Foreclosure: Up Close and Personal

In case you ever wondered what a foreclosure looks like:

The folks over at Washington Community Action Network just alerted me to a sad story about Dixie Mitchell, a Central District resident who may lose her home in spite of efforts to take advantage of the Foreclosure Fairness Act, which Seattle Business magazine reported on earlier this year.

If the foreclosure isn’t mediated, Mitchell’s house will be auctioned on October 28; and she and her husband, who is paralyzed and unable to work, have nowhere to go.

So far, the financial institution in question, Ocwen, seems to playing dumb.

So Washington CAN and their partners at The New Bottom Line are planning to deliver the paperwork in person to Ocwen’s Florida offices today in an effort to pressure the company to comment.

Demonstrations will happen simultaneously in Seattle at Ms. Mitchell’s home – all in an effort to not only help her find a better outcome, but to draw attention to the ugly reality of the foreclosure business, which according to an article on Huffington Post, is much more profitable than the loan modification business.

More details via the press release:

Ms. Mitchell is a 71-year old cancer survivor. She and her husband have lived in their home in Seattle for the past 44 years and have raised nine children and fifty foster children in the home. Ms. Mitchell is currently facing foreclosure and Ocwen Financial refuses to work with her to modify her loan, saying they can’t seem to find her paperwork. Read her full story here.

After no luck dealing with Ocwen, Ms. Mitchell took her story national. With help from The New Bottom Line, she launched an online petition targeting Ocwen Financial. Since the launch of the petition in mid-September, 7,385 people from across the country have signed their names in support. Ms. Mitchell also appeared on the Up With Chris Hayes show on MSNBC to share her story (see clip here) and stand up for the millions of people across the country that are currently going through foreclosure.  

Ms. Mitchell’s home could be auctioned off as soon as October 28th, and all Ms. Mitchell needs is a simple HAMP modification. But Ocwen can’t seem to find the modification paperwork that they’ve asked Ms. Mitchell to submit again and again. So we’ll deliver the paperwork to Ocwen, in person, in Palm Springs. While the petitions and modification paperwork are being delivered to Ocwen’s offices, Ms. Mitchell’s supporters will be gathering in Seattle to join their voices to the cause of saving Ms. Mitchell’s home and waiting in hopeful anticipation for a phone call from Ocwen.

Ms. Mitchell has requested a mediation session with Ocwen, thanks to the new Foreclosure Fairness Act which was enacted in Washington in July, 2011. If a mediation session is granted, the auction date of Ms. Mitchell’s home will be pushed back and she’ll have the opportunity to finally speak with Ocwen about modifying her loan.

We’ll keep you posted on how things go.