HOLLY TOWNSHIP, Mich. – "I did default on the mortgage, yes."
That's never a promising statement in an interview for a foreclosure story.
Yet, that's what I heard Monday from Timm Smith of Holly Township.
We were there as an eight member eviction crew deposited all of Timm and Marie Smith's belongings out onto the snow covered lawn of their rural home down a long, muddy road. They also had a barn full of knickknacks and treasures that received the same treatment.
The Smiths have two children, ages 8 and 12.
Marie Smith said she wasn't worried about the material items she's going to lose, instead buoyed by the fact she her family remains intact.
In speaking of the massive pile of stuff on her front lawn she said, "I'm going to cover it as best I can. I've taken my most precious things over to my parents for safe keeping."
We watched as a friend helped pile bedroom furniture onto a trailer, put a prized parrot and its cage in the front seat and drove off. It is impossible not to be moved to witness such a scene. But as always there is much more to the story than meets the eye, no matter how emotional.
The Smiths lived in their home for two years after they defaulted. Timm broke his back on the job requiring a number of surgeries. Then he suffered a stroke after getting another job. Marie lost her auto industry job. The cash stopped flowing. When the money got tight they used their disability income to refinance their home. It was that mortgage they stopped paying. The bank moved in and took it through foreclosure. It used the MERS system, an electronic program that helps banks efficiently process the crushing number of foreclosures we've seen in this mortgage meltdown. There are considerable legal questions about the MERS process, a Michigan judge halted MERS related foreclosures last year citing concerns of their legality. Lawyers are now lining up to challenge them and when you hear the particulars of the stories like the Smiths you can understand why.
You see, the Smith's home and 10 acres of their property wound up in foreclosure. The Smiths still apparently own the other 10 acres. When the bank foreclosed it ended up selling off the property to a mortgage processing company that could do nothing with it and simply gave it to Holly Township. That split their property and Timm Smith swears it's illegal. He said, "I don't know what to do. They know this 10 acres is not legally divided. They're the ones in charge of the property division. So do what's right and give the land back to us. We paid on that mortgage for seven years."
Marie added, "They kind of rubber stamped my foreclosure like it was any other, but it's not."
No, it's not.
Holly Township Clerk Karin Winchester said the Smiths have lost their legal battle in court twice now. Both times the courts found them in default and evicted them. Last November they were put out and days later an inspector found them living in the home once again. The Smiths lived in their home without paying for the privilege for roughly two years. On Monday, it came to an end.
This foreclosure mess is just that. It is also endless. What it continues to do is make us all feel like it is entirely unnecessary and certainly an unwieldy process.
More than that, it's making "bad guys" out of everyone.
Broke home owners desperately cling to their homes. Officials simply doing their jobs end up looking quite mean in an eviction. It is my most fervent hope we all remember the wreckage of this mortgage meltdown. It has shaken this country to its foundation for too many years.
Tell your children and your grand children never go near an adjustable mortgage, don't buy a home if you can't make the payments and stay away from banks that pull bait and switch tactics in the closing room.
Let me be clear here, the banks have been bad, the foreclosure lawyers have often been bad actors, consumers have allowed themselves to be talked into taking risky bets on mortgages and then blame the banks when it all goes bad. There is more bad behavior here than you can shake a stick at. Let's hope it ends soon.
In the meantime, the Smith family will be "camping out" on the 10 acres. They still somehow own in a heated RV. They will be alright for the time being. The question for us all to consider is will this nation after this interminable, unconscionable mess.