When we opened our branch
office a year or so ago I had several local leaders ask me, “So why should I
care that a credit union is moving to town?”
My answers always centered around the fact that we are focused on strengthening
the people in the community and how we support local businesses and interests. I always mentioned the fact that we really
care about our members and that we want to be an asset to the communities we
serve. I never really had a concrete
example of how a credit union impacts a community vs a bank that didn't feel
too warm and fuzzy for the businessy types.
Until now.
My wife and I are looking at
homes. We are nearly finished remodeling
our 100 year old fixer-upper and are ready to sell and to move into a home
younger than we are, with a little more yard for the boys to run wild. In the process we have become almost obsessed
with pulling the Ipad out after the kids are in bed and looking through the MLS
listings. In our community there have
been a whopping 4 homes that have been perpetually listed that meet our
criteria. I like one, the wife likes
one, and neither of us love the other two.
Last week we went to see my wife’s potential house of choice.
As we approached the home I
noticed what appeared to be ice running down the siding UNDER the porch
roof. Odd. I thought maybe a spouting issue. Then my wife noticed that the ice was also on
the INSIDE of the window…
As the Realtor opened the
door she pushed against something hard and we all leaned in to find out what
was in the way. What we saw was all of
the laminate wood flooring up in waves across what used to be a beautiful
foyer. We pushed our way in out of
morbid curiosity to find that the house (a Bank-owned house) was flooded. The water was never turned off, as the heat had been, and the pipes had burst. The drywall had fallen off of nearly every
inch of the ceiling, the lighting fixtures hung from the electrical wires and
junction boxes. The beautiful maple
cabinets held up the edges of the kitchen ceiling and water laid a few inches
deep on the tile below. My wife opened
the basement door to find that the fully finished basement was flooded up to
the ceiling and almost to the top of the stairs. It felt like we had just walked into a home
on the Jersey Shore, post super-storm Sandy.
The mildew and mold that had already started to take hold made my nose
and eyes swell painfully by the time we pulled back onto the road. The Realtor was almost in shock. It had been listed by a big city agent from
out of town and had been foreclosed on by a large national bank. The house was a complete loss. Not because of any negligence on the part of
the prior owner, but because said bank didn't spend a few dollars to have
someone come out and winterize it. A
wonderful family home destroyed. This is
not an isolated incident, it is an outright epidemic, as I will expand on in a
bit.
This is a pretty stark
contrast to the one and (hopefully) only foreclosure that we have experienced
at the credit union. After working exhaustively with
the family who had gotten behind on the mortgage that we held, rewriting it for them
at the going rate with no fees and allowing them to live in the property nearly
2 years without making a full payment even once, we ended up buying the modest
but well built ranch home back at Sheriff’s sale last October. When we finally got the deed in November I
personally went with the local Sheriff and inspected the property. They were happy to oblige. The deputy chatted with me as we walked through
the house and stated that he has never understood why the banks don’t have the department
do this, he stated that he usually gets calls from the neighbors of these homes
once they have become eyesores, targets for looting or havens for unwanted
squatters.
Within a week I had a
contractor meet me at the home and we started the process of renovation to bring
the home up to par with others on the market.
Nothing major, paint, carpet and minor repairs. It cost us a little and took around a month
to get it all done, but the credit union owns this home and we want the buyers
to know that we take pride in our reputation and our community. I personally, the credit union CEO, washed,
swept, carried out trash, loaded up furniture and shoveled the driveway,
multiple times. Why? We want to help
preserve the property values of the homes around this one. We want to attract a quality buyer to a
quality home. We want to be an asset to the
community. We want to do what it best
for the people in our community. Now the
difference is becoming more clear.
One story of how banks versus credit unions impact the community is becoming more concrete.
One story of how banks versus credit unions impact the community is becoming more concrete.
Bank owned properties in the
US are at an unheard of all-time high.
Much higher I fear than the statistics show. According to some studies the majority of
them are actually being held off of the market, sitting vacant strategically to
lessen the impact all at once to the banks’ bottom lines. While this is
borderline criminal, it is certainly underhanded and unfair to those living in
close proximity to these homes. Below is
a link that speaks well to this issue.
It is
a systemic failure in the banking system, an oversight of gargantuan proportion on the part of
regulators and is every bit as devastating to the communities that these banks
serve as it was to Wall Street when the loans for the purchase of these homes originally defaulted. Banks are not being held
responsible for the maintenance and security of the homes they own. They are relying on creative accounting and property insurance coverage to lessen the impact of these losses to their books, in essence, manipulating their assets and thus, stock prices. Isn't this what the Federal Regulators are in
place to prevent.
My wife was deeply saddened
that the beautiful family room that she had fallen in love with online was now
covered in fallen sheet rock. I am
deeply disturbed by that fact that this is one, very typical, example in a
mountain of neglected bank owned property. Communities need to recognize that these
banks SHOULD be held responsible for the maintenance and expedient sale of
these homes. After all, what kind of
neighbors would they be if they just let them go...
Not the kind I want in my community.
Not the kind I want in my community.
