Cohousing-L Mailing List: Foreclosures and short sales

[Thea Hensel (theahensel]

Thank you for all the questions and feedback.

It is important to remember that we opened in July 2005 - at  the height of
the free giveaway of loans by the banking institutions.  It was easy to get
a loan with no money down and no documentation of income.  For a first time
buyer that looked pretty good and it must be Okay, right?  the White suits
were doing this and they must know!!  Well, we all know how that story
ended and Yulupa fell victim.

I agree that Eris's book is great and she nails it by realizing how
difficult money discussions are.  We did use it as a foundation to have
community discussions.  However, how many of us would feel comfortable
talking to a perspective buyer about their finances?

As for Sharon Villines question about us lining up perspective buyers
before hand - two things need to happen:

The homeowner needs to admit they have stopped paying their mortgage and be
upfront.
The bank needs to accept legitimate offers and be transparent.
Our experience proved different time and time again.  We even had willing
community members submitting offers so the community could have some
control and input in to who moved in and the bank was not particularly
cooperative.

The good news is that the banks are not giving loans to folks who cant pay
the obligations, the bad news is they have swung too far in the opposite
direction.

-- 
Regards,

Thea Hensel


(H) 707-545-5281
(C) 707-953-1207