When Vera Johnson purchased the Village Green Perennial Nursery on 26th SW near White Center in 2003 she saw the business, first established in the 70’s by Teresa Romedo and Bob Berridge, as something she could transform and grow. The 1 3/4 acre piece of land was already something of a nature sanctuary and with a King County culvert running through it, had water for all the native plants.
Vera was encouraged when the business did in fact grow, bringing in over $100,000 a year. But her marriage hit the rocks in 2010 and left her with two children and the mortgage held by Bank of America. She had a 2nd mortgage on another house on the land too.
Things might have been workable but when she applied for a loan modification from B of A , she hit roadblocks. She would send documents, and according to Johnson the bank would say they never got them. They asked for new and other documents, but, it seemed as if the bank would never be able to confirm receipt. Johnson did begin to miss payments and things became more dire. The bank announced they were going to begin foreclosure proceedings. Since she had been attempting loan modifications for many months but was apparently being stalled by the bank, she went to the media for help. A variety of outlets did stories, including the West Seattle Herald and the Seattle Times and the pressure on the Bank who then had an ongoing spate of bad publicity and in the wake of the 2008 mortgage crisis, finally capitulated and granted a loan modification. They changed the term from 30 years to 40 and reduced the payments by several hundred dollars. She had seemingly won the battle.
But of course, the war would inevitably resume.
Johnson, at that point put her loan payments on automatic withdrawal and felt secure she could get on with things. But B of A sold her loan to another company, Greentree Financial which merged in 2015 with Ditech Financial. To say Greentree was not well liked could be one the biggest understatements of all time. They were well known as a company that would seek to get payments at all costs with ConsumerAffairs.com listing more than 2300 complaints about them. https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/greentree.htm Google reviews had them at 1 star, their lowest rating. It’s clear they left a lot of angry people in their wake.
Johnson was notified by mail that the loan had been sold but heard nothing for ten months, then one day in 2013 a man showed up with some paperwork. “You are ten months in arrears.”
Johnson was shocked. But at this point it began to dawn on her what was happening. She had the proof of automatic withdrawals being paid to Greentree. “Seems simple to prove right? I mean logically they should want to discuss and resolve this issue easily, one would think/hope,” she said.
“But NO, that's not at all what is happening.
Here's what most people don't know or understand. Washington is a non judicial foreclosure state. What does that MEAN? That the cases NEVER NEED to be seen in court. Nor do they want to. There's no reason to do something they don't HAVE to do. “
This led to a series of legal proceedings that took place between being notified Greentree would pursue foreclosure and recent days.
Johnson explained, “The original retainer agreement i signed with Jill Smith my attorney was on April 30, 2014. There is a Notice of Default in the file dated June 17, 2014. An appointment of successor trustee was recorded on May 7, 2014. But a Notice of Pre-Foreclosure Options was sent to me on February 28, 2013 and again on April 16, 2013. A letter from Quality Loan Services (the foreclosure trustee) was sent to me on March 31, 2014 telling me about foreclosure options. The first lawsuit was filed September 8, 2014. The claims were: Violation of the Deed of Trust Act, violation of the Consumer Protection Act, and Quiet Title. We also had a declaratory judgment claim, which was simply asking the court to declare that the defendants' actions clouded the title.
The enforcement of the Truth In Lending Act (TILA) rescission notice lawsuit was filed in November 2015 because the beneficiary failed to unwind the loan contract after there had been a rescission of the loan. My TILA rescission notices were sent August 12, 2015.
In 2010-2011 I fought publicly to get Bank of America to give me a modified loan. They finally did. With public pressure.
I was paying my modified payments, I have bank statements that show all of them, up until I hired a lawyer Jill Smith, because despite the fact I was paying, the new servicer, appointed in 2013, Green-tree claimed I was not and began persuing foreclosure."
Johnson heard from another attorney, Edgar I. Hall who explained why financial institutions might take such a path.
“Besides institutional incompetence or one hand not talking to the other, there is a hidden profit motivation. Each week that passes without cure represent potentially additional interest, late fees, penalties, and most importantly legal fees. If you aggregate an additional amount anywhere from $100.00 to $2,000.00 that can occur by dragging things out a few weeks and multiply this across the tens of thousands of houses in foreclosures, this can represent effectively millions in undeserved profits. The problem is, when you look at this, the perverse incentive is that if you conduct business in a slow, incompetent manner, you get paid more under the reality that the banks and foreclosure trustees operate under.”
Johnson thought for awhile she would join the fight again and put up a GoFundMe page and posted a video.. but she ran out of will to keep trying to beat a system apparently rigged against her.
“So, after trying for 2 years to get my day to PROVE my payments, I'm giving up. I want to pay up and sell. Move away and have peace and joy...
BUT I want to get current, because yes, I stopped paying banks when I started paying LAWYERS, who were trying to save my home, and prove payments.
TODAY I have generous lenders who will help me pay back the arrears, so I can reinstate my mortgage.
To put me back in control of this property. Seems they would WANT the money, you'd think, right?
Because that makes sense. To most people.
BUT, no, they want my property.
They WANT to foreclose. To TAKE what I've worked so hard, paid so much , put all my heart and soul INTO. They want my equity.
Am I being made an example of?
WHAT incentives are there for them to forego MONEY?”
She’s had Forterra and other private investors look at purchasing the property. But her attorney sent a letter to Greentree this past week hoping to find some measure of reasonable response. It's attached at the link above.
“Hopefully a family/families who wants to live here, run a nursery/small farm and carry on.
Once the business license expires, it can never be a business again.
I cannot bear the thought of this going to auction because then it WOULD be demolished and built up as multiple houses.
This is a piece of local history. “
Johnson wants to get out from under the pressure and find joy again. She’s a blacksmith by training and would love to get back into making things, using her mind in creative pursuits instead of time with lenders and lawyers. That’s an easy choice. What did she do wrong?
“My mistakes...believing in the system to work with integrity and do things by the law. Trusting. Not reading through things thoroughly. Believing that laws protect me, but discovering that they Only protect corporations.
I can find an honest real estate agent, but I've yet to find an honest banker.
I guess I'd say my mistake was not leaving sooner when it became so difficult again, because it has robbed me of joy.
I've allowed anger toward something so big to take over in my life.
I'm a nurturer by nature, not a fighter. I've frequently tried to help others before I help myself, and it harms me more than anyone else.
That's a hard lesson to learn, for me.”
She believes the property is a target for developers and has heard rumblings about a possible townhouse development on the site, which for her and others would be a heartbreaking circumstance.
On April 30, Johnson held a huge moving/clearance sale and hundreds showed up to buy things but more than that, to say goodbye and wish her well. Johnson wrote:
“Today: was astonishing.
How can I even begin to express my gratitude?
The amount of support during this difficult time makes it easier to deal with, yet harder to leave.
As I move through this churning and emotional time, hanging onto and protecting my inner being lest I lose it in tears and utter frustration....the tender softness of humanity slices through all of my external armor, reminding me of the dire importance of building our strong sense of community and genuine wholehearted connection.
Today was a great example of what that looks and feels like.
Literally hundreds of neighbors, friends and long time supporters of village green came in with genuine concern, sharing stories and asking about the future of this beautiful place.
The volunteer support I've experienced over this weekend reminded me what can happen when a community gathers together to help someone in need. I'm truly humbled by this.
Sometimes I forget how connection works. It's like a pulse. Beating, but not constantly. Rhythmic. Like nature. It's the spaces in between that create connection. That is how it works. Like a bridge.
Spaces. That's where the strength lies.”
