04/28/2008
Writing
My name is Eugenia Renskoff. I love to write. I always write, every single day, no matter what. My novel Different Flags, received a very good review from the sormag reviewer as well as other reviewers. In spite of this, it has been impossible for me to find an agent. I have a couple of blogs (www.beccar.wordpress.com and www.mylifeinargentinaandbeyond.blogspirit.com). They may interest you. You have to be very persistent, very dedicated, because the writing life is not always easy. There are rewards, but they are not always in plain sight. Ask around for a literary agent. Ask a published writer friend, the friend of a friend, an acquaintance, your old college professor. Never give up. Eugenia Renskoff
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04/15/2008
Health Care NY Times Letter
Dear Editor, I am writing in response to Health Care Horror Stories. I feel that health care should be available to all Americans, whether they are insured or not. We all live in this country and being in good health is very important. If we are not healthy, how can we work? How can we take care of ourselves and our family? Our government should help us. It is horrible for people to be sick and not be able to go to the hospital. It sets a bad example. Aren't we the wealthiest country in the world? Then, why is this happening with our most vulnerable citizens? Eugenia Renskoff
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03/21/2008
NY Times Article on Debt Collectors
Dear Editor, I feel that it is good to have jobs in a hard hit region like Buffalo, N.Y., but not at the expense of people who have gotten into debt because of foreclosure, mortgage fraud, predatory lending and/or job losses. If people are always coming up with new ways to make money, why not have people not have debt? I know that in that case they could not try to collect from them, but it would be better all around. Debts that you cannot pay or are hounded and harrassed for can give you ulcers and make your life miserable in other ways. No one wants to be called by a debt collector. Nobody in their right mind enjoys not having money to pay their bills. Eugenia Renskoff
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03/19/2008
Manslaughter Conviction in Death of 7 year-old
I am writing about the stepfather convicted of manslaughter in the beating of the 7 year-old girl.This case is one more reason why things have to change in NYC and other parts of the country. Sometimes stepfathers are just plain mean with their new spouse's children. To beat up a little girl because she took a yogurt out of the refrigerator is simply horrible. I was appaled when I read that she was tied to a chair with duct tape and made to use the litter box. This little girl was not a wild animal. She was a human being with rights and feelings. Her misbehavior from time to time is obviously no reason for her stepfather's violence. If he had problems, why take it out on the little girl? Now she's dead and he will spend most of the rest of his life in jail. A life sentence would have been better. Eugenia Renskoff
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02/29/2008
New York times Foreclosure-Related Letter
Dear Editor, I have read today's story on people walking out on new homes. I don't think it's a bad idea. Some people don't want to keep paying and paying and have no home, no savings left. Owning your own home is great, but sometimes you have to think about having a place to live that won't ruin you financialy, emotionally and psychologically. Paying other bills, like groceries and utilities are more important and urgent.
I lost my condo in Atlanta as well as the money I had in the bank. I wouldn't want that to happen to other people. Eugenia Renskoff
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02/08/2008
Different Flags Query
Eugenia Maria Renskoff
www.differentflags.com/beccar.wordpress.com
February 8, 2008
Nely Galan
Galan Entertainment
523 Victoria Avenue
Venice, CA 90291
Dear Ms. Galan,
I am writing to tell you about my novel Different Flags. 26 year-old Ani travels to Argentina. In Buenos Aires while taking care of her ailing aunt, she falls in love with a Catholic priest.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Eugenia Maria Renskoff
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11/26/2007
New NY Times Letter
Dear Editor, I congratulate Bob Herbert on writing Lost in a Flood of Debt. I think it is high time that somebody wrote about the people who like Ms. Levey (and myself) have had to struggle because of mortgage fraud and the threat of foreclosure. Her situation is very similar to mine in that I had very little money to buy food and pay utilities. I could not believe what was happening to me and what I had become. The last thing I had been and wanted to be was a deadbeat. Suddenly I had people calling me at almost all hours asking me to pay them. I explained that I couldn´t because I had no money. But they didn´t believe me and they kept calling.
It is very easy to blame the borrower and say something like he or she should have known better. Borrower beware? What about the people--like the loan officer, for instance--who should have done their job and not behave unethically? In my case, the loan officer knew what he was doing and I have been paying for it since 2002.
I feel that Bob Herbert´s article speaks to me. I feel that he respects people like Ms. Levey and me. Eugenia Renskoff
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10/31/2007
Letter To Atlanta Journal Constitution
Dear Editor, I am writing to you because I once lived in Atlanta. My beautiful condo foreclosed in November 2005. I was a victim of predatory lending and mortgage fraud and am now living in Argentina. The experience of losing my home is something I can never forget. It was so bad and traumatic that I am still suffering because of it, to the point of not being able to sleep at night. Not only is my financial score ( once around 754) ruined, but I have found it extremely difficult to start all over again. I loved that condo in Buckhead and tried everything I could to save it. I contacted realtors in Atlanta, contacted HUD, got in touch with the lender but nothing worked. There was no possibility of a short sale as far as Novastar Mortgage was concerned and the price of the condo had gone down quite a lot.
The funny thing is that the people responsible for this have not been punished. The realtor recommended the loan officer. She said that she had worked with him before. The loan officer paid somebody to tell the lender that I was making $120,000 a year and had my own publishing company. He did this without my knowledge or permission and when I found out about it, I thought it was too late to back out.
The letter I wrote the GA Attorney General has not received a response. It is clear to me that I, the consumer who was defrauded, whose savings are gone, don´t count. For some reason that I don´t understand the realtor and the loan officer are protected. They can go on with their lives, keep doing their thing and I am left holding the bag. Sincerely, Eugenia Renskoff
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10/29/2007
Slave Trade
Dear Editor, I agree with Bob Herbert in the article Today´s Hidden Sex Trade. This is also happening in Argentina. Women are kidnapped, deceived tricked and forced into becoming prostitutes. They are kept as slaves and often moved from provincia to provincia. Sometimes these women are sneaked out of the country. Their international destinations are Spain and Italy where they are forced to work for practically nothing. Their families never hear from them again. Eugenia Renskoff Argentina
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10/14/2007
Letter To GA Attorney General
Eugenia Maria Renskoff
Website: www.differentflags.com
October 12, 2006
Thurbert E. Baker, Georgia Attorney General
40 Capital Square SW
Atlanta, GA 30334-1310
USA
Dear Mr. Baker,
I am writing to you now, though I believe I should have written earlier. I am an American citizen temporarily living in Argentina. Once I bought a condo in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta and I was a victim of what is called mortgage fraud.
I arrived in Atlanta in late May of 2002. I liked the city very much and started to look at condos. I hooked up with a real estate broker named La Shawn Tucker(Buckhead Real Estate) and she hooked me up with a mortgage broker named Steffon. Ms. Tucker showed me a condo at 3660 Peachtree Road, J8, that I liked very much. It was a 2-bedrrom condo in a nice part of Buckhead. Ms. Tucker said that if I ever decided to rent it out, I could use something called the roomamate plan and rent it out for about $1,600 a month. Later I found out differently and that the most I could get for the rental of the condo was around $800 or $900, but at that time, I believed and trusted her.
This man Steffon got me a loan with Novastar Mortgage company in Kansas City, Missouri. There were two mortgages instead of one—the first mortgage at an intesrest rate of 9.75% and the other at 13%. I had a very good credit score (around 754). The price of the condo was $170,000 and the selling real estate company was Harry Norman.
The closing was scheduled for July 26, 2002. A few days earlier, while driving around Buckhead with Ms. Tucker, she told me that Steffon had paid someone to say that my yearly income was $120,000. My real income was nowhere near that amount. I was shocked, but I also thought that we had gone too far to turn back and that we had to close. I had no one in Atlanta that I could turn to confide in. And I was spending too much money on hotels. I decided that I would fulfill my financial obligations once the condo was mine, just like I had done up to that time.
A month or two later, I called Harry Norman. It had dawned on me that the interest rates were too high for my very good credit score and that the best thing to do would be to sell. The Harry Norman real estate agent who had acted on behalf of the sellers told me that the best price I could get for the condo was $150,000—$155,000. I could not believe it and called other real estate agents. They all confirmed what she had said.
Then I called La Shaunda Tucker and left a message but her office never returned my calls. I also called Steffon at 770-912-1504 and never heard from him. I got in touch with Novastar´s office in Atlanta, but they didn´t know who he was.
I decided to try to refinance. The mortgage brokers I spoke with told me that yes, the rates were very high, but that I had to wait a year to refi. In the meantime, I began to use my savings of about $40,000 to pay the monthly mortgages and maintenance bills while I looked for a job as a translator and/or Spanish teacher.
I had a hard time finding a job, even though I had been a freelance translator in California and New York City. As you can imagine, this situation stressed me out.
I looked for an agent to help me rent out the place. Several tried hard, with no success. They told me that Atlanta had overbuilt and that there were too many condos and not enough prospective renters. I sought help from lawyers, but without success. Then, the condo was finally rented at $895 per month fore 6 months. All this time I tried to refinance, but the rates being offered me were nearly as high as the ones I already had.
My savings ran out and I used my credit cards to pay the mortgage. Maybe that wasn´t the wisest thing for me to do, but I didn´t want to foreclose. I took a job in New York as a maid so that I wouldn´t max out my credit cards too soon.
My life became a nightmare. I loved that condo in spite of everything and I knew that foreclosure meant a 7-year stain on my up to recently nearly spotless score. I wanted to save it. I tried everything, sought help from HUD in Atlanta, among other places, (like the Credit Bureau of GA),but it was no use. The condo foreclosed on November 1, 2005.
I have proof of all I did to save it. It was put up for sale last year, but there were no takers, not even at $145,000.
While in NY, I read an article in the Sunday real estate section of The New York Times (October 17, 2004) called Losing Your Dream Home. In it, a woman (Margaret Wragg) in one of the NY boroughs had an experience similar to mine. She also depleted her savings, and got two mortgages instead of one only to be left practically homeless. I was too overwhelmed then to think of writing you and asking you for help, Mr. Baker. All I could think of was that I could not lose my condo in GA.
This year I filed a complaint against Novastar with the Department of Finances in GA. The name of the person handling my complaint was Jenny Neville. The answer she got from Novastar was that they thought I had promoted Steffon. In other words, they said I had asked him to pay somebody to lie about my income. That is not true. I liked the condo, but I would never do that. It wouldn´t have been worth it and it would totally be out of character. I am not that type of person and I never was.
I am asking you to do whatever you can to help me. If I was at fault, it was because I was new to Atlanta and I trusted the real estate and mortgage brokers. I was naive. I have already paid for this by having my credit score go from very good to bad and by having to become a maid when I have a disability due to childhood paralysis on the right side of my body.
I would like to see these two people. La Shawn Tucker and Steffon, brought to justice. Maybe what happened to me has happened to other people they´ve dealt with. And, I would like to get the money that I have lost back. I still think about the condo and I miss it very much. I can´t get it back, I know, but for the sake of all I did to save it, I would like to have the law punish them. I´m willing to take a lie detector test if necessary. Thank you. When you get in touch with me, please do so via email, since it´s hard to get my mail here.
Eugenia Maria Renskoff
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10/12/2007
NY Times
Dear Editor, I am glad that something is finally being done to help homeowners facing foreclosure. Foreclosure is what happened to me back in GA in November 2'005. I got involved against my will in mortgage fraud and predatory lending. I did not know what had happened to me until it was too late and had 2 mortgages with very high interest rates. The issue is not whether or not a person can afford to buy this or that home. What really matters is that mortgage loan officers are tempted to take advantage of a borrower´s vulnerable situation because the loan officer has to earn his or her commission.
I have learned that these loan officers cannot always be trusted. The lesson was a very hard one. It has cost me my beautiful home, my family, my savings and the once almost perfect credit score I had. Eugenia Renskoff, Argentina
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