How a Green Party Governor would handle foreclosures in Ohio

[Youngstownshrimp]

Okay Steve, you can call me at my store 330 707 9688, in past post, I asked you to contact me so stop the fabrications.  Also, I want to make this clear, I'm not speaking on your efforts, compared to mine, they are miniscule.  I have salvaged houses when you still crapped in your pants.  Anyway let's try to be productive here, but I am going to keep this in the public arena, these are the questions I need answered:
1.  Ryan Miller, the Exc.Dir of Ohio Habitat for H., he is interested in salvage material being supplied to all the Ohio Restores, but he needs more info., I stumbled upon him while talking to Prof. Hanzeley at the local Restore, to drum up interest in the demo/salvage houses we are about to do.  I believe Nevel's Temple already has the demo permit.  Do you want to interphase with Mr. Miller?
2.  My councilman Tito Brown says, you are going to do research on making Decon cost effective, you did not answer my first question, about asbestos testing, if present, can we go back to flat out demo?
3.  Where can I pick up the project cost for the two decons you did, so I can see how we lost money on them?  This should all be public info.

[Rick Rowlands]

I don't see a reason why public matters should not be discussed in public.  It is this closed door mentality that breeds discontent and mistrust. 

[Youngstownshrimp]

Steve, you are growing up to be a real bureaucrat, you worked out of the CDA and yet the CDA blogsite says "transparency", so now you have a problem with discussions on chat sites, then why do you post?  BTW I have several unanswered questions on the CDA blog from way back.

Oh, and you are not a city employee, you are an independent contractor for the city, paid for by our tax dollars, so everything has to be public with you.  I am from the private sector, I do not have to disclose.

In regards to decon and demo, these are public services, they are my business.  It seems that in my day to day business, I connect with more people in your field accidentally than you do intentionally.  I just got an e-mail from Miller the head of restore in Ohio and he is very interested in salvaging material, why aren't you doing these leads?  You're the one we are paying.  Where can I contact you?  You never answered my questions from the last post.

[iwasthere]

it is good to see that there is honest dialogue in this matter too much miss info is given out but the mayor's administration and council shares the blame by not explaining it clearly to the general public by not having regular general forums to discuss citywide issues. general forums sponsored by special interest(civic minded) and the city hall would help to educate the public about what can be done and what cannot be done by government entities.

[Youngstownshrimp]

When I was out of college and jumped into real life, I learned right away that ordnances and legislation at a local level many times tries to negate what is constitutional.  This is prevalent in many depressed areas, wherein the local level thought process is not as well informed as say Williamsburg, VA.  The end result is that unjust ordnances exacerbate the financial woes of cities trying to claw back up into prosperity. 

Case in point was the unanswered post for Steve on demolition salvage  versus asbestos deconsrtruction.  Talking to one of the directors of Restore (HH), they were approached recently by three salvage jobs, two for demo/salvage and one for decon, Nevels Temple added a house and fourplex, so now you have four versus one.  To progress, we have to find and implement a fair and just way of doing things, not penalizing a bank for the sins of the past real estate industry.

It is obvious to any legal mind that the vagueness of this ordnance and its penalty against one party is unjust.  Try this, if the county forecloses on taxes, let them manage and upkeep the property?   The regulation is already present, the title holder to a property is responsible.

[iwasthere]

rr sarge was vague in his statement until he explained further in the followup post. rr if you are well adverse in the english language why not apply for an english teaching position on this board or at the many local school districts that are in need of good qualified teachers like you. they will pay you well then you can start your own school of grammar ethics.

[Youngstownshrimp]

The root of the foreclosure debacle is the absorbtion of local level mortgages by the secondary mortgage market.  B,C,D loans were primarily sucked up by Fannie mae, freddie mack, Gennie May , Catwoman, etc.etc.  Basically the quasi government backed mort. banks.  Loans with these ratings were commonly known to be questionable but hey! , let them eat cake.  Whether people had hard times or not, foreclosure was always a paycheck away for most families.  Everyone wants to deny that we simply lived beyond our means.  Our forebears never heard of: equity lines, ARMS, LIBOR index, auto leasing, college credit cards, check cashing, unsecured debt., and now reverse mort.

But for that matter, back then they wore american made clothes and KIA was thought to be the Korean Intelligence Agency.

[Rick Rowlands]

Lets look at Sarge's post line by line to find the "cold heartless" statement:

"So people who either don't or can't pay their mortgage should be able to pay the rent?"

This is a valid point.  Not cold and heartless but a frank evaluation.  In this area especially you can buy a house for roughly the same amount of money that you would spend on rent for a comparable sized apartment.  So if you cannot afford the house payment and if the cost of living in an apartment is comparable, you simply cannot afford an apartment.  Sounds rational to me.

"Some how I don't think this will work. It's people living beyond their means that is part of the problem already."

How many people reading this post think that it is a good idea to live beyond your means?  Would it not be cold and heartless to live beyond your means for a short period of time and then put your family in a situation of living in a minivan or homeless shelter?  Note how Sarge said it was PART of the problem, not the entire problem? 

"And I would hope that any intelligent lender would provide upkeep on any properties they own or it's the same as writing them off as a total loss. Not good business I would think."

OK well bankers are cold and heartless by definition, but I doubt that is what iwasthere was referring to.

Now on to what iwasthere actually said:
"sarge not ALL people live beyond their means sometimes illnesses, employment, personal problems affect their financial livielhood."

I doubt that there will be much disagreement with this statement.

"you should not make blank statements until you know ALL facts"

AH HA! We have found the one fallacious statement, and it was made by the accusor.  iwasthere accused Sarge of making a cold and heartless statement, but as I have just shown that was not the case.  However iwasthere read something into sarge's post that did not exist to begin with.  iwasthere saw what he wanted to see.  He assumed that Sarge was making a blanket statement about everyone who has lost a home due to foreclosure.  However, Sarge merely stated that people who live beyond their means are a PART of the current housing problems.

Now what is the lesson in this?  Well first we should learn that WORDS MEAN THINGS, and that words placed in a certain order convey a certain thought or concept.  By removing words, adding words that were not there, or changing the meaning of words iwasthere took the concept that Sarge was trying to convey, turned it into something that Sarge did not say, and then proceeded to use it against Sarge. 

Perhaps remedial English and grammar courses are needed, with particular attention paid to capitalization and the difference between first, second and third person. 






But then again, I'm no banker.

[sfc_oliver]

I can be pretty cold. But more often than not I would give someone the shirt off my back, If they truly needed it.

[iwasthere]

sarge sometimes you come off as cold heartless individual until you explain yourself further when you are questioned. thank you

[sfc_oliver]

ytownshrimp and sarge not ALL people live beyond their means sometimes illnesses, employment, personal problems affect their financial livielhood. you should not make blank statements until you know ALL facts in someone's life situation. remember when you point a finger at someone three other fingers are pointing back at YOU.

I never claimed that all or even most people lived beyond their means. And believe me I know about illness. If not for Ford Credit i would have lost my family car when I had to apply for disability. They worked with me and moved all my missed payments to the end of the loan. Only my Military retirement saved us from foreclosure on the house. That was a very long 8 months. Christmas that year was $18 at a dollar store. But I never missed a house payment.

[jay]

Elmo

Your scenario about the responsibility for property is accurate.

We need a special program involving block watches and the city.  Foreclosed (vacant) properties must be identified quickly, secured, yards maintained, kept under surveillance, and marketed as soon as possible.  The Wick Park neighborhood has undertaken a version of this program and has successfully prevented house strippers from entering one home.

[Elmo-Ytown]

If a bank forecloses on a home or other property, whose legal responsibility is it to upkeep the property? It's not the foreclosee, it's not the forecloser.... so since noone is doing it, it justs sits, and in a couple years some crackheads will burn it down....

All foreclosed homes should immediately be turned over to the fire department for live burn training. *




*Sarcasm (for those who didn't catch it)

[iwasthere]

ytownshrimp and sarge not ALL people live beyond their means sometimes illnesses, employment, personal problems affect their financial livielhood. you should not make blank statements until you know ALL facts in someone's life situation. remember when you point a finger at someone three other fingers are pointing back at YOU.

[Youngstownshrimp]

Here is another example of Dennis trying to be an authority on a subject he knows nothing about.   Let me educate you, when a bank forecloses, it does not mean that the bank automatically has title to the property.  The bank has a debt interest only, the bank has no responsibility of maintainance or security.  I know regional bankruptcy trustees, the problem in foreclosures is as the Sarge says, people living beyond there means.  And the government mandating that banks make loans to unqualified people, CRA loans.