Home Foreclosure Story #2

[Hugh]

Our oldest son lives in the Bay Area with his family, and my wife and I were out there visiting for a week in January. Both parents work and they have two kids in elementary school. It was a Tuesday morning and I was sitting in the front family room of the home - my son and daughter in law had left for work and we had just got back from dropping the kids off at school - when the doorbell rang. My wife was in the shower. I answered the door and the only guy I saw had this huge camera and he was crouching maybe 10 feet away. I walked outside to approach the camera guy when I heard to my left: "Sir, can I have a word with you?".

A gentleman in a navy blue suit came up to me and the camera guy started flashing away. It didn't occur to me to close the door until later, unfortunately.

"You know, your're at least $250k in the hole on this house, right?" the man said.

I looked at and wanted to punch him right in the mouth. "What?" I yelled.

"You are upside down in your mortgage and it will take twenty years to make that up. You need to walk away from this."

I turn to head back to the house. "I am calling the police," I shouted loudly. The camera guy suddenly stood up and walked back to the street. The man in blue suit followed, shouting,"this neighborhood is renting up fast at 1/3 the monthly nut on this house. Think about it."

A white minivan pulled up and the two hopped in. I looked up at the front door and realized that it was 1/2 open and began to wonder how many pictures the guy got of the inside of the house.

What incentive did these jokers have in telling folks something they already know? It's nearly all my son and daughter in law talk about, just how bad the housing market is. I figure these guys must have seen us go back into the house earlier that morning, because why ring the doorbell when they should have known that the majority of couples in the neighborhood worked during the day? Our rental car was in the driveway, but still, I can't get my head around it

[Rick]

Maybe they assume that if they hit enough houses, they get somebody to bite. But I don't see how that helps them unless they have some inside track on the foreclosure auctions. That's a pretty clever scheme they have in pulling you away from the door so the camera guy gets at least some shots of the home interior

[saxman]

That is wild what is happening out there in CA. People pressuring other people to walk away from their mortgage. What ever happened to minding your own darn business? I would have snatched that camera from the dude's hands so quickly and smashed it to the ground. Hugh, is far more patient.

[Ralphy Boy]

Saxman, I am with you on that one. These people think they can force our personal hand into something they desire for the greater good, or something like that? I'm not convinced these guys are looking to buy a house on the cheap, through the foreclosure process. Maybe they are just out there to hose the banks

[milkman]

Hugh, I think you're right. They must have seen you go back into the house that morning. The whole thing seems cleverly staged - who comes up with these schemes? They have got to be on a different brain wave length

[Ronny]

I'd get on the web like you're doing and get a story going on about these guys. Facebook the heck out of these jokers. New schemes pop up all the time in our society and the web is the perfect tool to kill them

[GeorgeL]

If somebody tried to pull that on the East Coast, they would have been shot. That is nearly criminal what these guys pulled off. And I live in Georgia....

[Jerk91]

Hugh, what did you son say when you told him? I'm assuming you told him, though I don't know for sure what I would do if I were you. The weaker the housing market, the craziest people get and start doing stuff that in sane times makes no sense

[Hugh]

It took me a few hours for me to tell my wife what happened because I knew she'd be freaked out. I pulled my son aside later that night and he didn't seem surprised.

[Snickford]

That's interesting. I actually had a bank employee (the bank who holds our mortgage) ask me why I continue to stay in the house and make payments when we know we are so very underwater. I'm not sure but it sounded to me like he was suggesting that we walk away or default. That's pretty bad when the lein holder is questioning why we continue to pay.