Giving By Saving Our House

by Sandra Vincent
(Richardson TX)

How your giving can save our house. My name is Sandra Vincent: I am originally from York, Pa. but now I reside in Richardson, TX. I am 66 years of age: my only income is Social Security. I have no savings of any kind and no other retirement income. I am trying to find options to stay and save a house I share with my son-in-law after losing my daughter to cancer a few years back. This house was very dear to my daughter and son-in-law. It's become kind of a place of sanctuary for Alan and I along with pets.

Some History:

I moved to Dallas to be with my daughter, I no longer had work and the last remaining member of my family, my sister, passed away, so I packed up and moved and hoped to start a new life in Dallas. Everything was going well, I found a job shortly after coming to Dallas, bought a new car and lived with my daughter in her apartment. Michelle was working two jobs and going to school. Michelle was dating a man named Alan who she was very fond of, he had found a really good job working in IT Telecom Helpdesk for J. C. Penney in their Corporate office and after her graduation they talked of marriage and wanted to get a house big enough for all 3 of us, because we all got along quite well.

Michelle was a Navy Seabee/carpenter for 5 years so she wanted a fixer upper with hopes of getting married and having a family. Michelle found this house in Richardson, TX, and she loved it and thought it would be a good place to start. However, although they started a lot of repair projects, such as painting, ceiling fans, some new doors, cutting down trees etc. all seemed to slow down to a halt when Michelle discovered she had breast cancer. I thought maybe she had a good chance of surviving as I am a breast cancer survivor myself of over 20 years.

The doctors she was seeing gave her a very poor outcome, so my soon to be son-in-law Alan started researching Cancer on the internet in order to buy her more time. Nothing was working, Michelle had a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and than a mastectomy removing the right breast. Another small surgery to remove even more cancer, after numerous rounds of radiation, the cancer was metastatic moving to the bones and spine.

Michelle was spending quite a bit of time in the hospital while Alan and I and other church people kept vigilance at her bedside. Long story short, Michelle had a short time to live, my son in law found an experimental treatment www.IPTQ.com the treatment held a lot of promise for Michelle but the only person we could find at the time was in Atlanta, GA. so Michelle went to Atlanta and did OK the first few days, but the guy treating her was deceptive in his skills and grossly overdosed her on Methyltrexate. Because of the overdose Michelle suffered with failed kidneys, septic shock and passed away of congestive heart failure on Christmas Day a few years ago.

My son-in-law and I were both at the hospital when Michelle passed away, it was horrible losing my daughter but my son-in-law took it very hard. Although he tried to return to work he couldn't deal with the trauma, grief and guilt he felt about my daughter passing so he lost his job and has had a very difficult time trying to find work since. Do to the severity of his mental and emotional state he's in: He has been hospitalized many times for drug overdose or side effects and is mentally and emotionally disabled still. He has been trying to continue the work on the house in memory of my daughter, while being under psychiatric care from a grant program called Value Options-North Star-ADAPT 214.905.0595: He is on several meds which help, but have side effects, for issues dealing with PTSD, anxiety disorder, depression, grief and more. .

At Present:

Alan was approved for disability within 2-3 months, but we are behind on the mortgage 8 plus months and Wells Fargo is threatening to start the foreclosure process on us which can happen in 20-30 days now after receiving their demand letter. Matthew Heil Direct line 515.324.2360 or 866.878.5865 from Wells Fargo Corporate Office (Loan No. 0255099277) stated he is glad Allen is going to start receiving $1,153.00 along with the $983.00 I receive, however: it's just not enough for a loan modification of any kind. I thought my SS of $983.00 would allow us the chance to stay here?

Matthew stated in his opinion, the only way to stop foreclosure would be to catch up the arrears or balloon payment of $12,274.22 we occurred from the moratorium program that ended April 1st 2009. He said we would need to start making payments again for $1.227.00. I have been basically taking care of Alan and in so doing, have used up all my funds, maxed out every Credit Cards, hoping that I would find work, Alan would get well and find and keep work also. None of which happened. Mathew stated Alan had plenty of time to get work disabled or not.

Since then, Alan has started working with Sharon Cecil 800-853-2416 she said she would look for options and at some point transferred or sent Alan to Jennifer Stanton 612-312-3648. Alan stated that Jennifer Stanton wanted a new updated list of all bills along with copies, from there she would look for a program to save the house try but: if there wasn't one she would allow another 3 months of moratorium. Within a week or so Sharon Cecil called to say there was no program to help him but Alan could make 3 payments of around $1050.00 and hopefully he would have found a way to catch and or go back to making same $1,227.00 to prevent foreclosure.. What happen to the 3 months?? By this time they know or hardship and they know that more then likely the $1,153.00 a It sure doesn't look good now.

There are days Alan is too depressed to get up out of bed and other days he seems to do better and works on the house finishing what ever he starts. However, if someone or something upsets him, he is back in a very depressed state for days. The house still needs many repairs, wiring problems in the attic, no insulation, and the roof leaks and needs replacing, no yard, no fence, inside flooring is bad and more. The water heater was out almost a year, which was difficult. A church close by took care of us with that. (Thank The Lord). Alan has a very sick father who calls often looking for help so he has no one and we both have no where to go. The only way to survive is to find some way to get the house paid off or at least caught up until the disability starts. I don't understand why they won't work with us. Allen and I have called HUD/FHA, Wells Fargo, Acorn, Hope Now, and others never getting a return call.

Employment Options:

Alan and I have sent out thousands of resumes to no avail. We have been to many job fairs to no avail. The few who have called us stated they have so many applying that we need to meet or satisfy a long list of qualifying questions such as: Good Credit, recent work history and experience, Active up to date Certifications, Retail and more. I have witnessed Allen on the phone begging for a chance at work with no luck.

Alan has expressed interest in Writing and making short films for the terminally-ill etc. I believe he would work at it like small projects, starting and stopping as he needs in his mental condition. I don't know if he could make any money with that type of work or not, I am not technically inclined. At present it's just a dream, he doesn't have the money for software, hardware etc. I do worry what will happen to him if something should happen to me. I was hoping to get some type of work but I guess it's the worst time to hunt work, considering the economy, and the fact that I no longer could pay my bills, my Credit rating is so low that it is now preventing me from getting a second call back. What's happened to employment in the USA?

Seeking other help:

I and Alan have tried many Charities and organizations to get help, have gotten help with food but they can only do so much. I have always paid all my bills, always had a job, and provided for my child, and I am not used to being this destitute. I want to stay in the house: I have a few pets, one of which was my daughter's rat terrier name Sassy. With my present financial situation, I probably couldn't find other housing because of income and credit. I really want or need to keep this house and not be homeless. I have gotten used to looking after my Son-In-Law.

Our only way out at present is to get out from under the mortgage payment: I might mention we are in an upside down situation with the mortgage. The appraised value of the house is more than it could sell for, so getting rid of the house is impossible and if we did, we would not have any money left to move anywhere else. With no mortgage payment or at least one low enough for Allen and I to work with our combined income, I feel very confident we could pay the monthly bills and stay in the home my daughter loved. In the meantime I will continue seeking employment with hope and prayer that something or some program will come along.

We have small dogs and birds that help keep both Alan and I from going nuts, they are like children and to lose one of them would be very hard. I realize this is a long letter, but I had to give you some background to show you that I have been trying to stay afloat, but I am now drowning. I have no family to help with anything. If you know of anything more that I can do or any other programs that will help me survive this situation, please let me know ASAP. The house in an FHA 30 Year fixed loan, at 6.5 percent, monthly payment amount of around $1230.00, this includes the tax and insurance, payoff of around $135,000 counting the $12,274.22 late payments.

If you desire anymore information of any kind, or need to send paper work to be filled out, please contact me in the comment section on this page.