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Real Estate Investors and Foreclosure Consequences-what a story!!by John Reed (Dayton, Ohio)  The House I built from Dumpster Parts Back
in the early 90's I had 5 rental properties that I refinanced and
pulled equity out of... but I did it with the Banks assurances that if
I bought anymore properties, and did full rehabs on them, I would be
able to refinance them with them (the Bank). I bought 4 more, did all
the work, they were up and running with tenants in each. I went to the
Bank and low and behold they wouldn't even talk to me! Even though all
my bills had been paid on time and I had a better balance sheet than
the first time I received refinancings. Since I had been buying and
rebuilding on Credit Cards, the house tumbled and I lost it all. About
half a Million Dollars worth. I filed a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in 1997,
relieving myself of all obligations. 10 YEARS later, the Bank was still
reporting that I owed money on these Mortgages, ruining my Credit! But
I must Backup in time here. 1996 I entered the Information Technology
(IT) Industry and went to work for a Contractor servicing my State's
Govt. After spending 2 1/2 years there, my contract was terminated.
Although I had gotten rave reviews on every employee report, my
particular Contractor had run low on cash and had missed paying their
Employee's, twice in a 2 month period, and this was grounds for the
State to stop accepting any more contracts from them. So OK, I had
saved some cash and I went looking for work and found it with a
Mortgage Co. He was a single person entity, but offered me an
opportunity to learn and needed someone to teach him computers at the
same time. I did my part and he kept putting off paying me, and then he
died. Owing me almost $50,000. I contacted an Attorney and ended up
with a judgment that's just plain old uncorrectable. On to another
Mortgage Co., and when I saw the charges they were levying against
their customers (like $250 for faxing a pile of documents along with a
$300 administration fee and more and more and more) I just had to quit.
I was fairly broke, disgusted, trying all the while to get my credit
rating back into some kind of "Good" area. I sent over 100 letters to
the 3 Credit Bureau's and the Bank, trying to get them to erase the
"Mortgages still owed" from my Credit Report, but they'd only change
the amounts owed, once having me owing $6,000,000.00 on 5 houses in an
area where the nicest house at the time was lucky to bring $60,000.00!
In 2000, broke, having to move from a $100 a month room I'd been
renting from a friend because I couldn't afford it anymore I moved to a
family owned vacant lot with a "40 year old shed" on it. Raccoon
Heaven! I kicked out the Raccoons (they didn't leave peaceably) and
started adding on to the shed so as to have a place I could survive the
winter through. Now all the while, I'm putting out applications
&
resumes. No response. Remember, my Credit rating is being trashed all
this time by the Bank and I'm trying for IT jobs where Credit Ratings
are easy to get off of a computer. Anyway, I'm starving. A friend from
grade school finds out my predicament and starts bring me food
everyday, another has me help him do some work (very part time)every
week and finally I have enough to get electricity (on a temporary
service pole) and get a phone and can drive (a little) because I can
buy some gas. With a phone also came computer access. I have child
support, elec., a phone with computer access (NETZERO) and a little gas
money and my friend decides she's going to move in with me (in a 10' X
20' shed) because she's living with her parents and she's turned into a
terrible alcoholic and they want her gone, but she's been feeding me
for about 6 months now so how can I say no? She (with a Master's Degree
in English now mind you) can only get a job at the local Meijer's as a
check out clerk, her alcoholism is way past her being able to work as a
teacher and her drivers license has not existed for a few years
already. So I drive her to work each day and on the way back I stop at
each and every McMansion building site that I pass and raid the
dumpsters for building supplies. It is amazing, the waste created by
our society today. I was able to build about 98% of the house I'm now
losing with parts scavenged from building site dumpsters. Then I found
out about "Trash Days" locally, so I started doing that 4 day event
every year and was able to completely furnish the house, get my lawn
equipment, outdoor furniture and almost everything I now own. Of course
I did have to fix it all before I could use it, but I'm pretty
resourceful and not a lazy person so I fixed it and have it all now.
That's also not to say I know everything, I had to research just about
everything to find out just HOW to fix it. Lot's and lots of research
and just plain old hard work. What I didn't have time to do was work
for someone else, but that didn't really seem to matter much compared
to "it's raining and there's no roof up yet, or it's snowing and
there's no insulation and I'm out of kerosene or a million other things
like that and besides, whereas I was still putting out applications and
resumes, I still was NOT getting any replies! Bad Credit? or Too Old
for the IT world? Whatever, when you're back's against the wall to stay
warm and eat, you don't have time to ask those questions. There's just
to much more to do. Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Foreclosure Discussion.
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