MichiganRadio

Facing the Mortgage Crisis: Almost Losing the Family Farm SOUTH LYON, MI (Michigan Radio) - The Braun family barely avoided losing their farm. Their housing counselor, Kathy Grant, helped them avoid foreclosure at the last minute. Here Paula Braun tells us her story in her own words.


"This home and this property mean everything to me. This is huge. It's been in the family for over one-hundred years.

Well we started running into problems last June I'd say. My husband's hours got cut. I have a medical condition and it was costing us a fortune a month. Then the bills piled up and they raised the prices of everything. Then his hours got cut more, and he lost his insurance at work. It was really difficult.

I mean, we try to be good people, I think we're good people. It just happened. It wasn't because we were lazy or didn't want to do anything. It just got away from us, with the medical and his cut hours, it all snowballed at once. You're in trouble before you know it.

The lowest time in all of this, and I'm probably going to start crying, was when we were in Kathy Grant's office. My dad had passed away the weekend before. It was a Monday. She was trying to deal with the mortgage company, and they weren't giving her any answers. They had sent letters from their lawyers, and she was trying to deal with them and they weren't helping her. It was like, see this is what I've been telling everyone, we can't get an answer! It was awful. She kept telling us, don't worry I will get an answer for you. She couldn't, and she tried for two-and-a-half -hours and she couldn't get any answers at first. But she did, she didn't quit.

And finally the day before the sheriff's sale they called me and said ok we're going to make this deal. I'll fax over something, you sign it and have Brad sign it and get it back to me. Finally it was four in the afternoon and the sheriff's sale was at nine the next morning.

Being on the verge of losing it, oh, I think I almost had a nervous breakdown. It was that hard. I knew I'd never have another chance to have this property again if we lost it. It felt like I let my family down. It was terrible. It was bad. I mean my grandma lived through the depression, and she didn't lose it. How can I lose it? It was really difficult.

Actually it feels like we've been through hell but we came out the other side and we're going to be ok."
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