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The article talks about the real problem: fundamentally you're right, these people should have paid their bills, the problem is they're not given an opportunity

The article talks about the real problem: fundamentally you're right, these people should have paid their bills, the problem is they're not given an opportunity to properly make up for their mistakes and the "punishment" does not fit the "crime". After the bill isn't paid the lien is sold to investors who increase the owed amount by an order of magnitude (so that the person really can't pay it now) and drag them through court, to the point where they have no choice but to lose their home. The system sort of worked (as the article noted) when foreclosures were done through the tax office, however now the investors can do it (which is where the fees come from). The core idea is sort-of okay, the problem is how corrupt it has become and how much abuse there is. Vulnerable people (as the article notes) are not given a chance to fix the problem, they're buried in further debt that they have no way to escape from.

larrys 13y ago
"After the bill isn't paid the lien is sold to investors who increase the owed amount by an order of magnitude " What is the time period that that happens though? Isn't that an important factor in all of this? Plays out over years? How many chances (and over what time period) could the homeowner have been able to rectify for a more reasonable amount of money? Not disagreeing with your main point or that the punishment not fitting the crime (or opportunists) etc.
- citricsquid 13y ago
  The article states that the investor can foreclose on the house 6 months after purchasing the debt. Skip to "Outsiders come to buy liens" in the article for a full summary of why it's such a problem.
  - larrys 13y ago
    Ok just read that. I guess I have a wider problem with this "problem". The fact is there aren't really people out there (other than some community activists) who have a brain and can help people like this to navigate the system without charging the rates that attorney's charge. Which seems to be the answer to anyone's problem. Get an attorney to tell you your rights and write a letter so people take you seriously. This is in a sense one of the reasons that poor and/or uneducated people get shafted so often. They have no way to communicate and people don't take their problems as seriously to boot. Of course even if you created an office of "ombudsmen to the normally shafted" that office might simply drown with those that weren't deserving and simply wanted to take advantage of any thing they could to dodge legal process.
- xsmasher 13y ago
  So the owner goes delinquent on taxes for a year, then gets multiple notices that a tax sale will take place, then the tax sale takes place, then they have six MORE months to make good on the bill... then a hideous, unforeseen tragedy takes their home away overnight. That's why the examples are all of people who were absent or had medical problems - because there are multiple opportunities to correct the problem.

larrys 13y ago

"After the bill isn't paid the lien is sold to investors who increase the owed amount by an order of magnitude " What is the time period that that happens though? Isn't that an important factor in all of this? Plays out over years? How many chances (and over what time period) could the homeowner have been able to rectify for a more reasonable amount of money? Not disagreeing with your main point or that the punishment not fitting the crime (or opportunists) etc.

citricsquid 13y ago
The article states that the investor can foreclose on the house 6 months after purchasing the debt. Skip to "Outsiders come to buy liens" in the article for a full summary of why it's such a problem.
- larrys 13y ago
  Ok just read that. I guess I have a wider problem with this "problem". The fact is there aren't really people out there (other than some community activists) who have a brain and can help people like this to navigate the system without charging the rates that attorney's charge. Which seems to be the answer to anyone's problem. Get an attorney to tell you your rights and write a letter so people take you seriously. This is in a sense one of the reasons that poor and/or uneducated people get shafted so often. They have no way to communicate and people don't take their problems as seriously to boot. Of course even if you created an office of "ombudsmen to the normally shafted" that office might simply drown with those that weren't deserving and simply wanted to take advantage of any thing they could to dodge legal process.
xsmasher 13y ago
So the owner goes delinquent on taxes for a year, then gets multiple notices that a tax sale will take place, then the tax sale takes place, then they have six MORE months to make good on the bill... then a hideous, unforeseen tragedy takes their home away overnight. That's why the examples are all of people who were absent or had medical problems - because there are multiple opportunities to correct the problem.