Housing Advocates Press Deutsche Bank “To Play The Fairway” On Foreclosures

BOSTON/Back Bay - Continuing an ongoing series of public protests against banks they say are responsible for the unfair evictions of foreclosed owners and tenants living in Boston about 75 members and supporters of the Jamaica Plain-based City Life/Vida Urbana organization held a loud rally outside the Four Seasons Hotel on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank AG the transnational financial services corporation based in Frankfurt Germany was holding meetings and a dinner party at the hotel in advance of its annual golf tournament this weekend at TPC Boston Golf Club in Norton MA. OMB Audio: City Life/Vida Urbana protesters chant in front of the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston (speakers include City Life Lead organizer Steve Meacham and Nancy Murray of the ACLU of Massachusetts who was there as a citizen and not in her official capacity) Deutsche Bank is one of the largest banking institutions in the world and according to City Life / Vida Urbana activists holder of the most number of foreclosed properties in Massachusetts. Similar to other banks holding mortgages in default or foreclosed properties in Boston and nationally in many cases Deutsche Bank denies it is the owner. Housing and tenant advocates along with housing court judges throughout the country are being told that properties are administered “in trust” and not officially owned by these banks. But finding out which mortgage servicing agents are responsible for negotiating with owners over reductions in principal and/or loan refinancing is proving extremely difficult. [please see our previous story for more coverage on this situation] In some cases advocates are calling on banks and community organizations to work together to form housing coops. At the very least say activists mortgage holders need to sell properties back to their owners at the current assessed value; even if that value has dropped significantly because of the down economy. In the meantime Boston Housing Court constables have been evicting people – some of whom fell prey to predatory lending practices in the last decade – while City Life and supporters hold regular eviction blockades. Repeated attempts to contact Deutsche Bank at its U.S. headquarters in New York City have been unsuccessful. _______________________________________________________________________ According to real estate research and broker service Foreclosures Mass there were 744 “new foreclosures filed in Massachusetts” in the week ending Friday September 4th. Worcester County had the most this past week at 110. Suffolk County within which Boston resides had 81 new foreclosure filings; 596 in the past two months according to the Foreclosures Mass website which tracks real estate and helps match agents and investors with mortgage holders. Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati