Richardson says foreclosure of her home was ‘improper’
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Rep. Laura Richardson now acknowledges her Sacramento house was sold in a foreclosure auction, but says the sale was ‘improper’ because she had reached an agreement with her lender to keep the home out of foreclosure.
From the Associated Press tonight: ‘Rep. Laura Richardson claimed Friday that her Sacramento home was sold into foreclosure without her knowledge and contrary to an agreement with her lender. She said that she is like any other American suffering in the mortgage crisis and wants to testify to Congress about her experience as lawmakers craft a foreclosure-prevention bill.’
Richardson, a Democrat from Long Beach, had earlier denied reports that the Sacramento home was in foreclosure, even as the buyer of the home stepped forward and publicly offered to resell it to her for $535,000, the same price she paid for it in early 2007.
A new wrinkle tonight: The blog Foreclosure Truth reports Richardson also fell behind on payments on her principal residence in Long Beach, and faced possible foreclosure on that home as well: ‘Turns out her home in Long Beach was also recently in foreclosure with a Notice of Default filed by Title Trust Deed Service Company with the L.A. County Recorders office on March 31, 2008 as document number 546450 on behalf of Litton Loan Servicing. According to that document she was $19,921.74 behind on that mortgage as of March 28, 2008. Checking on the trustee sale number for this default it appears that this foreclosure action has in fact been cancelled -- quite possibly due to a loan modification as claimed.’ Richardson’s office has not responded to L.A. Land’s request for comment on that report.
From the AP: ‘Richardson, 46, makes nearly $170,000 as a member of Congress and was paid $113,000 during the eight months she served in the state Assembly in 2007 before her election to Congress. She also received a per diem total of $20,000 from California, according to a financial disclosure form she filed with the House of Representatives clerk.’
The AP report does not detail the agreement Richardson reached with her lender to restructure her Sacramento mortgage, nor does it mention any agreement she might have reached to save the Long Beach home. The lender, Washington Mutual, told the AP it had not received permission from her to discuss the agreement.
Analysis: There are still a number of unanswered question about the congresswoman’s mortgages, and whether she received special treatment from her lender when she renegotiated one and possibly two mortgages. She tells the Associated Press that she did not receive special treatment on the Sacramento home, and the lender is not commenting.
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