Face of foreclosure crisis - Chinese-speaking Parkinson's sufferer

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Hong Zhang Lin lost his home in Oakland's Fruitvale District in a foreclosure auction this month.

The 44-year-old former construction worker, who is disabled by Parkinson's disease, can barely believe it. He's not a subprime borrower, he has a huge amount of equity in the home, and he has made all his mortgage payments on time. The four-bedroom house, which Lin and his two brothers bought in 1992, is worth about $500,000; he only owes $94,000 on the mortgage.

But he evidently stopped making the $135 monthly payments on a $20,000 home-equity loan. The loan was with the bank division of Countrywide Financial, the same lender that carries his primary mortgage. Countrywide initiated foreclosure proceedings and sold the house to investors for a bargain price of $190,300 at an Oct. 2 auction on the Alameda County Courthouse steps.

Lin found out his home had been sold only after the new owner slipped a note in English and Chinese under his door on Oct. 15 telling him he had three days to move out.

That note was the first Chinese-language communication Lin's family says he has received about the home's sale. He speaks only Cantonese and Mandarin.

"Countrywide spent a year trying to reach the borrower through more than 100 telephone calls and numerous mail communications," said Jumana Bauwens, a spokeswoman for the Calabasas (Los Angeles County) lender. "After absolutely no dialogue with the borrower or anyone representing the borrower, Countrywide took the necessary step of proceeding with the foreclosure process."

A really sad story.