Sunday, November 8, 2009

Current
Weather
59°F

Marine sergeant in Iraq, wife facing foreclosure

By KATIE ARCIERI, Staff Writer

Published 12/07/08

Until last year, Patti Culver lived in a split-level home in Arnold with her husband, Paul, and two sons, Daniel, 16 and Ryan, 12.

Colleen Dugan — The Capital Patti Culver fixes the real estate sign outside her vacant Arnold home. She hasn’t been able to sell the house for what she owes and her mortgage companies turned down the only offer that came close.

Mrs. Culver described it as a home in a nice neighborhood near good schools. It had a yard that backed to the woods where her boys could ride their dirt bikes and Bruce, the family's German Shepherd, could run free.

"We were on our way," Mrs. Culver said.

But the Culvers effort to grasp a piece of an American dream quickly fell apart after their mortgage payments shot up an extra $1,200 per month. Like thousands across Maryland and millions across the nation, the Culvers are now...

This story has expired!
You can purchase the full text in our news archives.

YOUR COMMENTS

RULES OF PARTICIPATION

If you encounter other problems, please email ewiffin@capitalgazette.com and include your name, username, and any errors or messages that are displayed. The more information you can provide, the better able we will be to assist you.

In order to post or vote on a comment, you must be signed in with a hometownannapolis account.

Take a look at a summary of Commenting Guidelines.

Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 0

Foreclosure problem - 2008-12-08 12:23:35

This family purchased a house way over their budget. Sorry to see this happen to people, but as the last person stated, sometimes you have to rent and live within your means.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Kathy Fox - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Bad

Sad but Life - 2008-12-08 11:43:28

I'm sad for this couple but I don't have much sympathy. I am a rentor because it was obvious that housing prices were too high. People like the ones in the article drove up house prices so people with concervatvie financial values couldn't afford them. Furthermore, this family has been getting MAJOR tax breaks over the years.

The bottom line is that they took the risk by using THREE loans to live somewhere. I feel sorry for them but the house needs to be foreclosed and they need to rent a place just like me. The price of the house will then fall and responsible people will buy it. This NEEDS to happen all over the US.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Matt Brown - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Bad

For Profit - 2008-12-08 10:04:45

When the market was hot you could buy property and sell it in two to three years and make at least ten grand over and above the payments you make. So do you think that is why everyone was buying a house. Till the bubble burst!!!!!!!!!!!!

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

David W. - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Neutral

Well - 2008-12-07 22:26:26

My issue is, most members of the military realize that they are on three year rotations; so why they go and buy a place is beyond me. Knowing that they have to pick up and move in 36 months should be deterrent enough not to invest money into a property they will have to sell in 3 years. I feel for them, but don't pity them, because ultimately those of us that chose to live well within our means will have to pick up their tab.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Johnathan Locke - Edgewater, MD - Karma: Good

that's right - 2008-12-07 18:50:22

Just as many have said, if you can't afford it, don't buy it. If all you are being offered is an ARM loan, and that is the ONLY way you can get a home, then you obviously can't afford a home and should stick to renting. Hate to break this fantasy world a lot of people are living in, but not everyone can be a lawyer or doctor living in a great house. If all you are is a delivery person or a cashier, chances are owning a nice house isn't in the cards for you, get a reality check. Tax dollars of sensible people are now being used to help bail out all these foolish ones who jumped into a situation they knew nothing about.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Steven I. - Glen Burnie, MD - Karma: Neutral

Life Goes On - 2008-12-07 16:56:57

Yes, this is sad for the Culvers but the process moves on.

I'm sure that they NOW wish that they didn't make the decision to get 3 loans on their house with 1 of them with an unknown future interest rate.

I'm sure that they did not expect to be sent across the country and not be able to sell their house.

One would think that the house would sell quickly, too.

Sorry to hear of their breaking up, I do not doubt that this financial stress had at least a small part to play.

The mortgage companies are getting $3/4 of trillion dollars to address this whole issue of crazy real estate. In time, their house will be sold back to the bank who will put it back on the market. I appreciate the Culvers being SO open to share their testimony and hopefully they have learned from it and have moved on.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Wm Stacey B. - Lenexa, KS - Karma: Bad

UM NO..... - 2008-12-07 16:23:13

If you cant afford a house on your own salary then you should rent dont wory about child support because thats not guarenteed. theres always a rentable property in good areas and you dont have to buy a house. i agree with steven i adjustible rate mortgages and balloon motgages are why the economy is in a freefall i can afford my house on my salary and i dont have to depend on someonelse and it is fixed so i dont have to wory about it going up. so as steven i said i feel no pitty for these people.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

c. b - bowie, MD - Karma: Bad

foreclosure - 2008-12-07 15:09:23

I do believe alot of people lived outside there means with these loans but alot of people were only offered these types of loans. So Steven I. (Glen Burnie) comments are just uniformed. This situation happened to me also. I bought the ugliest, cheapest house in Severna Park after my husband (now ex) and I seperated. I needed a home for my two young children with good schools and community and within a reasonable distance to commute to work. My ex husband whom was ordered by the court to pay child support (I didn't ask for alimony) failed to follow through on paying Child Support, in 1995 he was earning 75,000 a year. He quit his job, told the courts he only makes 2000.00 a year. This definitely affected my ability to pay more bills since I now not only was paying 100% of my childrens expenses . I was not recieving the child support which is now in arrears over 20,000. On top of this I ended up paying over 14,000usd to the IRS for money he took out of his 401K, since he has never filed a return. I ended up paying it all. Causing yet another hardship. I had to take out a second mortgage and only was offered an ARM which they said would be no issue to change in two years to a fixed rate. Only to have this mortgage crisis ruin the opportunity to refinance.
In January after 13 years in my home the mortgage company filed pre foreclosure. I enlisted an agent from Keller Williams whom provided a contract of sale for ta little more that what I owed but not includeding the 6000.00 realtor fee, AMC/CITI mortgage would not accept the offer (1st leinholder) HSBC the second leinholder would have. Since one refused it was sold back to the bank for 50,000 less than what my preapproved buyer offered. I did everything I could to save my house, credit and family only to realize these mortgage companies so willing to work out hardships are NOT! We are paying millions of dollars to bail these corrupt corporations only for them to receive million dollar bonuses. It is a shame.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

t. sullivan - severna park, MD - Karma: Bad

Got what they deserved - 2008-12-07 13:08:38

I'm sorry but I feel no pity for these and thousands of other people in the same boat. Back when I bought my home, I would have loved to have a big nice one in a great neighborhood like the Culvers did. But I, unlike most people, was not greedy trying to live outside of my means. For them any and others who were not smart enough to think that an adjustable rate loan isn't going to go up, well they deserve the situation they put themselves in. I may not have the greatest house in the county, but I am sitting pretty with a mortagage I know I can pay that isn't going to change because I was greedy. And I'm sure some of you are going to whine "it's not greed, it's the American dream!" Bull...if you can't afford it, don't buy it.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Steven I. - Glen Burnie, MD - Karma: Neutral