The Occupy Wall Street movement strayed from its generally disorganized formula of sit-ins, parades and hipster drum circles Tuesday by forming a cohesive movement against home foreclosures. Protestors planned demonstrations in neighborhoods of 25 different cities, and so far have been seen disrupting foreclosure auctions, whereby loud noise was made to drive auctioneers and buyers from the scene, blocking evictors from delivering notice to foreclosed homeowners, and actually occupying previously foreclosed homes.
According to CNNMoney, the group wants to call out "the mistreatment of homeowners by big banks, who they say made billions of dollars off of the housing bubble by offering predatory loans and indulging in practices that took advantage of customers."
While there may be some validity to these claims, I'm a huge proponent of knowing what you're getting yourself into. Regardless of whatever shady business protestors claim happened, lenders still have the legal obligation to disclose that information to their customers--no matter how small of print they do it in. Purchasing a home is a huge financial responsibility, and in all actuality it takes effort to foreclose on a home. It varies by state, but according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a homeowner generally has four months of missed payments before any foreclosure action is taken. After each missed payment, the homeowner has the opportunity to consult with a housing counselor and their lender to work the situation out. If after 120 days of counseling, negotiating and missing payments a homeowner is still unable to afford their mortgage, chances are that's a solid indicator of a poor investment/financial decision.
What's interesting to note, however, is Anthony Newby's (of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change) perspective, as reported by CNNMoney. In response to a military vet's recent foreclosure, Newby suggested that Hull's lender made a poor investment decision, too, by going through with the foreclosure. Hull's $275,000 home balance sold at auction for $80,000. Had they refinanced his mortgage or negotiated more affordable payments, they would've probably secured a better return in the future. And with 1 in every 611 U.S. home units filing for foreclosure in July 2011, you'd think more lenders would take this route.
--Chris
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
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