Foreclosure story with a twist. - Democratic Underground

Liberal_in_LA

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Mon Dec-17-07 04:41 PM
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Foreclosure story with a twist.

What the heck?! Read this story about the Oropezas and their march to foreclosure. I'm amazed.
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'The New Orange County'

The Oropezas arrived at Calle Canon Road in 2004. Corona appealed to them because of its quality of life and regional cachet. "It was labeled as the new Orange County," Mrs. Oropeza says. Public records show they paid $557,000 for a four-bedroom house and took out a $500,000 mortgage. Her husband is an area manager for an auto-parts retailer and she is a purchasing manager for a firm that sells dietary supplements.

As property values skyrocketed, they refinanced three times, most recently in late 2006, for $835,000, Mr. Oropeza says.

The couple say they used some of the money they pulled out of the house for home improvement, such as a backyard waterfall. But Mr. Oropeza says the bulk was used to pay off credit-card arrears. "We were in a vicious cycle of refinancing our home to get out of debt," he says. "We banked on selling the house, but that's where we failed."

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The couple listed the house several times, even before the final refinancing, which raised their monthly payments to about $6,300. Earlier this year, they were asking $839,000 for the house. But it just sat. Elsie Cambone, the Coldwell Banker agent who had the listing, says prospective buyers were put off by the vacant home next door.

Meanwhile, Mr. Oropeza expected to be transferred to Texas, so the couple began house hunting there in 2006. In June, they bought a 3,600-square-foot home for $283,000 in the Houston suburb of Katy, Mrs. Oropeza says. "It was easy. We had good credit. The deal was done in seven days."

In the run-up to their move, she says, the couple lived off credit cards to "make sure we had cash for the house payments" in Corona. They packed up in June, and then took their 9-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter on a long-planned Caribbean vacation. They returned to Calle Canon Road, "got in our cars and drove to Texas," Mrs. Oropeza says.

Neighbors Ms. Lefranc and Mr. Saffold are dismayed over the Oropezas' departure and note that shortly before leaving, the couple bought a new Lexus. "I think they took money out of their house and split," Ms. Lefranc says.

Mrs. Oropeza says that she and her husband recently bought a Lexus and a Chevrolet Suburban with no money down. She denies that the family intended to abandon the house. The choice was straightforward, she says: "It was easier to keep the house in Texas than the one in California."

Countdown to Foreclosure

The couple stopped making their Corona mortgage payments in June, triggering a notice of default 90 days later and starting the countdown to foreclosure. The family is now living in Texas. But Mr. Oropeza says he no longer expects a transfer, so every other week, sometimes more often, he says he flies west to make his usual rounds of retail locations in the Inland Empire. Mrs. Oropeza says she travels to Orange County every three weeks for her job.

"We're sad because there goes our credit, and because people think we are a bunch of flakes who walked away from the house and tried to make money," Mrs. Oropeza says. The property's for-sale listing has expired. "We have zero expectation that we can sell this house," she says. After the government-brokered mortgage plan was announced, Mr. Oropeza says he called the toll-free helpline and left a message, though he doubts he will qualify to get his Corona house back.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119785633408932917.html?mod=hps_us_pageone