December 18, 2011 12:58 PM
Local thieves track evictions online and then strip abandoned homes of everything they can, says former county treasurer Jim Rokakis.
There Goes the Neighborhood
Taking down a cartel, Why are glasses expensive?, Lionel Messi 43:27 June 16, 2013
Lionel Messi and the ascent of Barca soccer 13:23 June 16, 2013
Sticker shock: Why are glasses so expensive? 13:01 June 16, 2013
Taking down Colombia's "super cartel" 13:03 June 16, 2013
60 Minutes Overtime is a weekly web show that begins where the weekly television broadcast ends
Soccer academy La Masia: A model for the U.S.?
June 16, 2013
Drug traffickers' vehicle of choice
June 16, 2013
Summer Series: My favorite 60 Minutes story
June 16, 2013
Big changes for the 2012-2013 season! Watch the current week's episode for FREE up to a week after it airs or subscribe for access to all shows, classic episodes and more!
Its with great frustration and despondency that I am attempting to arouse some response in the appointed officials at hud. HUD is like its own governing body, no longer accessible to the very people for which it was begun. There are numerous HUD home now available, there are even more foreclosed homes on the market. Now I believe in the last few years we have all learned valuable lessons. Seven years ago I filed bankruptcy and soon after that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in the same boat and given a bail out also. Now in my journey to move foreword and not make the same mistakes. I accepted a travel nurse position and stayed in hotels in several states for each assignment. I realized immediate gratification is in fact short lived and any thing worth having was worth waiting for...so I bought with plane hard cash. The few things that I made monthly payments on like..car, storage, gym,etc. when I approached them because it was not on my credit score i was told by each "only the big companies can report good payments, believe it or not we can only report negative things" Ha ! I also learned if a phone payment or utility is 2 days late it can be reported as 30 late. I have worked my whole life supporting 3 children without state or government assistance. And since the 1990's. I worked 2 full time jobs...so if my payments were sometimes late it was because I was too tired to get up and go pay bills that day. Now I am trying to qualify for a hud home but no one will give me a loan. They say not enough credit so your score is low. Go take out a couple of loans and get a credit card and keep both for two years then come try again. I spoke to my banker and he assured me if I gave him 3,000.00 from my savings they would open a secured loan and they would pull the payment each month to show my repayment history. This may prove creative banking but not my ability to pay back loans! Have we learned nothing, we are using the old system to buy a house again. Debt and more debt. I want to purchase a farm in Gatlinburg that's 9 acres and 65,000.00. I have 15 years left to work and I want to begin teaching and doing health clinics in Appalachian mountains with a christian group of volunteers. I do not qualify for any special interest grants, loans or anything, I am not a native American, nor an Eskimo, or Mexican or black. I am adopted if that counts :] but seriously I just look kind of Irish. I am hard working, loyal, trustworthy, never arrested, live my life by example and believe as well as anyone I believe I am deserving of a part of the American dream. And HUD owning all these houses are useless. Its the equivalent of dangling a toy a foot over a child's reach. You must also put these houses in the peoples hands ..or it was all for nothing. Please take a moment, I know how far removed you are in your house, in your neighborhood from the people to whom you work with, but if for just on moment today you walk around your desk and sit in the visitors chair...you will see the view is significantly different.
thank you for you time,
judye bush
I've been following this from the comfort of a paid for home on the Central California Coast. But not too far from here, in San Luis Obispo, Oprah's "happiest place in America," the homeless wander the streets, having been REFUSED shelter (if it even exists) for various infractions.
A guy runs a "sober living center" for homeless people--provides basic shelter, work opportunities and rehabilitation, and the county wants to shut him down (they made him a felon for not acceding to building codes!).
I know, I've been involved with all of this.
I wrote a small book BEFORE the housing crisis called Home Dreams for Hard Times (amortgagealternative.com). Years ago officials refused to let me build my dream, "green" home in Washington state. It was before "green" became cachet for expensive, overpriced housing when it should have meant simpler, less consumptive, more energy efficient and less costly housing. When they closed me down it was a scandal in the county, but the house still never got built. Ruined MY life for years...
On January 10 I do a "Downturn Survival Seminar" in San Luis Obispo. Something like it should be replicated nationwide. So many are hurting.
I'm one of the fortunate ones, and I'm trying to give back.
Bill Seavey