BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Marco Giardino is on the bubble. Hurricane Katrina left him with $1,525 monthly payments for a $400,000 home that is now little more than a shredded shell. "I'm thinking of walking away from it," he says.
The day before Hurricane Katrina hit, he was sitting on $300,000 in home equity. It was his nest egg; it was his future. "I was sitting pretty," recalls the 55-year-old NASA employee. "I lost all my wealth overnight.
Marco Giardino salvaging building materials from his destroyed home in hope to reuse it in the future, click ‘Play’ to hear about his concerns with rebuilding his home.
Now he's facing the prospect of paying a good portion of his income for what amounts to little more than a debris pile. Adding to pressure, Giardino's insurance company has offered him "not one red cent," on his main homeowner's policy he says, punching each word like it was a separate sentence. He also had additional coverage for wind damage, but his insurance company is saying it will only pay 50 percent on the policy, "which leaves me $60,000 short of the bank," he says.
Bankers say they have no idea how many homeowners will abandon their badly damaged or destroyed homes and properties in the Gulf Coast region, but they are bracing for the possibility of a tidal wave of foreclosures in the coming months. Those without insurance or who underinsured their properties are seen as far more likely to walk away from their investment and leave the banks to pick up the pieces.
Giardino and other homeowners throughout this battered region affected by Hurricane Katrina have had some breathing room, thanks to an agreement among lenders to suspend their payments for 90 days with no penalties. But that grace period is now ending and thousands of homeowners around the Gulf Coast are facing the same unappealing choices as Giardino: continue paying for an uninhabitable home -- or, in many cases, nothing more than concrete slabs -- or walk away and let the banks foreclose on their property.
Although "abandoning the place and letting it go into foreclosure is an option," Giardino says it's more likely that he will sell the lot for whatever he can get for it and borrow from relatives to pay off the remainder of his loan. Then he can examine his housing options in an area where he has strong ties and many reasons to stay.
Across the street from Giardino lives Nate Cranmer, 26, an unemployed welder who worked in New Orleans before the hurricane. Now he cuts trees when he can to make some money.
Cranmer's FEMA trailer sits in front of the house that he moved into four months before Katrina hit and which was literally pancaked by the storm. Unlike his neighbor, Cranmer's insurance has already paid him off, and he's sitting on $70,000 that he can use to rebuild.
Cranmer took advantage of the 90-day payment deferment, but says his mortgage company now wants him to pay those three missed months plus pay his regular $800 bill for December in one check. Despite the disaster zone that used to be his house, Cranmer says it's never entered his mind to walk away.
"But one of my neighbors walked away, totally," he says. "They left before the storm, they came back, checked it out but just don't have the money to rebuild so they're just leaving, the whole family."
Repayment rules vary
The 90-day grace period offered by lenders wasn't the result of a government mandate, and because of that lenders offered the three-month payment deferment on a wide range of terms. Some, like Cranmer's lender, whom he didn't identify, are asking homeowners to pay up all at once. Others are providing a range of options to their customers.
Giardino's lender, Countrywide, "was very generous" and offered him a variety of repayment options, he says. So far, he has chosen to simply tack the repayment onto the back end of his original loan.
Several homeowners MSNBC talked to said they were offered the deferment but elected to keep up with their payments anyway.
"Eventually we were going to have to make up those payments ... and we didn't want to put ourselves in that position," says E.J. Toomey, a NASA accountant whose home was being overrun by volunteers from the relief army of the "Eight Days of Hope" campaign, who were helping repair his roof.
The lack of standards for implementing the 90-day grace period adds to the problems facing homeowners, says Mike Shea, executive director for Acorn Housing Corp., a nonprofit that offers free housing counseling to low- and moderate-income homeowners.
"The result is confusion for already-stressed homeowners," Shea says. Now that the original 90-day period is over, you have some lenders that are offering an additional 90-day extension that will last through February. But in order to receive that extension, he says, some lenders are making homeowners sign papers agreeing to make a lump payment in March, a practice he labeled "predatory lending."
"You can't make people come up with a lump sum payment, that's our position and most responsible lenders understand that," he says.
Shea says most major lenders are trying to work with people, accepting partial payments and otherwise demonstrating flexibility in ways they haven't traditionally shown. "Then the question is, 'What do you do with the unpaid payments?'" Responsible lenders are saying they'll shift them to the "back end" of the loan or spread it over the life of the loan, he says.
In everyone's best interest
Washington Mutual, which services about 48,000 loans in the states hit by Katrina, gave each affected homeowner an automatic 90-day grace period when Katrina hit, says Nova Barnett, a company spokeswoman. Along with the 90-day suspension of payments, the company agreed not to issue any negative credit reports as a result of missed payments during that period, she says.
"Based on our analysis on December 1st, along with many other major lenders, we decided to automatically extend the initial 90-day forbearance for another 90 days," Barnett says.
The company hasn't yet worked out a plan for what will happen when it comes time for borrowers to resume repayment in March. "However, we won't make them pay it all at one time," she says. "We will work with each one on a case-by-case basis."
Banks have an interest in working with borrowers because they don't want to get into the foreclosure business, says Mac Deaver, president of the Mississippi Bankers Association.
"The biggest thing for our members is the overall economic impact on the community," he says. "They want to make sure the economy is going again and people are back in their homes and rebuilding. The livelihoods of our banks are tied to these communities. If the community isn't working, if the infrastructure isn't there and people can't make a living and make their payments then the banks can't survive either."
The federal government also has stepped into the act.
HUD helping 20,000
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has agreed to pay mortgage payments for an entire year for some 20,0000 Katrina victims holding federally insured loans. One hitch: The houses have to be repairable, HUD says.
Keesler Federal Credit Union says about 1,400 of its members in Katrina-hit areas took advantage of the 90-day grace period on their mortgages. Those suspended payments will be added to the back of the loan, says Nat Hebert, vice president of lending.
"If someone is still in a tough spot after having taken that initial 90-day suspension offer, we’re working with them on a case-by-case basis and it’s possible they can get another 90-day deferment," she says. "This is just the humane way of doing business. I can’t imagine making our members make up the payments in one lump sum."
Hebert says she has had a couple of people come in and tell her that they're afraid they'll have to walk away from their loans -- and their investment in their home. That decision depends on how swiftly other financial help comes to them, be that insurance or FEMA or the federal government, she says.
"It's kind of early ... to figure out what the end result will be, too early in the game to say what we'll do with foreclosures," she says. "There are too many variables; still too many unanswered questions to formulate a comprehensive action plan."
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I wonder! What President Grover Cleveland would say about supporting the people of other nations? I wonder! What would ANY of our past presidents say about George dubya Bush, including his father? I wonder what our country would be like if the people supported the government and the GOVENNMENT SUPPORTED THE PEOPLE (the people of The United States of America).
I wonder! Would I support the government if the government supported me?
The answer to that would be YES.
Do you wonder if I support the government now?
The answer to that would be NO.
I SUPPORT THE PEOPLE!
I miss Waveland and Bay Saint Louis, all of it.
Now I'm in Indiana and amazed at the poverty, anger, hatred, bigotry. The calousness of the local government toward their own people (I know I have been treated better than the people who were born here and will die hear).
I have never considered my self a minority although some would, I have never considered myself poor though some would.
I am not speaking of myself but the people of the United States of America (although not UNITED).
THE PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING
Young and Old, every race, every religion, everywhere in this country the people are suffering, without food, without shelter, without healthcare, without medications, without a GOVERNMENT that SUPPORTS it's PEOPLE.
I agree with helping all the people of the world, but we can't afford to help the people of the United States of America let alone the world.
I wonder! If we did support the people of the United States of America wouldnt the people then be able to support the world?
I wonder!
I wonder!
I wonder!
What if my government supported me?
Would I still be sitting at this laptop (the only thing I have left other that my pets)crying, dying, wondering.
I did it all right I saved, I bought my home with my hard earned money, I paid Allstate, fully insured, Huricane endorsment in hand, worried about the hurricanes, planed for the huricanes, reminded myself that I was fully insured, cost of living included.
It's all gone and I wonder.
How will I die now?
Where will I die now?
Who will be near me when I die?
You see this was my security my home insured by Allstate, a place to live, a place to die.
KATRINA took my home, my community.
Allstate is taking my life.
The government is allowing it.
And I wonder!
I WONDER!
Shaun Winfield, Waveland, MS (nowhere) (Sent Dec 18, 2005 3:07:46 PM)
Here in South Florida we survived Hurricane Andrew a category five hurricane in 1992. At the time, I was a newlywed with a bare minimum experience cooking on a modern stove let alone using a backyard bar-b-cue. Our house was destroyed. But, at that time we had a Democratic Governor in the State of Florida and a Republican President (Bush Sr.) who actually cared about people. Not three hours after Andrew had cleared, we had the National Guard going house to house giving water, ice and asking about problems. Within a day we had Army and church kitchens dispensing breakfast, lunch and dinner to all the people who had been left homeless. The food was cooked right there and it was delicious. Within a week we had our insurance representative come to the house and asses the damage and how much it was going to cost. Two weeks later my new husband and I received enough money to fix our property, buy new furniture and start life anew. Both his boss and my employer decided that they would pay us for the three weeks we had not worked so it wasn't an economic hardship. Many companies in South Florida did the same. The local government stepped in and hired many people who were suddenly unemployed to clean streets and help others so that these people would have some income coming in. Things were incredibly different last month with Wilma, a bare category 1 hurricane that did little damage but threw South Florida into a major castastrophe mode. Our Republican Governor "Brother Jeb," postured on TV and promised before Wilma struck that everything was ready. He said he had contacted FEMA and that food, water, trailers and help were waiting just over the horizon to help those who needed it. Ha! No National Guard came to see if we were alive or not -- thank God it was just a category one hurricane. Despite several dozen trucks supposedly full of ice, water and ready to eat dry meals waiting on the wings, nobody gave these truck drivers the other to march. Three days after the hurricane left, we had to go wait for five to six hours in lines at designated places where at the end there was no water, no ice and no food. The FEMA people -- who had been so nice during Andrew -- were grumpy, tired and ill mannered people who basically said, "I don't know and I don't care when we are going to get water or ice, keep it moving lady!" The disorganization at the state and federal level was so bad that Winn Dixie and Publix had water and ice before FEMA distributed either in my neighborhood. During Andrew, mortage companies offered and kept the promise to tag on the three months at the end of the mortage, they didn't foreclose on anybody I know and were generally concerned people looking out for others in worse circumstances that themselves. Compassion and understanding were the order of the day. This time, two of my students are facing foreclosure on their houses because they lost their jobs and haven't been able to make monthly payments. There is no recourse for them except the other members of my classes who collected money to give each of them at least one more month. We hope their respective mortage companies accept it. The truth is that things have changed in the country. There is a lot less tolerance and a lot more hate. Savage Capitalism has reared its ugly head and Compassion -- conservative and otherwise has flown out the window. Thank you George Bush, the buck stops with you and those who like you believe that it is every one for himself and the devil take the hindermost.
Ana Maria Guadayol (Sent Dec 18, 2005 3:53:39 PM)
It's interesting that the insurance companies have separated "flood damage" from "hurricane damage". It is a well known fact that storm surges not only occur when hurricanes happen, but they are the result of the hurricanes. Therefore any property owner who occured damage as a result of the storm surge should refer to that damage as having occured as the result of the hurricane.
Jay T, Higgins, TX (Sent Dec 18, 2005 4:17:48 PM)
Let's pretend that everyone living in hurricane country (and that covers more miles than you might realize) just moves OUT, picks up and goes, heads on down the road. Do any of you totally smart, seem to know it all people have any idea where we should start over, how about all the services that you don't every realize effect you that would be shut down? Scares me when I read a post telling us that it's gonna come round again and we are so stupid for living HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE that would be hit - to think that there really are people out there that think that simple.
mason, pass christian, MS (Sent Dec 18, 2005 4:31:45 PM)
The insurance companies are no different from the IRS, the banks, and all the other companies that produce more than one page agreements. Their purpose is to maximize profits. They could care less what happens to the folks that pay their salaries and support their lazy but power-filled lifestyles.
Just think about it for a moment. You're young. You go out and buy your first home. You know something about insurance because you had to buy car insurance. You may never have needed it, but you knew you had it and life was good.
Now you go out and buy renter's insurance or homeowners insurance. You're certainly not thinking, "I'm buying from an insurance company that's only thinking of maximizing their profits." You are thinking that you are wise to be buying insurance.
You go to your neighbors party and he asks about your insurance because he knows some bad weather is coming. You tell him you're covered. He says you better make sure. You forget all about the conversation.
Then you have a loss. Your neighbor has a loss as well. Perhaps he was older and wiser. You get zero from your insurance company and he gets paid in full. What happened?
Read the fine print.
Now if you compare the difference in price between the two policies you might understand the real problem. (Most folks reading this so far will say the real problem is the young kid didn't read the fine print before getting the policy.) But if you look at the pricing differences, a different story is told. The price might not be any different. The price might only be 20% different. Whatever the difference the result at the end did not justify the extremely wide difference in the insurance settlement. It was a scam on an unsuspecting youngster.
The Republicans used to say we need to get government out of peoples lives. I already knew the Democrats had no clue that that was the best approach. So I've always been a Republican. But the Republicans are now getting worse than the Denocrats. The fact is the Republicans and Democrats are going to be in our lives and we can't do much about it.
That being said, the problem with the insurance companies is - the politicians that pass the laws that allow the insurance companies to scam people legally. The solution is simple. Pass the following law:
Insurance companies: Your policy must fit on one page. It must be in 10pt type on an 8-1/2x11" sheet of paper. It must contain relevant contact information for both parties that will endure, at a minimum, via the USPS for the entire duration of the policy. It must only contain terms that an average 8th grade English student can understand. If the policy states that your home will be rebuilt for any reason - there must be no exceptions since the price difference in everyones home insurance policy is simply too insignificant to allow such a scam.
That's my opinion.
Bill, Marietta, GA (Sent Dec 18, 2005 4:35:39 PM)
What I don't get is, why is money not immediately diverted from some of the stupid/useless (or at least not immediately useful) endeavors of government, into the rebuilding of the areas affected by these hurricanes? Our founding fathers DID NOT intend for government to take care of people; on the other hand, neither did they intend for government to take us into space, or foster the Internet, or spend $3 million to fund a program to find out if we can be contacted by aliens (an actual government grant).
As a libertarian, I believe it is not the government's place to rescue any of its citizens, and as a realist I believe the government is the least efficient entity at performing that task (I have donated to the Council Of Churches for hurricane relief; if I weren't drowning in taxes, I could afford to donate a lot more; and they are much better at getting the help where it's needed than our bureaucratic government agencies).
HOWEVER, since we are already spending all this government money on things that are patently outside the charter of government, would it not be better to spend this on rescuing people in need than, say, on determining if male bullfrogs can be turned to female bullfrogs in the tadpole stage? ($1.5 million; imagine how many Katrina victims could be helped with that)
Slade (Sent Dec 18, 2005 4:56:23 PM)
"Get Me Through December, so I can start over again" - and I WILL START OVER AGAIN right here on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi! To all the people that keeping making the comments that we should move, another storm will come ----- there will always be storms no matter where anyone is or will go. I hope that you are not in the path of the next big, bad event.
kat, pass christian, ms (Sent Dec 18, 2005 5:15:35 PM)
Ok - you bought insurance and never read the limits?
Did you buy flood insurance? Was the loss in the story from flood or from wind? Why didn't you buy flood insurance? What was your insuracne limit? Did you have a full rebuilding rider?
This is another sob story without all the facts. Perhaps this guy's insurer is screwing him, then shame on them [and they'll get theirs, they always do] but what if our 'poor' gentleman was simply uninsured?
Why does the government have to TELL you to get flood insurance? do you just do what the governmenet tells you to do? Why o why is it the government [or, put another way, MY responsbility to make your decisions for you? Why should I or my grandkids pay for YOUR stupid decision to save a few dollars a year and be undersinsured. Katrina was a disaster, but planning for the future is what disaster planning is about.
I and my wife have a home on an island in coastal South Carolina. We HAVE flood insurance and we PAY for a rider for full replacement cost insurance for both the contents and structure. We bought our home in an area basically free from coastal surge flooding. Are we at rsik from a 'cane, sure we are. Are we protected? As best we can.
Due to the replacement cost and special riders I bought for revised code compliance and utilities access [rebuilding a house in an area where there will be no utilities rebuilt affects the market value] and spent a whole $100 a year. We did this long before Katrina - we engaged our brains.
When will people figure out it is not for the government to take care of you, your kids or your parents?
YOU borrowed the money from the bank and the bank expects to get repaid; THATS why you need to have sufficent and proper insurance.
For crying out loud, most of NOLA and in fact most of the southern gulf coast, is within 12-20 feet of sea level if not below. When water goes in it needs to be pumped out; when a 30 foot storm surge comes a calling you get flooding and wiping whole blocks clean. A Cat 4 hurricane will bring you a 25-30 ft surge and winds to 150mph - that's landing speed for most large commercial jets. Most structures will simply not bear that kind of wind.
In the battle between man and nature, when nature really gets going - nature wins.
My life, safety and property are MY responsibility, If you don't think about stuff enough, you are responsbile for what happens. Thats life, it's a tough old world out there.
Joe, Beaufort SC (Sent Dec 18, 2005 5:37:07 PM)
to some of the above comments,this blog is about mississippi not New Orleans.....we are above sea level...get it!!!!
andy,booneville ms. (Sent Dec 18, 2005 6:58:25 PM)
What needs to be done as soon as possible is for the federal government to require all insurance companies to reword homeowner policies so that they state clearly that all damage from a hurricane is reimburseable, and stop already with the "is it wind damage or water damage".
Then I hope everyone who feels they were treated badly (see cheated) by their insurance company puts a sign in their front yard with all the sorry details and the name of the insurance company so everyone driving/walking by can read it and steer clear of these crumby businessmen. That'll hurt them where they live!
Becky C. Whitehall, Ohio (Sent Dec 18, 2005 7:34:20 PM)
Joe, you took the words right out of my mouth. We are only getting half the story here. There are way too many variables left wide open in this story. We must assume nothing.
There are so many insurance options available. Why many of us didn't take advantage of that, I don't know. To say it has been a lesson hard learned, doesn't quite cut it.
I take responsibility for my losses. I LIVED in Slidell, La. I lost EVERYTHING I owned. I had no flood insurance. Is it the government's/FEMA's responsibility to make me whole again? I think not. I'm the one who made the irresponsible decision, or should I say, "non-decision", to not get flood insurance...not the government. I am owed nothing by the government or anyone else.
karen, Slidell, LA (Sent Dec 18, 2005 7:43:29 PM)
As I stood on the ridge of my home in Arabi, LA with about 14 feet of water flowing past my feet I looked out as far as I could and could see nothing but water, interspersed with the tops of trees and homes. A community that had existed for over 150 years had been wiped from the map, and there was nothing that could be done to retrieve it. My home parish of St. Bernard, with all of the people, communities, churches, stores, hospitals, schools, and numerous elderly neighborhoods was totally destroyed; pretty much 100% gone. It was about 2:30 pm on that day, and the wind had passed and the water had stopped rising, thankfully since it was a foot from the top gable of our roof. I was too thankful that myself, my son, and even my cat, had survived to be too pholosophical about the meaning of it all, since we had been forced outside by the water in the teeth of the storm at about 7 am. The concept that most frequently struck my mind was biblical, and not in a religious sense, but in a disastrous one. If you have never seen or experienced destruction at this level you literally have no clue, none, nada, nothing. You are entirely ignorant of the scale of the destruction. TV news and images? Don't even go there. And you are as stupid as you are clueless if you think it could not have been prevented.
It amazes me how folks with no more knowledge of the demography around New Orleans than about the makeup of rocks on Jupiter can wax eloquently about what levees are and how they should be built, about who was warned, about who left, about what hurricanes do, and about what should be rebuilt.
Let me give some of the geniuses on this thread a hint. The Battle of New Orleans was fought in 1815 about a mile and a half from my house, on the old Chalmette battlefield, and guess what? It was fought on land... it wasn't a sea battle. Don't beleive me? Go check it out. And this was before levees. How could that be? Guess all that ground isn't below sea level after all huh.
St. Bernard and much of the rest of New Orleans that flooded was put at risk by the labrynth of canals, channels, and outlets dredged at great cost by the Corp of Engineers over the last 60 years or so. In the interest of national commerce the safety of the people in this region has been compromised by every administration since Roosevelt, when the need to increase shipping volume from the port brought about the expansion of the canal systems. Many of these canals were channeled right through neighborhoods, with assurances from the Corps that the levees were built sufficiently to protect from flood. As time went by the Corps assereted to all residents inside the "Levee Protection System" that the levees were proof against a CAT 3 hurricane. Some other news for the ill informed, when Katrina hit NOLA it was a CAT 3, the force of storm the levees were designed to hold. So you want to talk about contracts, how about the contract between your government and it's citizens, when a government promise is so poorly kept and basely ignored that it causes the destruction of untold communities and the deaths of many of those to whom it applied.
I am not speaking with sour grapes. I had flood insurance and I owned my home... so mortgages are not a problem for me. I feel that those who purposely built outside of the levee protection system knew many of the risks and were willing to take them. But the federal government, on behalf of it's subsidiary, the Corps of Engineers, made a contract with the people inside that levee protection system that they have broken negligently and disgracefully. Protecting NOLA from a CAT 4-5 properly would have cost factors less than the Big Dig in Boston, adn would have saved an American city. Maybe a freeway a few lanes narrower in another state would have saved a Louisiana community. But don't worry about us, not when you have to put up with all that traffic.
NOLA will be back, at least in it's pre WWII configuration, because the nation can't do without it. There's a reason the bridges over the river are 200+ feet high in NOLA and about 75+ upriver. Guess you might want to load all those barges on deep water ships so you can sell that stuff. Or get heating oil and natural gas from the gulf. Freezing in the dark isn't much of an option either, but it's not may foult you live where the cold can kill you.
Ronnie, Arabi LA (Sent Dec 18, 2005 9:18:11 PM)
If you insist on living in a city that is BELOW sea-level, you get what you ask for. It is exactly the same as living in Tornado Alley or living in a house on top of a volcano. If you insist on living in obvious harm's way, you likely will reap the whirlwind. I truly feel badly for those who have lost so much, but you have no one to blame but yourselves. It was a bad investment. I am very much against rebuilding NO, specifically against spending one dime of federal tax money to do so. NO should have never been in the first place. Those who are expecting the rest of the country to pay so they can live in a hazard zone is just plain selfish and dishonorable. Sorry you lost so much, but you alone must take the lumps for the known, expected effects of nature and solely shoulder the burden for rebuilding your lives elsewhere - in a reasonable location. It is as simple as that.
Bryan, Portland, OR (Sent Dec 18, 2005 9:23:40 PM)
In the past history, when pioneers were wiped out by Indians or weather, they did not sit down and wait on the government to "pick them up". They got busy, rebuilt with what could be salvaged, they fought, they hunted their meat and grew their vegetables. They had no idea what insurance was. I am sick of hearing the whinning and complaining----either get up and work with what little you have, or get the heck out of the area and into a safer place. If you have got to start over, there are other places to start----not back where the same thing is going to happen in the not too far future(with global warmning). Don't blame gov't---blame yourselfs for being where you were-----in a fish bowl. Anyone who lives below sea level should be in an acquarium--not in a house trailer---or a house of any kind---they are not water/wind proof and never will be. Cut out the gripping and get on with your lives so we can do the same.
Jean Mac Stanly, NC (Sent Dec 18, 2005 9:33:06 PM)
Anybody that chooses to live in NO after what Kitrina did is missing a few screws and shouldn't be too surprised when the next Cat3,4,or 5 hurricane comes barreling in to wipe out the City once again These people crack me up, after they are wiped out, you see them on the news claiming that they are going to rebuild......fine rebuild, but not at the expense of taxpayers who shouldn't be held accountable for people who choose to live in the face of annual disasters.
John A. So. Cal. (Sent Dec 18, 2005 10:32:18 PM)
Why should taxpayers and other policy holders bear the brunt of higher premiums in light of the inherent risks these people incurred by living on the coast or living in New Orleans below sea level? Why should my bank, who pays me dividends and keeps the costs of banking low for me and my family assume any of the obligated burden of these people? There is no other reason than charity...that is it. There is NO obligation for fiscally responsible banks and insurance companies to pay out needlessly. Beg for charity and you will receive it. Beg for forgiveness of debts and obligations through established processes such as bankruptcy and foreclosure. Most of all...move to a place that isn't in a flood plain, on the coast, in an earthquake zone, next to a volcano, or below sea level!!! You say you like your lifestyle, well this is the price for that choice. I for one don't want to pay any longer for the mistakes of 'the less informed'.
Really Smart, Wichita, KS (Sent Dec 18, 2005 10:52:04 PM)
Well, folks, here's what you do: Leave.
Stick what you can in the back seat of your car or in the bed of your pickup. Pull whatever money you have out of the bank. Contact a distant family member, old Army buddy, old school classmate, or anyone else you can who lives in Montana, Virginia, Kansas, or whereever -- tell them you're coming, ask if they can put you up for a couple of days, and help you find a job. Then just leave.
If it won't fit in the back seat or on your utility trailer, just walk away from it.
Leap and the net will appear.
That's what we did. It's depressing living in a FEMA trailer, depending on the food and water being issued at the old Sav-A-Center parking lot. We got tired of hearing the same old bitching and moaning, so, we left.
We hauled off to Tennessee where one of us had a distant cousin. We had two suitcases of clothes in the back seat; towing a trailer with two tables, four chairs, and a box of dishes. $3,500 cash in our pockets. Now in a 3-bedroom apartment, both of us working at $18-$20 an hour. Folks have given us big discounts on things we need.
Eventually our lot in the Bay will be worth something and we'll sell it. If a condo developer wants the lot, fine. Build the damn condos -- let someone else sink their life savings into a pile of bricks and mortar only to watch it disappear in eight hours as we did. Meanwhile, we get up every morning with smiles on our faces -- the grocery stores and gas stations are normal, schools are open, there are traffic lights and street signs, and there are not piles of stuff everywhere.
Insurance company finally gave us $38,000 for possessions. We bought the high-priced pots and pans we had always wanted, bought some new clothes, a new computer, and some CD's and we are now as happy as pigs in mud.
Yes, we miss friends and the good times but we are now 2,500 feet above sea level and we are not coming down -- no floods, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no earthquakes.
We left and will not look back. An old friend recently raised hell with us, telling us we were cowards to walk out on those who are trying to "re-build." Nonsense. There is no glory in continuing to hit yourself in the head with a hammer.
Jerry, Mountain City, TN (Sent Dec 18, 2005 10:56:57 PM)
Thank you Joe for asking some logical questions.
First of all, I want to send out my hopes and prayers to all the folks in the Gulf states who are having to cope with the results of the hurricanes.
That said, I must point out that it is not the government's fault that your homes are damaged or destroyed. It is not the government's fault that you live in "hurricane alley".
When you choose to live in an area that is known to be hazardous, whether from hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, etc....you automatically accept the risks that come with it. That is simple logic. It cannot be argued against, no matter how you try to spin it.
Many of the people that are now having to rebuild their homes and their lives chose to live there. As a result, the final responsibility for their fate lies with them, not the government. They chose to live there, so they chose to accept the risk. End of story.
It is good to see that so much aid has been sent to help those in need. It would also be good to see a little less complaining that it isn't enough. Always be thankful when aid is given to you. It's more polite than biting the hand that's giving it.
Richard, Boise ID (Sent Dec 18, 2005 11:56:33 PM)
I am a Katrina survivor. My home was one block over and three blocks down from the London Avenue canal break. We had 7 feet of water in our home. Photos can be viewed at http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=anvit0nj.5x26rgvn&Uy=-cfht5s&Ux=1
First, we do not know what we are going to do.
We loved our home. We have two small children, Sydney age 9 and Jack age 7. This was where we were going to raise our children. We had a mortgage that was going to be paid off in 8 years, just in time to apply the mortgage payment to high school and college.
We lived conservatively, and thank God we did. We had money in savings and we had insurance. We did not know, and we were never told that we could purchase insurance in excess of the $250,000 from the Federal Flood Insurance Program. We were not advised to purchase the full $100000 on contents. We were grossly under insured. Our retirement plans and our children's childhooods have been jeopardized by the failure of the Army Corps of Engineers to provide the protection they promised. This was not storm surge, this was levee failure. This can be compared to a bridge failing under the weight of traffic. Proper planning and execution would have prevented this. If the Feds investigate this failure in the same manner that they investigate a plane crash, maybe changes will be made that correct the problem.
I was lucky, my Flood Insurance carrier settled with me, over the phone. He checked my address against the flood maps and that was that. However, my homeowners is a different story. They claim we do not have enough damage to warrant a payment. For those of you outside of Hurricane territory, there is something called a Hurricane deductible, it is 2% of the gross amount of your policy. For us it was over $8000. Therefore, $6600 of damage is not enough. They are refusing to pay us for loss of use of the home, under the homeowner's there is $125000 for that. Under the flood policy there is $0.
I fear for those whose insurance companies are making this so tough on them. It is Christmas, we don't ask for anything more than what we had before.
Have some compassion.
As for the Baker Bill pending in Congress. We need to know something soon. If they are going to buy our homes, we need to know for how much and how soon. We need this information to determine downpayments and what we can afford.
The casualties from Katrina are not just those who died in the storm. The papers are filled with elderly who have died of heart attacks, suicides are more frequent. And wait until they move families into trailers and the mortgage companies begin to foreclose on mortgages, divorce and bankruptcy will skyrocket. Families will be broken up and children will lose their parents. Will anyone track these numbers. These are the uncounted casualties.
Merry Christmas to all, Hug your spouses and children and let them know you love them - for tomorrow is unknown.
Ray Steib
Ray Steib, New Orleans, LA (Sent Dec 19, 2005 12:42:13 AM)
As long as this administration is in office I doubt anyone down there will see justice. Were pretty good giving away billions of American tax dollars to foreign countries aren't we... But just look at this disgracful government failure on our wonderful gulf coast... Subsitute this disaster with a terror attack and one sees just how weak the gov/administration really is..... I pray for you people down there and have done what I can afford to help..........God Bless all of you
Protia, michigan (Sent Dec 19, 2005 9:14:23 AM)
Banks should seek to work with their customers, which in this case would be victims of the Katrina disaster, so as to achieve a win-win scenario that allows the bank to eventually collect their money and their customer to retain their home. By forcing customers into terms that are not realistically possible to honor, those banks are essentially terminating their relationships with those customers potentially damaging those families for the long term. Also, the banks would probably be better off not getting stuck with many lots that may be worthless for quite some time. I guess karma will take care of those institutions that get too greedy...and I hope there is no bailout for any banks that fail as a result.
Pat O'Sullivan, Chicago, IL (Sent Dec 19, 2005 9:15:01 AM)
Richiard from Boise is correct to a certain extent, but...... those people living in the flooded area did have to have this damage occure if the Corp of Engineers would have built the proprer levee system. If you've ever been in the Garden District or the French Quarter of New Orleans you would have seen one of the proper levees that could have been built. There has NEVER been a breach in that levee and it holds out the mighty fast moving Mississippi River... This is the fault of the US Government...PERIOD... My father was a hardhat diver when these levess were built down there years ago and everyone in the buiness knew those levees would not hold.......Including the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND THE PAST AND CURRENT ADMINISTRATIONS..MAKE THESE PEOPLE WHOLE AGAIN LIKE YOUR TRYING TO DO IN IRAQ BUSH.......DO THE RIGHT THING FOR THE RIGHT REASON FOR A CHANGE............
COLEEN, MICHIGAN (Sent Dec 19, 2005 9:25:03 AM)
I cannot BELIEVE all the jerks who are so quick to blame the people of the Gulf Coast for living where they do and not knowing their insurance companies would screw them and the govt would fail them.
No one could have predicted the magnitude of this disaster - get over yourselves.
All of you so quick to judge, where do you live ?
In the Northeast, because we COULD have a storm that dumps 25' of snow and kills us all! In the West ? You could have fires, earthquakes... I won't go on because its all been said before, but there is no heaven on earth!
I hope all of you that sit in judgement of these residents don't have the tables turned on you one day.
God Bless all who are touched by this tragedy - and please remember that the idiots with the hurtful comments and actions are only a small percentage of the people who truly care about you and what happened.
Andrea, Agawam, MA (Sent Dec 19, 2005 9:46:18 AM)
We are not suffering as the people that survived Katrina; however, we had water damage in our finished basement from Frances last year. We are still waiting on funds from my severance pay (my company was sold and is relocating) to do the waterproofing repairs and tileing of the floor. Our insurance company said that the damage from Frances saturating the ground and water coming where the walls meet the floor is flood damage and not hurricane damage. We also did not have flood damage and got screwed as it was not a flood that damaged our house. I can not even imagine how the people affected by the hurricanes this year feel. But I can understnad thel furstration with the insurance companies...I hope that the lawsuit against them is WON!!
Leslie, Warner Robins, Georgia (Sent Dec 19, 2005 10:01:53 AM)
Note to self:
> If a natural disaster is pending (hurricane warnings made a few days prior to landfall), then borrow every penny of my home equity and place in money market fund in a different bank that will be operational once disaster strikes.
> Keep sufficient cash to support myself/family until insurance pays off, government assistance comes through, etc.
> Use money to pay minimum payments due on all loans to protect my credit rating.
Far better to have money you owe in your hands and them trying to take it from you than any alternative.
Bill, Knoxville, TN (Sent Dec 19, 2005 10:26:12 AM)
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