I was listening to talk radio and was intrigued by the teaser for the next segment. "Ohio man bulldozes $350K home to avoid foreclosure".Hmmm. I REALLY wanna hear that one. I listened to the entire interviewand at the end I was perplexed. First of all, here are the details.Terry Hoskins of Clermont County found himself in a predicament withhis Moscow, Ohio home. He was facing foreclosure and was upset that thebank that held the note, River Hills Bank, would not work with him. So,to quote Mr. Hoskins, "When I knew I was going to lose it, I decided totake it down". In fact, he even advised the bank that, "I'll tear itdown before I let you take it". He went on to tell the radiointerviewer, "When I see I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000,and someone decides they want to take it – no, I wasn't going to standfor that, so I took it down,"
After listening to the entire interview, I noticed that Terry Hoskins sounded like a reasonable and prudent person. He wasn'tranting, he wasn't raving. He spoke plainly with good enunciation andproper diction. He seemed to be a really nice guy. So what was hethinking?
Okay, many homeowners facing foreclosure probably feel like doing the same thing. But before you support his drastic actions, lets lookat a few more interesting facts about the story. First of all, Terryused his home as collateral for a business loan. The business wentSouth. Apparently, he wasn't a good businessman nor partner. He laterfound himself in a further predicament after his brother and formerbusiness partner sued him and won. Did you hear that? His OWN brothersued him. The property also had several liens on it filed by theInternal Revenue Service. So, Mr. Hoskins wasn't such an innocentvictim in the whole foreclosure process.
All the while during the interview, all I could think of was, "Why couldn't he have tried everything to avoid foreclosure?" In theinterview he mentioned that he owed $160,000 on the loan and the housewas worth $350,000. I'd have to leave that up to a local Realtor toverify but I figured there would be lots of Realtors out there thatwould have jumped at the chance to assist him with a possible ShortSale. Especially with all the programs the government is coming up withto assist homeowners to avoid foreclosure. And even if he couldn'tavoid foreclosure, there's a lot of families that would have loved topurchase the home from the bank.
I don't understand nor support his decision, despite the fact that I do understand the frustration that comes with foreclosure. It isobvious that he made some very poor financial deciisons and yet hedoesn't take responsibility for them. So what is your opinion in thisstory? Let me know what you think. I would like to know.
With the help that the government is providing with their short sale incentive programs, many homeowners facing foreclosure now have optionsto avoid the devastating affects of a foreclosure. And that’s good newsfor Realtors who specialize in Pre-Foreclosure options.
By the way, if you or someone you know is at risk of losing a home to foreclosure, please know that there are new options available toavoid this devastating occurrence. And know that there is someone hereyou can trust to help. As a Certified Pre-Foreclosure Specialist, Iunderstand the ins and outs of Short Sales and Loan Modifications. I amalso a Wachovia and World Bank trained Pre-Foreclosure expert and welleducated in the Government’s new H.A.F.A. and H.A.M.P. programs forhelping homeowners facing foreclosure.
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