It seems like only yesterday that house values were plummeting, banks were 
being bailed out from their mortgage losses, and the American People were getting the white picket shaft from our government. What’s been happening since then? If the fact that you’re underwater on your home doesn’t still depress you, if the idea that we haven’t hit the bottom of the housing market doesn’t still scare you, and if the total lack of prosecution of fraudulent mortgage sales doesn’t still offend you, then sit tight… we guarantee that the current state of real estate will stillbe enough to make you FURIOUS!
Here’s a little background to really understand the current state of things. This primer on foreclosure crisis is a shorter article that gives you all the highlights. Foreclosure Fraud for Dummies is a little longer, but has charts and MANY hyperlinks to more detailed information. You’ll learn why the banks are having trouble foreclosing on the real estate they putatively own, what steps they are taking to “prove” their ownership, who robo-signer Jeffrey Stephan is and why he matters, and what the real potential downside 
could be for the banks.
The fundamental problem (at least from the banks’ point of view) is that banks can’t legally foreclose without the original mortgage documents, and most of the those were either lost or poorly documented as they were chopped into the collateralized debt obligations that tanked our economy. The banks’ solution has been to hire people (robosigners) to swear that they review the documents of around 10,000 mortgages per month and that all of the documents are there. The homeowners, on the other hand, have responded by actually using the law to support their position. The “Show Me The Note” movement requires foreclosers to follow the law that (in most states) requires them to actually produce the documents giving them the power to foreclose.
“Occupy Our Homes” is organizing (as much as any part of the Occupy movement can organize) to make homeowners aware of their rights against the banks, and has also been taking over vacant homes and putting homeless families into them. It doesn’t have the bedrock legality of the “Show Me The Note” folks, but it’s happening and it’s interesting. Here are articles on Occupy protesters taking over foreclosed homes, and a CNN opinion piece on the movement.
But the governmental response to this mess is what will make you REALLY furious. Those Maoists in the Obama administration have been trying to settle with the major banks accused of wrongdoing, but they’re having some problems closing the deal because many of the states’ Attorneys General are balking. (Dems say it doesn’t punish the banks enough, Repubs say it punishes them too much). The deal on the table would ding the banks for $19 billion (for reference, they paid $156 billion in bonuses in 2011), add some regulations for foreclosures going forward, and shield them from further prosecution. Even though the robosigning was conscious, pervasive, and violated several laws (ie: a pattern of criminal behavior), no one will go to jail under the agreement. And get this… the wrongdoing the banks would be shielded against includes past behavior that hasn’t even been investigated including much of the allegations in the leadup to the collapse.
If you’re FURIOUS, then MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Contact your attorney general and let them know how you feel.
Attorney General John Kroger
Oregon Department of Justice
1162 Court Street NE
Salem, OR 97301-4096
General phone number: (503) 378-4400
Attorney General Rob McKenna
Washington State Office of the Attorney General
1125 Washington Street SE, Box 40100
Olympia, WA 98504-0100
General phone number: (360) 753-6200
