Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues. This blog will consist of information describing the various forms of Home Equity Theft and links to news reports & other informational sources from throughout the country about the victims of Home Equity Theft and what government authorities and others are doing about it.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Threats From Foreclosed Former Owner Keep Recent Home Buyer, Family From Moving Into Recently-Purchased REO
In Columbus, Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports:
Xavier Salek worked a decade to save enough money to buy his first house. Now he and his family are too terrified to move in.
Salek’s story should be one of triumph. Instead, it illustrates an ugly aftermath of the housing collapse.
Salek moved to Columbus a decade ago, a 28-year-old refugee from violence-torn Mauritania in western Africa. During the next several years, he delivered packages, slowly putting money away to buy a home for his family.
After saving $15,000, he found a house in foreclosure on the Northeast Side with the help of real-estate agent Lyuda Dehlendorf. He borrowed $3,000 from friends and, in late September, paid $18,000 cash for the 1,000-square-foot, three-bedroom ranch. Although the house needs work, he was excited by the idea of having something of his own in America. He liked to think of his two young children playing in the spacious backyard.
Salek hired friend and fellow Mauritanian Ali Kane, a construction worker, to help renovate the house. Shortly after Kane arrived at the home to start the work, Kane said, a man pulled up in a black pickup truck, hopped out and told him that he was the rightful homeowner and that Salek’s purchase was a “fraud.”
“He said he used to live here,” Kane recalled. “He started talking about how people get shot for moving into other people’s homes.” Kane passed along the exchange, which he took as a thinly veiled threat, to Salek and his wife.
The family was so alarmed that they refused to move in. (In talking to me for this column, Salek asked that the address and his real name not be used, because he fears what the man might do.)
Salek called Dehlendorf to see whether he could get his money back. She said no and urged him to call the police. Columbus Police Sgt. David Pelphrey confirmed that Salek should file a report. The next step, if the harassment continues, might be to seek a restraining order.
Dehlendorf assured Salek that he and his wife are the rightful owners of the home. A title search had revealed nothing unusual, no competing claims.
According to a neighbor, the description of the man in the pickup matches that of the former owner, who, along with his wife, lost the home earlier this year after failing to make payments on the mortgage.
The former owner’s anger reflects the lingering bitterness — taken to the extreme — among homeowners who’ve lost homes to foreclosure.
CBC News: Betrayal of Trust (A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services)
Land Contract/Contract For Deed/Rent-To-Own Rackets
The New York Times: The Housing Trap (In the wake of the housing crisis, low-income families have turned to seller financing to buy homes but these deals can be a money trap)
Beware The Fine Print: Consumers Forced To Sign Away Their Rights To Use Court System
The NY Times: Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice(Part 1 in series examining how clauses buried in tens of millions of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court)
Foreclosure Mills' Abysmal Record In Complying With New NYS Foreclosure Requirements
Justice Deceived: How Large Foreclosure Firms Subvert State Regulations Protecting Homeowners
MFY Legal Services Report On Questionable Practices By Process Servers In Debt Collection Cases
Justice Disserved: A Preliminary Analysis of the Exceptionally
Low Appearance Rate by Defendants in Lawsuits Filed in the Civil Court of the City of New York
Mortgage Mess Redux: Robo-Signers Return (A Reuters investigation finds that many banks are still employing the controversial foreclosure practices that sparked a major outcry last year)
CNN Video: As Foreclosures Mount, Florida Court Turns To 'Rocket Docket'
The Wall Street Journal: A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases (2 Questions, 15 Seconds, 45 Days to Get Out; 'What's to Talk About?' Says a Judge)
"Produce The Note" Strategy When Dealing With Missing Promissory Notes In Foreclosure Actions
ABC Video: Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay)
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