Sunday, August 10, 2008

Another Pathetic Foreclosure Story

I nearly choked on my omelette while reading this one in the Sunday paper this morning.

I'm glad it's done," Gardner said wearily. "I just want to sit down and have some Hennessy."
...
Most foreclosures nowadays are homes purchased just a year or two ago with no money down. But the Gardners' home is different. Joann's parents, Johnnie Gardner, 87, and Estelle, 88, bought the two-bedroom in the Sobrante Park neighborhood in 1954 for $11,500. His salary as an electrician at the Oakland naval shipyard allowed them to make the payments.

But in recent years, Joann and her brother refinanced it several times for increasingly larger amounts.

The final refinance at the end of 2006 left the family owing $454,000. The monthly payments of $3,362 exceeded the household income of $3,144.

What happened to the money from all the refinances?

Gardner can't quite say. Some went to paying off credit cards; some was eaten up in huge loan fees. What is clear is that the family has not made a mortgage payment since December 2006.

Foreclosed family's last goodbye to home

How does someone lose track of $454K?! I'd really like the complete story on this one. Where's the brother who was also involved in these refinancing schemes? Smoking crack somewhere?

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I savor sweet stories like this one, it makes me all mursty.

Anonymous said...

Let me go on to say that if they really did blow through all that money and end up hopeless I will be pleased beyond measure.

Anonymous said...

Further, I hope the bank ended up with a good chunk of the money by way of fees and mortgage payments and that Joann and her brother have all their retirement in mortagae bonds that go bad and that they end up living penniless, in a van, no, scratch that, a cardboard box, down by the koi cesspool.

Akubi said...

Yeah, but what about their hard working elderly parents suffering from dementia who are stuck in the sort of POS "board-and-care home" covered by social security because their pathetic, lazy ass Boomer "kids" used their equity like an ATM?
From the article:
Gardner's elderly parents, both suffering from dementia and other ailments, had moved a week earlier to a local board-and-care home whose cost would be covered by their Social Security and pension checks.
What a terrible thing to do to one's parents yet the S.F. Chronicle is painting this like yet another foreclosure sob story where we should feel sorry for "victims" like the Hennessy drinking daughter who will move in with her boyfriend and maybe consider getting a job.

Akubi said...

Oh, did you check out the video?
Not being a car-oriented person I can't say what the make/model/year it is, but it looks pretty nice for a person who hasn't worked in years.

Anonymous said...

Hey, getting stuffed into a home where they eat canned shit and get beatings thrice daily is what they deserve for raising such azhole children. Hopefully the kiddies end up the same way.

Anonymous said...

This sob story makes me sick, they blew through more money than I'll make in a lifetime and they're the victims? I'm the friggin' victim here. As an honest citizen I've been raped repeatedly by this deal.

Oh wait, they're black? Sorry, they are the victims, no doubt. Where's Jesse Jackson? Where's the outrage? WHERE'S THE FRIGGIN' OURAGE!

Ogg the Caveman said...

@ Akubi:

In this case getting warehoused like that could be a blessing for the parents. I suppose that the kids could have taken good care of them while draining their equity, but I somehow doubt it.

The car is a mid 90s Nissan Altima, or less likely the equivalent Infiniti. Typical midsize Japanese car. Not an econobox, but not ostentatious either. I never liked that model -- the trunk looks silly.

Ogg the Caveman said...

Also, Ikea sucks but carries the oddly shaped furniture I was looking for, so I guess I can't complain.

Casey Serin said...

Damn the SF Chronicle... I was planning to pull off the same scheme on my parents!! ;-)

Lord knows that an inheritance is the only way I'll ever own a house again...

Akubi said...

@Ogg,
So I guess the missing brother ran off with the money and is smoking it?
@Casey,
I was thinking the same thing.

Akubi said...

Shit, what is up with all of the sewage spills these days?

Akira said...

I should start a new blog:
23 Years of Being Annoyed By Drew Barrymore.
A few problems might create issues:
1. Aspeth is an incredible writer and I don't have the skillz to mimic her.
2. After too many boring data loads, I'm lazy.
3. I can't write. I stick with sound bytes.

Ogg the Caveman said...

I think I'd have a hard time with a job that involved even a moderate amount of sitting around waiting for stuff. Although I wish I had more time for slacking off, I appreciate the fact that my current looser W-2 job is not as boring as the last.

Please don't emulate Aspeth too much. She writes well, sure, but she doesn't exactly do it on a regular basis.

Ogg the Caveman said...

Also, Bush is somewhat flag-challenged.

Ogg the Caveman said...

Inverted koi find

Anonymous said...

Bush, on top of being a criminal he is also a major maroon.

The problem w/ the swin bladder is he ain't got one.

Anonymous said...

Swi(m) bladder, and if he does have one, it's out of warranty by now.

Akubi said...

I had that inverted koi in my links of stuff to post when I have a minute, but I never got around to it.

Akubi said...

Check out the latest photo Casey posted on his blog!

Akubi said...

And Tanta brings us another "housing crisis" story:
Lisa Harris and her husband were entrepreneurs who had recently bought an Evanston laundromat and a Park Ridge tanning salon. They didn't have two years of regular income to report, but their credit score was a high 720, so they qualified for a low-documentation, 30-year adjustable-rate loan.

Akubi said...

If I wore contact lenses I'd get these. Wouldn't it be fun to look like an anime character?