Earlier this week, one of my co-workers told me she was scared she might lose her home. I asked and, yes, she had been making her payments regularly and on time, giving her checks to a representative who came around each month to pick them up. For some reason, it seems the owner had decided he wanted the house back, so took her to court. She showed up at the appointed time with her attorney, but neither the plaintiff nor his attorney bothered to appear. The judge dismissed the case "without prejudice" and told her to stay in her home. Most recently, the owners refused her attempts to pay them, but when I last spoke with her, she said the owner had "decided" she could stay in her home, after all; if an actual agreement has not been worked out, then perhaps some sort of stalemate has been reached.
Of course, there has to be more to this story. I have a feeling there's a whole alternative world of realty out there, different than most of us are used to, one that preys on poor people and that somehow just teeters on the edges of legal agreements. Why is it that my co-worker gives her payments to someone who comes by her house each month, instead of to a bank or to an established mortgage company? Does she have a contract arrangement, wherein her initial payments are counted towards an amount that a bank would regard as down payment, at which point her payments then become payments on her mortgage?
I dunno.
What I do know, as I look around the room and consider the conditions of a lot of my co-workers, is I regard myself as blessed. Although I'm poor, my bills are getting paid each month, though just; I have enough food to eat, if I'm careful; my pets (cat and tortoise) are getting fed, and I have clean clothes to wear. My health is good. My only worry right now is how to get a man I like to ask me out.
My coworkers' lives are in turmoil, and all I'm worried about is how to get a date. Sheesh!
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