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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.”