometimes I feel like I'm fighting Goliath."
According to Davis and her attorney, Jerry Goldberg, a prominent anti-foreclosure activist, Davis lost a well paying job, and in 2008 worked two low-paying jobs to get by — while falling behind on her mortgage. When she got a better paying job as a census supervisor, she asked to work out a deal.
"They told her, 'Give us $19,000 upfront, and then we'll start talking to you,'" said Goldberg, a neighbor on Bishop Street. "And then they put her house into eviction, and that's when I entered the case. We've been fighting since December and we're determined to make sure [eviction] never happens."
Davis and Goldberg's position is that under the HAMP — the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Obama administration effort to keep homeowners out of foreclosure — the $19,000 arrearage can be added to the back end of the mortgage, and Davis is willing to pay an admittedly inflated price for the home [[$160,000; she bought the house for $110,000 on a subprime mortgage) as long as the mortgage payments with taxes and insurance don't top 31 percent of income, per program guidelines.
"We know houses aren't worth that right now," Davis told her supporters, referring to the $160,000. [["The house next to my house sold for $18,000, and we paid a lot more, we paid $150,000 for ours," shouted one neighbor to murmured assents through the crowd.)
"And I know if I leave, the value of my neighbors' houses will go down too, and I don't want that to happen," said Davis. She recounted what "we all know" can follow eviction: vacancy, vandalism and a plea to have the city knock down one more abandoned house.
Bill Barlage, head of the neighborhood association, had a term for this: "residential terrorism."
"What's different here," he said, "is that there's a face, someone who is trying to stay here, someone who didn't pack the U-Haul ... and wave at me as they drove out of the neighborhood."
Detroit City Council members Alberta Tinsley-Talabi and Kwame Kenyatta delivered a council resolution of support; state Rep. Martha Scott, a representative of U.S. Rep. John Conyers' office and several City Council candidates were also on hand.
The people gathered at Davis' house on Saturday are far from alone in criticizing lenders, servicers and the government's loan modification program.
In July, mortgage-servicing execs were called before Treasury Department officials, who were displeased that 200,000 modifications were under way in a program intended to help 4 million mortgage holders. An Associated Press investigation concluded that billions in spending to help homeowners avoid foreclosure "are passing through — and enriching — companies accused of preying on people they're supposed to be helping." The Center for Public Integrity slammed banks and servicers, noting that Ocwen is to receive $553 million for modifications — while facing approximately 64 lawsuits claiming "abusive collection practices."
A phone call and e-mail seeking comment from Ocwen were not returned [[although the receptionist who took the call noted that a number of people have been phoning to voice their support for Davis). But the pressure might be working: On Tuesday morning, Davis said she had received a voice message from Ocwen, suggesting that something might be worked out after all.
Meanwhile, Belva's supporters have set up a website [[nbrigham.org/belva). And they plan on taking their next protest [[Sept. 29) from Belva's lawn to Wachovia Securities — an arm of Wells Fargo — on Kercheval in Grosse Pointe Farms
News Hits is edited by Curt Guyette. Contact him at 313-202-8004 or NewsHits@metrotimes.com.

[gazhekwe]

I heard about this on Detroit Today. Great project and I hope it starts a trend.

A big custom house around the corner here recently foreclosed. It is now up for sale for $98,000. The previous owner had paid $269,000. Can you imagine that bank? If they had renegotiated the mortgage for even half the original mortgage amount, they would still have been ahead. What are they thinking?

[sumas]

Thanks Gaz for responding. Sometimes I think no one wants to hear good news about city residents empowering ourselves or our neighborhoods. I could not make the first protest but did send an email to the mortgage company regarding contempt for their practices. If the second protest at the bank's affliliate in GP happens, I promised to be there.
I had a difficult choice as to where to post this thread. It is a Detroit happening so I chose Discuss Detroit. It is an outreach to concerned citizens so Connect would have worked out as well. Lastly, this is a national outrage at how the banks and their bailouts are failing to fullfill promises so Non Detroit would have also worked. It is important to me to put a face to this crisis.

[sumas]

See,look, no hooks. A Detroit community shows a little muscle and guts and this forum shows no support. WTF!

[sumas]

I am truely sorry that very few others seem to care. There, but forth the grace of God, go I.

[Retroit]

Well, at the risk of threadjacking, let me just say that the government got us into this mess [[by forcing sub-prime mortgages) and the government is incompetent to get us out of it [[by holding the big campaign donors accountable).

"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have." -Thomas Jefferson

Back to topic: would it be advantageous for Belva to let the foreclosure go through and then buy the home back from the bank?

[anna102]

In these dire times so many people like Belva are faced with decisions regarding finances, home ownership, and employment. Home foreclosure is increasing all over the country. I'm glad to see that people are banding together and creating a voice to be heard. I was in a similar situation and finally was able to work something out with my lender. I was lucky. Here is a graphic that says it all.
http://www.typobounty.com/Funny/Foreclosure.htm

[PCE]

Very nice read Sumas. It sounds like your HOA has the mechanics in place to assist other residents of EEV should the need present itself again.
Ms. Davis is blessed to have such caring people in her community.

[rid0617]

I emailed my complaint to them. They don't know where I live. She needs all the help she can get on this one.

[sumas]

Thanks Rid, its no matter where you live. This is a national crisis. I too emailed OCWEN. Here is the response I got.

I’m sorry to find that you and others are misinformed. We have never refused to work with any of our customers. Please ask Ms. Davis to contact us if she wants to sincerely try to work with us. We service 280,000 loans. Of those, we have modified over 85,000. We have an outstanding reputation with community housing groups all across the country because they know we are fair and work hard to do the right thing. Also, please note that Ocwen has taken no bailout money from the government. We were also one of the first mortgage servicers to join president Obama and support his plan to help even more homeowners.

If this is the case, why did Belva have to get an attorney last December?

[stinkbug]

You got my support. This is the ONLY kind of action that will save our City. Not stadiums, casinos, or Dave Bing, but good people banding together to help the other good people of this City.
When I've had an issue, my neighbors have had my back. If it weren't for that, I couldn't live in this city.
I e-mailed that robber baron.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Nice to see this type of community action. The best of luck in saving this house.

I find it interesting that OCWEN said the following:

"Please ask Ms. Davis to contact us if she wants to sincerely try to work with us."

Given the negative publicity that this could generate, IF OCWEN was sincerely trying to work with the homeowner, THEY would be contacting HER.

[sumas]

I still do not know if Belva got a modification. Here is what I do know. My sister, also an EEV resident has been also trying to get a modification. Out of the clear blue, she gets a call from the mortgage holder. They cut her monthly payment in half and forgave the few payments she missed. Wow!

My sister worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield for many many years, they eliminated her department and she has struggled since then. She was unhappily considering a walk from her home which would have been a shame because her house is that beautiful.

Did the raised media profile of Belva's plight with the banks have anything to do with this? No clue. I would like to think it did.

[rid0617]

Nice to see this type of community action. The best of luck in saving this house.

I find it interesting that OCWEN said the following:

"Please ask Ms. Davis to contact us if she wants to sincerely try to work with us."

Given the negative publicity that this could generate, IF OCWEN was sincerely trying to work with the homeowner, THEY would be contacting HER.

I think the phrase "if she wants to sincerely try to work with us" really means if she wants to do it our way. If they really cared they would be standing in front of a TV news crew holding the new paper work at this point.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Sumas: Congrats to your sister. Nice to hear a good story for once. Let us know if things work out for Ms. Davis

It would be nice if the banks would/could take a longer-term view of things. Foreclosures are a lose/lose/lose situation for the homeowner/community/bank. Isn't it better to modify a loan than to foreclose and sell a house for pennies on the dollar? Especially since the bank is responsible for the taxes until they dump the property?

[sumas]

Talked to a neighbor today. Plenty of foreclosures around the city. Two years ago, we had 13 homes on the market in my block alone. All sold with nice new neighbors now.

Currently, just one is now in arrears. I was stunned to find out that this very nice basic colonial is being sold for $13,000. My sister who has a stunning home told me she would be lucky to sell her home for $45,000 and I did not believe her. Fortunately, as mentioned, it looks like she will be able to stay in her home. It sort of defies belief though that this nice home across the street, 5 years ago worth $120,000 dollars is now selling for $13,000.