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Rapping Bank of America in Dorchester and Hyde Park
By adamg on Thu, 11/15/2012 - 9:05am
Rapper and City Life/La Vida Urbana activist Antonio "Twice Thou" Ennis takes on BoA:
Since 2009, instead of negotiating a loan modification with principal reduction to allow Ennis to stay in his home, Bank of America (servicer) has been trying to foreclose although he can afford his home at the current real value. After receiving several dissatisfying loan modifications, one of which increased his monthly payment by $1,000 he turned to his passion and profession of producing hip-hop music to shame the banks for their predatory business practices.
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Comments
Right on! A little cheesy
Right on! A little cheesy video but a pretty awesome movement.
Background Singers
John Dillinger
Bonnie and Clyde
Ma Barker
Pretty Boy Floyd
A brilliant piece of music with a political message to the masses
Uh, what's the whole story?
How can one make a judgement about the message without knowing the whole story, and both sides of the story? Did this guy really get screwed, or is he a victim of his own bad judgement?
This is like the bike accident threads that go whacko here on UHub. Until you know what really happened, it's a bit hard to place blame on anybody, no matter how much you hate BofA.
Just sayin'
seems like its his own fault
If he's asking for a "principal reduction", isn't that the amount that you borrowed? Sounds like he borrowed more than he could afford, and is now in over his head.
His fault?????
No straight up lender is gonna allow you to borrow more than you could afford......are you serious????
What happened here is that a known "Robo-Signer" by the name of KERI SELMAN approved the predatory loan. Communities of color were targeted with "Ghetto Loans" that the banks bet against both ways, to succeed and to fail so either way they don't lose.
This shit is deep........don't be so quick to judge what you don't know. I know it's convenient to speculate but you're waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off of what's rea.l
Please explain this
I've never heard of such a thing. Why are these "predatory" - unless fraud is involved everything you need to know and way more is disclosed in the documentation if you bother to read it.
Fraud I get - this whole "predatory" thing strikes me as an excuse for someone signing something they didn't understand or didn't read which is your own damned fault.
Could be both, regardless,
Could be both, regardless, he's trying to get a message out. He could be telling people, "Don't make the same mistake I did and trust these banks." Instead of criticizing why he's making this message, just listen to the message...
Twice Thou been kickin
Twice Thou been kickin knowledge, even back in his gangbangin days wit RSO. I like what he's doing here.
Double the shame on Twice Thou if true
Sounds like he's just telling BoA to stuff it, I'm a deadbeat and I'm not going to pay even though I can afford it, the president said I can tell you to stuff it because maybe I'm underwater so gimme my money back.
Nice country, America.
Anybody know the rest of this story? Something sounds very fishy.
Nooooope
Current real value is the value it is appraised or assessed at. Not the principal of the mortgage, which I am assuming is much higher.
Not saying this guy isn't at fault for taking out a mortgage he can't afford, but if BOA made him a loan that they knew was unsubstantiated by the home, then that is fraud.
fair enough
Could be. But there is still definitely another side to this story.
The sad part is, towns and
The sad part is, towns and cities appraisal values for homes are more than their selling value. Its a neat way a town can get more tax dollars without calling it a tax increase. Appraisals hardly ever go down unless you chase them.
Appraisals go down all the time.
Look it up
Pete's right
My assessment actually went down about 8% for the coming year (doesn't mean my taxes will go down - we need to see what the rate is - it will probably be higher than last year, but not sure it'll be so high that my taxes actually go up). However, looks like the residential exemption will also be lower for 2013 - so what comes out in the wash will be interesting. The assessing department in this city is very good at their jobs - and you'll usually see that houses sell consistently for 5-15% more than their assessed values. If not - there's usually something unusual about the condition or some other unique feature of the property.
In this case you can be rest assured that appraisals were done - this wasn't based off of a tax assessment. An independent professional came in, compared the property to sales of at least three similar nearby properties and came up with a value. Depends on the neighborhood, but keep in mind Boston area prices have outperformed almost every other market in the country - I think our Shiller index numbers are down about 20% through the real estate slump only outdone by Washington DC and perhaps NYC?
towns and cities appraisal values
Bearwalker, SOME assessed values for homes are more than their selling values. And some are less. And some are just right. Think Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
And, yes, assessed values DO go down, even without chasing after assessors. (I _think_ that's what your comment is about)
Don't like your assessment? Go to the assessors office and talk to them about how the assessment is figured. In Boston? Go and call them or go to their office before Thanksgiving. (They just sent me a notice on my value)
Map of under water mortgages
Map of under water mortgages % by zip code from zillow.com
http://www.zillow.com/visuals/negative-equity/#4/3...
The problem is that these
The problem is that these people should never have received any kind of mortgage in the first place. If they don't get the mortgages, they don't get forclosed. Problem solved.
Please read: http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/30/real_estate/congre...
Do we know that for sure?
I have no idea what this guy's financial situation is. Do you?
rest of story
great article on how he got involved in this movement
Boston Rapper Takes on His Most Violent Enemy Yet: Wall Street
http://www.alternet.org/activism/boston-rapper-tak...
the other rest of the story
How did his house end up in foreclosure. And by the way - I went out to www.cityofboston.gov/assessing and I don't see any properties in the city of Boston owned by Antonio Ennis. Could be I just didn't see it (you get everyone named Dennis in some searches, even if you search by last name) in a wife's name, or trust - or even the bank's by now not sure - but it doesn't seem to be in his name.
Again - almost every story I have read about comes down to somebody took out a mortgage they couldn't afford or paid for a house at the peak of the market and now they are underwater and looking for free relief.
There are VERY few stories of people through no misdeed of their own (like exaggerating income on a no/low doc mortgage or outright forgery) being foreclosed upon, especially around here. Not saying it doesn't happen - but it's very rare.
Those losing a home to job loss/illness always excepted - horrible circumstances - but also not sure what a fair solution is to that situation.
Wow!
Great stuff.