Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (Full Version)

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kalikshama -> Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 2:20:59 PM)

The party was last year - pictures just now coming out.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-baum-foreclosure-homeless-halloween-255102

The story goes like this: New York’s largest foreclosure law firm, Steven J. Baum, held it’s big annual Halloween party last year, as they do every year the Friday before October 31. Nearly a year later, a former employee sent photos from the party to NY Times columnist Joe Nocera. But unlike most Halloween costume parties, this one sparked anger: the pictures depict what appears to be a “homeless” theme, with employees at the Buffalo-based firm apparently mocking the very homeowners their law firm targets with foreclosure.

...Bill Haydon, who says his income puts him in the top 1%, commented on the pictures, “I get it that sometimes attorneys need to do unpleasant things. To, however, take such mindless pleasure in it, to revel in other people's misery...to essentially wallow in it like pigs...is beyond the pale of basic human decency.”

“I fault the banks for lending money to people that were clearly unqualified, and for the deceptive practices that were often used,” A.S. in North Carolina wrote in response to the New York Times column. “I also fault the borrowers that were blind to the risks and overextended themselves. But I also understand that many people now facing foreclosure are the collateral damage of a corrupt, dysfunctional and unregulated system, people that lost their jobs or retirement savings due to the recession.”

At the end of the day, to show such callousness and lack of empathy to people who are losing their homes is disgusting, especially when you are most likely in contact and dealing with them every day,” A.S. continues. “No matter what the reason for foreclosure, it can only be a very painful and scary process for those going through it. For the Baum firm to treat it as a joke leaves me speechless.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/opinion/what-the-costumes-reveal.html?_r=4&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1319997941-Alnu3AXFwUMp5nQz2IAxFw

...a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against.

When we spoke later, she added that the snapshots are an accurate representation of the firm’s mind-set. “There is this really cavalier attitude,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that people are going to lose their homes.” Nor does the firm try to help people get mortgage modifications; the pressure, always, is to foreclose.

...These pictures are hardly the first piece of evidence that the Baum firm treats homeowners shabbily — or that it uses dubious legal practices to do so. It is under investigation by the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman. It recently agreed to pay $2 million to resolve an investigation by the Department of Justice into whether the firm had “filed misleading pleadings, affidavits, and mortgage assignments in the state and federal courts in New York.” (In the press release announcing the settlement, Baum acknowledged only that “it occasionally made inadvertent errors.”)

MFY Legal Services, which defends homeowners, and Harwood Feffer, a large class-action firm, have filed a class-action suit claiming that Steven J. Baum has consistently failed to file certain papers that are necessary to allow for a state-mandated settlement conference that can lead to a modification. Judge Arthur Schack of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn once described Baum’s foreclosure filings as “operating in a parallel mortgage universe, unrelated to the real universe.” (My source told me that one Baum employee dressed up as Judge Schack at a previous Halloween party.)

I saw the firm operate up close when I wrote several columns about Lilla Roberts, a 73-year-old homeowner who had spent three years in foreclosure hell. Although she had a steady income and was a good candidate for a modification, the Baum firm treated her mercilessly.



tazzygirl -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 2:30:35 PM)

Disgusting.



slvemike4u -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 2:44:08 PM)

That about sums it up Tazzy



Iamsemisweet -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 2:45:30 PM)

Jesus. not cool.  Another example of the arrogance of the banks and their agents. 

I conduct foreclosures for small lenders, and I also provide a lot of foreclosure counseling for homeowners.  In many cases, I think the best thing is for HOs to walk away from houses that they can't afford, but I also see a lot of people who would and should qualify for modifications or other assistance get stonewalled and misinformed by their lenders.   The large banks just don't care that much, since they are insured on their end.  A lot of people who would be benefited by modifications or short sales just give it up, it becomes so frustrating.

My state, as well as some others, made some legislative changes this year that should help.  In essence, they require banks that conduct more than 250 foreclosures in this state to submit to mediation at the request of the homeowner.  The bank is required to be represented at the mediation by someone who has the authority to make a deal, should one be possible and justified.  It gives the HO one, real person to actually talk to, instead of being passed around on the phone endlessly.

It turns out, there are quite a few programs out there to help HOs, but they are not that easy to find.  I just did a deed for rent, for example, where the property is deeded back to the bank, rather than foreclosed on, and the bank leases the property back to me.  I am thrilled, the bank has one less house to care for and maintain, and they also continue to make some money on the deal.  I never would have found out about it, though, if I hadn't done my own research.

The state legislatures have a lot of power to control the foreclosure process, and more states need to do so. 



Hillwilliam -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 4:06:57 PM)

I think it gives an indication of the mindset at these firms. Not exactly showing empathy eh?



Edwynn -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 4:08:51 PM)



l just wonder what kind of relentless badgering it took for the state attorneys general to come to a "settlement"  with the fraudsters.

That latest scam is proffered to us by the pathetic media as being some new 'program' to "help homeowners," via refinancing by these same fraudsters. Not a single one of the bastards in jail from this 'settlement'. Why can't I just break into your house, steal most of your savings, and just reach a "settlement" with the prosecutors? This is why OWS carries into the next month.

Lloyd Blankfein and Hank Paulson and at least ten Florida "rocket docket" judges still walk free, sorry about your retirement going away, there.






tazzygirl -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 4:11:00 PM)

Kansas dragged their feet so long, the weatherizing program that were meant as loans to homeowners was given away to corporations, without repayment required.



Edwynn -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 4:15:06 PM)


As long as you understand the reason behind the foot dragging, and who paid them to do so.






Iamsemisweet -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 4:21:13 PM)

I certainly think if you want to continue to live in your house, you need to pay.  The banks lent the money, the HOs took it, whether it was a good investment or not.  But I think it makes little sense for the banks to continue to foreclose with little hope of selling the inventory they already have.  It just keeps driving prices down, and causes more homeowners to be underwater.  The lenders need to have their feet held to the fire on the modification programs.  I was not aware of this until the mediation law passed in my state, but the banks were supposed to participate in good faith modification efforts as a condition to getting bail out money.  Obviously, no one bothered to enforce this, until recently.
Insensitive on the part of the foreclosure firm, but really, responsibility for modifications belongs to the banks, not the firms conducting the foreclosures.  The foreclosure firm's biggest failing seems to be that they are not following the appropriate procedures in conducting the sales.  



tazzygirl -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 4:29:17 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn


As long as you understand the reason behind the foot dragging, and who paid them to do so.







The reasons dont matter. What matters is people, and that includes tax payers. were screwed out of money yet again. What was supposed to be loans was just given away... no repayment, no interest, nothing.

Whats to understand?



Edwynn -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 4:39:03 PM)



quote:

ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

I certainly think if you want to continue to live in your house, you need to pay.  The banks lent the money, the HOs took it, whether it was a good investment or not. 



What do ALL home owners who bought 10-15 years ago have to do with the (non-) regulatory insanity of the last 10 years that begot all this mayhem, and entertain us as to why they should be in any way accountable for the mass financial sector fraud that brought this about.

I've heard it all before. People who have worked all their life and just wanted to go to the lake and sit on the back porch should have seen this coming, shouldn't they? Just as their retirement account took a dive, but I'm sure they should have outsmarted their financial advisors and seen that one coming too.


So, unlike anytime previous in their experience re the first 2-4 houses they owned, they now find themselves underwater after 10-15 years of paying on time on their last house, and were counting on a reasonable rate of return when the time came, but are now having to think about where to go, and making hard decisions what other asset they can afford to lose to escape the situation.

Yup, gotta hold their feet to the fire on that one.   








Edwynn -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 6:22:19 PM)



quote:

ORIGINAL: tazzygirl


quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn


As long as you understand the reason behind the foot dragging, and who paid them to do so.







The reasons dont matter.




Nor did it matter to enough people the last go round.

Which is why it continues to happen, and will happen again. And again.

But as long as it doesn't matter, there's no need to trouble ourselves with it, then. That seems to be the point.










tazzygirl -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 6:23:45 PM)

Oh that I get. The organization set up to disperse the funds dragged their feet... then the Gov took great glee in giving it to corporations, tax free, no repayment needed, tyvm.



Edwynn -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 6:41:13 PM)



quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn


So, unlike anytime previous in their experience re the first 2-4 houses they owned, they now find themselves underwater after 10-15 years of paying on time on their last house, and were counting on a reasonable rate of return when the time came, but are now having to think about where to go, and making hard decisions what other asset they can afford to lose to escape the situation.




They were all told that a lifetime of building up equity as you go from one house to the next was one of the cornerstones of retirement. Now, it's evaporated almost overnight, as has the other investment side of it.


Why are LOTS more people not in jail here?

Oh, that's right, the "settlements" thing. F*ck you and all you have been told and everything you have worked for.






Iamsemisweet -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 10:42:17 PM)

Well, most of them refinanced a time or two, bought way more expensive homes than they really needed and could afford, and a lot of them pulled equity out of their houses like it was an ATM.  Do you honestly believe that the borrowers have no accountability?   

Think about what that means.  If someone paid $350K for a house, the loan was $300K, and now they have quit paying after 5-10 years,  what is it that you think should happen, Edwynn?  Do they get to keep the house?  If so, why?  And who gets to eat the rest of the loan?  Probably not the bank.

I have believed for some time that the only way the market is ever going to stabilize is if the underwater homes are foreclosed on, or otherwise returned to the bank, who can then write them down and resell them at their actual market value.  Individual homeowners can't afford to write down their homes to the actual market value, and then, when they want to sell, bring cash to closing to make up the negative equity in the loans.  Banks can afford to do that, and in fact got government money to do just that. 
quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn



quote:

ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

I



What do ALL home owners who bought 10-15 years ago have to do with the (non-) regulatory insanity of the last 10 years that begot all this mayhem, and entertain us as to why they should be in any way accountable for the mass financial sector fraud that brought this about.

I've heard it all before. People who have worked all their life and just wanted to go to the lake and sit on the back porch should have seen this coming, shouldn't they? Just as their retirement account took a dive, but I'm sure they should have outsmarted their financial advisors and seen that one coming too.


So, unlike anytime previous in their experience re the first 2-4 houses they owned, they now find themselves underwater after 10-15 years of paying on time on their last house, and were counting on a reasonable rate of return when the time came, but are now having to think about where to go, and making hard decisions what other asset they can afford to lose to escape the situation.

Yup, gotta hold their feet to the fire on that one.   









Termyn8or -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (10/31/2011 11:11:37 PM)

FR

Business as usual.

T^T



Edwynn -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (11/1/2011 4:47:04 AM)




quote:

ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

Well, most of them refinanced a time or two, bought way more expensive homes than they really needed and could afford, ad a lot of them pulled equity out of their houses like it was an ATM.  Do you honestly believe that the borrowers have no accountability?
  


"most of them ... bought way more expensive homes than they really needed and could afford," ... and you 'know' this, how?

I know the opposite to be true; that the vast majority of people now in their 70's and 80's in fact bought well within their means when buying their last house in the 1990's.

quote:


Do you honestly believe that the borrowers have no accountability?


I don't "believe," I know for a fact that these home owners did not write their congressperson demanding that we repeal the Glass-Stegall Act, did not conjure up CDOs fraudulently rated by the rating agencies, did not instigate no-doc 'liar loans' that were a direct result of that, did not insist that Greenspan keep lowering interest rates well into a bubble in contradiction to every indicator and historical precedent against that, or any other of the myriad bank shenanigans that lowered the value of their home.

But according to you it's the home owners, not the banks, that are accountable for all the above.

In any other scenario, those responsible for causing a loss are the ones to be held accountable for that loss.


quote:


I have believed for some time that the only way the market is ever going to stabilize is if the underwater homes are foreclosed on, or otherwise returned to the bank, who can then write them down and resell them at their actual market value.


Well isn't that choice? The people directly responsible for the precipitously lowered market value of the home (the banks) now get to foreclose on it, after years of profiting from the interest on the loan. "Is this a great country, or what?", as they say. So then, after loaning you somebody else's money (depositors' money, including yours) to buy your house, and I then commence to keep running the water into my backyard above-ground pool to overflowing, even as I remove a few vertical reinforcements here and there, and the whole thing collapses and floods your house next door, by your estimation of things not only do I not have to pay for the damage to your house, I get to tack the government with my water bill and kick you out of your home so that I can sell it for whatever I can get. And you think it's a good thing that the government is giving me the money to do this with.


quote:

ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

Business as usual.

T^T



'Willful ignorance as usual' goes hand in hand with that, as demonstrated above.






DomYngBlk -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (11/1/2011 5:02:24 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

I certainly think if you want to continue to live in your house, you need to pay.  The banks lent the money, the HOs took it, whether it was a good investment or not.  But I think it makes little sense for the banks to continue to foreclose with little hope of selling the inventory they already have.  It just keeps driving prices down, and causes more homeowners to be underwater.  The lenders need to have their feet held to the fire on the modification programs.  I was not aware of this until the mediation law passed in my state, but the banks were supposed to participate in good faith modification efforts as a condition to getting bail out money.  Obviously, no one bothered to enforce this, until recently.
Insensitive on the part of the foreclosure firm, but really, responsibility for modifications belongs to the banks, not the firms conducting the foreclosures.  The foreclosure firm's biggest failing seems to be that they are not following the appropriate procedures in conducting the sales.  


I think you'd agree that it is in the best interest of everyone else in this country if those people continue to live in those houses. If they leave then you are left with Mt. Pleasant and Slavic Village type areas that permeate the city of Cleveland. I don't think anyone thinks that rows of abandoned houses are good for any community.



DomYngBlk -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (11/1/2011 5:06:39 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

Well, most of them refinanced a time or two, bought way more expensive homes than they really needed and could afford, and a lot of them pulled equity out of their houses like it was an ATM.  Do you honestly believe that the borrowers have no accountability?   

Think about what that means.  If someone paid $350K for a house, the loan was $300K, and now they have quit paying after 5-10 years,  what is it that you think should happen, Edwynn?  Do they get to keep the house?  If so, why?  And who gets to eat the rest of the loan?  Probably not the bank.

I have believed for some time that the only way the market is ever going to stabilize is if the underwater homes are foreclosed on, or otherwise returned to the bank, who can then write them down and resell them at their actual market value.  Individual homeowners can't afford to write down their homes to the actual market value, and then, when they want to sell, bring cash to closing to make up the negative equity in the loans.  Banks can afford to do that, and in fact got government money to do just that. 
quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn



quote:

ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

I



What do ALL home owners who bought 10-15 years ago have to do with the (non-) regulatory insanity of the last 10 years that begot all this mayhem, and entertain us as to why they should be in any way accountable for the mass financial sector fraud that brought this about.

I've heard it all before. People who have worked all their life and just wanted to go to the lake and sit on the back porch should have seen this coming, shouldn't they? Just as their retirement account took a dive, but I'm sure they should have outsmarted their financial advisors and seen that one coming too.


So, unlike anytime previous in their experience re the first 2-4 houses they owned, they now find themselves underwater after 10-15 years of paying on time on their last house, and were counting on a reasonable rate of return when the time came, but are now having to think about where to go, and making hard decisions what other asset they can afford to lose to escape the situation.

Yup, gotta hold their feet to the fire on that one.   









I'd suggest you have all your neighbors go into foreclosure to see just much accountability means. That happens the price or equity in your house drops quickly and doesn't recover. Is it worth proving the point on accountability to lose 20-30% of your equity in your house?



kalikshama -> RE: Top Foreclosure Firm’s Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy (11/1/2011 5:48:19 AM)

quote:

I don't "believe," I know for a fact that these home owners did not write their congressperson demanding that we repeal the Glass-Stegall Act, did not conjure up CDOs fraudulently rated by the rating agencies, did not instigate no-doc 'liar loans' that were a direct result of that, did not insist that Greenspan keep lowering interest rates well into a bubble in contradiction to every indicator and historical precedent against that, or any other of the myriad bank shenanigans that lowered the value of their home.

But according to you it's the home owners, not the banks, that are accountable for all the above.

In any other scenario, those responsible for causing a loss are the ones to be held accountable for that loss.


When I bought a house in 1993, it took 4 months, during which time my husband and I had to provide reams of paperwork, get a myriad of inspections, dot every "i" and cross every "t." We worked full time, had stable work history, and were both veterans.

It's a daunting and baffling process for the novice homeowner, a process the professionals control. "Do this, do that, sign here, and here, and here."

It was a good loan, and I made money on the house when my husband and I divorced.

Who is the bad guy in this story, Mozilo or Engle?

In Prison for Taking a Liar Loan

By JOE NOCERA
Published: March 25, 2011

A few weeks ago, when the Justice Department decided not to prosecute Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide, I wrote a column lamenting the fact that none of the big fish were likely to go to prison for their roles in the financial crisis.

Soon after that column ran, I received an e-mail from a man named Richard Engle, who informed me that I was wrong. There was, in fact, someone behind bars for what he’d supposedly done during the subprime bubble. It was his 48-year-old son, Charlie.

On Valentine’s Day, the elder Mr. Engle said, his son had entered a minimum-security prison in Beaver, W.Va., to begin serving a 21-month sentence for mortgage fraud. He then proceeded to tell me the tale of how federal agents nabbed his son — a tale he backed up with reams of documents and records that suggest, if nothing else, that when the federal government is truly motivated, there is no mountain it won’t move to prosecute someone it wants to nail. And it was definitely motivated to nail Charlie Engle.

Mr. Engle’s is a tale worth telling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its punch line. Was Mr. Engle convicted of running a crooked subprime company? Was he a mortgage broker who trafficked in predatory loans? A Wall Street huckster who sold toxic assets?

No. Charlie Engle wasn’t a seller of bad mortgages. He was a borrower. And the “mortgage fraud” for which he was prosecuted was something that literally millions of Americans did during the subprime bubble. Supposedly, he lied on two liar loans.

“The Department of Justice has made prosecuting financial crimes, including mortgage fraud, a high priority,” said Neil H. MacBride, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, in a statement. (Mr. MacBride, whose office prosecuted Mr. Engle, declined to be interviewed.)

Apparently, though, it’s only a high priority if the target is a borrower. Mr. Mozilo’s company made billions in profit, some of it on liar loans that he acknowledged at the time were likely to be fraudulent and which did untold damage to the economy. And he personally was paid hundreds of millions of dollars. Though he agreed last year to a $67.5 million fine to settle fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was a small fraction of what he earned. Otherwise, he walked. Thus does the Justice Department display its priorities in the aftermath of the crisis.

Rest of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/business/26nocera.html?pagewanted=all



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