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William Palacios, his wife, Marisol, and son, Chris, were on the verge of losing their southwest Las Vegas home to foreclosure before they turned to Rep. Dina Titus for assistance.
Sunday, April 18, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Dina Titus
Sun archives
Sun archives
- Housing recovery at least a year away, analysts say (1-21-2010)
- Economists predict more struggles for Las Vegas housing market (1-20-2010)
- Median price of new homes falls under $200,000 (12-22-2009)
- Foreclosures drop sharply for second straight month (12-9-2009)
- Report: Investors buying up Las Vegas foreclosure homes (12-2-2009)
- Nevada’s foreclosure rate tops nation once again (2-12-2009)
William Palacios had nowhere to turn the day he walked into Democratic Rep. Dina Titus’ office in Las Vegas.
The bank was preparing to foreclose on his modest, three-bedroom home — a house he had bought for $250,000 four years before on a block where they were now selling for $90,000.
The office staff remembers the 43-year-old casino maintenance worker walking in, without an appointment, his 11-year-old son in tow.
He was distressed. His 40-hour workweek had been cut to less than 30 hours, and his mortgage forbearance period with the bank was coming to a close. He was in bankruptcy, he owed money he did not have and was being told he did not qualify for further help.
Even now, a month later, Palacios strains when he recalls how close he came to losing his house. His son, his only child, worried the family would be out on the streets.
“Every day he was crying,” Palacios said. “He didn’t want to be homeless.”
The foreclosure crisis remains the pounding hangover from the easy-credit building boom that propelled Las Vegas’ growth.
In a miserable market for housing, Titus’ 3rd Congressional District stands out: Among the nation’s top 50 ZIP codes for foreclosures, it is home to more than half a dozen.
The congresswoman understands that as much as her constituents need jobs to replace those lost in the bust, they also need immediate help to stop foreclosures.
Palacios is among the 832 homeowners in Southern Nevada whose mortgage problems have been brought to Titus’ doorstep since she took office in early 2009.
Titus has done what politicians typically do when tackling a top priority. She makes speeches in Congress. She writes legislation. She dashes off letters to President Barack Obama and his Cabinet secretaries, and bends their ears in brief meetings.
But Titus has also opened her office doors to hundreds of Southern Nevada families over the past year, directing her staff to get on the phones and fight with banks and mortgage lenders to help them keep their homes.
During a tele-town hall meeting early last month, a woman named Gloria told the congresswoman she was about to lose her home and was getting nowhere with the banks.
“The bank is not responding; they’re not really helping us,” the woman said. She explained that her husband lost his job last year and they had exhausted their savings trying to keep up with the mortgage payments.
“Come to my office,” Titus told Gloria and the other nearly 3,500 residents on the call. She paused for listeners to get something to write down the name of her housing staffer and the office telephone number.
“We’ll be glad to help you intervene with the banks,” Titus said. “That’s what we do.”
Titus did not set out to create a housing counseling center in her Las Vegas office. When the congresswoman first came to Washington, she devoted just a couple of staffers to the foreclosure problem. But by summer, as she launched her “Foreclosure Fighter” website, inviting residents to share their stories, it became clear she needed to divert more manpower.
Over the past year, her office estimates Titus has saved constituents $2.4 million, most of it by reworking mortgages. (Some of the savings is from unrelated help, including securing veterans’ or Social Security benefits.)
Five staffers in Titus’ district office in Las Vegas now handle housing problems, in addition to the jobs they were hired to do. They have no formal training in real estate or mortgage finance. Each carries about 100 cases at a time. One staffer has personally handled 300 cases.
The group started out rescuing homes from foreclosure in much the same way homeowners facing foreclosure do, dialing up the banks’ call centers and asking for help. They got put on hold, transferred, disconnected.
They learned by “trial and error.” Each time they found a bank staffer who seemed competent, they jotted down the name and number, and returned with new cases. They built relationships.
They also learned to speak the jargon of modification and refinancing.
And they learned to explain the problems in terms that lenders will understand — yes, the homeowner still has a job, but his casino tips are no longer what they once were.
They have learned to cry foul when the banks require repeat copies of paperwork they have sent.
By the time Palacios walked through the office doors, the staff had honed its skills. Within a few days they were able to negotiate a lower interest rate, which dropped Palacios’ monthly payment by several hundred dollars.
The case went more smoothly than most.
Titus’ spokesman Andrew Stoddard stresses that the congresswoman’s office cannot always save homes from foreclosure. What the staff can do is help homeowners navigate what many residents have found to be an unbearably impersonal system.
“We don’t guarantee anyone anything,” Stoddard said. “We’re going to help people get their materials together, get to their lender and get a fair hearing.”
Critics may scoff, and some have, at Titus helping homeowners who had no business buying homes they couldn’t afford in the first place.
Indeed, one family acknowledged they could afford no more than $800 a month when they bought their home in a gated community in Las Vegas with a loan that would cost them $1,200 monthly. The homeowners believed they could eventually refinance to a better rate. When bills piled up, they risked losing the house.
Julia Gordon, a senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending in Washington, said the question of whether such families should be helped is practically moot. “We’re past the decision point,” she said.
With so many homeowners facing foreclosure in Southern Nevada, the economic damage that would come to entire swaths of the community if such a high volume of homes are vacated would be worse than the cost of helping keep families in houses they could ill afford, Gordon said.
“Everyone’s in trouble: The borrower’s in trouble; the lender’s in trouble. How do we go through this with the least amount of damage?” she said. “Yes, that does mean that some families that should have never been in that house are going to stay in that house.”
Titus will likely face a difficult re-election this fall, as she seeks to keep her seat in a district she won in 2008 with less than 50 percent of the vote.
The freshman congresswoman knows her political fortunes are largely tied to the economic fortunes of her district. Yet Titus, a professor of political science for most of her adult life, also knows that a problem this big has no easy solution.
What perhaps most captures Titus’ increasingly detailed attention to the housing problem can be seen in the letters she has written over the past year, first to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, to the banks and now to President Obama.
Shortly after taking office, Titus began the first of what would become a yearlong correspondence with Geithner, urging him to do more to help homeowners in hard-hit areas and hold lenders accountable to their customers.
In that first letter, she asked Geithner to apply unused Wall Street bailout money to help severely underwater homeowners — those who owed more than their homes were worth, as is the case for the great majority of homeowners in Southern Nevada. “I am worried that you see this problem as minor and that enough has been done to help homeowners with negative equity in their homes,” she wrote last April.
Last summer, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan visited Las Vegas to announce that more severely underwater homeowners would become eligible for federal help.
By fall, Titus was telling Geithner that her new foreclosure website received 200 cases during its first two weeks of operation, and “almost every submission on my website details frustration due to lack of communication between the homeowners and their servicer … This lack of communication is simply unacceptable.”
Titus also recently scolded the big banks, in a letter to their top executives, for having “lost too much paperwork and returned too few calls” and urging them to send more staff to Nevada.
A Bank of America spokesman said the company had begun beefing up resources in the state.
This year, Titus took her concerns directly to Obama. On the 12th of each month, the congresswoman writes a letter to the president, pressing him to turn his attention to housing solutions.
She often offers Obama ideas for new programs. Last month’s letter suggested he push the banks to reduce principal, not just interest, on loans. Earlier she told Obama that in the time since she had last written, 7,100 more notices of homeowner default had been filed in Clark County.
A White House spokesman said the president receives more than 100 letters a month from lawmakers, and that they are typically passed along to the appropriate agencies for responses.
“The president values the leadership that Rep. Titus is providing to the homeowners of Southern Nevada and her tireless advocacy to help reduce the burden on so many in her state,” White House spokesman Adam Abrams said.
The White House notes that while visiting Las Vegas this year, Obama announced that Nevada would receive special funding — what others have said will be more than $100 million — through a new program for the five hardest-hit foreclosure states.
Palacios and his family are secure for now. He is still working fewer hours than he would like, and his wife’s part-time work as a casino porter is sporadic. But the Cuban immigrant is hopeful the jobs that drew his family to Las Vegas from Florida nearly 15 years ago will be available again.
Palacios is grateful for the help from the congresswoman’s office, and hopes he has a chance to meet her to tell her so.
“I would have lost the house,” he said. “I appreciate everything she did.”
In a district where the November election may be decided by a slim few votes, Titus just picked up one.
Good, another LV SUN political advertisement for one of it's own...
Dina Titus does not represent the people of her district. Dina Titus represents the will of the SEIU who have bought and paid for Dina...
Dina Titus is trailing her opponent Dr. Joe Heck by 5 percentage points, but she has used her special talents to raise far more money than Dr. Joe.
Of course, the SEIU has deluged the newspapers and television with political advertisements supporting Dina Titus.
Another story brought to you by The Sun Committee to Try to Hookwink You Into Returning Harry Reid and Dina Titus to Washington.
Hey, Dina, that $2.4 million you say you've saved constituents, where do you think that money came from? That's right -- we taxpayers are subsidizing the interest-rate breaks that these "homeowners" are getting. And more than half of them nationwide are going BACK INTO DEFAULT within months of getting their mortgage break.
Also, where in this story does Titus make a "moral" case for helping deadbeats keep "their homes," as the headline claims? Nowhere in this story does she make the case -- compelling or otherwise -- for a moral imperative. So I guess the Sun's headline writers just felt they would assign that to Titus. How nice of them to do that.
Also, this story quotes a hack from the left-leaning Center for Responsible Lending, which is barely above ACORN in its liberal lust to give every leech of society a government-subsidized home loan, whether they can afford it or not.
If that's the best case Titus/the Sun can make for helping people to "save their homes" -- when they probably never had a penny in equity to begin with -- then Dina Titus will be sitting at home on the morning of Nov. 3 saying, "How did I lose?"
Just as the chump Harry Reid will be saying.
I HATE using taxpayer funds to bail out irresponsible people. The federal gov't is BROKE. They choose to run an unlimited deficit that will eventually ruin our economy, unless they double current tax rates.
That being said, I can see at least trying to keep people in their homes. Give them every chance. But some still won't make it, so use funds to move them to an apartment they can afford and things will definitely improve for them. Sometimes, our love affair with our homes interferes with clear thinking. Some people are better off with a smaller rent payment than a mortgage they never should have been given.
This is all the baggage of the real estate bubble burst which should be allowed to play itself out. I am not for ANY families losing their home, however the banks have to try to recover their investment which means repossession of a given defaulted property and turning it over usually for half of what they loaned out. The people who defaulted have to move out and into a more affordable situation. I mean look at the size of this palace this guy bought, why should he be allowed such luxury when us responsible folks out here who didn't bite off more than we could chew are making do with much lesser accomidations .. Just sayin..
It will be great when the GOP Heck takes over.
then he get rid of home owners that don't make $75k per year. We need more homeless! We need less compassion! This the GOP's way. Heartless to the end.
I agree environprotector.
The longer we try to save people's homes who can still not afford their payments, the longer this mess will drag on. I'm 45, and I don't think I will live to see home values rise to those bubble levels again, even if I live to be 90 :)
Help them get something affordable. They will have disposable income again to kick start our economy.
Dina does not represent the majority of her constituents, hopefully she will not be reelected.
Let's score today.
The Sun has two front page "news stories" that are really campaign ads.
One is a negative ad against a Republican.
One is a cheerleader ad for a Democrat.
These are exhibit A and B why the mythical public funds for campaigns will never work.
Unless the people who are pushing that theory are willing to regulate all media, like news papers in what they can publish.
Sounds un-american.........
Athens22 the last real estate bubble broke around 1990. I sold a home in the San Fernando Valley,CA in Nov '89 for $215,000. I paid $96,000 in '83 for it. By late '90 early '91 the value went down(no more qualified buyers) in worth to $140,000. My mortgage payments on that home were $870/mo. The family that bought it was paying $1700/mo.
I moved here in late '89 and put $70,000 down on a 2100 sq. ft. new home on a quarter acre had a 36 ft. long put in and paid $148,000. Sold that in early 2000 for $260,000. Buy in a buyers market, sell in a sellers market.
The real estate market works in cycles.
As potential buyers watch as prices go up, some of the inexperienced tell themselves that they have to buy a house before it becomes too expensive. Others tell themselves that this house they've been looking at has gone up in value by 60% in a few years. If they buy this house for $300,000 it will soon be worth $180,000 more.
People become blind and ignorant when they think they can make big money, and in this scenerio(sellers market) the real estate agents were leading potential buyers around by a leash. The only winners were the home sellers and the real estate agents.
Today another factor has to be figured, when will citizens get good middle class jobs back to where they lose their fear of the dangers that an uncontrolled economy could bring down upon them. It's amazing what people will soon forget.
Another totally bias article by the Sun for one of there favorite Dems. Why doesn't Titus focus on JOB Creation. Thats right J>O>B> creation. Stop looking at ways to spend tax payers money on things that are destined to fail. JOBS are whats needed not more government spending and she tries to act like she's educated.
She didn't represent us when she voted for Obama care either.
Another out of touch lib, somebody wake her and tell her this country is broke, and tell this guy there are nice apartments for $700 that he can afford on his wages.
Her whole agenda is about the redistribution of wealth.
What will happen when you run out of other peoples money to spend, Dina?
You people are evil. The Constitution calls for the government to protect the general welfare of the people, and it also says we are all equal. So no matter how much you feel you are better than someone else you are not. Here is a case where an elected official has and is been trying to help people, and all you care is wether she is using tax dollars and that she is a liberal. You people are the enemies of our great country, and you think your its saviors. What a joke, why do you read the "Sun" if you think its liberally biased? Just so you can start sh-t with people who have opposing views? Unbeleivable. You people are a threat to our National Security, you bring up Healthcare like it is a constitutional issue, but no where does it say anything about having people buy insurance being unconstitutional. In fact if you define the mandate to buy insurance as a tax, then the constitution clearly defends it. Wake up pin heads, there is more to life than dollar bills, when you get past that maybe you can finally enjoy what those of us in the know like to call "common sense". And no Im not a democrat or a liberal, but im sure you'll label me both, because haters like yall love to label people. No im not lazy, my name is Joe Destito and if you know anyone that knows me they will tell you that I am the hardest worker they ever met. If you dont beleive me, look me up, challenge me. I challenge all of you.
Hey chuck321, how would you create jobs? Are you blind, the only reason jobs went away was because of the whole forclosure meltdown.
Hey Larryvegas, lets hear some constructive ideas rather than just plain criticism.
judgesmales, your the deadbeat. How can you just judge somebody sight unseen? There are people just like me that have worked their butts off to get where they are only to see everything fall out from under them just because of someone elses bad decisions, so that classifies me as a deadbeat? Actually I would love to meet you just so I could truly learn what kind of person you are. I pray that God helps us all to cross paths, because then you will learn just what kind of man I am, just how lazy Im not. You all can talk tough online and criticize and namecall, but I gaurantee in person you would have nothing to say.
No matter what your opinion of Ms. Titus' efforts to help, please know that most people are "underwater" or in fear of losing their home are in that position through very little fault of their own...most are victims of their own government's misguided policies and the consequent financial meltdown, and are not stupid and irresponsible...I don't know the right answer, but I do know that most of these folks are not culpable...
Wow, look at Joe go, anyone that doesn't agree with him or the LVSun is an "enemy of this great country" and "a threat to our national security". And he says he's not a liberal Democrat.
Why are some so quick to judge? There are some good, hard working Americans who have lost their jobs due to lay offs or cut backs... a deadbeat that does not make. Where's the compassion for these people? Heaven forbid those who are so judgmental should ever find themselves in a similar situation!
That being said, I will say what I DO have a problem with:
"Indeed, one family acknowledged they could afford no more than $800 a month when they bought their home in a gated community in Las Vegas with a loan that would cost them $1,200 monthly."
If you were greedy enough to KNOWINGLY live beyond your means, then this problem falls solely on YOUR lap, not the general public's. It's the same as buying a car you can't really afford. I think a lot of people, especially in my age group (30ish), were not taught good money management skills. In this era of instant gratification and this "I want" and entitled mentality, a lot of my peers never learned how to say "no". (Yay credit card debt!) If this is the trajectory society continues on, imagine how bad it'll be for future generations.
I have just had a short sale go bad at the very last minute after I had signed loan docs, after 5 months of negotiations. The seller, a former flipper/RE agent, was allowed to buy and bail on her former properties, allow one to go into taxpayer receivership at Fannie Mae, and screw everyone else involved(agents,buyer,lenders) in my transaction.
Point being is she should have been foreclosed on a year ago. This shouldn't have even been a short sale but because our criminal government insists on helping to little criminals the short sale process is broken and ruined.
Foreclosure is a necessary and natural process that's purpose is to clear the bad underlying debt. I don't feel sympathy for any of these fools who knowingly bought more house than they could afford. Clear the system so that it can actually heal, enough of bailing out people and institutions...Titus has lost my vote.
@lectrocuda: How would I create jobs. Well lets see first of all I would not increase taxes on small businesses. When you do they cannot afford to invest in there business and will not only not grow but will layoff there employees. Another thing would be not to create more government. Invest in the private sector this will help to create jobs. Do you think that spending 3 million dollars in a turtle path in Florida was a wise decision or just government pork. Or how about 200,000 dollars on a bug collection at college in Colorado. Why did Catepillar layoff 20,000 people after health care was passed. There's so much more but obviously you don't pay attention to the economic climate. Oh yeh global warming now this is an interesting deal. Bet Gore's made money on that one. I owned a business and employed 22 people. They had families. I always felt responsible for them and their children. Taxes, insurance I could go on but you have no clue. I stepped up up to the plate. So you mat work hard but try being a business owner and then lets talk.
Joe, I started a biz in 1990, lost all of my money because of the recession of 1992. No one came along and offered to replace my cash or get me back on my feet. I lost it all, slept on the couch of a friends house before got enough cash and bought a sleeping bag and slept on the floor of my own appartment for a year. A new friend gave me a mattress to sleep on...nice. I picked up and started over and today I am fine...home paid for and cash in bank. Risk reward is a balance that we all assume when we wake up each day. I never once thought to ask the government for help. The problem with todays society and people like Obama, Reid and Titus is that they think we should pay for others bad decisions and failures. If thats the case where do I stand in line to get my 300k that I lost? Titus and her socialist agenda will not get my vote.
Thank you Dina!
Dina is a wonderful representative!
As far as I can tell the only thing Joe Heck does is run for office and LOSE -
Let me put what Dina is doing in a way that will equate to the Rupublican way of thinking. (you know, ME, ME, ME!!)
A house on your block that was purchased for 250k, that is now worth 90k, who has a FAMILY in it who loves it is worth WAY more to YOUR property values than an investor purchasing the property for pennies on the dollar and renting it to whomever they choose. Neighborhoods with owner occupied houses are always better for individual property values than an neighborhood chocked full of investor owned rentals.
It's fantastic that Dina actually cares about the people living and working in her district. She's a wonderful person!!!
by the way...what are the stats...8 out of every 10 new business will fail after the first year....and of the two that make it only one will be around 5 years later? I am not sure of the exact stats...so should we bail these failed biz people out as well? Seems so unfair that they shuld fail in a capitalist society.....We don't for they made a decicion as to there financial future? I know this is ridiculous but no one speaks to the people that try...its always the ones that do nothing that expect everything for nothing!
Titus is a tool of the unions, Pelosi, Reid, and Obama. One two-year term is more than enough for her.
A "casino maintenance worker" (is this a janitor or a slot mechanic?) buys a $250,000 house 4 years ago. He makes what, $40,000 a year? He brings in ~ $2500 a month (after taxes.) He now has a house payment of $1500 a month. With insurance and escrow the payment is around $1750. ($2500 - $1750 = $750). After a car payment (I bet he had two), he's down to about $400 a month for bills (electric, gas, water, food, evrything). In other words - it can't be done. What happened was, this guy gambled that the value of the house he bought would go up so much that he could get a second mortage and use the cash to keep afloat. He lost his bet. Now, the people who didn't gamble on real estate are expected to cover his marker. I went to a casino and put $250,000 on red. It came up black. Shouldn't the people who don't go to casinos pay this for me? What's Dino Titus' number?
Thank you Dina!
Dina is a wonderful representative!
I contacted Dina Titus one year ago for assistance in refinancing our home under the HARP program. One year later and two appraisals later (costing $500 each) I still don't have our house refinanced...
The first thing I would ask is if Mr Palacios actually met the normal lending standards that should be applied by a lender? If that is the case he should get help. If he had no down payment and not enough income to qualify for a normal loan, he should get very little help.
Oh, by the way...
Mason-Dixon polling shows Joe Heck leading Dina Titus by five points in the latest poll. The poll has Joe Heck with 49 percent and Dina Titus with 44 percent and 7 percent undecided that will probably go with Joe Heck once he gets the Republican nomination...
How many of the anti-Dina folks here work for Joe Heck, or hope to work for Joe Heck? Raise your hands.
A trait of the anti-Titus people here, bremskraft, is that we already have jobs.
So it's OK for a corporate fat cat running a newspaper to be cheerleading for a democrat, but not OK for average joe to post an anti-candidate comment on here bremskraft?
I am sure that if a Republican like John Ensign or Jim Gibbons did something to help those suffering in this crisis, the Sun would cover it. But I understand that they are too busy with their mistresses to pay much attention.
As for the Mason-Dixon polling, it is well-known that it is skewed, as my house has learned first-hand. After all, you get what you pay for.
Titus - I will vote against you.
get it.
lectrocuda, you are the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. I believe within your comment you do more complaining than everone together on this page.
I know, freedom of speech. You're not against that are you lectro?
This article is a classic example why we are in the situation we're in; irresponsible borrowing and taxpayers baleing them out. Pure and simple.
The ones suffering in this crisis are those who are having to pay for the mistakes (honest or other wise) people like Mr. Palacios made.
jmymac1958, you forgot to add "with the Heck campaign."
You people are forgetting the rest of the narrative you are supposed to repeat. Remember: you have always voted for the Democrat (just kidding, you always have voted Republican, but for these purposes you'll fib a little), and this time, THIS TIME, you are voting against Dina Titus. Because, well, she is a Democrat.
Btw, have any of you considered that the Sun did this story simply because Titus is helping her constituents, and that is what a real newspaper is kind of supposed to do? I can't figure out if you all are bitter because 1. you are used to the RJ's over-the-top bias, or 2. you resent the fact that Titus is getting good things done for her constituents, something that Heck has never done and has no proposals for in the future.
Some much crap -
(1) I'm not a Republican - I'm an Independent.
(2) Titus is not helping anyone - she's prolonging the unavoidable collapse of people buying something they can't afford (only for long enough to get votes).
(3) Titus is doing it to get votes from people who can be bought. ("Here's money from other people to pay for what you bought. Don't forget to vote for me, and tell all your friends.")
(4) Who ever I vote for will have to show me that he believes everyone should take responsibility for their own actions.
What a nice CIRCUS
jimmymac. Wake up the banks made the mistakes. If your sick, do you figure out your symptoms, consult a PDR and go to the pharmacy to get your pills? No you go to a doctor because that is his/her job. These people are regular people, not entreprenuers, not ceo's, not scientists. There are numerous administrators that you consult with when purchasing a home. So, if it was so easy for you to figure out, why did they loan him the money? Yet we bail them out and not the little guy?
@Novaseline. All im saying is of all times to want to cut unemployment, why are so many so outspoken about it now? At a time when there is people who have never been unemployed. Go ahead use that, why should I pay for them. Actually, the employer pays it, and it is made up of federal subsidies, most of which were paid into by the people who are receiving it. This is seriously turning into an employee vs employer battle, when the true enemy of us all is the main investors of the Federal Reserve. If we, the regular people can figure out what someone could afford, WHY COULDNT THEY? WHY DID THEY MAKE THE LOANS? Go ahead ridicule me and say how I have no clue, and until I own a buisness I cant say anything. blahblahblah. Let me bow down. Go ask Larry Vegas he has 6920 comments on a paper he disgusts.
sorry larry but had to get it in there lol
It is well-known that Liberals think that all polls are biased and skewed if the polling results do not fit into their political mindset...
I believe I'd rather settle for "The Party of no" rather than the Party of 'what's in it for me?'.
I read the LV SUN daily, not the Review Journal. As as matter of fact, the LV SUN is the only daily paper I read...
I like to keep up with the friendly people who reside on the left side of reality...
If you want the answer to why the loans were made, go to the Web and look up Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Barney, Ted and company peverted the good idea of helping people who were close to being able to afford a home into the idea that everybody (no sacrifice or saving) was entitled to a house. You probably won't look it up - but no matter.
Let's use you as an example. I have no idea how much you make or how much house you could afford to buy. Let's just say you think (maybe you can) you can afford a $1 million dollar home. You know you could afford $1 million, but not $5 million. If someone tells you tomorrow: "Sure, you can afford it. Come on, magic happened overnight, and the house you couldn't afford yesterday is now affordable." If you bought the house, wouldn't it be, at least a little, your fault when you couldn't pay for it?
No Bremscraft, Titus is not HELPING her constituents, she is actually hurting them by prolonging their untenable financial situation. If a person cannot afford the house they are in after doing everything possible to increase their income and lower their debt, they need to move to something more affordable. If that means foreclosure and/or bankruptcy, or moving to somewhere that prices are lower and jobs are available then so be it. Supply and demand will price the home realistically and eventually someone who can afford it will move in. Anything less is just prolonging the situation, ultimately at taxpayer expense. Now if Dina Titus provided a path to job training and a potentially higher paying job in conjunction with debt counseling, then perhaps that might help some of the individuals in this situation. (Without publicly funded assistance) That combined with an effort to grow the economy by lowering taxes on businesses and when possible, reducing the amount of strangling regulations that American businesses are forced to operate under would be a good start.
As to a what a "real" newspaper is supposed to do, what about their natural role as a "watchdog" of the abuse of power by our elected representatives? When the Sun starts to equally question the actions of BOTH major parties' willingness to throw our money away in ever increasing deficit spending, then maybe they will earn some respect for journalism. But for now as in the past, they are obviously a mouthpiece for the progressive left, always biased towards "party over country" Eventually supply and demand will catch up with them too....
In the spring of 2009 the congress passed the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan with a price tag of 75 billion. Why does it still take the power of a congressional office to get something like this done? Another piece of legislation passed and not working?
You can't make the impossible true (A $40K job = a $250K house) no matter how many acts you pass.
What a joke!!!! It was the people's own greed that got them into trouble. Yea, the banks did predatory lending,but no one held a gun to their heads as they signed the paper work. So now people are expecting the goverment to bail them out by reducing the interest rate or the principle on the loan. So what happens to the people who are making their payments on time???? Can I go to the bank and ask to have my principle reuduced by 100k...or maybe just 50k???? or better yet have my 30yr. fixed interest reduced by a percentage point??? That won't happen because I'm responsible, I didn't take on a loan I couldn't afford! People need to take responsibilty for their decisions and actions and quit relying on the goverment to bail them out!!!
Unbelievable article. Pandering with taxpayer money for votes of it's worst kind. The fact of the matter is that Americans have been living in houses that are over thirty percent larger over the past ten years. Liberals will never tell you this secret and only focus on disposable income. Consumers have no choice but to move into homes relative to rising incomes. This means downsizing. Stop wasting taxpayer money and prolonging the inevitable. Titus is only providing morphine to sick patients for short term results. We voters are smarter than this. You reading this Dina??
I know this may sound naive but I thought the job of these congress people was to help the people of their district? IF the corporations can get bailed out why not the people?
Here come all the teabaggers from RJ-ville...
Typical. Did Shermie put up a blog post denouncing The Sun for reporting something Dina Titus has been working on for some time? Or was he just mad that they didn't mention their skewed "poll" that's manipulated to show Republicans winning?
I'm glad we actually have someone in Congress working for us. It's about time our elected officials take on the foreclosure crisis and offer real solutions. Props to Dina for this... And I think she should know that most of us in this district appreciate what she's doing.
Our media would be more honest if they would print more than one slant on every subject. They show their bias when they take one candidate and write articles about them that only show the good side of the candidate. Their journalism is sub-par and they will even lie because they know that some of their readers don't have time to read from other sources. How can we believe in a source when all we read is how good a candidate is when we know otherwise? Who can we trust? Maybe thats why the RJ is losing subscribers because the readers are tired of reading the one sided articles in the paper. So the people who have computers know they can go on-line and venture to any media sight and get a 360 degree view on any topic, which is better and more informative than the 1 degree they get here. When we start adding up the pluses and minuses that we see a candidate carrying, we get a better idea where the candidate stands.
However, depending on the severeness of the candidates' minuses they are carrying, some of their problems will never be overshadowed by thousands of pluses.
I have been criticized by some that all I talk about is the illegal immigration problem. Well ,I have to agree that I do make it a main point in my comments, only because this is the problem that is destroying the industry I work in, construction. I also see illegals taking over in the back of house jobs at our main casinos. I blame the casinos themselves for creating the problem and blame our government and law enforcement for not controlling the problem.
Like I told lectrocuda earlier, we all are lucky to be citizens in a country that gives us the freedom of speech. Granted we all either agree or don't agree with the comments others make, and because of our freedom of speech we can all comment and agree or disagree with everybodies comments. It's our right.
I've said this before, if there was no disagreeing we wouldn't be posting here at all. Wouldn't it be boring if we all got along, and our government was doing everything right?
I can appreciate what Dina is doing but she is wasting her time and her constituents time by just helping one person. She was voted in by thousands of citizens and her time should not only benefit one person, her work should be focused on helping all of the people, unless all she is worried about is getting one or two votes.
jmymac, of course you're right. I was just pointing out that we;ve already blown 75 billion on another program that doesn't work. I don't live in a house nearly as nice as the one pictured above and between my wife and myself we earn a very nice income. My one credit card balance is zero. I never wanted to be married to the house payment and we have never been late for a payment of any kind.
My reward for all of that is to be asked to bail out those who got in over their head.
Nevada's Third Congressional District is the largest in the country with the highest rate of foreclosures, so it's no surprise this is one of her main priorities. If she and her staff ignored her constituents' needs, the critics on this board would howl in outrage. Her office helps homeowners negotiate a byzantine system that is not on their side.
@allvetteup: Meet Rep. Titus at a Congress on the Corner and share your views. She is intelligent, a good listener and right in sync with you about lowering taxes on businesses. Her amendment to do so became part of the health care law.
We need more empty suit no solution Republicans like we need a whole in head. Whose going to fight the scary Michelle Bachmans or the trickledowner Marsha Blackhearts besides our own well prepared Dina Titus !
Dina Titus does not represent the people of the 3rd District. Dina Titus represents the will of the SEIU who have bought and paid for Dina...
Dina Titus is trailing her opponent Dr. Joe Heck by 5 percentage points and the gap will widen in the next few months. Titus has used her special talents to raise far more money than Dr. Joe but the people of the 3rd District know when someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes...
Dina, Are you reading these comments. Do you get the one central theme here? that is that people no longer want you to bail out anyone and hand tax payers the bill. We did not want and do not want the health care bill and your polls told you that. But you went against the will of the people to kiss the but of Obama for had he not had your votes his presidency and all of his ideals were heading down the drain. I hope it was worth your career in politics to help out this one term president.
I see, in my congresswoman, Dina Titus, a pragmatic, sensible lawmaker who has the values we share.
She supported health care reform, but she didn't just jump on the Democratic party bandwagon to do it...she didn't support it until all her concerns about how it would affect small businesses were addressed to her satisfaction.
That's what she does...she studies the issues and then decides.
For the naysayers out there take a moment to visit her website..ask questions, call her office, they have been gracious and are always willing to help.
I'm sorry. But when I see tea-baggers I see Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Fox news...and when I see Dina Titus I see a lawmaker who is working hard for average folks like you and me!
Stuart & Robert Wyman-Cahall
Las Vegas, NV 89142
I think I need a bigger shovel to deal with the all the BS that howdy is dishing out.
Appears to me that the SEIU is one of Dina Titus biggest fans...
Nightingale,
I have spent considerable time (time that I now consider wasted) writing Ms. Titus. Contrary to your post, I believe that she is not "a good listener". She appears "tone deaf". Her delayed, generic position responses indicate she or her staff are not doing their job(s) very well. I will work against her reelection because in my opinion she is not representing the interests of her constituents. She is yet another politician caring more for party than country...
Nightingale,
Thank you for your post.
I will never forgive, nor will I ever forget our last representative, Republican-- Jon Porter.
He was, like Gibbons & Ensign, one of those C Street types, who were pathetically hypercritical, preaching family values while destroying their own relationships.
That, of course isn't the worst of it because little of that affected us personally.
No, it was Jon Porters rubber stamping of Bush policies which have brought us to the brink.
I'm looking forward, never backwards.
Thank you Representative Titus for standing up to the health care insurance companies.
Good luck Representative Titus in taking on the Republicans in trying to reform Wall Street so this mess NEVER happens again.
Stuart & Robert Wyman-Cahall
Las Vegas, NV 89142
If SEIU had it's way we would have had a public option because of the Dick Armey and Max Baucus we don't. So Larry and Sgtrock are the only ones who are able to afford healthcare since they are Millionaires
She's trying to help where the lenders themselves REFUSE to help whatsoever. In this time of economic crisis, can't we ALL use a little help?
"If SEIU had it's way we would have had a public option because of the Dick Armey and Max Baucus we don't. "
I am not sure what Dick Armey has do to with anything.
The Democrats had absolute control of both houses until Jan.
So if you are going to cry...then cry about your leadership like Reid.
Just a big-o FYI....Obama was never thrill about the public option.
Once again, I kept my little house in a not so fancy part of town while all of my neighbors laughed as they moved up and out to pricey neighborhoods. When I lost my job, I took money out of my 401k to pay bills, including the mortgage and Cobra. The same government that is "helping" all those who bought in over their heads, charged me a 10% penalty, plus the taxes for the early withdrawl. If these people can't afford their house, MOVE TO AN APARTMENT! I have no compassion for those who overpaid, why should I pay for living responsibly and paying my own way while they get it handed to them for free and live in a nicer place.
To Bushdepression:
Have you ever known someone who lost their home to foreclosure? Chances are you haven't, but if you have; Why didn't you pay their mortgage? You are probably saying "I couldn't afford to pay their mortgage!". To which I say "EXACTLY."
Why didn't you and the people you know band together and pay the person's mortgage? I would expect you to say "We didn't owe them that." or " Why should we pay their mortgage?". ....Ooops ...now you're just a hater like me.
Bakersfield
Don't be so cynical. You should be ashamed that you took care of your own problems and now expect others to do the same. Shame on you. Weren't you paying attention in kindergarten? (where most politicians got stuck in their development) Sharing means only YOU give something up.
Is this a news story or a political advertisement? I feel like I just watched an infomercial after reading this.
When I hear the term underwater, how should that really matter unless the fortunates of a family change.
I know that a lot of people this is the case but it seems to me we are also grouping people who have the same income or better than they did when they purchased their home and now are claiming poverty. Removing the people who have had a turn for the worse who I have some sympathy for, the ones who haven't I have none for, which is most.
The family KNEW they couldn't afford $1,200 a month but bought anyway, hoping to refinance sometime later?????? Duhhhhhhhh What a brilliant plan!!
And I as a TAXPAYER have to help bail these financial genius's out? At least 65% of loan mods eventually go bad anyway.
I'm really trying to wrap my head around this issue, because this is how I see it. Every single person I know that is in foreclosure or has lost or walked away from their home, got to that point by both greed and stupidity.
I don't know a single person that lost their home through no fault of their own. When they agreed to these payments at the heighth of the housing market, they knew that value could not possibly keep rising. Most of these people took their reasonable 30 yr mortgage that they could easily afford, raped the equity out of their house, and ended up owing far more than the house is currently worth. Some people I know had their homes paid for, then got in trouble by raping their equity.
Stupidity and greed. You can't blame others for talking you into a bad financial decision. There are scams everywhere you look in life. If you're a fool, there is someone lurking around ready to exploit your foolishness and seperate you from your money.
The people that have lost their income, that's a different story. As unfortunate as that is, most people simply cannot afford their mortgages without jobs. Sometimes, bad things happen to good people and they have to leave their homes. Such is life. You probably need to lower your expenses when you are unemployed, which likely means moving into smaller and cheaper quarters.
I have to say, I think we all care passionatly about our community as a whole. We have different perspectives and philosophies and thats okay, it can be beneficial overall. I think WE, im just as much to blame, need to stop with attacks and negativity and participate in the democratic process. I personally beleive that all of the current candidates and incumbents, are unqualified. These decisions need to be made by average people. Government should not be a buisness, it should be an oversight group. We all know that wether your a buisness, or an individual, everyone looks for loop holes and ways to get around tax laws. We truly are all the same we just stand from a perspective that we feel is beneficial to us personally.
Freemansmind, I agree illegal immigration is out of control, we pay taxes to support INS and they dont do their job, they should be held accountable. Same with the FDA. The list goes on and on. Your in construstion you know what a joke OSHA is.
I also agree that their are people that obviosly had to know that they could not afford that home, and they were banking on the value increasing and being able to sell it before their ARM went up, so they could turn a quick buck. They should be responsible. Yet that is not everyones situation. Some people actually got screwed and lost their jobs because of the people afformentioned. So dont they deserve some understanding and a a little assistance?
I agree their are people milking unemployment and the welfare system, but their are people that are utilizing in a constructive manner, much like a stepping stone so they can become productive members of our society.
What Im saying is, we cannot categorize everyone who is losing their homes as irresponsible, or everyone who is on welfare as milking the system. I agree that government should be held accountable. Lets ask ourselves why the simplest solutions have not been implemented? Why dont welfare reci[eints get drug tested? It hasn't even been proposed.
Why in Las Vegas do we have, Clark County Govt, City of Las Vegas Govt, North Las Vegas Govt, Henderson Govt? With the revenue that these establishments generate on their own we could fund one single streamlined entity that operates in the black. The only positions we would eliminate, is elected ones and recent new hires.
Again, I think we all agree that if executed properly and with the proper oversight and a little commonsense, together we can all make this work, and at the same time help those that are less fortunate that are willing to help themselves, and we dont have to disrupt the free market. We dont need to attack each other or play the poll game or even care what slant these irresponsible one sided media outlets are putting on the story.
ok, Titus and Reid are great!
Quoted from the article:
"Indeed, one family acknowledged they could afford no more than $800 a month when they bought their home in a gated community in Las Vegas with a loan that would cost them $1,200 monthly. The homeowners believed they could eventually refinance to a better rate. When bills piled up, they risked losing the house."
I guess being responsible and renting was stupid of me. I rent only what I can afford and pay additional income taxes since I do not have the mortgage deduction yet the "homeowner" scammers pay less in income taxes and get the government to reduce their payments.
lectrocuda,
Regardless of the circumstances, the fact of life is that people cannot continue to live in houses they can't afford. I don't know that government resources should be spent prolonging/delaying/avoiding foreclosures for people that simply cannot afford their homes. I believe there are more productive things for state workers to be doing. If they have nothing better to do than it's time to start cutting staff in Titus' office.
life is a bitch and then you die - I am glad to be a renter these days and not have all the wonderful experiences of being kicked out of my house and having to try to negotiate with banks and others. Good luck to all of you - I believe that God intends for your to prosper - it is also preferred that you not commit fraud.
revtom,
If I were a frugal renter like yourself living within your means, I'd have to be pretty annoyed that Titus' staff is so devoted to using public resources, time, and tax dollars helping people stay in nice homes they can't afford. I would mind a lot less if they were trying to relocate people into decent apartments or rental homes rather than trying to save people from foreclosure. It doesn't seem to be an appropriate use of the congresswoman's office or our time and money.
How about finding some meaningful work to do that benefits all Nevadans?
Hmmm....people crowing about being "quick to judge" then issuing arbitrary judgmental statements about those people. Sounds like the progressives are trying to defend the indefensible.
I'm current on my upside down mortgage and I don't make $75k. But according to Dina because I can make my payments I now have to make this guy's too. I'm ok with that as long as I can take him as a deduction on my tax return.
Unbelievable whining c*nts in the comments section cheering for a family to lose their house. You people are absolutely disgraceful.
If you can't make the payments it's not your house.
@henderson: There are those that were irresponsible and to them I say Oh well.
There are also those who bought a house they could afford, worked their job for ten+years and now because of the irresponsible people, the economy got hit and alot of responsible people are losing it all. Those are the people that deserve a helping hand.
I am realizing that the greatest threat to our country is campaign finance and lobbying(I've always thought this) Wether your a labor union or some mega corporation, it undermines our "for the people, by the people" Until we put and end to this, there will always be 1/2 ass regulation and reform. If the politicians dont make sense, its because they're to busy making dollars.
Some people's comments here (and everywhere on the internet) are undermined by misuse of their/there/they're and your/you're. To me it undermines their arguments, e.g. lectrocuda has this problem, tho' in general he or she spells very well. He suggests that all the current people in office & running for office are incompetent and that "average" people should be making decisions about our lives. When people hold office they need to be literate. That means knowing that "your in construction," "their are people," etc. are incorrect. In my opinion being literate means knowing when to use these common words.
So far, I've registered 15 people this week.
For those fellow Liberal/Dems, GOTV! Don't miss out an opportunity to confirm NV a blue state. We need you to get out there and get people registered to vote.
Dina Titus, like Harry have put their all fighting for Nevada. Their success is the envy of some of these people posting derogatory comments about Titus and Reid.
Respond - not with a comment, but with a GOTV effort. Get your friends to register to vote!
jw456,
Same applies with the loose ways they use the word lose.
So lectrocuda,
Here's my question. Someone loses their job and can no longer afford the home they are living in. It happens. Many people out there rent because they cannot afford homes. Is it really the duty of our Congresswoman to use her time and resources (our resources) helping people stay in a home they cannot afford?
If you can't afford your standard of living, you need to downsize and adopt a standard of living that you can afford.
Is this not a basic fact of life? I'm sorry people are out of work, it's very unfortunate. There are resources out there, I'm not sure this is the best use of our Congresswoman's time, office or resources.
Appears that unlv702 works for ACORN...
Be sure to only register those that will vote for Harry Reid and Dina Titus.
But no worry... If they are voting for Harry and Dina, they probably can't find their way to the voting station anyway...
For instance hendo.... I knew that the economy was screwed and that I was not in the click, so no matter how hard I worked the end was inevitable. So I saved every dollar I could, and I can ride this out for two years. I hate it though, Im going crazy, I actually like working in my field, but any ways.
I was responsible.
Some people though were blinded and they thought that because they were hard workers they were secure. We all know that lazy stupid people are still working. I think those people should've gotten a bailout.
Do I think Titus should spend all her time working on it. NO. Do I think any of these politicians care about anything other than re election. NO.
What I dont understand is how we can be a great country but not have compassion for people who are getting screwed because these banks gambled and lost, yet we do nothing when they receive 700 billion, and in fact we proceed to blame each other meanwhile they're posting record profits.
c'mon larry why must you spread insults?
The time has come for Goldman Sachs and their ilk to be forced to disgorge profits secured by betting on the housing crisis that they helped engineer. This is NOT about people who knowingly mismanaged their money and got into trouble. These are people who were bamboozled by fast-talking unethical and often just BARELY legal, loan salesmen. They didn't care about who would be hurt by their actions. No desire to facilitate a "win/win transaction. As long as they got their sales commission, whatever needed to be said, true or not, justified the means. Now we want to blame the ill-advised homeowner for being taken in by people TRAINED in the art of deception and who manipulate and obfuscate for a living. These salespeople were VERY good at what they did. The purchase of a home is complex enough for anyone other than an attorney to understand, let alone someone with possibly only a high school education and a strong abiding desire to own a home.
Anyway, the more light that gets focused on what happened to create this financial disaster, the clearer it becomes that the unsuspecting home buyer had the LEAST culpability. The BEST and BRIGHTEST our business schools have put out went into finance and learned how to hack the system as effectively as a Jolt-Cola fueled teen can hack a defense department computer. The only difference is that they were paid millions of dollars in bonuses by the likes of Goldman Sachs to do it!
Those of you who want to blame the homebuyers for this economic collapse are either too ignorant to understand how sophisticated this whole real estate con was, or you just enjoy kicking people when they are down. Either way, you're just letting the REAL bad actors off the hook and they are laughing all the way to the bank.
As to the efforts of Congresswoman Titus, she is doing EXACTLY what a congressional representative SHOULD be doing. She is assisting her constituents who have been CRIMINALLY wronged by a powerful and totally unrepentant financial "services" industry and requesting federal intervention on behalf of those so wronged. This is more than enough to warrant her reelection and she can certainly count on my support come November.