Hi, everyone. I hope you are having a great weekend. This diary is going to be short and sweet, but I have a friend in a bit of what could be called a dire situation regarding the home he grew up in, and while I have done a bit of research on his behalf, I am truly hoping desperately that there might just be a fellow Kossack here or there who happens to know a thing or two about foreclosure law and available options, particularly in California. More below the squiggle.
I have this good friend, let's call him P. P is a really great dude. Up until recently, he was the owner of (he has since informed me that "the bank owns it now") a very modest single-story home in Southern California.
It's the home P grew up in; it's the house that a band I was in with him so many years ago rehearsed in and actually recorded an album in, and it's a very special place that I know means the world to him. I know that to many people it might not be much, but to him, it's priceless.
P is a very hard worker, and he has held down a good, actually more-than-decent-paying job at a recording studio in SoCal, but his situation has gotten to a point where he is pretty much hopeless about the prospects for keeping the place--and to be perfectly honest, it fucking kills me. But I think that he has simply reached a point of exhaustion; a place where he truly feels that his options have completely run out.
I met P when we were in middle school together, way back when around 1994-1995. We actually weren't the closest originally, but later as mentioned above got into a band together and spent years touring the country together. He's really an amazing musician--as is his dad, who also lives in the home. But as you may imagine, the monetary income of a full-time musician isn't the best. Not to get overly personal, but P lost his mom early on, and was raised by his dad--which while different, I relate to, because in my case, my dad wasn't around, and I was raised by my mom. The obvious commonality is that we were both raised by single parents in a town that at best could be called middle class. Have you ever seen the show on FX called Sons of Anarchy? If you have, you know the fictional town of "Charming." Only for us, it isn't fictional. Our town is where the show is filmed, and it's a very close representation of the "real thing."
For as long as I have known him, P has struggled, to say the least, to pay the mortgage. He's essentially on his own with it financially--thrust into an adult situation at a very early age--at least one where he probably shouldn't have to be concerned with these sorts of things, but he has, and up until now, he has prevailed. He has rented rooms in this small home to various friends and aquaintances in order to assist with the mortgage costs, at very fair rates, and although he may be embarrassed by me saying so, I know him well, and I know it has been a challenge.
At times, although I know it is really none of my business, I've selfishly thought that perhaps losing the house would be a good thing for him--in the sense that it would absolve him of a lot of responsibility, and perhaps he could move on in a sense.
But simultaneously, I know how much the house means to him. Not to be overly personal, but I know that in the last couple years or so, he went to some drastic measures in order to save it. When he lost his mom so many years ago, he received a settlement for reasons I won't go into. I know that recently he went to the drastic step of borrowing against future settlement payments at a ridiculously high rate in a last-ditch attempt to save the place. It may be easy for some of us to say hey man, time to let go. But at the same time, I can imagine how shitty it will be for him to lose it, and what he is willing to do to try to keep this stucco, brick, and wood small homestead.
I haven't lived back home in Los Angeles for almost ten years now, but when I do visit, he's generally the first person I see. We grab some In-N-Out and some beers, and head to the Dodger game and shoot the breeze, and it's always a blast. I'm even farther away now, off studying in Dublin, Ireland, but he and his financial woes are still on my mind quite frequently.
I had the chance to chat him up online the other day, and he let me know that he was off apartment-hunting, which of course was a bad sign. What's worse is that his dad who survives and barely gets by on the meager aforementioned musician "income" has decided that once they lose the house, which at this point seems inevitable, he is going to be resigned to living in his van. Whenever you hear about the number of foreclosures in our country, they tend to be just numbers. When it's a single case dramatically affecting someone you love and care about, it really hits home--and then you think about the countless others who are in a similar predicament, and it makes my blood boil. On top of that, due to the generally low value of the place, it will likely be auctioned off (horrible enough to think about in the case of the HOME you grew up in), and what's worse is that whoever buys it at a discount rate will likely demolish it. Fucking kills me to think about. I only wish that I had the financial means to go and outbid whoever would make a bid on it, and to let him pay me back interest-free. But alas, I am just a student myself.
So, what's my point, and what is the purpose of writing this?
I have read stories about people being able to stave off foreclosure due to the inability of the bank to produce the actual mortgage. I've read about situations and scenarios where through legal methods, individuals have been able to save the homes they love.
I'm hoping, I am truly, truly hoping, that perhaps some Kossacks have either legal experience or personal experience in this area, and might just be able to post a comment or send a message with some additional resources or ideas that I haven't been able to find. My great friend P is a righteous dude, a prideful dude, and if this diary only gets a couple comments, he'll probably never even know it was written. But maybe, just maybe, there's someone out there who might have an idea or a resource that he hasn't yet been made aware of, explored, or thought of, and maybe, just maybe, I could share your comments and ideas with him.
I really love my friend, and I really wish so, so badly that there was something more I could do to help him. And maybe, everything happens for a reason. And maybe, if he does lose his childhood-to-current home, perhaps it might just lift a gigantic burden off of his shoulders, and maybe he'll be better off in the long run. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. But if anyone here has anything that they can share, I would be truly grateful. I wish so badly that I could do something more than write a simple diary, but it's all I really can do.
I wouldn't normally do this, but if there's any way to rescue this to Community Spotlight, or to give it more attention, or to republish it to an appropriate group, so that maybe, just maybe it could receive some more views and maybe that one random Kossack out there with some helpful advice could post a comment that I could share, I would be eternally grateful. And who knows--maybe anything unforeseen and beautiful could happen.
Thank you for your time, and thanks for reading. Let's hope #OccupyWallStreet is successful, eh? Fuckin' A. Fingers crossed...on that note, if you're in LA, please occupy it for me, since I can't be there. City Hall. And if you're anywhere else, please occupy your own city.
"Don't be afraid to say revolution." --Dr. Cornel West