OH!! They were EVICTED alright![lol]

BTW;They trashed the White House by their presence.

Now they want it back! I guess they heard a rumor of an unsullied corner![grinz]

Posted by DL

(a) That was a media lie.
(b) The Clintons were not evicted; they'd have had to leave then, anyway. Wishful thinking, perhaps?

What I wonder, though, is why these people aren’t thrown in jail? Once they’ve failed to make their mortgage payments, the house isn’t theirs but the bank’s.

That all depends on who is the fee simple owner of the record title. You cannot be criminally charged with destroying your own property. Contrary to popular belief, a mortgage or deed of trust (as it is called in some places) does not transfer legal ownership in a property. All it does is grant a secured and enforceable lien on the real property to the lender. While variable from state to state and sometimes the region, the bank is not the owner of a foreclosed property until either a judgment has been issued and/or, in most cases, a referee's deed had been delivered or recorded with the proper clerk.

You have to ask yourself why are these people willing to resort to these lengths? Wouldn't you be interested to hear the conversations between these people who are being foreclosed upon and the banks' "customer service" departments? You may be more than a little surprised to hear what homeowners under duress of losing their mortgages have to endure from the banks...it's not pretty. Maybe there's a message being sent by these "vandals" that you're not hearing.

Equity should be earned through savings or sweat, before a mortgage is provided.

That fits well with John McCain’s call for more reliance on down payments. The trade-off being fewer people will be able to own homes.

Correction, yes some fewer will own homes but the more realistic picture is fewer will own McMansions. They'll buy more modest abodes within their means to pay for. For those unable to save up a reasonable down payment, perhaps it's best if they don't own.

I am an Obama supporter and would not vote for Clinton under any circumstances, but that is pure nonsense. That story has been established to be pure fiction for many years now.

Many of the homes in foreclosure were not financed by banks, but by mortgage companies, some of which were perpetrating fraud and deceptive lending practices.

Are those who are vandalizing foreclosed properties exclusively the victims of fraud? Is there a statistical difference in vandalization rates between those who are the victims of fraud and those who aren't? Absent those, this is just a red herring.

When we were looking for our first home in 1994, we looked at several forclosed properties (because you could often get a larger house for the money). We nixed all of them, because all of them had missing appliances, and a lot of other things that normally come with a house, and there was often a lot of damage and they weren't actually in the long run affordable enough.

I do think a lot of the damage comes from lack of maintenence, rather than deliberate intent. The appliances are sold, because it puts cash in the owner's hands.

I figure banks/mortgage companies could file civil suits, but if the former owner couldn't make their house payments, will they have money to pay for a judgement? Doubtful, in tghe long run it is probably cheaper to just suck up the loss, and hope to get as much as you can from the sale of the home.

There is also that victim culture that is certain the bank seduced them into taking the loan.

Thirdly this is compounded by the president politicing the "ownership society" so why can't they just keep it?

Many are also bitter that their tax money has been spent on bailing out others (Katrina etc.)

In a nation where "Character doesn't matter" in the presidency, and some Churches are peaching hatred......

Then again there is that "immigration" thing. I realy don't live in this country I'm just working here.

Equity should be earned through savings or sweat, before a mortgage is provided.

That fits well with John McCain's call for more reliance on down payments. The trade-off being fewer people will be able to own homes.

I see the ownership of these properties differently. Until you have your mortgage paid off, banks, mortgage, finance companies have valid claim to your property. In fact, watching some real estate auctions in the Atlanta, GA area, I was stunned to hear that down there, if you miss one mortgage payment, they can seize your property, throw you out, and the bank/lien holding party can auction off your "stead" to the highest bidder.

Until you make that last mortgage payment, you might believe that you are the "owner", but truthfully you are a leasee. A tennant who is paying off a secured loan in order to have a a slice of the American Dream.