Comments for Homeowners: " Hey Congress, Get Off Your Ass" at http://www.shitheadery.com , comment 1 to 1 out of 1 comments http://www.shitheadery.com Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:20:30 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.shitheadery.com/Congress/homeowners-q-hey-congress-get-off-your-q/#comment-370 I had a property in upstate New York on 4 acres. I saved for most of my life in order to buy this place. I was planning on retiring there. I bought it just before the housing market collapsed, intending it to be a rental property. I was advised at the time to short sale the house, less than one year after having purchased it. I put down $50,000 in cash, and invest in additional $30,000 in remodel. I have not slept one night in the house. I had been making payments through the rental market, which collapsed at the same time. My renters left without notice. I was left with no choice as I'm a single dad and I live out here in Los Angeles. So, listening to what I thought was sage advice, and negotiating for weeks with Citibank, and being reassured repeatedly that this was the best possible solution, I found a buyer for the house. The house sold for essentially what I owed the bank. In other words the entire debt was repaid, but I lost the house, all the cash I'd invested, and ended up having to pay a $15,000 IRS bill that Citibank charged me for what they called the shortfall, even though the entire loan was paid back. I was also assured repeatedly that this was not as bad for my credit is a foreclosure. This turned out to be the hugest lie of all. In fact, almost immediately after the deal had closed, the loan had been repaid and I had basically lost everything, Citibank turned around and reported this as a foreclosure, unbeknownst to me. I found out that this it occurred about 1 1/2 years later when I applied for housing, rental apartment for myself and my son, was denied housing because of the reported foreclosure. I immediately contacted Citibank and was told by a senior representative that they realized that they had made a mistake and apologize profusely. I was reassured over and over that this would be immediately rectified. That in fact a short sale can only be reported on a credit report for two years. It is now been three years since the short sale and Citibank has done absolutely nothing except for reading notifying the credit agencies and extending the reporting time for five more years. I reported this to my senator who has done absolutely nothing about helping me in a situation. So, not only did I lose the property, pay off the debts of the Citibank had no loss, and pay a fine to the IRS essentially, but I had my credit destroyed exactly as if I had the foreclosure. ...so by trying to do the right thing, I've been screwed over entirely by the system. I should've taken the foreclosure and not spend $15,000 over the 80,000 had already lost. I've always tried to teach my son that to live in this world a man has to operate with the highest integrity, and now I really have to question whether that's true. I don't know what the correct course of action is anymore with regards to homeowners. I've been a freelance musician my entire life and always paid my bills and taxes on time. Many of my friends and associates in the same artistic community are suffering terribly under the yoke of these corporate masters and all I can say is be careful what you sign, because when you sign a deal with the devil, be prepared to bend over when you're done. - Zenguitarguy Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:39:14 +0100