She, not long ago, married the man of her dreams, from her old
days in school. They rented a lovely pool home in
West Hills together. Some slick real estate man comes along and
convinces them they can afford to buy their home (which he
then had on the market). They go along with his idea and take on
interest only payments. A story that has become all too
familiar.

Susan could not really afford to buy this home but she believed
the man when he said they could change their loan later on.
What happens next is what separates this story from most others. Her
husband, the love of her life, suffers a heart attack. Two months later they have
now both lost their jobs after a long and arduous recovery that did not
end there. After using up their savings and trying to keepthings together the husband's health began to fail again.

Susan tried to keep working, and paying the bills while also caring for
her husband. In desperation she attempts to sell the house on a short sale (for less than is owed meaning the bank would need to agree to allow this).

Meanwhile her husband continued to get worse making it
difficult to even get started on selling. As soon as it was possible
the house was marketed and the offers received. Her husband's medical
adventure did get much worse and is a tale on its own, that
would make your hair stand on end.

As for the house sale what ensues is a nightmarish tale of doors that
slam shut, and then open mysteriously. A light at the end of thelong hallway kept everyone running down the hall only to have the
hallway get longer and longer and then the light and doorway wouldsimply disappear.

After months of sending in more documentation and
trying to get through a maze of people and telephone lines, stopping
the foreclosure two earlier times in order to work the short sale, weeks later without warning Washington Mutual suddenly stopped all communication and changed their phone system so that it took the calls onto a loop where no person would ever be reached, nor messages allowed, and ending in "We're sorry you're
having difficulty, please try your call again later, good-bye".

To put the most horrific finale on Susan's tale Washington Mutual
foreclosed without so much as a word to her. There was absolutely no warning whatsoever. The agent had found out about the foreclosure, by hunch, after
daily phone calls into the labyrinth of mirrors (and despite being told WAMU were moving forward with the short sale negotiations) by checking the title and warned Susan.

Two days later a notice was posted on Susan's door to vacate the premises in three days.

Many people caught in the mortgage meltdown were just taking risks and
they knew it. Some, like Susan were just trying to do better, had too many blows in life that all came together at the same time.