KPLU Local News
(2010-11-04)
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Alisa Kilmer of Lakewood, Washington holds her loan documents outside the foreclosure intervention workshop.
Jennifer Wing
Hundreds of homeowners clutch stacks of paperwork they hope to go through with a mortgage counselor and a bank representative. Most of the people crowding into a conference room in a Tacoma restaurant where this workshop is being held are in the same situation at Alisa Kilmer, who owns a home in Lakewood.
"I went from a job with full benefits and all of that to a job with no benefits. But I also cut back on all of my expenses. No cable TV and none of that kind of thing. Because, I want to keep my house."
Kilmer spent all of her retirement money. She says her house is the only real asset she and her husband have left. Kilmer wants to find a way to make her payments more affordable. And if that's not possible, she just wants to move on.
"If they can't tell me I can keep it, I'd just as soon know. Waking up every morning and wondering is the worst part."
According to the latest numbers, 1 in every 129 homes in the Seattle, Bellevue,Tacoma area is in foreclosure. At workshops like this one, homeowners are paired with a mortgage counselor and the counselors say banks are more likely to move forward with loan modifications when there is someone like them involved to work as a liaison.
Mortgage counselors say their work is paid for through grants and federal funding. If you are seeking help from a counselor and are asked to pay any money for that service, it's a scam, and you should walk away.
JW KPLU News Tacoma.
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