Should a Homeowner who suffers foreclosure leave their home?

[ThomWV]

Poll question: Should a Homeowner who suffers foreclosure leave their home?

With so many people being tossed out onto the streets and at the same time so many homes unoccupied I can understand why someone who suffers foreclosure might just stay. Should they or shouldn't they?

[billyoc]

1. I would advise them to squat for a year without paying the mortgage.

[flvegan]

2. Depends. If they have the opportunity to relocate before eviction, I'd think

they'd be better off that way.

That said, if they have the opportunity to relocate before then, they might opt for a Deed In Lieu of foreclosure and help both sides out.

[ferrous wheel]

3. That's a tough one. Should I get to keep my car if I quit making payments?

Just wondering...

[aikoaiko]

4. I think the honorable think to do is to leave, but if they have no place to go, then waiting until

...forced to leave is understandable.

[ThomWV]

5. I don't generally inject my own opinion in these things but here I will - Stay

I say they stay until the bank sees reason to have them physically tossed out. I can see a couple of reasons to do this. First is that no one else had paid anything into the place so at least if there is some claim to equity it goes to the homeowner to some degree. Second is that at least if they stay there the place is less likely to be vandalized, so both parties come out ahead. Next is that I think a person who stays will generally continue to find a way to pay and with luck things will get better before the place is sold and they have no choice but leave; with more luck maybe they can catch up. Finally having the house occupied will certainly do more to keep up the value of neighboring homes than having it empty and that is good for the community.

[cynatnite]

10. I agree...

Some years ago I heard the worse thing a person could do was voluntarily leave their home.

[Warpy]

6. Other

The bank should offer to rent it to them pending the sale of the property, giving them a month to vacate should the property sell in a saturated market.

Face it, evicting people is leaving us with lots of abandoned properties that are magnets for people who are worse than the original owners would ever be. The prospect of the sheriff showing up to put their furniture on the street just gets the place trashed.

Banks are going to have to realize that properties are not going to sell quickly in the current climate and that any money they can generate is all to the good. Keeping a family housed is an added benefit.

Deadbeats who had liar loans have already been foreclosed. The foreclosures that are happening now are mostly due to families faced with job loss, medical expenses, or other calamity. Keeping a lower cash flow from these families is far better than having no cash flow at all.

I just wonder how long it's going to take the banks to realize that.

[me b zola]

7. There really is an issue with original, intact mortgages

I don't recall which congresswoman was advising her constituents to "squat" in their own homes, but she was right to do so. I know of someone who was going to be evicted due to foreclosure and took the bank to court and demanded that they show that they had the deed. The mortgage had been cut and sold so many times that the bank had no idea of where it was. The judgment was in favor of the homeowner. The last I heard he is still in his home.


edited for a link to the story by Amy Goodman:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4974235

[Mist]

9. Yes--if there's no intact deed that can be shown, people can't be evicted, apparently. nt

[Oregone]

8. Why isn't "burn the fucker to the ground" an option?

[Dr.Phool]

11. Because arson carries about 15 years.

[Oregone]

14. Indentured Servitude is a life sentence anyway.

[ferrous wheel]

12. It IS an option. And so is blowing up the office of the mortage holder.

There are always choices.

[Oregone]

13. You are right about choices. Some better than others I guess.

[ThomWV]

15. I wasn't clever enough to think of it before the voting began. Sorry.

I would have included it - really.

[Oregone]

17. Thats the attitude :)

If we can't at least smile about these things, at least internally, whats the point, eh?

[Cleita]

16. Long ago when I was having a rent dispute with a landlord, a lawyer advised

me that possession is nine tenths of the law. If you have the stomach for it you should stay until they forcibly pull you out by the hair. A Congresswoman said the same thing today to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!

[SoCalDem]

18. around here, they send someone out to "move the stuff out", and change the locks

sometimes they board it up.. To go inside it after that, is trespassing, and the cops are eager for the potential fines that brings these days, so I would not push it..

[norepubsin08]

20. If I have no job..lots of luck fining me

fucking pigs

[norepubsin08]

19. I advise them to dig in and stay

[Earth_First]

21. I am going to begin encouraging eviction resistance to foreclosure without renegotiation.

Because I'll tell you what, regardless if "Mr. Banker" is just "doing his job" the son-of-a-bitch that shows up to my doorstep to staple an eviction notice on my doorstep will find out what 42" of cold, hard steel in his chest feels like.

I'll be god-damned if I am evicted out of my house over policies that were created by Washington bureaucrats and Wall Street eggheads.

The foreclosure of my home and my neighbors homes will be so far removed from anything that they had anything to do with, I will personally help them move their belongings from the street back into their home.

If this makes me sound 'survivalist' or 'freeper-alert' so be it. I know where I stand.