minutes attached. This includes action items, so please read to remind yourself of what you committed to!
I believe that Giselda, Chris, and I volunteered to take shifts occupying his yard if that seems practical. With the folks who signed up online, we're at 7 people total.
Giselda: Let us know 1) when you expect to have talked to OA, so we can schedule a conference call for next week, and 2) the results of your mtg with our client!
I met this afternoon with Samuel. His situation is more complicated than I thought - his house has already been sold (and now I believed is owned by a place called residential properties LLC). I know people do defend families "post foreclosure" to remain in their homes - it's really something I know little about personally.
As for the family - they had owned the home for 14 years, and, as Amy earlier stated, have gotten a real run around on how to keep it (an initial agent agreed to modify the first loan, then they were given different agents at Fannie Mae who didn't prioritize helping them negotiate at all). There does seem to be some areas where it's questionable if Fannie Mae did the legal thing - for instance Samuel signed a document instead of his wife, who was the legal owner of the property.
He said that somebody from Naca (non-profit who helps with legal aid and refinancing foreclosures) did contact him but after one good conversation he has not been able to get back in touch with them. I think it should be a high priority for us to get in contact with them as Occupy Houston - I know that was mentioned at Thursday's meeting - and start figuring out legal options very quickly. Samuel did state a preference for checking out his options legally before the "bolder" pressure options.
As for facing eviction - he did receive a standard notice of eviction from the new property owner but that's different from being served and required by local law enforcement to leave - that requires some proceedings: http://www.jp.hctx.net/evictions/filing.htm . (incidentally his property lies half in Fort Bend, half in Harris county). So we have some time there, as for him facing immediate eviction. I talked to him about what defending against an eviction might look like - people camped out in his yard (it's a relatively small yard in the corner of two streets), and told him that these kind of campaigns generally involve public awareness (marches on a bank/mortgage holder/property owner, occupations, press conferences/releases, etc.) and he seemed very open to all those ideas, and said he just wanted to fight because the whole situation and foreclosures in general just aren't right. He seems to have a big family and circle of friends but no immediate church or organization that could help out. The neighborhood seems probably mostly latino/mixed and working to middle class, so we may have that in our favor.
There's also of course the "show me the note", which should def. be explored here because it seems like the property and financial institutions here may have made a mess.
As for the Atlanta Occupy folks - also a complicated thing - the "leader" you could say, Tim Franzen, of the actions over there was who I had talked to about being on the call initially but he was arrested yesterday for "littering" at the Chase bank protest they had, so he hasn't gotten back to me about a specific day. I asked somebody else involved in a home occupation there and she said it shouldn't be a problem to have somebody on, and I will pass them the details when we have our call scheduled.
On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 11:23 PM, Amy Price <height...@gmail.com> wrote: > minutes attached. This includes action items, so please read to remind > yourself of what you committed to!
> I believe that Giselda, Chris, and I volunteered to take shifts occupying > his yard if that seems practical. With the folks who signed up online, > we're at 7 people total.
> Giselda: Let us know 1) when you expect to have talked to OA, so we can > schedule a conference call for next week, and 2) the results of your mtg > with our client!
On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 5:32 PM, Giselda Rendon <glren...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I met this afternoon with Samuel. His situation is more complicated > than I thought - his house has already been sold (and now I believed is > owned by a place called residential properties LLC). I know people do > defend families "post foreclosure" to remain in their homes - it's really > something I know little about personally.
> As for the family - they had owned the home for 14 years, and, as Amy > earlier stated, have gotten a real run around on how to keep it (an initial > agent agreed to modify the first loan, then they were given different > agents at Fannie Mae who didn't prioritize helping them negotiate at all). > There does seem to be some areas where it's questionable if Fannie Mae did > the legal thing - for instance Samuel signed a document instead of his > wife, who was the legal owner of the property.
> He said that somebody from Naca (non-profit who helps with legal aid > and refinancing foreclosures) did contact him but after one good > conversation he has not been able to get back in touch with them. I think > it should be a high priority for us to get in contact with them as Occupy > Houston - I know that was mentioned at Thursday's meeting - and start > figuring out legal options very quickly. Samuel did state a preference for > checking out his options legally before the "bolder" pressure options.
> As for facing eviction - he did receive a standard notice of eviction > from the new property owner but that's different from being served and > required by local law enforcement to leave - that requires some > proceedings: http://www.jp.hctx.net/evictions/filing.htm . > (incidentally his property lies half in Fort Bend, half in Harris county). > So we have some time there, as for him facing immediate eviction. I talked > to him about what defending against an eviction might look like - people > camped out in his yard (it's a relatively small yard in the corner of two > streets), and told him that these kind of campaigns generally involve > public awareness (marches on a bank/mortgage holder/property owner, > occupations, press conferences/releases, etc.) and he seemed very open to > all those ideas, and said he just wanted to fight because the whole > situation and foreclosures in general just aren't right. He seems to have > a big family and circle of friends but no immediate church or organization > that could help out. The neighborhood seems probably mostly latino/mixed > and working to middle class, so we may have that in our favor.
> There's also of course the "show me the note", which should def. be > explored here because it seems like the property and financial institutions > here may have made a mess.
> As for the Atlanta Occupy folks - also a complicated thing - the > "leader" you could say, Tim Franzen, of the actions over there was who I > had talked to about being on the call initially but he was arrested > yesterday for "littering" at the Chase bank protest they had, so he hasn't > gotten back to me about a specific day. I asked somebody else involved in > a home occupation there and she said it shouldn't be a problem to have > somebody on, and I will pass them the details when we have our call > scheduled.
> - Giselda
> On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 11:23 PM, Amy Price <height...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> minutes attached. This includes action items, so please read to remind >> yourself of what you committed to!
>> I believe that Giselda, Chris, and I volunteered to take shifts occupying >> his yard if that seems practical. With the folks who signed up online, >> we're at 7 people total.
>> Giselda: Let us know 1) when you expect to have talked to OA, so we can >> schedule a conference call for next week, and 2) the results of your mtg >> with our client!
Okay, here's some info on "Show me the note" issues:
The Texas judge in this case ruled for the home owner because the bank had no evidence of having the note. At the end of this article a commenter pointed out that if the home owner and the bank go into mediation they have to provide a note. http://foreclosurebuzz.org/2011/01/20/show-me-the-note-coming-to-texas/
I believe this is the most important quote from this article: "In other words, Mr. Banker, if you want to foreclose, or file a Proof of Claim and set aside the ‘stay’ order that stops you from foreclosing, you must “Prove” that you own “both” the mortgage (deed of trust) and the note (meaning: prove a valid “chain of title”). So my friends, the “show me the note” foreclosure defense gains in strength with every court decision. Spread the word." This came from a court ruling in California http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/23/948986/-Show-Me-The-Note-For...
This article talks about using "the "produce the note" strategy as an effective means of delaying foreclosure and creating additional incentive for lenders to renegotiate payment terms." They also include a website that provides legal documents for starting the process of requesting the note. This site I found is the most helpful, so far. http://commonlaw.findlaw.com/2009/02/produce-the-note-foreclosure-del...
Dawn
"The qualities that really count, and the qualities that endure, are those closest to the center of a person's being." -Neil Clark Warren
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. - Sir Winston Churchill
________________________________ From: Amy Price <height...@gmail.com> To: munoz...@gmail.com; nuancey.ass...@gmail.com; Dawn Hailey <kafk...@rocketmail.com>; Jim Toweill <jimtowe...@gmail.com>; Shere Dore <sldhous...@yahoo.com> Sent: Sat, January 28, 2012 6:07:11 PM Subject: Fwd: 2nd foreclosure mtg
Hey, y'all.
Below is info from Giselda. Looks like we won't be needing a sit-in solution this week, at any rate. Please weigh in with any thoughts!
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Giselda Rendon <glren...@gmail.com> Date: Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 5:32 PM Subject: Re: 2nd foreclosure mtg To: Amy Price <height...@gmail.com>
Cc: King Grossman <kinggross...@earthlink.net>, Emily Heckt <ehe...@gmail.com>, Christopher Rain <cs.r...@gmail.com>, Michael Schwartz <schwartzmicha...@yahoo.com>, Sarah Slamen <sarah.sla...@gmail.com>, Joe Roche <txro...@gmail.com>, erica sezonov <ericasezo...@yahoo.com>, oh-mobile-occupation@googlegroups.com
I met this afternoon with Samuel. His situation is more complicated than I thought - his house has already been sold (and now I believed is owned by a place called residential properties LLC). I know people do defend families "post foreclosure" to remain in their homes - it's really something I know little about personally.
As for the family - they had owned the home for 14 years, and, as Amy earlier stated, have gotten a real run around on how to keep it (an initial agent agreed to modify the first loan, then they were given different agents at Fannie Mae who didn't prioritize helping them negotiate at all). There does seem to be some areas where it's questionable if Fannie Mae did the legal thing - for instance Samuel signed a document instead of his wife, who was the legal owner of the property.
He said that somebody from Naca (non-profit who helps with legal aid and refinancing foreclosures) did contact him but after one good conversation he has not been able to get back in touch with them. I think it should be a high priority for us to get in contact with them as Occupy Houston - I know that was mentioned at Thursday's meeting - and start figuring out legal options very quickly. Samuel did state a preference for checking out his options legally before the "bolder" pressure options.
As for facing eviction - he did receive a standard notice of eviction from the new property owner but that's different from being served and required by local law enforcement to leave - that requires some proceedings: http://www.jp.hctx.net/evictions/filing.htm . (incidentally his property lies half in Fort Bend, half in Harris county). So we have some time there, as for him facing immediate eviction. I talked to him about what defending against an eviction might look like - people camped out in his yard (it's a relatively small yard in the corner of two streets), and told him that these kind of campaigns generally involve public awareness (marches on a bank/mortgage holder/property owner, occupations, press conferences/releases, etc.) and he seemed very open to all those ideas, and said he just wanted to fight because the whole situation and foreclosures in general just aren't right. He seems to have a big family and circle of friends but no immediate church or organization that could help out. The neighborhood seems probably mostly latino/mixed and working to middle class, so we may have that in our favor.
There's also of course the "show me the note", which should def. be explored here because it seems like the property and financial institutions here may have made a mess.
As for the Atlanta Occupy folks - also a complicated thing - the "leader" you could say, Tim Franzen, of the actions over there was who I had talked to about being on the call initially but he was arrested yesterday for "littering" at the Chase bank protest they had, so he hasn't gotten back to me about a specific day. I asked somebody else involved in a home occupation there and she said it shouldn't be a problem to have somebody on, and I will pass them the details when we have our call scheduled.
- Giselda
On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 11:23 PM, Amy Price <height...@gmail.com> wrote:
minutes attached. This includes action items, so please read to remind yourself of what you committed to!
>I believe that Giselda, Chris, and I volunteered to take shifts occupying his >yard if that seems practical. With the folks who signed up online, we're at 7 >people total.
>Giselda: Let us know 1) when you expect to have talked to OA, so we can schedule >a conference call for next week, and 2) the results of your mtg with our client!
