A couple of years back the author attended a foreclosure auction on the steps of Centreville Courthouse on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The foreclosed property, a small townhouse just over 4 years old had been vacated by the owner who simply handed in his keys & walked away. The original mortgage holder, Countrywide, was then stuck with the original loan for the home, the missed interest & Escrow payments, and all legal fees etc. Countrywide went out of business and the property was acquired by Bank of America – a recipient of $45 billion in taxpayer TARP funds!
The original over-inflated purchase price for the home paid by the first owner during the housing boom in November 2005 was $212,900, including a mortgage for $170,000. By the time the owner was in default in June of 2009 the outstanding balance owed was still $168,501. By July 2010 this had racked up to $189,993 including missing interest payments, Escrow debits, and unexplained but seemingly very lucrative ‘corporate advances’ made to the lender. Now remember, this property may have been owned by Bank of America but that is basically the US taxpayer.
The bank then put the home up for auction at the Centreville courthouse where they sold the property for $198,178 (incl.commissions, fees etc). Not only did the bank get back their original loan, but they got enough money to cover all the missed mortgage payments, all their legal fees, and even made a nice little profit on the deal!
I later found out from court documents that the winning bid that paid well over the current fair market price for this home & effectively excluded all local buyers was non other than Freddie Mac. Yes, the government-backed mortgage broker who with its zombie twin Fannie May looks like costing the US taxpayer another $154 billion in handouts before this fiasco is over!
However, a recent follow up investigation reveals that the property was finally put up for sale with a local real estate agent who sold it in July 2011 for $160,000. That’s almost $40,000 less than the figure paid at auction by one government subsidized organization to a government bailed out bank – all done with US taxpayer’s money!
Working Americans are bid out of buying affordable homes at foreclosure auctions but they still have to borrow money from those same bailed out banks and mortgage brokers when the property is finally sold.; all of this is done with tax payer’s money and with no coverage by the media… the ultimate scam.
Title: US Government’s foreclosure scam is ignored by ‘Lamestream’ Media”
Author: Ted Newcomen
Source: “Information clearing house” December 12, 2012
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33295.htm
Student Researcher, Krista Smith, Sonoma State University
Community Evaluator: Angela Isola