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E-mail StoryRenters also lose in foreclosures
| Wednesday, Mar 19 2008 5:51 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Mar 20 2008 7:31 AM
Last month, Mimi McCarley found out the Bear Valley Springs home she and her husband have rented for five years had been foreclosed on.
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• Know the identity of your landlord. Find out who actually owns the home or apartment you’re renting, not just the identity of the person or property management firm that collects rent. Tenants can research property ownership at the Kern County Hall of Records, at 1655 Chester Ave.
• At the Hall of Records, tenants can also check to see if their landlord has received any default notices or public auction notices. These foreclosure filings show how much a borrower owes the lender, which can help a tenant assess if the landlord might manage to save the property before foreclosure.
• The foreclosure process, which starts when a property owner gets a default notice signaling one or more missed mortgage payments, and ends with the property being sold or repossessed by the bank at a trustee’s sale, can happen within 120 days. But most of the time the process is somewhat slower.
• Don’t open your landlord’s mail. It may be tempting to unseal envelopes arriving from mortgage companies, but doing so is illegal.
• Do ask your landlord, or the landlord’s representative, to come over and pick up any mail you suspect may be related to foreclosure proceedings. Ask the landlord to open the mail and tell you what it says.
• Keep paying your rent. You could be evicted if you stop paying and that can make it hard to rent in the future.
• Do try to negotiate. Sometimes tenants might secure lower rent or other arrangements from a landlord facing foreclosure. Make sure to document any deals in writing.
• Don’t expect your landlord’s lender to take your phone calls. Sometimes tenants can rent from a lending institution once a property has been repossessed, but if a lender wants you out once it owns the home, you’re out.
• Attend the public foreclosure auction for the house or apartment you rent. If an individual decides to buy the property, you can introduce yourself right away.
• If the foreclosure auction results in a bank repossession and the bank decides to evict you, you should receive a 30-day notice. Some banks are offering “cash for keys” programs that give renters money in exchange for moving out more quickly.
Source: Bakersfield property law attorney Sheri Connelly Vining, speaking at a Wednesday workshop at the Kern County Law Library.
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She got the news from a real estate agent who came to the door, surprised to find tenants living in the Tehachapi area house.
“My landlord never called me, never let me know,” McCarley said.
Now the couple have until the end of the month to move out.
McCarley was among a crowd of tenants who gathered Wednesday at downtown’s Kern County Law Library for a renters’ workshop hosted by Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance.
While homeowners may be the obvious losers when a home is lost to foreclosure, renters such as McCarley are increasingly getting caught in the middle, said Sheri Connelly Vining, the Bakersfield property law attorney who led the lunchtime workshop.
“Very rarely do we hear about the issues having to do with renters,” Connelly said.
In February, 586 properties were foreclosed on in Kern — up from a mere 12 foreclosures in the same month two years ago, according to the Kern County Recorder’s office.
And last month’s tally follows a record-setting 2007, when more than 3,000 properties were foreclosed on.
Several tenants who spoke at the workshop expressed bewilderment and frustration over the foreclosure process, which grants tenants few rights and can leave a renter scrambling to find housing on short notice.
“It’s obviously a really frightening thing,” Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance attorney Carol Bracy said. “They’ve been paying their rent.”
While legal protections may be slim for a renter whose landlord fails to pay the mortgage — many will be forced to move — practical tips and negotiation tactics can help a renter navigating through a landlord’s foreclosure, Bracy said.
Connelly Vining outlined several strategies, such as continuing to pay rent and researching public records to keep apprised of a landlord’s foreclosure proceedings.
Janet Goedhart, a property manager with Karpe Real Estate Center, came to the workshop seeking advice for tenants.
Landlords who miss mortgage payments have become a big problem, Goedhart said.
“Now we bald-faced ask our owners: Are you in default?” she said.
Her firm, which manages about 300 rental properties, has taken to checking up on landlords so tenants can be informed early if a home is headed for foreclosure.
McCarley wasn’t so lucky. She’s preparing to leave the secluded home she said she cared for as if it were her own.
“We have to put all our stuff in storage and sleep on my mother’s couch — at 53,” she said.