NJ Foreclosure Auction Part 2

The foreclosure auction at the Javitz Center brought out buyers looking for a good deal. But another group was there as well - protesters. They were not protesting the buyers - rather the government who have been helping the lenders while people are losing their homes as well as the auctioneers who were making money off the misfortunes. Lets take a look at a AP article titled Rare NYC foreclosure auction yields deals, protest -

The sale was protested by a handful of picketers who chanted: "Evictions are a crime! It could be your house next!"

One of the protesters, Sharon Black, said she was in bankruptcy and hoping to save her Baltimore home.

"These folks are profiting off the people's misery," she said.

Here is a Newsday video of the protesters -



The accompanying Newsday article titled NYC foreclosure auction draws bidders, protesters describes the following -

A handful of protesters picketed in front of the Javits Center, chanting "Evictions are a crime! It could be your house next!" "I'm in bankruptcy and hoping to save my home," said protester Sharon Black, of Baltimore.

"These folks are profiting off the people's misery." But REDC spokesman Rick Weinberg said the auctions help stimulate the economy by putting people in vacant houses.

"Their problem is with the foreclosure crisis in general," Weinberg said. "We are part of the solution, not the problem." Inside the auction, winning bidders were escorted to a back room to work out the financing on their new homes.

And finally from a Reuters article titled Protesters target U.S. foreclosed-home auctioneer -

An auction of foreclosed homes in New York City on Sunday drew protesters who blamed banks for an epidemic of home losses and called for a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures.

Two dozen people marched outside a Manhattan convention center where Real Estate Disposition Corp was auctioning off several hundred foreclosed homes, chanting and carrying signs reading "Banks get bailed out, people get thrown out."

The protesters said their argument was not with would-be homebuyers, who streamed into the auction without taking much notice, but with banks that had reaped benefits of government bailout funds after years of irresponsible lending practices.

...

He called on Washington to declare a moratorium on foreclosure and evictions to give struggling families a chance to get their finances in some kind of order and potentially keep their homes.

"Many of these homes being auctioned today may still be occupied," Holmes said. "What is happening to these families. Are they living in their cars? And are they being bailed out, like AIG or Citicorp?"

...

Foreclosures taking place are in violation of the federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act, it alleged. The group plans to stage a major demonstration on Wall Street on April 3.

We will be watching to see what happens at the upcoming protest. Sounds like a pretty interesting event yesterday.