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Six arrested at JP foreclosure protest, including state rep

Malia loaded into wagon for trip to E-13. Photo by Brandon GermanMalia loaded into wagon for trip to E-13. Photo by Brandon German.

Boston Police arrested six people protesting the planned eviction of a Jamaica Plain resident this afternoon, including state Rep. Liz Malia (D-Jamaica Plain). They were among several dozen people who spent 3 1/2 hours at 3 Mendell Way, as part of a protest organized by City Life/La Vida Urbana and the Bank Tenants Association.

Heather Gordon, who says she bought the house when it was a crack house in 1992 and cleaned it up, has been fighting eviction in Land Court, where she charges Huntington National Bank and Deutsche Bank failed to prepare the paperwork correctly. The Supreme Judicial Court has ruled foreclosures based on shoddy paperwork illegal.

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Comments

It's like the "guitarmy" that's gonna' sing songs of protest from Philadelphia to New York City.

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There ought to be a law that politicians can't get arrested unless the arrest required them to spend 24 hours in jail, go to trial, and have any conviction on their record for life.

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She got charged and will go to court in the morning! She is standing up for what is right! She has been working with the family and the bank for months!

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The outcome will be trivial and she knows it. She was treated with kid gloves and the arrest will have absolutely no effect on her life. Whatever she's done in the past, this is empty show.

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I can see the foreclosure being handled by the Land Court, but not the eviction. Eviction is something that's generally outside of the Land Court's purview.

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For how long has she been missing mortgage payments?

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The bank took it over in 2010, so she certainly hasn't paid anything since then.

She bought the house for $62,500 and refinanced about 5 times. The mortgage that finally did her in was for $287,000.

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Her fault. I have no pity.

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Neither the Globe nor Herald articles say anything about multiple refis - both quote her as saying she refinanced in 2005.

Given your almost gleefull rush to place the fault on this woman, I suspect that it is indeed accurate that pity (and even sympathy) is something you do not possess. Kudos.

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According to zillow the house was purchased for $62,500 in 1993. It was then "sold" for $1 in 2007 and 2010 (probably the first foreclosure which didn't stick and then the second which did and now she is being evicted). I'm guessing there's a way to look up mortgage recordings on the Suffolk Registry site?

You can't necessarily fault someone for doing a cash out refi - there are a lot of reasons - health, education for kids, simple debt management if you have too much of your wealth in home equity and more. However, you do have to pay the piper and while I am certainly not familiar with the particulars - sounds like the piper didn't get paid and has come to collect.

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..In the interest of putting forth the accurate information.

This is available to anyone at suffolkdeeds.com

3 Mendell way was purchased for 62,500 The initial mortgage on the house was $39,350 or 63 percent of the sale price. The down payment was nearly 40 percent, a nearly unheard of level today.

- First refi - May 1999 - $83,700 mortgage

- Second refi - Feb. 2002 - $134,000 mortgage

- Third refi - May 2002 - $201,000 mortgage

- Fourth refi - Oct. 2002 - $240,000 - mortgage

- The final refi - November 14, 2005 - $287,000. mortgage

Again, I put this out there only for information purposes. This information can be verified by going to suffolkdeeds.com and entering in 3 Mendell Boston under the property search function.

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The banks don't let you pay then evict you..is everyone stupid. It's happening everywhere..it's happening to me..but I won't go with out a fight.a fight I will win one way or another...this is wrong.

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Well then call me stupid. The banks don't let you pay your mortgage? How long has this been going on? If you take out a loan you are expected to make timely payments, it says so in all that paperwork you signed. There are consequences for not paying your mortgage and it looks like she hasn't paid since 2010. Can you imagine living rent/mortgage free for two years? I would've probably used that money I saved to find somewhere to rent. Being a single parent myself, I am extra careful about expenses, things can easily get out of hand but I won't let myself or my family go through something like this. When you have no other income but your own you best make sure you can meet the monthly note for your sake and more importantly, your childrens.

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.....Silly....OK you're not stupid, and maybe I am, but I think what Donna is referring to is the practice of banks to initiate foreclosure status once the mortgage falls 2 or 3 payments behind. At this point, if the borrower was, say three payments behind and wanted to make a payment to bring them up to 'only' two months behind, the bank sometimes *won't accept the payment" even though it's....a payment. They'll accept the entire amount that is overdue (the full three months) or nothing.

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I assume she realized the importance of not missing a payment. Kinda like car insurance in this state, miss one payment and your cancellation notice is in the mail. Once your cancelled, good luck finding another company that will cover you.

Hey, I know its tough out there and I am struggling just like the rest but I have little sympathy for people not paying and expecting to be able to live rent/mortgage free as she has seemingly done for two years. And I know first hand how things snowball. If she's three months behind, what are the chances she would make good in a short time? Probably nill and thats unfortunate but thems the rules.

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That paperwork is also signed by the bank, who agree to properly track and account for your mortgage. We know the banks have been breaking this agreement and doing sketchy (now ruled illegal) things like robosigning and sometimes completely losing paperwork on some notes. That is what the homeowner is alleging here - if the banks are skimping on their own duties, why should we feel bad for them?

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The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports all six appeared in West Roxbury District Court this morning:

At the joint request of prosecutors and defense counsel, the court amended the criminal complaints to civil infractions, finding each person responsible and closing their cases upon payment of a $50 fine to be paid within two weeks.

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