Politics | 10/29/2008 7:45 am

California Woman Chains Herself to Home to Prevent Bank From Taking It (Video)

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

CNN

One California woman is going to extraordinary measures to make sure the bank doesn’t take her home.

June Reyno of Mira Mesa, CA, has actually chained herself to her home. She tells a local CBS station, KFMB in San Diego, that she refinanced her home with an adjustable rate mortgage two years ago – before "subprime mortgage" became scary household words. Like many Americans, she ran into money problems. She’s already received an eviction restoration notice from the bank, and has tried everything to keep her home.

"We’re very proud of this home and we’re not going to let the bank take it away from us," Reyno said. "This was going to be our home until we died."

She wants to tell people that they shouldn’t give up on their homes easily. "They can stay in their homes, they can fight for their homes, they can do a lot of things," she says. "It’s our castle – it’s every American’s dream, and that dream has just been shattered by these banks."

In September, 81,312 homes fell into foreclosure; a total of more than 851,000 homes have been repossessed by lenders since August 2007. In September, another 265,968 troubled borrowers received foreclosure filings in the form of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions – that’s one out of every 475 U.S. households.

Reyno’s not the only one trying desperate measures to keep her home. Some have ended in tragedy.

One 53-year-old Massachusetts wife and mother fatally shot herself this summer with her husband’s rifle shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that by the time they foreclosed on her house, she would be dead.

A 90-year-old Ohio woman, facing eviction from the home she has lived in for 38 years, shot and wounded herself earlier this month. She was found lying on the floor of her home when police arrived to serve an eviction notice.

And an Oregon couple last fall who had lost their fight against foreclosure and who had dropped hints they wouldn’t leave their home alive, were found dead in their home after apparently committing suicide.

13 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

It is pure evil that these banks gamed the system with deliberation and committed fraud on the American public and that the banks are socialized and the people thrown out in the streets. This is brought to you by the GOP that is ALWAYS for the rich.

By Wine Warrior on 10/29/2008 8:10 am

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I guess desperation makes you do desperate things. This is a perfect illustration of why the McCain and the Republican party’s latest line of attack on Obama isn’t working and won’t work ~ that being to label him as a socialist. To use McCain’s, Palin’s and “Joe the Plumber” argument, Americans like June should be able to pay for their homes and retirements WITHOUT any help from the government. Social Security in their eyes is a form of social welfare. The fact that June is about to lose her house is her fault for not being able to keep up with the payments. She should have her home taken. And the hundreds of thousands like her, it is their fault and theirs alone for not being fiscally responsible. I would counter it is not June’s fault, nor is it the Massachusetts or Ohio women who are to blame for their losing their homes. The housing debacle we are going through is a complicated issue and can not simply be laid at the feet of “people who were greedy and brought homes they couldn’t afford” That is true in some instances, but they are in the minority. The majority of home owners got caught up in an aberrant and tangled web of deceit by banks and mortgage companies. Calmer heads need to prevail and I think (contrary to what I have heard from some republican leaders) that the government should intervene and help save the homes of the countless men and women that are seeing their dream of homeownership slip out of their hands.

By Belinda Joy on 10/29/2008 9:29 am

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Wow, now that’s a powerful statement. Do you wonder how much money that bank has already made on this house. It’s amazing that you buy a house for one amount then you end up paying so much more with the interest tacked on. Bet that bank has made a bundle already. What happend to the idea Whoopi had about instead of bailing out the banks and givie home owners a 25% reduction on their homes. That way people can stay in their homes and the banks can still make their profits. Oh, wait a minute, I forgot, this country is about big business and help the rich get richer. Sorry my bad.

By Joan Brown on 10/29/2008 10:06 am

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Joan I agree that this bail out money should be used to buy down most of these mortgages but what about the homeowners who knew what they were doing and bought these big homes thinking they could just keep refinancing and refinancing to get a lower and lower payment? I had a customer who refinanced his house every year to get money & to lower his payment…right now he no longer has that house b/c it was more than what he could handle b/c the rates stopped going down…it is truly sad. Ok there are banks that make mortgages and service those mortgages once the initial loan closes, there are banks that close and service their own loans; however, there are mortgage companies who are paid to service loans from investors such as Freddie and Fannie, those mortgage servicing companies do not make anymore money when a house is foreclosed on. The investor actually looses money b/c the homes today are not worth what they were when the loans were taken out, yes you pay all that interest the first 5 to 10 years but once the house goes to foreclosure the homeowner has stopped making payments and is living in the house free until they are evicted or move…and when the bank puts the house up for sale it is a lot less then what the mortgage was for so they take a loss… I am not saying its right or its wrong just trying to shed some light on how the business works…

By C Hardy on 10/29/2008 9:55 pm

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The whole housing issue is a mess but in all honesty, what I find the saddest of all is that those who took their lives over a material object, valued their property more than their own lives and sometimes over the lives of their own children. I emphathize with them, however, when did we become a society that values material possessions over life. Perhaps these people placed their values and worth in all the wrong places.

By HA BIBI on 10/29/2008 10:36 am

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This woman is a real estate agent. She was living beyond her means. She refinanced her house for thousands of dollars taking advantage of the easy loans available last year. She of all people should have known that the value of California homes was over the top and bound to come down. She apparently lived in the house for 19 years. People who overextend themselves must face the consequences. Many people who have lost their jobs and found their income decreased in California are also losing their homes. They did not play around with the artificial values created for California housing. Everyone I know is having problems financially just keeping up with the food and utility expenses which have gone up exponentially. People on retirement incomes and undocumented workers are equally vulnerable. Chaining yourself to a house may make good p.r. for her but it won’t change reality. they got in over their heads.

By katywon LA.. on 10/29/2008 12:16 pm

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The mortgage companies sold these homes for more than what the homes was worth, which resulted in sky rocket mortgages. The brokers tricked people into thinking they could afford the first and second mortgages. I think the Federal Government should go after these mortgage companies for approving these outrageous loans. For instance, I read about a family of 4, whose monthly gross income is $5500. The mortgage was $2300 a month. Their home is in foreclosure now, I am not surprised, there was no way they could have made that payment along with other living expensive such as car loans, utilities, food, etc. It is a shame, they were sold on the “American dream” to own a home and now they are on the street…so sad.

By Ky McQueen on 10/29/2008 1:00 pm

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Ky, I agree with what you said but you know what your mortgage payment is going to be before you sign the papers…If you know you cant afford the payment Dont Sign…You can back out of the deal at anytime before you sign the papers. Its not like you go to your closing and sign papers and then they say “oh by the way, your mortgage payment is this”… I hate to say this but it is not just the mortgage companies fault…you said it, people were sold on wanting the american dream but they also wanted more than what they could handle…people do their research for other things why not do your research and them some when your making the biggest purchase of your life.

By C Hardy on 10/29/2008 9:42 pm

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No matter the circumstance, none of us can judge the misfortune of others, this is so terribly sad - we’d all like to think this would never happen to us but we never know where our lives will lead us - America used to be known as the most generous in the world and now, who knows…I agree with Whoopi, the bailout should have been to all homeowners, not the financial institutions

By Chips AHoey on 10/29/2008 3:00 pm

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((No matter the circumstance, none of us can judge the misfortune of others, this is so terribly sad )) I totally agree. To that person who tried their very best to save what they had, only to be met by the brick wall of ‘no, period’! I have already spoken to the home foreclosure of my Aunt, on other boards, previously, and will not go into the details again—-but I am shocked at the outcome…AFTER they foreclosed on her, and AFTER she moved out, about 2 weeks later the house was up for sale, at HALF the price that she owed on it! Now why? Why wouldn;t they work with her to renegotiate her ARM based home equity loan, for the home she had lived in for over 35 years, and owned outright, when she took out the loan for a medical emergency, of her now-deceased daughter! They are selling it for HALF of what she owed—-and what she owed was HALF of what is was worth! WHY did they NOT see anything other than the money? What I am curious to see, is how the cities are gonna handle the HUGE population of homeless people, and the numbers are rising!

By Patty E on 10/29/2008 7:03 pm

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Patty…I will try to answer or shed light to your question as to why your Aunt’s mortgage company would not work with her…Most to all mortgage companies have what is called a Loss Mitigation Department, this is the department you would be referred to from the collections department is you are late on your mortgage payments. The investor, such as Freddie and Fannie, have or had certain guidelines that all mortgage servicing companies have or had to follow on what was or was not allowed. If your Aunt talked to the Loss Mitigation Department, they would have worked up her financials to see if she could still afford her mortgage payment if whats called a Loan Modification was done, which means lowering the interest rate or putting her on a payment plan…If she did not qualify for that then the house would have gone to Foreclosure…and at that time the bank will put it up for sale at the amount they think they can get for it quickly… I am not sticking up for the mortgage companies just trying to shed some light since this is what I do for a living…My sister has traveled to most states doing workshops for homeowners to see if they can save their homes…It is hard for mortgage servicing companies to do something on loans they really dont own, if that makes sense. Most of these mortgage companies services loans for Freddie and Fannie or VA or FHA…and had guidelines to follow from each investor. It is truly sad to hear that your Aunt lost her house after so many years and those ARM loans were just down right nasty…I wish there were more classes someone could take when you want to buy a house. I hope your Aunt has picked herself up from her loss, both of her house and mostly of her daughter. I will say a prayer for her tonight. GOD Bless

By C Hardy on 10/29/2008 9:49 pm

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Thank you C, for the kind words. But we did our homework on this situation—BIG TIME. She was given the ARM instead of a straight mortgage, with her bank, becasue the ARM provided a higher profit and higher commission for the banker—-even though she qualified for the straight loan…and when the bank would not work with her, we contacted one of my friends who works in our State Capital, protecting Senior Citizens, from there, we got to the Governors’ office—Granholm. We found out why the bank she took out the loan with, would not work with her. Her ARM had been sold TWICE—from the bank to another bank in California, then they sold it to another bank, in NYC. She did not know the new banker and they did not know her—-and no one wanted to make any effort to hep her….THAT is shame of this whole thing—-she was no longer a person—-she was merely an inconvenience to the carpetbaggers.

By Patty E on 10/29/2008 9:59 pm

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Patty I am truly sorry to hear that…Yes mortgages gets sold all the time, that is another way banks and mortgage companies made money. I am truly sorry they would not work with your Aunt and I meant what I said…I pray she is doing better and has found a place to live. If you dont mind me asking, and you can tell me no, what bank or mortgage company was your Aunt’s loan with?

By C Hardy on 10/29/2008 10:04 pm