Debbie Holmes

To busy doing taxes so here is stuff on the taxes from my facebook page:

I go in to the valley of darkness... I will work on my taxes.... I will put numbers into turbotax and it will spit out what I get back or pay.... I am pretty sure I get the money back....I am cross... The black cloud of taxes settle on me...I fear no evil because turbotax is with me...

‎12 hours later and still working on taxes.... 1 business, 4 rentals, salary and kids in college and it is very confusing.... I accidentally deleted one of my rental houses....I need the info from my broker (which he gave me and I cant find) plus one of the rentals tax forms....I am also suffering because my purse was stolen and my accounts were changed......

Woke up energetic.....Made some real progress.... Found some unexpected money in the form of checks..... I thought it was being reinvested.... I think I want all checks to be direct deposited... I also think I will again pay no federal taxes....Seems strange that when I crunch the numbers I pay no taxes......Still waiting for Charles Scwhab.... Annoying people wont get me my 1099 until Wed.... I walk through the valley of taxes I will fear no evil for I have Turbotax....

The last story for my state representative This one happened in 2011....

Judith and Sam,

Judith and Sam are friends of mine. I was at their wedding. Their story is a little different They only had one mortgage and it was for a mobile home on a rented lot. They bought their home right after the marriage for $59 K… Things were going OK even thought they were paying over $900/ month for their mortgage (payment) and lot rental…Then Sam lost his job. He was unemployed for over a year. They did some things to try to keep body and soul together. A paper route and a home day care business. But it wasn’t enough. Plus they had 4 children. I heard though the grapevine that they were in trouble and I got involved. After 10 years of owning their home they still owed $57K on it and it was worth $30 K. Molbile homes are on rented lots are different. They are repossessed like cars but they are really homes that people live in. All the laws to protect homeowners do not seem to apply to these people. I asked 3 0r 4 lawyers for opinions.

I talked to the bank. They were most unhelpful. I tried to get them to modify the loan. I suggested that they lower the principal and put the mortgage at 8%. That would bring the payment down to place they could afford. The banker kept saying that they could afford their mortgage.. They could not… They had 4 children, the youngest a newborn. I then suggested a deed in lieu of foreclosure The banker seemed to sneer over the phone line. I set up a plan with a charitable group. They had offered help with the deposit and some rent. I suggested we needed a lawyer to give pro-bono work for a bankruptcy and that the charitable group would pay the fees. They could also help with the deposit Time passed and the phone rang. It was another banker and she offered a deed in lieu of foreclosure and gave them 2 months to move out and $300. I also had them agree not to go for the deficiency so they did not need the bankruptcy lawyer J. Despite all of my friends problems the only item they were behind on was the payments for the mobile home.

Without the negotiation my friends would have been hit with a deficiency judgment and forced to declare bankruptcy.

Deficency judgement continued....

Aisha

In October of 2011 I showed a house for a buyer. The owner was home. She is a lovely lady who developed breast cancer. She was paying her mortgage until she couldn’t work because of the cancer. Aisha is a single mother who now has a reasonable job. She tried to get a loan modification but her bank wouldn’t talk to her. They tried to tack on all sorts of fees and call it a loan modification. Aisha has two mortgages.

When her home either short sales or is foreclosed on she will get a deficiency judgment for the second mortgage. So first you get sick. Then you lose your job. Then you lose your home. Then you get slapped with a deficiency judgment for the entire second mortgage.

I was asked by my representative at the Idaho Statehouse to tell stories of hardship. The stories are real and the names have been changed:

John

I listed the home in February 2008. It is probably what drove me to my run for Congress. It made me mad enough to run. It was a short sale with Wells Fargo. John is a school teacher. He and his wife took out a second mortgage on his home. The home appraised for $30K more then the home was ever worth. Five months later, his wife left him. He didn’t know he was upside down until he tried to refinance according to the divorce decree. He tried to pay the mortgage but released that he was selling everything he owned make the payments. Without his wife’s income he could not make the payment.

I listed the home and dropped the price to $185K. In April I had a good offer at asking price. The bank would not let me call in and talk to a negotiator. In the end they rejected the offer even though it appraised for 98% of the offer. That is very good for a short sale. They didn’t tell me they canceled the file for over a month. Everyone I talked to gave me a different story. One person said it was that the second wouldn’t settle. My client would have settled a bit of money to make the deal go fast (we were within the 3 month window of nonpayment of the mortgage). We upped the price and never got another offer. My seller was so upset that he moved before the foreclosure. The home foreclosed in February of 2009 and the bank sold the home in May of 2009 at $165K. During the summer a company called him asking for a $70,000 deficiency judgment. At this point I became involved again. The company was willing to settle for $7000 but John didn’t have the money. We went and saw a bankruptcy lawyer. We offered the bank $3000 at the end of summer school. They said they needed the money right then. I explained that he wouldn’t have the money until he got his summer pay.

In the end John, who only had the mortgage against him, had to declare bankruptcy.

I was contacted my State Representative, Sue Chew and was asked if it was true that the banks were double dipping when they gave a deficiency judgement. She was told that Bank of America was gauraunteed by the feds that they would lose no money. She was wondering if the banks were collecting from the feds and trying to collect from the home owner.

Also if there were to be protective legislation on deficiency judgements what would be the best practice to protect those with real hardship while not allowing a benefit for strategic defaults. Any opinions you have would be appreciated. Any thoughts?