Our friends lose their house in foreclosure
Originally appeared in Hills Publications, August 1, 2008 and ANG Newspapers, August 2, 2008
Today was the day our country’s foreclosure crisis became personal. Friends of ours have moved from the home they lived in for almost 20 years. They vacated right before the sheriff was allowed to forcibly evict them. For the past nine months, I have been trying to help them in any way I could, but time ran out.
Located in eastern Contra Costa County, they purchased the home when it was only three years old. The lot is over an acre and has a corral and barn for horses, as well as a giant outbuilding where Jack and Alice bred some of the rarest macaws and cockatoos in the world.
Sliding doors lead from the living room to a lovely swimming pool. Another set of sliders open from the dining area to a huge, fabulous aviary where recently born baby birds perched and socialized while their feathers, bodies and vocabularies grew. On the tile floor below the babies, four large tortoises ambled slowly and munched raw veggies and other treats.
Everything about their place suggested love for people, animals and the planet. This is where Jack and Alice raised their children. This is where our friends spent untold sleepless hours hand feeding hundreds of baby birds every few hours, day and night, to help preserve the species.
Although their aviary was a business, and the birds sold for thousands of dollars, they rarely made a profit. They could have, if they had weaned the babies earlier, hadn’t spent so much on veterinarian checkups and shots and hadn’t insisted on the finest natural foods for all their birdies.
They would have sold more birds if they hadn’t been adamant about interviewing all prospective buyers of their babies to make sure they understood the lifetime responsibility of having a large bird. Many potential buyers did not make the cut, but doing the right thing has always been more important than money to this couple. The only way they could afford this avocation was through what Jack made from the family’s roofing company.
Because of their commitment to the conservation of these birds, they never had much of a cushion if anything went wrong. That is why Jack’s heart problems and subsequent surgery sent them spinning. Caught without health insurance, they refinanced their home to pay hospital and doctor bills.
When Jack recovered and was able to go back to work, things seemed to return to normal, despite their now much larger mortgage payment. All that changed about a year ago, when the economy started slowing, Jack’s income dwindled to almost nothing and few people had discretionary income to buy expensive birds.
As their priority was always to take the best care of their birds and other animals, including two loveable, English bulldogs and a horse, their expenses continued mounting even as their income evaporated. My wife, Sonia, and I did not understand the severity of the situation until Jack called last fall and explained that they had stopped making mortgage payments.
At the time, I encouraged Jack to immediately contact his lender and see if anything could be worked out. Unfortunately, with little income to pay current or back installments, their debt continued to increase. Their only hope was to put their house on the market and that it would sell for enough to cover money owed plus the cost of selling.
Eight months and only one lowball offer later, the property sits unsold. In a few days the bank will take possession. As luck would have it, they found themselves caught in a downward vortex of the worst real estate market for that area in a lifetime. Three years ago, the property was appraised at over $1,000,000. When it sells, the price will be less than half that amount.
Thankfully, they were able to find homes for all their creatures, feathered and otherwise.
From experience, I can say that each bird has a unique personality and we humans can have incredible relationships with them. Jack told me how difficult it was to separate themselves from those who were truly part of their family.
Sonia and I know the pain of separating from our “son,” Willie, a hyacinth macaw who was with us for 16 years. We first met Jack and Alice years ago, when we brought Willie to them to join “Molly,” a hyacinth female who had lost her mate to cancer. Leaving dozens of these magnificent beauties after years, or perhaps decades, of daily interaction and friendship is hard to fathom.
Jack and Alice are staying temporarily with family while Jack looks for work in another state. They are fighting to remain positive and not give in to depression. For today anyway, they seem to be holding it together.
From our first meeting, we knew Jack and Alice had a respect and love for all things living. Over the years we learned how kind, caring and generous they are. Every foreclosed home has a story. This one strikes us right in the heart.