Newark "Anti-Foreclosure Scam" Volunteers Sweep Thru City Distributing Warning Fliers, Ripping Down "We Buy Houses" Road Signs

In Newark, New Jersey, The Star Ledger reports on the first day of foreclosure outreach organized by the Newark/Urban Essex Foreclosure Task Force, a coalition of community organizations, government officials and nonprofit groups. Dozens of volunteers met after canvassing the city, ripping down "foreclosure rescue" signs and distributing information warning against such scams:

• Michael Heard was part financial consultant, part city code enforcer yesterday afternoon as he spoke to Newark residents about home foreclosures and ripped down signs. "I'm angry," he said shortly after taking down two signs in his neighborhood in the West Ward of Newark that claimed to get people out of foreclosures or offered to buy homes on the cheap. [...] Heard was one of dozens of volunteers in bright orange T-shirts who swept through all five wards of the city yesterday armed with fliers and door hangers to warn citizens against foreclosure and mortgage scams designed to prey on the elderly or the desperate.

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• "I'm tired of driving around my city and seeing these signs," Booker said, pointing to the dozens of blue, red, yellow and green signs volunteers had torn down around the city and brought to the meeting. He said he was so sick of seeing them, he stopped at Home Depot to buy a crowbar that he keeps in his car. He tears down signs whenever he sees them. It's illegal to post any kind of sign on utility poles and trees.

For more, see Newarkers try to stem foreclosure scams (Groups remove signs, hear Mayor Booker).

Go here for other posts on the battle against the ubiquitous "We Buy Houses", "Stop Foreclosure", etc. road signs.