Commentary: Paradise lost to bank indifference

This is the story of the Lange family. We purchased our home in beautiful Felton in February of 1983.
This was my husband’s and my first home after we were married Sept. 11, 1982. It was a real stretch for us, but we were very excited. Immediately, we began to work on the house. Although he suffered a severe case of poison oak while clearing the woods from our land, my husband was able to put in a wonderful French drain so that our home wouldn’t get flooded. Installing that drain was backbreaking work, but a sense of accomplishment after the first rain was reward enough.
We put in a patio, basketball court and retaining wall-planter for our abundant trees and bushes. It was very cozy entertaining in our yard and having our friends over.
Our first child was soon expected, and we built a workshop on the other side of the garage for my husband’s music recording hobby.
Seeing our family grow again — expecting our second child — we enlarged our home, adding a great room and moving walls to add living and closet space for the family. The kitchen and fireplace were redone, along with a rose garden and patio to extend the outdoor living space.
Several years passed, and we installed a pool, which has given many years of enjoyment to our family, our friends and our children’s youth groups.
Now, years later, our daughter will graduate from college in May and will be getting married in August. Our son is a sophomore in high school and is active in sports and student leadership.
Now, also, we have become one of the many families facing unemployment for more than a year. This has been the fifth time in seven years my husband has been laid off. We have tried to renegotiate with our mortgage company under President Obama’s plan for loan modification since March 2009 and have been jumping through hoops ever since, with no progress.
Despite careful budgeting, belt-tightening and taking on extra hours at my work, for the first time ever, we could not pay our mortgage. We even filed for bankruptcy (Chapter 7).
In 28 years, we had never once even been late on a mortgage payment, but on June 19, 2010, the house we have called home for the past 28 years and the home in which we raised both our children is scheduled to be auctioned to the highest bidder. Apparently, they can find our paperwork for an auction, just not for a loan modification.
Something is not right. What can be done to force the mortgage companies to do what they are supposed to do to help property owners like us weather these hard times and keep their homes?
• Jeanette Lange is a longtime Felton resident.