The Article

When lived fully, life is an amazing thing. By taking chances and risks I have opened myself to pathways I didn't even know existed.
James Pitkin called me last week and informed me he was a reporter from Willamette Week and wanted to do a story on my lawsuit and MERS. Since from the looks of it my story does not call for compassion I was hesitant. I really thought that my friend, Ama, would be the ideal person for this story. She's really the only reason I started doing this. A mom with 2 boys living in a house that the lender wants to take back. Add to it that she is not at all well versed in the mortgage and lending world. The fact of the matter is her house is at risk. She has tried over the last year to modify it. The run around she is getting is one that millions of homeowners are getting. How does it benefit the country for lenders to take back millions and millions of homes? There's a home in my parents neighborhood that has been vacant for over 2 years! It is an eyesore for the neighborhood because quite frankly, the banks don't give a shit about neighborhoods. It's about numbers. And then let's talk about the fact that they are not lending much money. They helped create the problem and now they no longer want the risk. It's understandable really.
So back to James.. I was uncertain about putting myself out in the public and at the same time a little bit excited for the opportunity to get this out to the people that mattered.  I've been down before but not like this.  I have always paid my bills on time. In fact when I erroneously forgot to make a payment I beat myself up for days.  I certainly wouldn't have been ready until this year to let my story out. I figured, what the heck. Here's what I didn't know. The wealthy cut their losses before they dipped into their investments. It became a matter of financial decisions without the emotion. Enough people were buying houses when the market dropped and letting the undervalued home they currently had go back to the bank that new underwriting guidelines came out addressing this issue.
For those millions of Americans who have found themselves in this situation their first reaction is to keep it a secret. It's embarrassing & humiliating. Why would they want that to get out? Keep in mind that many of us, myself included, were informed by each lender that in order to qualify for any kind of modification we had to be 90 days late. Did you know that lenders have been holding money and not applying it to the loan if we didn't include the late fee? The stories I have heard of lenders behaving badly was enough for me to be the one to take a stand.
James did a fair job of interviewing me.  And yes, I said things in there that probably got misconstrued. The part that needs clarification in my mind is that "I was part of the problem, and now I want to be part of the solution". I helped many people into homes. I helped them understand their money. I counseled them to save money, get out of debt and think about retirement. I helped people become investors. I helped them understand cash flow. The problem is I believed that home prices would continue to climb at 6%. I assumed the 6% would go on forever. I consider that the illusion of hope. So now there are clients who CANNOT refinance or do anything because; their income dropped, the value has dropped and they are upside down. Oh wait, that's me too! So my "theory" that was being preached all over the industry is you can refinance in a few years if you wanted to. That's because for many years it was the norm. And what about all the help the government has informed us is available. Loan modifications, the HARP program, help for homeowners etc. Do you realize that the people who need the help are not the ones getting it. Out of my hundreds of clients only a high paid administrator in the schools was able to take advantage of those programs. Does that not seem ridiculous?
How I want to be part of the solution is by taking a stand against the lenders to tell them to operate in the LEGAL sense. Is that so wrong? I am so not worried about myself. I'm a risk taker, I'm a survivor and most of all I'm a trailblazer! But what about the Ama's of the world? And believe me I've met quite a few. That's what this is all about. If it was about me Senate 484 would not even be up for discussion.
We can all sit back in our cozy little lives and throw stones of judgment at people. However, I would caution your judgment as I am living every judgment I ever had about people. This housing crisis is enormous and I certainly don't have the answers but I am open for discussion.