Any eviction should be treated by the courts with the gravest concern for the tenant or borrower. I know in my experience and because of what I do for a living as a paralegal and an accountant, that there are times when people take advantage of a rental situation and merely enter into leases with the full intention of not paying the rent. I know of one man in our town who has made a bad reputation for himself and his family because he routinely defaults on rental leases. I am not like this person. Our family is not like this person. Up until this fraud started with the mortgage company we had never missed a mortgage payment, or any bill for that matter. Our credit was good, we both had good jobs, and we thought we had a home until it was paid off. But things change, sometimes quickly, and in 2009 our battle started with Wells Fargo only to end up in a further battle against foreclosing trustee HSBC Bank. We never had a chance at justice or a fair hearing, like so many other disillusioned homeowners we thought the courts would at least look at our reasons for being there.
We thought, stupidly, that a judge is supposed to hear both sides of a story and then make a fair and just and reasoned decision that provides an equitable relief to both parties. Whoops! Did I just say fair and equitable relief?? That's what the law says your supposed to to do if you are a judge. But if you are a judge who does not want to be bothered with all this, you take the easy way out and then you throw homeowners out on their heads, using the Colorado Rule 120 hearing as a tool to make your job easier and process a lot of cases. There's something wrong with a legal system if a homeowner has to sue the lender to get justice, and justice repays the homeowner by refusing to grant a hearing on the claims. There's something wrong with a legal system that is supposed to provide a fair hearing where both parties present their evidence and a judge decides that only one party can present it, the other party has to sit there and watch while they lose a 30 year financial investment with no remedy. There's something wrong with a legal system that allows a lender into the courtroom with "copies" of documents that should be blue ink signed originals as evidence of debt, and a "certification" by the lenders attorney that "all documents have been verified as accurate". Colorado judges are elected. I even voted for the one who is responsible for allowing my illegal foreclosure to go through. But I will not be voting for him again. In fact, I will be contacting the Colorado State Bar to file a complaint against him. I will be contacting the Attorney General in Colorado to complain about this judge's total lack of procedure in our case. I will be contacting each and every person I know to make sure this judge is not elected again. I have no idea how many people he was responsible for evicting from their homes, but I am sure if I do a little research the number will be in the thousands. We have a person who is in charge of whether we get to continue to live in our homes that we paid thousands of dollars of principal and interest on, improved, fixed, maintained, insured, fed kids in, entertained in, celebrated in, grieved in. A home is more than a mortgage payment, it is a dwelling for a family. Evicting someone from a dwelling is not something you rush into, through, or decide without great trepidation, and without examining all possible resources first to help the person stay in their home. Even a default should not cost a person their home. People have lives, they are human, events happen. People have lost their jobs, their health, had a death in the family, been victims of weather, floods, devastation, all kinds of things happen to people. A default with extenuating circumstances should not result in losing a dwelling. Millions of people have been victimized by predatory lenders in the last five years because of laws that allow the lenders to foreclose with the barest and shoddiest paperwork, when eviction should be treated with strict procedures and discovery. Putting lenders on notice that improper paperwork will not be tolerated, and allowing judges to use broader discretion when deciding a foreclosure issue would level the playing field, and make the idea of justice more real to the average person. It would result in an actual ruling that is truly "fair and equitable" for both parties.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Anger Sparks Initiative from a Roemer Volunteer
Anger Sparks Initiative from a Roemer Volunteer
Here's a candidate who can change our government, we need to get him in front of the debates! Buddy Roemer is a banker, the only banker in the last three years who did not foreclose on a single homeowner during the economic crisis. That's enough for me.
Here's a candidate who can change our government, we need to get him in front of the debates! Buddy Roemer is a banker, the only banker in the last three years who did not foreclose on a single homeowner during the economic crisis. That's enough for me.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Judges Need to Be Heroes
Hello All:
In the wake of millions of foreclosures, neighborhood destruction, county taxes that support vital community services all but eliminated, one has to wonder why Colorado judges continue to support the public trustee in enforcing foreclosures while homeowners are in the process of seeking relief through loan modifications. It's unfortunate that examples are being set by judges every day in Florida, California, and Massachusetts, examples that do not support lender fraud, illegal foreclosures, shoddy paperwork, and plain missing documents, and Colorado judges are ignoring those examples and precedents and slamming the gavel down on struggling homeowners. Today is January 2, 2012. I am still in my home and on my farm of thirty years. I expect any day that the same judge who heard my rule 120 hearing and refused to allow me to explain my situation with Wells Fargo, the same judge who presided over my lawsuit that I filed as a plaintiff and never got into the courtroom, the same judge who is now in charge of my fate, who will rule shortly on a motion for Reconsideration of the original rule 120 hearing, will again side with the lenders against me and I will still be evicted without ever having my day in court. How can this happen? In light of all the recent court rulings in favor of homeowners, in light of all the evidence of outright fraud (in my case a forged Note), and rulings that consistently uphold UCC law and property rights, why are judges still not erring on the side of caution and siding with the homeowner?
There is so much evidence the lenders lied, cheated, and stole from the American people. If you are one of those borrowers (as I was) who never missed a mortgage payment and think you are insulated from this treachery, think again. It does not matter how current you are on your loan, if a lender in Colorado wants your property, they can take it at any time. It's right in your Deed of Trust that you, the borrower signed. My problem is that Colorado laws and Colorado judges favor the lender. Even when the contract is clearly wrong, evidence exists that something is outright disreputable about lenders insisting on litigating against a borrower instead of working out a solution, judges are still taking the easy way out, not doing their homework, and not ruling justly. I was a witness to a homeowner in court one day waiting outside to enter at his appointed time for a Rule 120 hearing. The lender's attorney stepped outside the courtroom and sat down with the homeowner, who did not speak English very well. The attorney introduced herself to the homeowner, and proceeded to get the person to admit he was in default on his mortgage. Once she had that, she went into the courtroom and I watched in complete horror as this person's home was ordered sold at sale in less than 30 seconds. I don't think the homeowner knew what had just happened to him. He was very confused, and had to be told he could leave after the judge ordered the sale of the home. He never testified, he was never asked WHY he was in default, because Colorado doesn't care WHY you are in default. All Colorado cares about is if you are in default, you lose your home. Doesn't matter how many years you paid on time for your mortgage, how much money you spent improving your home, or how many years you kept the taxes current, what matters to Colorado is you are in DEFAULT. Sounds like a pretty good racket to me, average home $180,000 times 20 or 30 a day occurring in any given county, $3,600,000 a day, times even one day a week, $187,200,000 a year in real estate the lender is collecting. I wonder how much the judge gets for siding with the lender? Maybe he gets a free home out of the deal. Maybe he gets retirement funded completely, maybe he gets a lot of stuff we don't even come close to knowing about. Who knows?
Now, judges could be heroes here instead of jerks. Judges can demand proper paperwork in a rule 120 hearing and if the lender fails to provide it, the judge can demand more evidence to prove debt, default, AND judges can PREVENT FORECLOSURES AND KEEP PEOPLE IN THEIR HOMES simply by making the lenders accountable for everything they do, including DECEPTIVE PRACTICES like inducing a homeowner into a loan modification, telling them they have to be three months behind to qualify, and using the dual tracking process of foreclosing on the hapless homeowner while they wait for a loan modification. Judges need to be heroes. They need to look beyond the language of the statutes that keep the lender from being accountable, and they need to look at these foreclosures as individual situations where each case is different. If a borrower applied for a loan modification, that should immediately suspend any foreclosure proceedings until a workout can be accomplished. A judge should look into why contracts should be voided, I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me if the lender encouraged a homeowner to be three months behind to do a loan modification and then forecloses, that practice alone should cancel a contract, and the judge should enforce it. Maybe then, lenders would stop stooping to this despicable, deceitful behavior, if they start losing homeowners and homes because of it.
And don't tell me nobody wants to work it out. That is an outright lie the lenders are continuing to promote. Most people do not want to leave their homes. In the words of Buddy Roemer, "lenders need to be held accountable for their actions". When Presidential candidate Buddy Roemer had a recent interview on MSNBC, he stated: our bank did not foreclose on a single homeowner, foreclosure should be the LAST RESORT, not the first one. Maybe judges should listen more to Buddy Roemer, a banker who gets it, and knows what needs to happen to prevent foreclosures.
I look forward in the coming months to being evicted, but I will not stop trying to change Colorado laws that favor lenders and are in violation of basic property rights of hard working homeowners. HSBC and Wells Fargo think they are going to make an example of me, but believe me, the battle has just begun. If they refuse to settle this illegal foreclosure by doing right by me, I will spend the rest of my life not only lobbying to change our laws, but also making it my life's goal to bring big banks down to their knees, and eliminating laws that favor corporations over people.
Wishing all my friends, acquaintances, and most of all, all you people out there working for lenders and are just trying to do your jobs, do your job better, EXPOSE THE FRAUD, BECOME A WHISTLEBLOWER, QUIT YOUR JOB AND DO SOMETHING ELSE, DO ANYTHING YOU CAN TO NOT SUPPORT THOSE LENDERS WHO HAVE BEEN SINGLED OUT BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LAST APRIL AS COMMITTING FRAUD!!! DON'T WORK FOR THESE PEOPLE AND PERPETRATE THE ABUSES AGAINST PEOPLE! If you have a job with a lender identified by the Federal Government as a fraudulent lender, move your loans, refinance your vehicles, your mortgage, with someone local, and do not do business with your employer. I know, and you know, that someone close to you has been hurt by a lender, the only way to get this to stop is to start from within. If you are reading this, you must know that people are being hurt, ruined, damaged emotionally, have become sick from stress and worry, have committed suicide, have children who are emotionally damaged, all because of the loss of their homes that did not have to happen. There is no justification for a lender going forward with the robbery of someone's home, when they were already compensated for it. It is an attempt to clean up books and nothing more, why does nobody understand this???
In the end, we will all sleep better at night if we can eliminate this insidious and virulent force that is among us. We all know what to do, we just need to keep doing it. God Bless all those who have helped us so far, and those who are continuing in the fight for Justice. May you all have a peaceful, less stressful, prosperous and blessed New Year 2012.
Donna Fasi
Sweetwater Herb Farm
Help Save The Farm-Contribute to
Sweetwater Herb Farm
3856 Sweetwater Road
Gypsum, CO 81637
In the wake of millions of foreclosures, neighborhood destruction, county taxes that support vital community services all but eliminated, one has to wonder why Colorado judges continue to support the public trustee in enforcing foreclosures while homeowners are in the process of seeking relief through loan modifications. It's unfortunate that examples are being set by judges every day in Florida, California, and Massachusetts, examples that do not support lender fraud, illegal foreclosures, shoddy paperwork, and plain missing documents, and Colorado judges are ignoring those examples and precedents and slamming the gavel down on struggling homeowners. Today is January 2, 2012. I am still in my home and on my farm of thirty years. I expect any day that the same judge who heard my rule 120 hearing and refused to allow me to explain my situation with Wells Fargo, the same judge who presided over my lawsuit that I filed as a plaintiff and never got into the courtroom, the same judge who is now in charge of my fate, who will rule shortly on a motion for Reconsideration of the original rule 120 hearing, will again side with the lenders against me and I will still be evicted without ever having my day in court. How can this happen? In light of all the recent court rulings in favor of homeowners, in light of all the evidence of outright fraud (in my case a forged Note), and rulings that consistently uphold UCC law and property rights, why are judges still not erring on the side of caution and siding with the homeowner?
There is so much evidence the lenders lied, cheated, and stole from the American people. If you are one of those borrowers (as I was) who never missed a mortgage payment and think you are insulated from this treachery, think again. It does not matter how current you are on your loan, if a lender in Colorado wants your property, they can take it at any time. It's right in your Deed of Trust that you, the borrower signed. My problem is that Colorado laws and Colorado judges favor the lender. Even when the contract is clearly wrong, evidence exists that something is outright disreputable about lenders insisting on litigating against a borrower instead of working out a solution, judges are still taking the easy way out, not doing their homework, and not ruling justly. I was a witness to a homeowner in court one day waiting outside to enter at his appointed time for a Rule 120 hearing. The lender's attorney stepped outside the courtroom and sat down with the homeowner, who did not speak English very well. The attorney introduced herself to the homeowner, and proceeded to get the person to admit he was in default on his mortgage. Once she had that, she went into the courtroom and I watched in complete horror as this person's home was ordered sold at sale in less than 30 seconds. I don't think the homeowner knew what had just happened to him. He was very confused, and had to be told he could leave after the judge ordered the sale of the home. He never testified, he was never asked WHY he was in default, because Colorado doesn't care WHY you are in default. All Colorado cares about is if you are in default, you lose your home. Doesn't matter how many years you paid on time for your mortgage, how much money you spent improving your home, or how many years you kept the taxes current, what matters to Colorado is you are in DEFAULT. Sounds like a pretty good racket to me, average home $180,000 times 20 or 30 a day occurring in any given county, $3,600,000 a day, times even one day a week, $187,200,000 a year in real estate the lender is collecting. I wonder how much the judge gets for siding with the lender? Maybe he gets a free home out of the deal. Maybe he gets retirement funded completely, maybe he gets a lot of stuff we don't even come close to knowing about. Who knows?
Now, judges could be heroes here instead of jerks. Judges can demand proper paperwork in a rule 120 hearing and if the lender fails to provide it, the judge can demand more evidence to prove debt, default, AND judges can PREVENT FORECLOSURES AND KEEP PEOPLE IN THEIR HOMES simply by making the lenders accountable for everything they do, including DECEPTIVE PRACTICES like inducing a homeowner into a loan modification, telling them they have to be three months behind to qualify, and using the dual tracking process of foreclosing on the hapless homeowner while they wait for a loan modification. Judges need to be heroes. They need to look beyond the language of the statutes that keep the lender from being accountable, and they need to look at these foreclosures as individual situations where each case is different. If a borrower applied for a loan modification, that should immediately suspend any foreclosure proceedings until a workout can be accomplished. A judge should look into why contracts should be voided, I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me if the lender encouraged a homeowner to be three months behind to do a loan modification and then forecloses, that practice alone should cancel a contract, and the judge should enforce it. Maybe then, lenders would stop stooping to this despicable, deceitful behavior, if they start losing homeowners and homes because of it.
And don't tell me nobody wants to work it out. That is an outright lie the lenders are continuing to promote. Most people do not want to leave their homes. In the words of Buddy Roemer, "lenders need to be held accountable for their actions". When Presidential candidate Buddy Roemer had a recent interview on MSNBC, he stated: our bank did not foreclose on a single homeowner, foreclosure should be the LAST RESORT, not the first one. Maybe judges should listen more to Buddy Roemer, a banker who gets it, and knows what needs to happen to prevent foreclosures.
I look forward in the coming months to being evicted, but I will not stop trying to change Colorado laws that favor lenders and are in violation of basic property rights of hard working homeowners. HSBC and Wells Fargo think they are going to make an example of me, but believe me, the battle has just begun. If they refuse to settle this illegal foreclosure by doing right by me, I will spend the rest of my life not only lobbying to change our laws, but also making it my life's goal to bring big banks down to their knees, and eliminating laws that favor corporations over people.
Wishing all my friends, acquaintances, and most of all, all you people out there working for lenders and are just trying to do your jobs, do your job better, EXPOSE THE FRAUD, BECOME A WHISTLEBLOWER, QUIT YOUR JOB AND DO SOMETHING ELSE, DO ANYTHING YOU CAN TO NOT SUPPORT THOSE LENDERS WHO HAVE BEEN SINGLED OUT BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LAST APRIL AS COMMITTING FRAUD!!! DON'T WORK FOR THESE PEOPLE AND PERPETRATE THE ABUSES AGAINST PEOPLE! If you have a job with a lender identified by the Federal Government as a fraudulent lender, move your loans, refinance your vehicles, your mortgage, with someone local, and do not do business with your employer. I know, and you know, that someone close to you has been hurt by a lender, the only way to get this to stop is to start from within. If you are reading this, you must know that people are being hurt, ruined, damaged emotionally, have become sick from stress and worry, have committed suicide, have children who are emotionally damaged, all because of the loss of their homes that did not have to happen. There is no justification for a lender going forward with the robbery of someone's home, when they were already compensated for it. It is an attempt to clean up books and nothing more, why does nobody understand this???
In the end, we will all sleep better at night if we can eliminate this insidious and virulent force that is among us. We all know what to do, we just need to keep doing it. God Bless all those who have helped us so far, and those who are continuing in the fight for Justice. May you all have a peaceful, less stressful, prosperous and blessed New Year 2012.
Donna Fasi
Sweetwater Herb Farm
Help Save The Farm-Contribute to
Sweetwater Herb Farm
3856 Sweetwater Road
Gypsum, CO 81637
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Save the Farm We Are Still Here
Well folks: It's a week later, Tuesday December 27th, and we are actively searching for an investor or philanthropist to help us tender an offer to the foreclosing bank in order to save the farm. We have not raised much money yet, we are getting some calls each day, but things are progressing slowly, it's just after Christmas, and I am not expecting help this week. I really want to help others, I know there are over 400 homes sitting empty or in some stage of foreclosure in Gypsum and Eagle, Colorado, and it's worse on the Front Range and the Western Slope. The problem is these lenders simply do not want to do their due diligence, they just want to rush through foreclosures (because they can) and get these homes back up for sale as quickly as possible. It does not matter that there's families involved who will have lost their life's investment, it does not matter that there's real people to deal with. All that matters is a loan number, a closed file and clean paper. Today I filled out paperwork for the Federal Loan Review survey that was sent to me in the mail. I guess this is supposed to make me feel better and give me a sense of hope. But I have no hope, I'm simply too emotionally drained and too exhausted to really feel hope anymore. Even if I were, by some miracle, to be able to save my beloved farm, I don't think I will ever be the same again. As I look forward next week to more of the same, I wonder why anyone would ever want to buy a house again or take out a mortgage again after having everything taken from them.
Our friends from Colorado Springs came to visit us during Christmas, they have spent a year trying to recover after losing their home in Eagle County last year, having put over $200,000 into a new home and fixing it up, then losing it after losing jobs (both of them laid off or lost work and unable to get reemployed). They spent a year living in a tiny apartment after losing all their savings and assets trying to save their home. They spent a year trying to figure out what to do next. They had a friend who spent seven months living out of her car after losing her home to foreclosure. Where is this going to end? With the entire middle class unemployed, stripped of their life's savings, living out of cars and one bedroom apartments while thousands of homes sit empty, or worse, taken over by banks and bulldozed down because the lender does not want to pay the property taxes and maintain the homes they stole? Why is our government doing NOTHING to stop this robbery????
Today I read about the Attorney's General in the ongoing settlement with the lenders. Every day we keep hearing that the settlement is "almost there", any day now, and today, I read that the actual settlement talks have some agreement for 19-20 billion to be divided up for different aspects of the mortgage fraud perpetrated by the lenders. For instance, some of the money will be used to compensate homeowners who were illegally foreclosed on. The amount? Approximately $1500 per borrower. That's just great. Kick people out of their homes for no reason, and they get $1500 for their loss. Want some more? the rest of the money goes to foreclosure mitigation, prevention and loan modification non-profits to assist those who are in foreclosure (not those who already lost their homes). And the best of all? The lenders will not be held accountable for their crimes. Not one. Sounds like the AG's are really looking out for borrowers best interests. If this makes you angry, complain to your AG. Send them a complaint letter, demand that the lenders be held accountable for their fraud. You all know that if you and I pulled this kind of stunt, in any kind of contract, we would be in jail for what we did, no questions asked. Yet, these lenders get to walk away scott free with not even a slap on the wrist. It's beyond amazing that these banks can cheat, lie, extort, commit fraud, steal homes, change paperwork to fit the situation to allow them to foreclose, and nobody seems to think this is a bad thing. Everybody just wants to go along and ignore and look the other way while lenders run roughshod over working people. It has got to stop. We have to stop it. If you want to learn how, and you want to be a voice, get on the Internet and start blogging, start writing letters to the Attorney General in your State, your Senators, and your Congressmen and women. Find investors and people willing to donate time and money to organizations that will change our laws to protect the consumer, but most of all GET INVOLVED. Things don't change by themselves, they change because people want things changed. In order for that to happen, you have to commit to change. I'm hoping everything I write as I journey down this road is read by someone who makes the decision to help by becoming a voice for change. And somehow, someway, the American people can take back what was lost, take back their heritage, get back their courage and integrity, and start fighting for freedom again. In a hundred years, we have managed to become slaves again, this time to the God of Finance. Our lives are ruled by money, instead of family values. It's easy for the lenders to have family values, they go home to paid for homes, astronomical salaries and bonuses, and they are so insulated from what is really going on in the world, why should they feel any different about the working people? It was okay for them to cut up our mortgages and gamble them on the stock market, and it was okay to lose the gamble and get paid off by the federal government with TARP funds. Now, its still okay for them to get more money and property by foreclosing on properties they no longer show on their balance sheets, and reaping in extra profits while struggling homeowners foot the bill. When the TARP funds were given to the lenders, loan modifications and write-downs should have been automatic, sweeping, and significant. If that had happened at the time in 2008, our economy would have recovered and rebounded. Instead, inaction by our federal government, lenders and investors resulted in more bank failures and huge failures in business in every industry in our nation, including a large portion of small businesses who went under because of a domino effect from larger corporate layoffs and stagnating economic flows. I don't think anyone could have predicted such a dire outcome, but the fact is it could have been averted, and nobody in Congress had the balls to step forward and demand action. Maybe we need new people, younger people, more talented people running our government. In the meantime, our farm and our family needs your prayers and support. I'll talk again soon. Donna
Our friends from Colorado Springs came to visit us during Christmas, they have spent a year trying to recover after losing their home in Eagle County last year, having put over $200,000 into a new home and fixing it up, then losing it after losing jobs (both of them laid off or lost work and unable to get reemployed). They spent a year living in a tiny apartment after losing all their savings and assets trying to save their home. They spent a year trying to figure out what to do next. They had a friend who spent seven months living out of her car after losing her home to foreclosure. Where is this going to end? With the entire middle class unemployed, stripped of their life's savings, living out of cars and one bedroom apartments while thousands of homes sit empty, or worse, taken over by banks and bulldozed down because the lender does not want to pay the property taxes and maintain the homes they stole? Why is our government doing NOTHING to stop this robbery????
Today I read about the Attorney's General in the ongoing settlement with the lenders. Every day we keep hearing that the settlement is "almost there", any day now, and today, I read that the actual settlement talks have some agreement for 19-20 billion to be divided up for different aspects of the mortgage fraud perpetrated by the lenders. For instance, some of the money will be used to compensate homeowners who were illegally foreclosed on. The amount? Approximately $1500 per borrower. That's just great. Kick people out of their homes for no reason, and they get $1500 for their loss. Want some more? the rest of the money goes to foreclosure mitigation, prevention and loan modification non-profits to assist those who are in foreclosure (not those who already lost their homes). And the best of all? The lenders will not be held accountable for their crimes. Not one. Sounds like the AG's are really looking out for borrowers best interests. If this makes you angry, complain to your AG. Send them a complaint letter, demand that the lenders be held accountable for their fraud. You all know that if you and I pulled this kind of stunt, in any kind of contract, we would be in jail for what we did, no questions asked. Yet, these lenders get to walk away scott free with not even a slap on the wrist. It's beyond amazing that these banks can cheat, lie, extort, commit fraud, steal homes, change paperwork to fit the situation to allow them to foreclose, and nobody seems to think this is a bad thing. Everybody just wants to go along and ignore and look the other way while lenders run roughshod over working people. It has got to stop. We have to stop it. If you want to learn how, and you want to be a voice, get on the Internet and start blogging, start writing letters to the Attorney General in your State, your Senators, and your Congressmen and women. Find investors and people willing to donate time and money to organizations that will change our laws to protect the consumer, but most of all GET INVOLVED. Things don't change by themselves, they change because people want things changed. In order for that to happen, you have to commit to change. I'm hoping everything I write as I journey down this road is read by someone who makes the decision to help by becoming a voice for change. And somehow, someway, the American people can take back what was lost, take back their heritage, get back their courage and integrity, and start fighting for freedom again. In a hundred years, we have managed to become slaves again, this time to the God of Finance. Our lives are ruled by money, instead of family values. It's easy for the lenders to have family values, they go home to paid for homes, astronomical salaries and bonuses, and they are so insulated from what is really going on in the world, why should they feel any different about the working people? It was okay for them to cut up our mortgages and gamble them on the stock market, and it was okay to lose the gamble and get paid off by the federal government with TARP funds. Now, its still okay for them to get more money and property by foreclosing on properties they no longer show on their balance sheets, and reaping in extra profits while struggling homeowners foot the bill. When the TARP funds were given to the lenders, loan modifications and write-downs should have been automatic, sweeping, and significant. If that had happened at the time in 2008, our economy would have recovered and rebounded. Instead, inaction by our federal government, lenders and investors resulted in more bank failures and huge failures in business in every industry in our nation, including a large portion of small businesses who went under because of a domino effect from larger corporate layoffs and stagnating economic flows. I don't think anyone could have predicted such a dire outcome, but the fact is it could have been averted, and nobody in Congress had the balls to step forward and demand action. Maybe we need new people, younger people, more talented people running our government. In the meantime, our farm and our family needs your prayers and support. I'll talk again soon. Donna
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
All's Quiet Before the Ax Falls
It's Tuesday, the weather at the farm is gorgeous, though very cold. Kids are home for Christmas break this week, and our good friends are coming on Thursday to be with us during Christmas. I suppose we will be coming up with some sort of game plan when the ax does fall on us, but for now we are trying to focus on Christmas and pretend to have a normal life for a few days. A normal life, what is that? Do any of us really have a normal life?
It's important that above all we remember that during this season there are many others out there who are worse off than ourselves, homeless, sick, hungry, thirsty, and without hope. I am getting close to being without hope, but not this week. I may be facing homelessness because an uninformed and prejudiced judge wants to help a bank steal my farm, but I'm not homeless today. I may be tired and weary from dealing with this foreclosure mess for three years now, but the most that is wrong with me is sleep deprivation and emotional and mental fatigue. I am still healthy, my family is still healthy, and we will spend Christmas week appreciating our farm for what little time remains to us.There are many things we need to do in order to rid our lives of stress and really appreciate each day. I was once told by my friend George Arafat that the work I did as a business consultant and an accountant did not suit me, he knew I loved the horses and wanted to spend my time working with them and training them, not being stuck in an office all the time. His words to me one time were, "Donna, you are a fish out of water", referring to the fact that I should have been on a ranch full time training horses and working with the livestock, because that is what I enjoyed the most. But one of the things he did not understand about me was that I really loved my work in the office, because I was helping people, and I get great satisfaction when I know I have helped a business client through a stressful event. It is important to me, even now, that people should be helped, if they need it and they ask for it, each and every day, and maybe even if they don't ask for help.
Sometimes people just need help and you go out there and do it, without expecting anything in return and without remorse. Sometimes people get mad at you for trying to help and they accuse you of interfering and shout at you to mind your own business. But for the majority of us who think we can do it all ourselves, multi-task a hundred things in a day, act like super moms and dads and keep on each day like we are unstoppable, go get some help and learn how to delegate. Take the stress off a little at a time, and give tasks to others, even if its for one day. It won't kill you to pass a little work off to someone else, and it might free you up to do something you enjoy doing, if even only for a few minutes.
This holiday season, I want to wish all my family, extended family friends, clients, business associates, and everyone else a Safe, Happy, Healthy holiday and a bright, serene New Year. May you all be blessed and continue to enjoy peace and health for many years to come.
Donna
It's important that above all we remember that during this season there are many others out there who are worse off than ourselves, homeless, sick, hungry, thirsty, and without hope. I am getting close to being without hope, but not this week. I may be facing homelessness because an uninformed and prejudiced judge wants to help a bank steal my farm, but I'm not homeless today. I may be tired and weary from dealing with this foreclosure mess for three years now, but the most that is wrong with me is sleep deprivation and emotional and mental fatigue. I am still healthy, my family is still healthy, and we will spend Christmas week appreciating our farm for what little time remains to us.There are many things we need to do in order to rid our lives of stress and really appreciate each day. I was once told by my friend George Arafat that the work I did as a business consultant and an accountant did not suit me, he knew I loved the horses and wanted to spend my time working with them and training them, not being stuck in an office all the time. His words to me one time were, "Donna, you are a fish out of water", referring to the fact that I should have been on a ranch full time training horses and working with the livestock, because that is what I enjoyed the most. But one of the things he did not understand about me was that I really loved my work in the office, because I was helping people, and I get great satisfaction when I know I have helped a business client through a stressful event. It is important to me, even now, that people should be helped, if they need it and they ask for it, each and every day, and maybe even if they don't ask for help.
Sometimes people just need help and you go out there and do it, without expecting anything in return and without remorse. Sometimes people get mad at you for trying to help and they accuse you of interfering and shout at you to mind your own business. But for the majority of us who think we can do it all ourselves, multi-task a hundred things in a day, act like super moms and dads and keep on each day like we are unstoppable, go get some help and learn how to delegate. Take the stress off a little at a time, and give tasks to others, even if its for one day. It won't kill you to pass a little work off to someone else, and it might free you up to do something you enjoy doing, if even only for a few minutes.
This holiday season, I want to wish all my family, extended family friends, clients, business associates, and everyone else a Safe, Happy, Healthy holiday and a bright, serene New Year. May you all be blessed and continue to enjoy peace and health for many years to come.
Donna
Monday, December 19, 2011
Let's Save the Farm From Eviction
Okay everyone, we are not going to lie down like dogs and give up fighting for our home and farm. We have set up a bank account to accept donations for the legal fund to continue fighting. We know the fight may be almost over, as we as American's have lost just about every right we ever had due to corporate power, lender fraud and downright criminal activity by every institution out there. Nevertheless, we are giving it a final shot. We may have to file for a bankruptcy, we may still lose our property to this illegal foreclosure before we are exonerated by a federal review of our loan by the independent third party auditors appointed by the OCC. But money damages down the road won't save our farm. And compensation does not take the place of emotional anguish and mental suffering for the three years we have valiantly sought to save our farm. I really don't think I have had one peaceful night's sleep since this fight started in January of 2009. I know I will never be the same again, my family has been ripped apart from this horrible tragedy, and none of us will ever trust any lender again. What kind of message have my children learned from this? Obviously get an attorney to review your documents before you sign anything ever again. But you know what, even an attorney in 2006 or 2005 reviewing loan documents for a client could not have foreseen this mess. My children are going into adulthood knowing they must never be in debt or beholden to anyone again. We are back to the old maxim that was true when I was growing up, if you can't afford to pay cash now, don't buy it. In other words, no one can take advantage of you if you don't borrow their money. So now, to fix our broken loan situation, when the lender refuses to settle with us, we must fight the good fight. It takes money to do that, so, its save the farm time:
If anybody out there wants to contribute a donation, we need to raise $374,000 in the next thirty days. Send your donations to:
Sweetwater Herb Farm, c/o Donna Fasi, 3856 Sweetwater Road, Gypsum, CO 81637. Every little bit helps, please include your name, address and phone number. We will keep track of each person who donates so that we can thank you for your effort, and later on send you something from the farm in return for your help. It's all good, we are here to help others, and any proceeds left over will be used to start a non-profit organization to help others fight eviction. We appreciate all those who have helped so far, please keep up the good work!
I guess the last straw for me was last Monday, when I saw my friends house, who had been trying to get a loan modification for going on 3 1/2 years now, and been denied every time even though he has a good job with a weekly paycheck, and he is upside down on a house he built himself. He owed Wells Fargo 459K. The property has been on the market this entire time, he has tried numerous times to short sell it, and of course Wells Fargo, has both the first and a second mortgage and refuses to approve a short sell. So, they keep sending his mortgage payments back to him because he was in default for several months before he got a new job. Now you would think, that the bank would want to work with someone who actually was able to find another job and wanted to stay in his home. But what do they do???? They refuse to refinance him, refuse to give him a loan modification, refuse to take any payment from him, force him into foreclosure, and last Monday I see the property listed for sale for......$275,000. Wells Fargo, you people must be insane to cause all those foreclosure fees, run up all those attorneys fees, insurance fees, inspection fees, bullshit fees, and then turn around and list this poor man's property for $275,000. Why didn't you give him a loan modification written down to that amount TO BEGIN WITH???? He could have been paying a mortgage payment for the last three years, he could have not gone through all those sleepless nights, worrying about losing his home.We all know why, robbery and greed, push through the foreclosure so the books will be clean and closed, so nobody will know all the dirty deceitful acts you did to cost this man his home.
We all know why, robbery and greed, push through the foreclosure so the books will be clean and closed, so nobody will know all the dirty deceitful acts you did to cost this man his home. And then commit the ultimate final slap by going after him for a deficiency judgement. Sounds like complete fraud to me.
The mental and emotional suffering you lenders have caused people is beyond belief. And knowing what you have done, as we all are aware, has not persuaded our government to step in and stop foreclosures, ALL FORECLOSURES, and FORCE LENDERS TO GIVE A LOAN MODIFICATION TO ANYONE WHO WANTS ONE. It should never have been a voluntary act, that's like letting the fox into the henhouse and telling him he can choose whether he wants to kill the chickens or not kill the chickens. Well, we all know the fox is going to kill the chickens. After all, the fox is a predator, he wants to eat the chicken. Lenders are predatory, they want their chickens too, those chickens lay golden eggs, and they want them. The only way to keep the lenders in check is to REGULATE THEM. Ahhh, I said the dirty word, regulation of banks, just like FDR in 1934 and 1933. Okay, we all know history repeats itself and we humans fail to learn from our mistakes, keep doing the same old stuff over and over again. So here we are in the Great Depression of the 21st century, having failed to learn from our earlier Great Depression mistakes, and now, we have to make sure it never happens again. Do you think we can get it right this time? Its an uphill battle, trying to reverse laws favorable to lenders and get back to bank regulation, but it needs to happen, and fast if we are to save our economy. Gotta go now, bye
If anybody out there wants to contribute a donation, we need to raise $374,000 in the next thirty days. Send your donations to:
Sweetwater Herb Farm, c/o Donna Fasi, 3856 Sweetwater Road, Gypsum, CO 81637. Every little bit helps, please include your name, address and phone number. We will keep track of each person who donates so that we can thank you for your effort, and later on send you something from the farm in return for your help. It's all good, we are here to help others, and any proceeds left over will be used to start a non-profit organization to help others fight eviction. We appreciate all those who have helped so far, please keep up the good work!
I guess the last straw for me was last Monday, when I saw my friends house, who had been trying to get a loan modification for going on 3 1/2 years now, and been denied every time even though he has a good job with a weekly paycheck, and he is upside down on a house he built himself. He owed Wells Fargo 459K. The property has been on the market this entire time, he has tried numerous times to short sell it, and of course Wells Fargo, has both the first and a second mortgage and refuses to approve a short sell. So, they keep sending his mortgage payments back to him because he was in default for several months before he got a new job. Now you would think, that the bank would want to work with someone who actually was able to find another job and wanted to stay in his home. But what do they do???? They refuse to refinance him, refuse to give him a loan modification, refuse to take any payment from him, force him into foreclosure, and last Monday I see the property listed for sale for......$275,000. Wells Fargo, you people must be insane to cause all those foreclosure fees, run up all those attorneys fees, insurance fees, inspection fees, bullshit fees, and then turn around and list this poor man's property for $275,000. Why didn't you give him a loan modification written down to that amount TO BEGIN WITH???? He could have been paying a mortgage payment for the last three years, he could have not gone through all those sleepless nights, worrying about losing his home.We all know why, robbery and greed, push through the foreclosure so the books will be clean and closed, so nobody will know all the dirty deceitful acts you did to cost this man his home.
We all know why, robbery and greed, push through the foreclosure so the books will be clean and closed, so nobody will know all the dirty deceitful acts you did to cost this man his home. And then commit the ultimate final slap by going after him for a deficiency judgement. Sounds like complete fraud to me.
The mental and emotional suffering you lenders have caused people is beyond belief. And knowing what you have done, as we all are aware, has not persuaded our government to step in and stop foreclosures, ALL FORECLOSURES, and FORCE LENDERS TO GIVE A LOAN MODIFICATION TO ANYONE WHO WANTS ONE. It should never have been a voluntary act, that's like letting the fox into the henhouse and telling him he can choose whether he wants to kill the chickens or not kill the chickens. Well, we all know the fox is going to kill the chickens. After all, the fox is a predator, he wants to eat the chicken. Lenders are predatory, they want their chickens too, those chickens lay golden eggs, and they want them. The only way to keep the lenders in check is to REGULATE THEM. Ahhh, I said the dirty word, regulation of banks, just like FDR in 1934 and 1933. Okay, we all know history repeats itself and we humans fail to learn from our mistakes, keep doing the same old stuff over and over again. So here we are in the Great Depression of the 21st century, having failed to learn from our earlier Great Depression mistakes, and now, we have to make sure it never happens again. Do you think we can get it right this time? Its an uphill battle, trying to reverse laws favorable to lenders and get back to bank regulation, but it needs to happen, and fast if we are to save our economy. Gotta go now, bye
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Everybody needs to help change the stereotype of borrowers if we are going to stop the foreclosure crisis
Please become informed, especially if you have the mindset that its the "borrowers fault" for taking on a loan they could not afford. This DID NOT HAPPEN. Part of the reason its taking so long to get our economy back on track is due to this erroneous MINDSET. Here's a place to find REAL FACTS, not just rhetoric and misinformation designed to minimalize the homeowner's plight against foreclosure. Go here and LEARN and stop being dummies:
http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2011/11/our-future-hinges-on-just-one-thing/
http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2011/11/our-future-hinges-on-just-one-thing/
Friday, December 16, 2011
Colorado's Rule 120 Foreclosure Hearing Violates Homeowners Rights
The issue of default in a Rule 120 Hearing under the Colorado Revised Statutes is unfair to homeowners and allows predatory lenders to win the day in court. It is unconscionable that Colorado courts and judges review an issue of default and fail to consider the extenuating circumstances of loan modification procedures initiated by the lender in order to position a homeowner for foreclosure actions. Lenders mode of operation is to give homeowners false hope while they continue to foreclose by dual tracking a loan modification application at the same time. A borrower should NEVER be in foreclosure proceedings while a loan modification is pending. A borrower should NEVER have to deal with the mental and emotional stress and damage caused by foreclosure unless no other avenue will work. Buddy Roemer's interview on MSNBC hit the nail on the head, when he described his banks procedures, and he stated that during this economic crisis his bank never foreclosed on one borrower, that foreclosure was the last, last resort and that to help the borrower and their families stay in the home was their goal, first and foremost. He also said the big five banks, where most of our mortgages are initiated, have committed a terrible crime by their methods used to steal homes hardworking Americans. What is it going to take to stop all this? I think Buddy Roemer has it right, and he should be President. Maybe he is the one who can turn things around, because nobody else has the skills or intelligence to fix this, when it should have been fixed years ago. Loan modifications should have been required by the federal government as a condition of lending TARP funds, for anyone who requested one. It should not have been a voluntary action for the banks. Now we have a federal review that is supposed to be the compensation for the borrowers who were wronged. But at what cost? Borrowers ripped from their homes, children who have never known anything else, suddenly relocated to smaller homes or worse shelters or cars because they spent everything they had trying to save their home, gave their 401(k)'s to the bank to try and stay current, only to eventually be evicted because the lender come's back and denies their loan modification. What kind of nonsense is this? Lender's should not have the right to manipulate a borrower into this situation EVER. The sad part is that people who have worked hard all their lives and have always had good credit are now devastated, ruined, and won't be able to do anything for the next ten years if they filed a bankruptcy, or even for the next two or five years if they did not. You can't rent a house with bad credit, get an electric account set up, or do anything. If we knew all this would happen, we would never have allowed our mortgage to go past due to get a loan modification. Nobody else would have either.
It's a Wonderful LIfe
Do we have any property rights left in this country? What happened to justice? Our family has been in a foreclosure battle since 2009 with Wells Fargo and HSBC Bank over fraudulent loan documents and deceptive bank practices (robbery). We are about to be evicted from our farm of 30 years, and before this fight started we had never missed a mortgage in thirty years. Now, our credit is ruined, our farm is about to be taken from us, for what? So these lenders who refuse to give hard working people loan modifications or worse, walk them into loan modifications with promises and lies, telling them to be three months behind before they can get one, while at the same time starting the foreclosure process, and then arrogantly turning around after they evict stable families and cause instability, emotional and mental harm that does not go away, and selling that same property for a third of its value just to "clean up their books". We went to court, we fought, we have attorneys and judges who could care less about homeowners, all they want to do is push things through and close the case. Because of this, I lose a lifetime home and my income producing farm. Now, even though I have proof of the fraud, I am being told by my attorneys to pack my things and move right before Christmas. My proof of the fraud does not help me, I'm still in default, even though the bank caused it. Even worse, we had the ability to keep paying on our mortgage, although we were struggling we were not behind until the bank told us to be behind in order to qualify for a loan modification. We sent documents to them for over nine months, they always lost them or said they needed something they never asked for. Why is our government allowing this to happen? why must I lose my farm and spend thousands of dollars to get compensated for their errors, and never have the chance to reclaim my farm again? All of our blood, sweat and tears for thirty years gone for what, so a lender can clean up its fraudulent books? My eviction is imminent. We can't move thirty years of bees, apiary equipment, livestock, house, kids in three days. We could not move it all in a month. We asked about bankruptcy to protect the farm, can't do that either, attorneys say, can't file an appeal, can't file another complaint, can't do anything, because we have no rights in this country any more. We don't have the right to protect our property from foreclosure and fraudulent lenders. We don't have the right to representation in court because it costs to much money. If we stand our ground the police will come in and someone will get hurt. Lenders know this, they exploit it and know they will win. I hope all of you lenders out there that make the foreclosure process happen, loss mitigation departments and all of you that think this is just business as usual have a Wonderful Life, and that you can go home and sleep at night. Your decisions have caused more anguish and heartbreak to the American people than any other tragedy I can think of. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful Life.
Donna Fasi
Sweetwater Herb Farm
3856 Sweetwater Road
Gypsum, CO 81637
Donna Fasi
Sweetwater Herb Farm
3856 Sweetwater Road
Gypsum, CO 81637
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