Coto Housing Blog

14 Meadow Wood

Ya got chor big heros like George Washington and Mickey Mantle and ya got chor everyday heros like Eleanor.  (Eleanor is not her real name, but we at the CHB limit our uses of real names to public figures and Real Housewives.)  Eleanor told me of her experiences more than a year ago in real time and I did not take notes so if I get a few details wrong, just give me the benefit of the doubt that I am trying to be as accurate as possible.

One day at our kids practice, Eleanor was asking what this thing called a “Notice of Default” was that was taped to her front door.  Eleanor was leasing 14 Meadow Wood from Slade Smiley, (he is one of the Real Housewives), and she suspected that he may not be paying the mortgage payments even though he was good at cashing the rent checks.  I assured her that the notice of default was proof that her suspicisions were warranted and explained that a notice of default was the lender’s notice that the mortgage payments were at least three months in arrears.  This worried Eleanor.  She had a one year lease and she and her husband have five children.  I explained what little I knew to Eleanor.  I do not think my explanation gave her any solace, just some info.

A few months later a new notice was posted on Eleanor’s door, a “Notice of Trustee Sale”.  As you may imagine, Eleanor was even less enamored of this notice and she told me she was trying to buy the home as something called a “short sale”, but getting an approval or a straight answer from anybody was impossible and frustrating.  Then one day, she finds out that the property went to auction and went back to the bank, Countrywide.  Eleanor contacted Countrywide and told Countrywide that she wanted to buy the home, and what was she to do, and who was she to pay rent to?  The representative from Countrywide told Eleanor that the sale to her was not approved yet, and no, she should not pay the rent to Countrywide, and she should certainly not pay the rent to Slade.  Well, who the heck should she pay the rent to?  He did not have an answer.

Now, here is where Eleanor becomes my hero.  Eleanor tells the representative this is all strange, but the one thing he better understand is that she is not moving her, her husband and her five children.  Countrywide can take as little time or as much time as they want deciding, but Eleanor was not going to move and if Coutrywide tried to evict her in the meantime, the news organizations were going to hear about it and Countrywide was going to get a dose of bad PR which they did not need.  What cha gotta understand is that Eleanor is not some big, boisterous, agressive mama.  She is quite petit, pretty, and softspoken, but darned if you are gonna mess with her family.

It took a couple more weeks, or maybe more months, but Countrywide approved the sale at the price Eleanor offered.  Eleanor and brood continued to live in 14 Meadow Wood and somehow Countrywide rescinded the NTS and never recorded the sale to the bank.  It turns out, other aspects of living in South Orange County did not agree with Eleanor and her and hubby decided they and children would be better served by moving back east where they were originally from.  They sold 14 Meadow Wood and it closed escrow last week.