These have been tough years for the Cohen family. Suffice to say that fiscal Armageddon hit after they had lived in their Yorba Linda home for 18 years.
They fell behind on the house payments.
There were many conversations with the lender, Bank of America. And last spring, when the bank’s patience was running low and the family’s fiscal fortunes hadn’t changed, the Cohens put the home where they raised their two daughters up for sale, hoping to head off foreclosure.
It’s a three bed/2.5 bath home in a tidy Yorba Linda tract, with a heated salt water swimming pool and a custom-built outdoor barbecue. Public records show they bought it for $271,500 back in 1991. And, even with the crash, homes in their area are selling for more than $500,000.
They weren’t under water. They had equity in the house. But as anyone selling a home these days knows, it takes a wee bit longer than it used to.
Months passed. The asking price went from $554,990 to $544,990. The bank’s patience wore ever thinner.
The notice of trustee’s sale arrived in early December. You are in default, it says, and your home will be sold at public auction to the highest bidder 9 a.m. Jan. 6, 2012. (Which, for the record, is today.) The total amount owed was $310,090.42, including costs and expenses, it says.
The Cohens swung into gear and just weeks later, seemed to get their holiday miracle: A buyer!
Escrow opened before Christmas and is slated to close in two weeks. The sale would give them enough to repay Bank of America in full, and have enough left over to find a home elsewhere.
Except that the bank wouldn’t call off the trustee’s sale slated for Jan. 6.
There were many more frenzied calls to the bank, from the Cohens, the Realtor selling their house, and their lawyer. We have a qualified buyer here! The house is in escrow! You’ll get all your money in just a couple of weeks! Please call off the trustee’s sale!
But alas. On Thursday, the sale was still scheduled for Friday morning. Opening bid: $260,000.
Read on./
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