The Richardson mess: She defaulted on three houses, report says
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U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson was in default this spring on three separate California houses, and lost one to foreclosure, according to a hard-hitting report in today’s Daily Breeze.
The Daily Breeze’s Gene Maddaus: ‘Rep. Laura Richardson, who lost her Sacramento home in a recent foreclosure auction, has also defaulted on properties in Long Beach and San Pedro, records show.’
Richardson, a Democrat from Long Beach, has declined to answer detailed questions about her finances, but has blamed her financial woes in part on the distractions caused by her whirlwind political rise, which saw her climb from local politics in Long Beach to the state Legislature in Sacramento and then to Congress in the space of two years. She also has heavy debts from her campaign for Congress in a special election last year. But with a congressional income of nearly $170,000, it is not clear why she failed to make payments on all three properties, and faced potential foreclosure on all of them.
The newspaper reports Richardson had fallen behind by $12,400 on payments on a San Pedro home in March, and was threatened with foreclosure on that property, and had fallen behind by $19,900 on payments on a Long Beach property in March, though it appears she paid that balance off. She owed more than $570,000 on the Sacramento house when it went into foreclosure this spring.
More: Richardson ‘was able to bring her payments up to date on the Long Beach home relatively quickly, but the San Pedro property lingered in the foreclosure process for almost eight months, and still has a pending auction date. In her first interview since the news broke Tuesday that her Sacramento home had been foreclosed, Richardson blamed the foreclosure on a miscommunication by her lender. She offered no apologies for failing to make payments on three separate homes and expressed no regret for failing to pay nearly $9,000 in property taxes.
More: ‘In her only admission of fault, she said she could have acted more quickly to correct the situation. ‘I should have moved forward in an earlier fashion,’ she said. ‘I acknowledge that. I intend never to conduct business in that fashion again.’’
The Sacramento publication Capitol Weekly first reported this week that Richardson had lost her Sacramento home to foreclosure, owing more on the house than the original purchase price when it was auctioned off. Richardson initially denied the report, saying she had worked with her lender to renegotiate the mortgage. She now says she was unaware the house was sold at auction until this week, and believes the sale was improper.
The Breeze reports that Richardson declined to answer numerous questions about her finances, including how many payments she had made on the Sacremento house. She purchased the house in January 2007 for $535,000 and owed more than $570,000 on the property when it was foreclosed.
Richardson attempted to link her situation to the plight of others facing foreclosure, and said the experience would help make her a better advocate on foreclosure issues. ‘I think this is what many Americans are unfortunately facing right now,’ she told the Daily Breeze. ‘I am concerned that I can take what I have learned from this to help somebody else. Many people are one step away from issues that are life-changing moments. When a person moves across the country, that is a life-changing moment.’
Previous Richardson coverage:
May 21: A.P. reports Richardson delinquent on $8,950 in taxes May 22: Report: Lender ‘took a beating’ on Richardson home
May 22: Buyer of Richardson house says she ‘walked away’
May 23: Richardson seen as a ‘virtual shoo-in’ for re-election
May 23: Richardson says foreclosure of her home was ‘improper’
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