Nofsdad
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 7087
Location: Central CA
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 7:05 pm Post subject: The unsung victims
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Here's a story from my hometown paper that gives a little insight into the plight of a group of people who have been totally ignored throughout this whole mortgage meltdown situation... the honest working stiffs who couldn't afford to get involved in the subprime mortgage debacle and knew it, in spite of what the banks and mortgage companies were telling them and who rented their homes from people who, as it too often turned out, were gambling with their tenants' futures as well as their own.
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| Amber Allison always was careful to pay the rent on her southeast Visalia house promptly. But in July, she and her family, including her mother and two daughters, were given their eviction notice. They were to be out by Sept. 1. Their offense? |
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Allison's landlord had fallen a half-year behind on his mortgage payments. In May, the bank foreclosed and the house went up for auction, forcing the family out of the home they had lived in and grown to love over the past two years.
"I did everything I was supposed to do," Allison said Thursday morning while lugging full boxes from the house in the 3900 block of East Cambridge Avenue. "But now I'm getting kicked out of my place because of what my landlord didn't do."
As she spoke, her mother and a friend packed up food from the pantry and took down drapes. Two movers carted furniture to a large van parked curbside. |
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The Allisons are among dozens of Visalia tenants forced out of their homes and apartments in recent months by a rush of foreclosures on rental properties, rental-management company representatives said this week.
"It's the tip of the iceberg as far as I'm concerned," said Don Hutton, owner of Visalia-based Mill Creek Management. Nine of the properties his company manages — six homes and three triplexes — have been foreclosed upon in the last four months because their owners defaulted on mortgages. |
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| Unseen victims of the credit crisis, renters, especially those who deal directly with landlords, say they often are the last to know their housing is in foreclosure and will be sold out from beneath them. |
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But Allison knew nothing for sure until early May, when she looked in the newspaper and saw a foreclosure notice on her house.
"I was shocked," she said.
Soon after, she learned that despite his numerous reassurances, her landlord had been pocketing her $1,700 monthly rent and not paying a cent on the mortgage. |
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Renters who go through management companies might be better off.
Rental managers said their access to tax or mortgage documents can tip them off to a default situation early. Landlords also may be more forthright when dealing with professionals rather than tenants, they said.
In the event of a foreclosure, representatives said, several companies fully refund the security deposit. For its displaced tenants, Mid-Cal Management takes the extra step of refunding the last month's rent and helping tenants find a new place. |
Story here:
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