Posted on 10/08/2007 8:54:00 AM PDT by LNewman
Soledad Aviles dreamed for years of owning a home, with a plot of land where he could grow corn and chiles as he did in his native Mexico. So he felt blessed last year when he learned he could buy a three-bedroom, single-story stucco house on West La Verne Avenue in Santa Ana.
Referred to a local loan broker by a trusted friend, he borrowed the entire purchase price of $615,000 from Washington Mutual at a high interest rate typical of sub-prime loans. The monthly payment, as he says he understood it, would be $3,600 -- steep for a glass cutter who made $9 an hour -- but Aviles counted on his wife and three of his six daughters, who also worked low-paying jobs, to contribute.
"We took out our pencils, figured out our take-home pay and figured out that if we all pitched in, it would work," said Aviles, 54, a stoop-shouldered, soft-spoken man with a sixth-grade education from Mexico.
Relying on the broker's word, he signed loan documents written in English, a language he neither speaks nor reads, Aviles said. He was shocked to learn afterward that the monthly payment would not be $3,600, but $4,800 -- a price that forced him to rent out bedrooms, the garage and an enclosed porch while he and his wife slept on the couch. He fed his family with food from friends and corn he grew.
... The state Department of Real Estate, nonprofits and the Mexican consulate also have reported a rise in mortgage complaints, many of them from homeowners saying they signed documents they didn't understand.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Why wish for a plot of land where he can grow chiles like he did in Mexico, when he can do it IN Mexico? Go home, and fix up your own country.
My heart cries for you...
My experience is that they did understand everything..they may be Mexican, but they aren’t stupid.
Where’s that violin when ya need it?
That's the kind of place I'd buy to grow corn and chiles!!
While you're dreaming - might as well go for broke.
What kind of moron who makes $9 a hour borrows $620,000? Seriously - just go away. Am I supposed to feel bad for him?
I make close to three times that, and I know that I can’t even afford to borrow the $250,000ish that it would cost to buy a condo around here.
Mortgage/Credit/Housing Ping List
If you want on or off this ping list, let me know.
Will the Democrats bail him out?
My heart cries for you...
My experience is that they did understand everything..they may be Mexican, but they aren’t stupid.
This is a good example of how 100% mortgages to unqualified buyers drove up the price of housing in poor areas of CA and drove out legitimate responsible buyers.
I just hope that WAMU takes a big hit on this and stops this kind of practice.
An illegal alien displaced a legal working in the quest for the American Dream.
I’ve never heard “first generation immigrant” before. I thought it was “first generation citizen.” That would be an anchor baby, or the child of legal immigrants.
I am sure you all have noticed the increase in sob stories involving illegals(called everything but illegal by the DBM)since we defeated, once again, an amnesty attempt. Everytime we stop an amnesty bill they bring out the sob stories about the poor, hard working illegals who should be given a chance. I say fine, send them home and give them a chance to straighten out their own country. Works for me.
My experience is that they did understand everything..they may be Mexican, but they aren’t stupid.
"But amid the storm of foreclosures, his story illustrates the special vulnerabilities of first-generation immigrants in places like predominantly Latino Santa Ana, where city leaders have identified about 800 sub-prime borrowers facing the potential loss of their homes."
So, he's been here for years, has at least 3 daughters old enough to work, and STILL can't read or speak English - that's his ENTIRE problem!!! If I moved to Mexico and lived there for years, you damn-well had better believe that I would have learned to speak Spanish the first year!!
You can fix your problem too, just go to the locally elected sheriff and inquire. Training is free from ICE for the sheriff’s deputies. County wide elected Sheriffs are great -- And they have jurisdiction in the entire county, even sanctuary cities. Having the sheriff's deputies trained is good enough to empty your county of illegals, without lifting a finger. Fear is a wonderful thing.
Not one of his daughters could read English? Could he not go to a mortgage calculator and figure it out?
Not mentioned in the article is the fact that California’s environmental laws and zoning restrictions have reduced the available supply of housing drastically raising prices.
Also in the article:
“Aviles says he was not aware that the February 2006 loan application he signed dramatically exaggerated his family’s income. The application lists him as the owner of a landscaping business with a $7,400 monthly income. His 27-year-old daughter Marlene, who earns $9 an hour in a noodle factory, appears as the owner of a housecleaning company who makes $5,700 a month. The application lists their yearly income as $157,000, when, according to Aviles, it was really closer to $60,000.”
I know. My area is absolutely lousy with these examples!
Even more alarming is that legitimate US citizens are having similar problems.
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