RI man to testify to Senate on mortgage crisis
Published: July 21, 2009
WEST WARWICK, R.I.—A West Warwick man at risk of losing his home plans to testify before a Senate panel weighing whether bankruptcy courts can help people avoid foreclosure.
Joseph Verdelotti Jr. is set to appear Thursday before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s office said Verdelotti took out two mortgages to purchase a home in 2006 and has struggled to make payments as the economy has plummeted. Unemployment stands at 12.4 percent in Rhode Island.
The senator’s office says Verdelotti has asked his lenders to modify his loans but those requests were rejected.
Whitehouse has co-sponsored legislation that would allow U.S. bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of mortgages to help consumers.
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Reader Reactions
I work two jobs to keep my house. 80 hrs a week! I am not crying about it I am happy to have my home and will do what ever it takes to keep it. Crying doesn’t help. This guy needs to man up! he should not have been given a mortgage in the first place.
if a mobster sees me get rejected at a car dealership for a loan but then says hey if you really want that 100K jaguar i can loan you the money - just sign here - and i dont READ the LOAN TERMS - it is my fault for taking the loan i couldnt afford. yes the money is available but do i really want to buy a 500K home with 45K gross income? well the bank said i could afford it is a really lame excuse for being a fool.
This guy’s problem wasn’t the bank it was Barney Frank. He and the Dems forced banks to loan money to people who didn’t qualify because home ownership is a right. They bullied the banks then just like they are bulling the insurance companies, auto industry and Wall Street now.
sorry in that last post i meant to say your property taxes - not values
1320 a month is a 5.25% mortgage on 175K which i am closing on sept 1st of this year. the bank is willing to let me borrow up to 275K but i dont feel comfortable borrowing that much. it is my responsibility to borrow as much as i think i can afford not what some bank tells me i can. talk to ryan woodward rwoodward@mortgagemasterinc.com - and he can hook you up with a cheap mortgage - he got me one.
your property values will never go down - NEVER - the increased burden of city employees (teachers)and thier pensions and 3.5% annual increases will happen forever and as long as that happens you will be burdened with higher property taxes regardless of what your house is worth. that is why i was saying before that if u can you are better off renting until housing prices come down some more.
“a mortgage 1320 a month including insurance and taxes”
Tell me where to find a mortgage that cheap an an average price (250,000.) The
P+I would have to be around $950./mo.
“the banks pay the taxes on the property they hold in foreclosure so it does not burden the city the foreclosed house is in.“
Does that mean my property taxes will revert back to 1999 levels along with the value of my property?
housing prices have risen in real terms 3.6% over the past 30 or so years while real assets such as stocks and bonds etc have risen by an avg of 8.6% with money reinvested over that period of time. a house has roof problems, termite infestations and an outside that needs taken care of. you do not need to own a house to become wealthy is my argument. you can take the money i would be paying right now for a mortgage 1320 a month including insurance and taxes and subtract that what i am paying for rent 800 bucks and you have 520 dollars left over a month to contribute to a retirement plan (tax deductable just like the interest on your mortgage payments) and end up a multi millionaire over 30 or 40 years. so not only do you have money in the bank you have the flexibility while you are single to move to another place to make more money. i am just sick of this liberal BS that says everyone is owed something. “entitlements” like social security and medicare are bankrupting this country. just because i am young does not mean i dont know what i am talking about and just because i do not agree with you does not mean i am wrong. the banks pay the taxes on the property they hold in foreclosure so it does not burden the city the foreclosed house is in. Prices do fall - but that is a good thing. we have a 11 month supply of unsold homes in this country - the more prices drop the more can and will be sold.
to joeagresti:
I do not recall nor do I see where I state I am unemployed. Nor do I see where I state that I believe that housing prices should keep going up. And contrary to what you think, property is an asset, as well as a liability. And you show your age if you honestly believe that anyone can support a family on unemployment benefits. Think about your parents and what they have for expenses and maybe even ask them, that should one or both lose their job in todays economy of 12.4% in RI alone if they would be able to support their household. People can barely survive on what they take home from working 40 or more hours a week, and you want them to survive on unemployment and if they can’t they should lose what they have worked so hard to get? We are more willing to help other countries, illegal immigrants, and worry more about whether or not this country tortured terrorist to get information than we are to help people keep their homes. Now I understand some people made mistakes by over buying and consolidating bills into their mortgages and taking equity out when times were “good” but does that mean they all did? Foreclosure is a world wide crisis, world wide, not just in this state or even in this county, and until we help solve this we will ALL be paying for this. It cost the American tax payer more money when someone forecloses than if we would try to help protect them from losing their houses, it is then, when a property is foreclosed tht it becomes a burden on the tax payers, not when that owner is living there paying there bills and contributing to the tax roll. It is sad to see that your generation is tomorrows future if that is what you believe. I still can’t understand why we want to blame homeowners for this problem and no one else, but remember that a financial institution gave them this money in the first place, and they are the one’s who are suppose to be the experts in the banking industry.
to family man-
what will happen to these foreclosures? my generation -22 to 30 yr olds specifically will finally move out of their parents houses and own an affordable home. if you cant survive on unemployment to pay your bills then you bought too much house to begin with and should lose it. are we going to artificially keep housing prices higher so people feel good? a house is not an asset, it is a liability that requires you to make monthly tax payments that can increase indefinitley. if you want to do better in life rent an apt for no more than 30% of your gross income and SAVE. what a crazy idea.
i wish him luck , lately the crys for help go on deaf ears
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