Volunteers Needed!

[rokhlita.livejournal.com]

Our Neighbors are being evicted and our community destabilized by the foreclosure crisis!

The Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) in collaboration with Cambridge & Somerville Legal Services (CASLS) is initiating a post-foreclosure outreach and organizing campaing in Somerville.

We are asking YOU to join us as we go door-to-door to foreclosed properties in Somerville to talk with owners and tenants about their rights and how it may be possible for them to stay in their homes.

WHEN: Sunday, November 1st, 1:00-4:30PM
WHERE: CAAS, 66-70 Union Sq., Somerville
(Located directly above the Precinct Bar. 
Take bus #87 from Davis Sq.)

WHAT: a brief training, some snacks,
lots of door-knocking, and a quick debrief.
PLEASE RSVP TO: Rachel Bedick, 617-623-1392 ext. 141

Comments

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

How about normal-sized type and/or an LJ-cut?

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Seconded.

first time using LJ

[rokhlita.livejournal.com]

I've never used LiveJournal before. I just changed the font size to small. Is that not small enough? Can you give me specific instructions as to how to make this post acceptable?

Re: first time using LJ

[ron_newman]

Looks OK now. In general we prefer that you avoid using the Rich Text editor entirely, and instead use the HTML tab.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry that these self-centered and non-compassionate people cared only about how your font showed up on their friends list and not about the good work you're doing, and that they gave you such a horrible welcome to LiveJournal. I commend you for reaching out to foreclosure victims in our community. I would sign up to attend your meeting if I weren't home sick with bronchitis, but if I'm better by Sunday I will come. Please add me to your mailing list if you have one.

moonstonewater at yahoo dot com

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

the first two commenters asked nicely as far as i can tell. way to fly off the handle and sling insults though.

[ron_newman]

It was initially in huge 36-point bold type -- this was fixed by the time you saw it. I agree that this is a good cause, and I'm also thinking about attending this. (But first, get well!)

I agree.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I'm not exactly sure what was so offensive about the original posting.

Re: I agree.

[ron_newman]

It was in Huge Font. Probably fixed by the time you saw it.

[ron_newman]

I went to today's canvass and highly recommend it. I just hope we can help out some of the folks we talked to.

There will be more opportunities for such work soon, and I'll let you know when I find out more.

What I don't understand is the following...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

The mortgage company refuses to lower your mortgage. You foreclose. Then they auction the house for even less than the amount you were trying to negotiate for your adjusted mortgage. Makes no sense.

Re: What I don't understand is the following...

[ahoc-somerville.livejournal.com]

My understanding (I'm far from an expert on this) is that re-negotiating your mortgage calls the "assets" the bank can claim into question, at least if they do this on a large scale.

If they auction it off (including for a lesser price) this may not trigger a re-evaluation of the "value" of the property.

I'm not really sure though; this is just my suspicion.

Re: What I don't understand is the following...

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

If they foreclose and DON'T auction, they can avoid re-valuing the house.

So the house sits vacant and becomes a hazard on the block. Nice, eh?

Re: What I don't understand is the following...

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

The mortgage company issued bonds backed by the mortgage, binding themselves to a strict policy about when and if to initiate foreclosure, rather than allowing themselves to exercise judgement on the issue.

Made perfect sense in 2003.

I'd like to know more about these cases.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

In some cases, foreclosure is just the result of having bought something that people obviously could not afford. While sad, these cases are not the same as those in which something really unexpected happened. I'd like to find out more.

Re: I'd like to know more about these cases.

[charlwoo.livejournal.com]

Yes -- vastly different situations. If the mortgage holder cannot fulfill the terms of the mortgage, the lender is perfectly justified in foreclosing. Frankly it is nobody's business what they do with the asset after it's reclaimed. If you're a tenant and your apartment is getting foreclosed on, I think that your lease should remain in effect until its termination, or the bank should buy out the rest of your lease.

Re: I'd like to know more about these cases.

[ron_newman]

It's everybody's business what happens next, because when a property is left vacant, it damages the entire surrounding neighborhood. Much better to keep people in houses, even if they can't pay, than to evict them and cause both homelessness and blight.

Re: I'd like to know more about these cases.

[charlwoo.livejournal.com]

I think this approach is misguided. I don't think artificially sustaining high housing prices is an appropriate response when what we really need is affordable housing. If we need affordable housing, we should focus on providing that instead of keeping people in houses they cannot afford. If people are being foreclosed on, they should be able to rent a smaller space in a different location for a price they can pay. If we need shelters for the homeless, let's expand that instead of providing inappropriately sized houses for people who would otherwise be homeless.
I'm not advocating we throw people out on the street or create blighted neighborhoods -- we are far from both, in this area -- I think that the housing market needs to reset at a lower level, and foreclosures, while painful, are a major mechanism by which the market does that.
If a bank is failing to maintain property to a minimum standard set by a city, local HOA or community organization, there should be a way to legally address this, as there would be with any homeowner. If the bank decides to sell it at a lower price, that's a GOOD thing; it makes housing more affordable for everyone. If the bank decides to raze the building and plant a field of wheat, or paint the house sparkly gold, and none of these decisions violate existing zoning laws or regulations -- that is their prerogative as the owner.
If the foreclosure process is too slow, we should work on fixing that aspect and put these houses back on the market so that they're occupied, instead of stopping the foreclosure from happening in the first place.
There's no incentive to fix these larger issues when we slap a band-aid on the situation.

Re: I'd like to know more about these cases.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

There is already a nationwide shadow inventory of over half a million homes that have been foreclosed and not auctioned. That is the band aid banks are applying in order to avoid recording their losses. And that band aid is causing difficulties and hzards for people living near those homes. We cannot let that happen to our city. If that means letting people stay in homes they should not have bought, that is a price I am willing to pay. They are already punished: their credit ratings are trashed.

Re: I'd like to know more about these cases.

[ron_newman]

Burdening the homeless-shelter system further, when the family is already adequately housed, does not make sense. Especially if the result is a vacant house.

Re: I'd like to know more about these cases.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I agree. This is something that needs fixing now.

Re: I'd like to know more about these cases.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

If I'm next door to someone being foreclosed, and the bank wants to leave it vacant so they don't have to book a new appraisal on the house and admit they are in poor financial shape, then I consider it very much my business.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Sports Fans: Never get an adjustable rate mortgage.