When Theresa DiMartino bought her first home in the 14000 block of 9th Place South in May 2003, she never dreamed she might someday be homeless.

But after refinancing her home twice, she is now not only facing foreclosure, but is also in danger of being put out on the street.

When her adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) jumped from $1,442 per month to $2,390, DiMartino found she could not make her payments, which ruined her credit rating.

Now she says she can find no one who will rent to her.

She and her husband bought the house with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. But two years later, DiMartino said they were inundated with offers to refinance their home.

DiMartino, a 17-year employee of the King County Health Department and former employee of the city of Seattle, considers herself an educated woman but the money sounded good and she wanted funds to fix up the house. So they accepted an offer.

"I didn't know how much it would go up," DiMartino, admitted. "The salesman said our payments would go up $150 per month but they went up $450."

Now, she now finds herself a single mom after her husband left in the midst of their financial crisis.

"The depression, the sadness, the sleepless nights, the feeling of loss, the feeling of failure on me has been horrendous, to say the least," declared DiMartino. "Everyday when I come home from work, I look to see if there is an eviction notice on the door."

Ironically, the northeast Burien home is just blocks outside the third runway noise buyout area. If her home was just a little bit farther east, the Port of Seattle would be required to buy it and relocate her to a comparable home.

Washington ACORN members held a rally at DiMartino's home on Jan. 31 to call attention to foreclosures brought on by the current sub-prime mortgage situation.

"We have members who have been tossed out of their homes because unscrupulous lenders did not fully disclose what people were getting into," said John Jones, president of ACORN.

ACORN member Patti Ludwig noted Burien's 98168 zip code has the fourth highest foreclosure rate in King County.

Since the 2008 Legislative session opened ACORN members have taken their concerns directly to Olympia, talking with key legislators at scheduled appointments.

On the Martin Luther King holiday, ACORN joined other groups at a march and rally on the Capitol steps.

A pair of bills (SB 6381, SB 6471) seeks to regulate mortgage brokers and establish their fiduciary responsibility with the borrower.

Two bills (SB 6272, HB 2770) come directly from proposals made by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Those bills call for mortgage counseling and other consumer protections.

"Good people like Theresa should not be losing their homes because of predatory lending practices," Rep. Zack Hudgins added. "As we work on this problem in Olympia this legislative session, I urge lenders to work with mortgage holders to provide new schedules of payments that are reasonable.

"Don't take the American dream from working people."

For video relating to this story, go to www.highlinetimes.com.