OfflineYour local "Occupy _______ (insert your town's name here)" protests against Big Banking, Big Government, and "The Man" are leaving public city parks and bank entrances, and coming to... your newest deal?? What, what, whaaaaat?!!
SEATTLE (AP) — The Occupy Wall Street protests are moving into the neighborhood.
Finding it increasingly difficult to camp in public spaces, Occupy protesters across the country are reclaiming foreclosed homes and boarded-up properties, signaling a tactical shift for the movement against wealth inequality. Groups in more than 25 cities held protests Tuesday on behalf of homeowners facing evictions.
In Atlanta, protesters held a boisterous rally at a county courthouse and used whistles and sirens to disrupt an auction of seized houses. In New York, they marched through a residential neighborhood in Brooklyn carrying signs that read "Foreclose on banks, not people." Los Angeles protesters rallied around a family of five who plans to reclaim the home they lost six months ago in foreclosure.
"It's pretty clear that the fight is against the banks, and the Occupy movement is about occupying spaces. So occupying a space that should belong to homeowners but belongs to the banks seems like the logical next step for the Occupy movement," said Jeff Ordower, one of the organizers of Occupy Homes.
The events reflect the protesters' lingering frustration over the housing crisis that has sent millions of homes into foreclosure after the burst of the housing bubble that helped cripple the country's economy. Nearly a quarter of all U.S. homeowners with mortgages are now underwater, representing nearly 11 million homes, according to CoreLogic, a real estate research firm.
Protesters say that banks and financial firms own abandoned foreclosed houses that could be housing people.
Seattle has become a leader in the anti-foreclosure movement as protesters took over a formerly boarded-up duplex last month. They painted the bare wood sidings with green, black and red paint, and strung up a banner that says "Occupy Everything - No Banks No Landlords."
While arrests have already been made in a couple of squatting cases in Seattle and Portland, it remains to be seen how authorities will react to this latest tactic.
In Portland, police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said he's aware that the movement called for people to occupy foreclosed homes, but said it's difficult to distinguish between the people who would squat in homes as a political statement and those that do it for shelter.
"The vacant property issue is of concern in cities nationwide," Simpson said. "We'll treat them all as trespassers."
In Seattle, protesters took over a boarded-up warehouse slated for demolition last weekend. In an announcement, the protesters said they planned to make the warehouse into a community center, and hosted a party the night they opened the building. Police moved in soon after, arresting 16 people in the process of clearing it out.
Seattle police spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said his department sees squatting in private properties as the same violation of trespassing Occupy Seattle made when it camped in a downtown park.
"It's no different than when people were trespassing (in the park)," Whitcomb said. "We went nights and days, letting people camp in the park. We relied on education and outreach, rather than enforcing the law to the letter."
Atlanta protesters took a more aggressive approach in trying to disrupt the home auction. The auction went on but the whistles and sirens made it difficult for the auctioneers to communicate, said Occupy Atlanta spokesman Tim Franzen.
"We don't know how many homes we saved for one more month during the holiday season," he said. "It was kind of a Christmas gift to the people."
In Los Angeles, protest organizers were keeping the full identity of the man who is going to take back his home secret to not alert police or the bank. The protesters planned to rally when the family returns to their home.
New York protesters introduced members of a homeless family at the end of their rally and said they plan renovate and clean up the house so the family can live in a house they said had been abandoned by a bank.
In Portland, a press conference was held at the home of a woman facing foreclosure next March. She vowed to stay in her house until authorities take her out.
"We belong here," said Deb Austin, who said she fell behind in payments after a cancer diagnosis and after her husband lost her second job. "And we're not leaving."
___
Associated Press writers Nigel Duara in Portland, Ore., Cristina Silva in Las Vegas, Leonard Pallats in Atlanta, and Christina Hoag in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Paul: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear's path, and only I will remain."
Duke Leto: "I'll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." - "Dune."
Of how the principle and the message, no matter how noble, can get completely changed or lost in the delivery. Being anti-bank as a political statement is terrific, being anti-landlord so squatters can make investors look like crooks... is gonna be a problem. If you invest in a city targeted by this, you have my support, and sympathy. Best of luck to everyone...
Paul: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear's path, and only I will remain."
Duke Leto: "I'll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." - "Dune."
I work with home owners not banks, I dont do anything with banks, dont need them at all, except to deposit my checks, after I help a home owner solve the problem of selling there home, that the Banks created in the first place. No I dont need a bank to do my job of helping home owners get a win-win-win situation, the banks are very greedy, has far as I'm concrecned they can fail, no bail out from me. help the people instead....Action+Knowledge= $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.................
Success...
"Action and Mistakes" always-outweigh "Analysis Paralysis"
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"Action+Knowledge=Success....$$$$$$$$$.....
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I've tried to see things their way on things, but being here in NYC, i've seen this from the beginning.
What good do you do living in a park, interfering with peoples livelihood and living conditions; to try and blame everyone who WORKS and lives in the area and crapping in front of their buildings or making it hard for people to get to WORK is wrong.
Now this point of living in foreclosed has totally caused me to lose respect for them on all fronts; what they are doing is illegal and they have become nothing more than squatters to me.
I can see their issues, but sometimes when you want to make a point, its not about what you say, but how you say it.
Get it together and stop acting like bums, because your message has become completely blurred with these recent actions.
Thanks for posting this up and clearing it up for me. Believe it or not, there is a cardboard sign near my apartment that states the same thing: "Occupy is coming to a town near you." And when I first saw this, I was like "Who in the world is Occupy? Never heard of a band with such a strange name!" lol
But in any case, this looks like its gonna be an ugly fight against the banks. Hope this doesn't become a headache for us investors!
Andre
"You are who you are without a doubt...And what you put in is what you see out."
Who are they gonna go protest when home prices have another SPECTACULAR drop when these millions of homes are put on the market? I guess that just means there will be some FINE pickins for us investors while the Occupiers are off protesting the gov, banks, and anyone else they think is involved. If these homes are put on the market like the Occupiers say they should, they will be causing the very thing they fight against. "Rich people will get richer" while the average American will suffer a big loss in his home's value. You and I know that whoever owns these homes will take the cash offers of investors("rich people") before these Occupiers can even get themselves qualified for a loan. Its incredible to see the lack of thought that goes into what these people do and say. Don't call'em Sheeple for nothing.
RENinja
"Remember, success is a journey, not a destination.
Have faith in your ability."
Bruce Lee
It seems that the Occupy movement has lost it's focus and will eventually do more harm than good. It is my belief that should you negotiate on a house that is a REO, the bank would be responsible to have the occupants removed. The question becomes, Do you want to the person responsible for having them removed with potential retribution being taken out on the house? Considering all the thefts and crap that occurs when doing remodels and such, this should really be a question you need to ask yourself.
Invest Des Moines has a good point, deal with homeowners and not banks and you won't have the problems. The bank's issues may be a reasonable tactic to explain why you can't offer higher prices stating that the banks are probably going to unload these problem houses cheap to get rid of the problems and that's their (the homeowners) competition.
Just a thought...
Andy Sager
DG's AndyS
Andy Sager
DG's AndyS
CFIC & IE member
2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016 EDGE Alumni
I have been researching a lot on how the government was created, how its running now, how banks came to be , and most importantly how money works and all i have to say to these people is that if they are not physically or mentally (to the point where they cant use their body normally) ill then get your butts to work!!! The government has created way too many assistance programs for the needy and many people take advantage of it. There is a cure for almost everything but laziness and stupidity. Many homes end up being foreclosed because the person fails to read the contract agreements (they think its like your typical terms and conditions agreement which they probably never read just agree). I have never owned a home, CC, or ever had a car on payments and i always manage to pay everything off and take at least 2 months of vacation every year because i WORK my butt off. No mean to disrespect anybody's believes but if a person has both legs arms and are able to protest for hours then they sure can get a job. Suck it up and work at McD's if you cant find an office job, as long as you pay your bills and you eat its all that matters. plus their i tons of ways to be a business owner they just have to stop being lazy and look for solutions. stop depending on other people to put food in your mouth, if you want milk buy the cow!!!! now don't get me wrong, if the person is an elder or a mother in real big need then i would agree to aiding that family but darn it so many Americans asking for free help because they don't want to work at McD's or Taco Bell is just absurd and making US HARD WORKING Americans look bad.
even if we work with banks; as investors we are opening doors for another family to slide under a roof. If the family currently occupying the property is in jeopardy i would talk to them and see if we can work something out. If anything us as investors are helping other families find a home they probably can't afford to purchase. and if so at a price wwaayyy cheaper than a realtor or agent would be asking for (no disrespect). So either way investors are helping LOTS of people and just happen to get paid while doing it
who's occupying where they were living before the protest? If they're in the foreclosed homes, who's at the homes they were/are in before?
What's even more interesting is how will they distinguish between a foreclosed home and a regular vacant home that's paid up?
I mean, if they can't even understand how the system truly works how can they distinguish between 2 empty houses?
Mark K.
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The comment was made that these protesters were moving into empty homes. How do we know that they are in their rightful homes? With all the garbage going on with the banks using robo signing and questionable techniques to do foreclosures, most of my buyer's list will not touch a REO or any property where a bank is involved.
My point was that you could eliminate this problem by persueing FSBOs in their many forms.
What we are trying to do, as DG investors, is to try to help people in a bad situation get into a good situation. How can moving someone into a house that now has been trashed by protesters or is part of the Robo signing situation helping the new owner? Working with a seller with a clear title and a buyer who has the ability to pay sounds like a better situation to me. Getting paid on top of that is the bonus.
Just my 2 cents...
Andy Sager
DG's AndyS
Andy Sager
DG's AndyS
CFIC & IE member
2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016 EDGE Alumni
You need to get caught up.
As I understand it, the banks were using unqualified people to basically "Rubber Stamp" foreclosure procedures swearing that they had read all the documents prior to the signing. The courts have since put a stop to some companies moving forward because some of what they were doing was not legit.
It was recommended by the leaders of 2 of the REIA clubs I attend to be extra careful when dealing with any foreclosures/REOs where the action was based on the electronic system. I believe it's abbreviated: MERS The topic of conversation here in FL has been "what happens when a homeowner who has been forced out of their house by improper foreclosure actions winds up winning their case in court after their house has already been sold?" Nobody has been able to answer this question as yet. To my knowledge, the courts haven't answered it yet either. See the problem???
For more info, Google "Robo-signing" and you'll see all about it.
Hope this helps...
Andy Sager
DG's AndyS
Andy Sager
DG's AndyS
CFIC & IE member
2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016 EDGE Alumni