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On Friday, Ocwen refused last-minute pleas from American Homeowner Preservation and others to allow an Akron policeman and his family to stay in their home of 14 years. At 10AM, the Summit County Sheriff’s Department conducted their sale with a starting bid of $52,000. As there were no bidders, Ocwen will take ownership of the home, evict the policeman and his family, scarring this modest Akron, Ohio neighborhood with yet another vacant bank-owned home.

Tragically, this foreclosure could have been prevented. Ocwen had approved a $43,000 short sale through American Homeowner Preservation, but insisted that “neither the Buyers and Sellers nor their Agents have any agreements written or implied that will allow the Seller to remain in the property as renters or regain ownership of said property at any time after the execution of this short sale transaction”. This provision did not allow AHP to proceed with the purchase, as AHP’s program provides a lease and option to the family to allow them to stay in their home and eventually repurchase. In an email to AHP today, an unidentified Ombudsman at Ocwen wrote “Ocwen will not waive this requirement.  The foreclosure sale of the property is scheduled for today, January 7, 2011, and Ocwen will not postpone the sale for a potential short sale.”

The U.S. Treasury has committed $1,143,252,740 of Mortgage Servicer bailout funds to Ocwen as incentive payments to complete mortgage modifications. “Many families are unable to qualify for modifications and look to solutions such as AHP to stay in their homes. The $43,000 AHP short sale would have assuredly netted more to Ocwen and their investors than they will ultimately net by foreclosing and evicting this family,” said AHP’s John Wills. “Our hope now is that Ocwen will sell this REO to AHP. There is still a small chance that this family can stay.”

FROM www.shamethebanks.org:   Time is running out as Ocwen has upcoming foreclosure sales on homes. There is hope: Ocwen has approved American Homeowner Preservation (AHP) short sales for each of these families, but is insisting that the families move out.

According to the website, AHP works with homeowners' lenders to approve short sales, discounting their loans by an average of over 60%. With these steep discounts, AHP can offer families an affordable lease and an option to repurchase their homes at a fraction of what the family previously owed. Thus, AHP creates equity and the incentive for families to stay and pay, preventing foreclosures and preserving neighborhoods.

You can help. Jorge Newbery from AHP has created a count down of the families that Ocwen will needlessly displace in 2011. You can see it below and we'll be adding homes to it as Ocwen continues to refuse help to homeowners with affordable solutions. 

SEE COUNTDOWN: http://www.shamethebanks.org/richard/ocwen-countdown-to-foreclosure

Ministerio El Shaddai, the North Phoenix church which faced foreclosure last August, will be able to stay in their current facility as a result of an American Homeowner Preservation short sale leaseback. The church’s lease payment of $759 is 50% less than their prior $1,500 mortgage payment with One West Bank(formerly Indy Mac). In addition, the church received an option to repurchase at $48,300, a 74% discount off their prior $184,500 mortgage. One West made an exception to their arm’s length short sale policy to allow the seller, Pastor Edgar Vanenzuela, to have an interest in the entity receiving the lease and option, Ministerio Mi Familia Corporation.

“We stayed strong in faith while waiting for the outcome  and God will bless AHP and One West for their works. This is truly a miracle,” said Pastor Valenzuela. “They can’t believe that AHP was able to save the church. This is unheard of according to many church members. All they see is banks stealing homes from them, and they saw Indy Mac(now One West) no differently and assumed the worse,” added Gilbert Bivens of Aztec Financial Resources.

Media coverage of the church’s August foreclosure scare attracted many new congregants to the church. “90% of the seats are full every Sunday,” said Pastor Valenzuela. As a result, church finances have improved significantly.