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The American Dream turns into a debtor's nightmare (for illegals)
LA Times ^ | October 8, 2007 | Jennifer Delson and and Christopher Goffard

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Mexico; US: California
KEYWORDS: aliens; century21; crimaliens; foreignspeculators; frauds; housing; illegalimmigration; immigrantlist; washingtonmutual
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To: LNewman

bump


61 posted on 10/08/2007 10:34:52 AM PDT by VOA
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To: goldstategop
He lied on his loan application

Doubtful. Most of the fudging on loan applications has been done by mortgage brokers, eager to get a fat fee and move on to the next one. A guy who speaks little English and has a 6th grade Mexican education was definitely not filling out applications unaided.

At the risk of advocating government regulation, this problem could be avoided in the future if it was made illegal to sell home mortgages, or for anyone who is not an employee of the lender to receive a fee for originating a home mortgage. If homebuyers had to go directly to a bank to apply for a mortgage, and the bank knew it would be stuck with the loan until maturity or sale of the property, the banks would be very careful about who they lent to and on what terms.

62 posted on 10/08/2007 10:37:20 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: varon

And the reason he didn’t have good medical and disability insurance is that he was spending every last dime on a much bigger house than he could afford. BUT, the people who talked him into doing this mostly have college degrees and knew they were taking advantage of an ignorant uneducated person, so they should be tracked down and made miserable too.


63 posted on 10/08/2007 10:42:17 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: oldbill

Your foresight was on the mark.


64 posted on 10/08/2007 10:42:55 AM PDT by B4Ranch (( "Freedom is not free, but don't worry the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share." ))
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To: LNewman
Relying on the broker's word, he signed loan documents written in English, a language he neither speaks nor reads, Aviles said.

Here's an idea: How about all immigrants learn English so they understand what they are reading and signing? Otherwise, they should go back to where they came from. I've got no sympathy for this guy. If you come to an English speaking nation, you should expect everything will be in English therefore, learn the language!
65 posted on 10/08/2007 10:44:37 AM PDT by 84rules ( Ooh-Rah! Semper Fi!)
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To: oldbill

Attaboy! ;)


66 posted on 10/08/2007 10:45:13 AM PDT by LNewman (EAGLES UP!)
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To: Retired Chemist

Will the Democrats bail him out?

If not he can get it from the Mexican Consulate! (It could be the 48th Mexcian Consualte in the US!)


67 posted on 10/08/2007 10:50:20 AM PDT by truemiester (If the U.S. should fail, a veil of darkness will come over the Earth for a thousand years)
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To: freekitty

Then the loan underwriters shouldn’t be reimbursed either, they should be more careful who they give the money to.

I have no sympathy for these illegals, there’s plenty of non-criminals in this country that don’t have a large house, either.


68 posted on 10/08/2007 10:51:07 AM PDT by Baladas
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To: calex59

I enjoy the stories. Although they never quite endure adequate suffering to suit me. I enjoy the stories because they represent justice be done to at least a small number of these colonists. That is surely a good thing. But only a very small good thing. I would like to see the number of these stories multiply by millions. And their alleged suffering ratcheted up proportionately.


69 posted on 10/08/2007 10:51:12 AM PDT by isrul (Lamentations 5:2)
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To: LNewman

“he signed loan documents written in English, a language he neither speaks nor reads”

No Ingles....


70 posted on 10/08/2007 10:54:55 AM PDT by traumer
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To: 2banana
When illegals are buying $600,000 houses making $9/hour - we are in the biggest housing bubble in the history of the world

ROFL How true!

71 posted on 10/08/2007 10:57:22 AM PDT by Age of Reason
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To: LNewman

Aviles stands with grandchildren, Isaac, 2, and Alber Leiva, 1, as he looks out the window of a room he was renting out.

72 posted on 10/08/2007 11:08:00 AM PDT by kcvl
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To: GovernmentShrinker

“At the risk of advocating government regulation, this problem could be avoided in the future if it was made illegal to sell home mortgages, or for anyone who is not an employee of the lender to receive a fee for originating a home mortgage. If homebuyers had to go directly to a bank to apply for a mortgage, and the bank knew it would be stuck with the loan until maturity or sale of the property, the banks would be very careful about who they lent to and on what terms.”

Your solution would crash the market for possibly decades. Your cure is far worse than the disease.


73 posted on 10/08/2007 11:14:18 AM PDT by TexanToTheCore (If it ain't Rugby or Bullriding, it's for girls.........................................)
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To: Bush_Democrat
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!!

I can't get past this refusal to assimilate by learning English. I contrast Mexican illegals to legal Vietnamese immigrants who learn English immediately, stress the value of an education to their children, start their own businesses as soon as economically possible and don't demonstrate a sense of entitlement. They know how to make the American dream work for them. Mexican illegals are enraged when there are consequences for their behavior.

74 posted on 10/08/2007 11:16:38 AM PDT by McLynnan
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To: RavenATB

“What makes you think they’re using the sewers? Has something changed?”

Snarky! I like that.


75 posted on 10/08/2007 11:18:53 AM PDT by CodeToad
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To: Calpernia; Hydroshock; M. Espinola
Thats for the *Ping*! - - -

I'm frankly amazed at how people are waking up here on FR. Two years ago, many were violently attacking me for 'being negative.' Lies, all lies all the time, coming from real estate shills. One year ago, the attacks were coming from only a few. They were probably the same folks behind thousands of hacking attacks launched from corporate web sites against me. Mortgage shills, real estate shills and half-witted enablers. Watch what happens next.

Take a peek at the charts posted here:

Median House Prices Have Fallen into the Dumpster

House prices have fallen $ 80,000 to $ 100,000 all over the U.S. in what were the "Top Hot Markets."

Like I said above, watch what happens next. Wait until things break loose on Wall Street. Wait until Iran, Syria and Hamas decide to 'teach Israel a lesson.' Wait until oil prices reflect Iran's fundamental instability. That is when the rubber will really meet the road. 'Nuff said.

But what do I know anyway?

76 posted on 10/08/2007 11:20:40 AM PDT by ex-Texan (Matthew 7: 1 - 6)
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To: TexanToTheCore

I suspect other factors would prevent such a long term “crash”, because the market would quickly evolve to fit the new playing field. And keep in mind, we’re probably looking a pretty huge crash as it is. What a policy such as I suggested would do is prevent another massive bubble built largely on fraud, that will inevitably burst. Certainly the phenomenon of builders churning out huge fancy homes by the thousands, into a market where the only “buyers” are people who can’t afford them, would vanish.


77 posted on 10/08/2007 11:21:27 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: LNewman
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

A mortgage well over twice his gross pre-tax wages? Yeah, I guess that would qualify as steep. What a moron.

78 posted on 10/08/2007 11:26:13 AM PDT by Sloth (You being wrong & me being closed-minded are not mutually exclusive.)
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To: Calpernia; Hydroshock; M. Espinola
Study: Illegal Alien Population May be as High as 38 Million ! !

The MSM lies all the time. So do politicians. Especially about the number of illegals in the U.S.

79 posted on 10/08/2007 11:32:32 AM PDT by ex-Texan (Matthew 7: 1 - 6)
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To: kcvl

Looks to be maybe a 4 to 5 full-size mattress room rental, 6-mattress rental if you remove the door from the room.


80 posted on 10/08/2007 11:35:19 AM PDT by LNewman (EAGLES UP!)
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