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StumbleuponForeclosure victim knows Job's tale firsthand
A.D. Thomas and his wife lost their home after he was injured at work, lost his job and the medical bills started piling up.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
DAYTON — A.D. and Naomi Thomas paid $26,000 in cash for their Trotwood home 21 years ago.
When they lost it to foreclosure last year, they owed $80,271 on the small frame house at 4421 Natchez Ave. The lender who foreclosed then bought it back at sheriff's sale for $34,000, not much more than the Thomases paid for it in the first place.
"The sheriff came out and told us we had to go," said Naomi, 60. "Thank God it wasn't in the snow. It was cold but it wasn't snowing. December 13, 2007."
By the time the Thomases were given a few hours to collect their things and go, they had reached the end of the road in a financial tailspin they said started with a home equity loan for improvements to their house. After A.D., 65, was injured at work and lost his job, he suffered major health problems that brought a mound of medical bills and prescriptions for so many medications he carries a list in his wallet just to keep track.
"I can't breathe sometimes. I can't walk from here to the car," he said. "I just don't want to hurt all the time. Sometimes I'd rather be dead."
Meanwhile, the couple lost an income-producing rental to foreclosure in 2005 and had financial problems with another home they are selling on land contract.
"When you got money, things won't happen. But when you're broke, things happen," A.D. said in a hoarse whisper caused by recent throat surgery. "Who gonna listen? People don't listen to a broke person."
The Thomases believe they were victims of predatory lending and said one lender jacked up their interest payment to 17 percent from the promised 11.5 percent. Since 1987 they've had 14 mortgages on the house, refinancing themselves out of variable rates and balloon payments but getting deeper in debt each time.
Multiple refinancing and high-interest subprime loans are hallmarks of the current foreclosure crisis. So are inflated appraisals made before loans are approved.
The house was valued by the Montgomery County Auditor at just $50,890 when Bank One approved the $81,000 home mortgage on it in 2000. CitiFinancial Inc. subsequently loaned them an additional $6,149 on top of that mortgage.
In 2005, Bank One assigned its mortgage to GMAC Mortgage, which foreclosed on the Thomases two months later. The appraisal for sheriff's sale put the property's value at $66,000.
GMAC spokesman Brett Weinberg said he could not comment, citing federal privacy rules and the fact GMAC did not originate the loan.
Bank One is now part of Chase and bank spokeswoman Mary Kay Bean declined comment on the specifics of the Thomas mortgage, but she said the professional appraisals done for the bank do "not always coincide with the assessed value."
A CitiFinancial Mortgage spokesman also declined comment.
Today, the Thomases live in a rental house on Fountain Avenue. That Dayton neighborhood has been brutalized by a wave of foreclosures that left many houses and apartment buildings vacant, boarded-up and, quite often, vandalized. On Fountain Avenue's four blocks, 45 foreclosed properties sold at sheriff's auction between January 2005 and March 2008, according to Montgomery County Sheriff's Office records.
With youth roaming the Santa Clara neighborhood's streets at all hours, Naomi Thomas admits it scares her to live there.
"I think about the Bible story of old man Job. Yeah, lost everything he had, got sick and everything," A.D. said. "But he was blessed. So I'm looking for a blessing. If I don't get blessed I'll be a loser."
That blessing may yet come.
A.D. is part of a now-settled class action lawsuit against Merck & Co. over the now withdrawn medication Vioxx. His attorney told him they would get a check, but the money didn't come in time to save their house.
"The first thing I'm going to do is get outta here," said A.D. about the incoming check. "I'm going back to Mississippi."
Staff writer Ken McCall contributed to this report.
