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Big Sam Moving
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If you MUST move because of foreclosure and know about it; it’s not too bad.... it could be much worse if nobody has told you, and the City Marshall shows up unannounced at your door one day, moves your belongings out on the street and padlocks you out of your apartment. In some cases, the bank or mortgage company hires a moving company to move the occupant’s belongings into storage – and there is a limit on what you can take (food and household chemicals cannot be stored in a warehouse by law), how much you can take, and the time required to pack all your delicate pieces and irreplaceable items is usually limited as well. I am Dave, the Webmaster of this site; I am not a lawyer, but I was evicted along with 5 other people from my Queens residence. Big Sam – a good friend of mine for many years – bailed me out of an impossible situation. You can read my story here. Since I have been in this situation, I certainly can empathize. We will do what other moving companies won’t do because it's not profitable – not only because we want your business, but mostly because it is the right thing to do. If
you have been moved out, there is usually a restriction on what you can go
retrieve from the storage company; you usually have to move everything at once,
as the movers won’t allow you to retrieve just some of your
possessions... such as your work clothes; you have to take everything at once.
FOOTNOTES [1] If YOU pack your belongings and seal the boxes, we cannot be held responsible for damages or losses. In sudden, unannounced evictions, there is usually no time to inventory your belongings. If at all possible, arrange for our professional movers to pack your belongings. We have appropriate boxes and packing materials to insure that the property is not damaged, and you will be given a receipt for all valuable items. Of course, we are insured for any damages when WE pack you. [2] Our warehouse is manned 24/7 and highly secure. [3] Rates vary according to weight and cubic feet. We will treat and charge jobs scheduled in advance as a regular moving job. [[4] Some unannounced evictions will land you on the street with your belongings. This is illegal, and you should consult a lawyer as soon as possible. [5] Tampering with the U.S. Mail is a Federal Offense, and removing posted notices is a misdemeanor.
In
an economy perched on the brink of disaster; a disaster that by all credible and
intelligent accounts will make the Great Depression pale in comparison – there
are many, many smaller disasters quietly rising up to claim the quiet lifestyles
of unsuspecting, innocent people. One of those disasters was my own, shared by
five other people who lived in the same building I did, and who over the years,
have become good friends.
Approximately two years ago, the original owner of the building passed away, and
a few months later, Con Edison turned off the power for the entire building in
the middle of the winter, which made heating the house impossible because the
gas boiler’s thermostat requires electricity to run. So we went to Home Depot
and bought a generator, and jury-rigged it into the boiler’s electrical supply
so we could run the boiler and wouldn’t freeze. The City’s “3-1-1” number is a
joke, as multiple complaints yielded no action
that could be called “timely”. However, the electricity was finally restored a
short time later. After all of this was resolved, we did some research on the
Internet. We discovered that the taxes were being paid, and so we assumed the
owner was paying the mortgage, because a bank always includes the property taxes
in the mortgage payments since a tax foreclosure would leave the bank “swinging
in the breeze” so-to-speak. However, we later found out that the owner had been
lent $275,000 on a $10,000 deposit and his signature. The owner was a foreign
national, and I as a Vietnam Vet and a citizen of this country would be laughed
out of the bank should I dare to propose such a deal. Apparently the house was
in bank foreclosure, since the original owner had passed on, and we found out
that he had not paid the mortgage or utility bills for quite some time even
prior to his demise, even though he still continued to collect the rent. It
seems that there is a crisis that is looming in this country; a crisis that was
caused by the banks themselves. By lending out exorbitant amounts of money with
hardly any collateral to foreign nationals with no stake in or ties to the
community, the entire country had experienced what was falsely called “a housing
boom”, that was in reality, a result of the falling value of the dollar, and the
bidding-up of housing prices with the “funny-money” the banks have irresponsibly
lent to speculators. Now
that the housing market is on a downward spiral, and 1 in 200 homes in the
country
are in foreclosure, speculators that have obtained huge mortgages with very
little if any down-payment are finding themselves in the predicament of having
to pay off a $725,000 mortgage on a house that is now worth only $550,000 on the
open market. Since the rental income would cover the mortgage payment no matter
what the house could sell for at market value, you would think an owner who
wants to have a home to live in would hang onto the property. However, the
speculator never intends to become a homeowner in the traditional sense, but is
merely a speculator hoping to make a quick “flip” sale, and pocket a small
fortune using the bank’s money – and little or none of his own. So the
speculator simply walks away from his contractual obligation with the mortgage
lender, says little or nothing to anyone living in the house paying rent,
continues to “milk” the situation for as long as possible, and lets the
consequences of his actions and the irresponsibility of the mortgage lender for
assisting him in the original transaction fall upon innocent people – and those
who are least able to bear the burden when the ka-ka hits the air movement
device. You
would think that as a rent-paying tenant, your obligation would end with simply
paying the rent on time; you should not have to worry about or even be the least
bit concerned about the landlord’s contractual obligations.... but even though
you are not legally responsible for what your landlord does or doesn’t do, the
brunt of misfortune will fall upon you if the house goes into foreclosure....
you may be out in the street and homeless – literally in less than a few hours –
with no advance notice, and no prior warning. How can I say this? Well, it
happened to me and five other tenants of the building I was living in, so I know
from whence I speak. It
is lawfully incumbent upon the bank or the mortgage company in repossession /
eviction proceedings to notify all the tenants of the building they are
intending to repossess, that they are being evicted, and give them enough time
to find suitable housing. Also, there is usually a requirement that the tenants
being forced to vacate, are entitled to compensation for their expenses in
relocating. NONE of this was done in our case. All the bank (the names are being
withheld due to pending lawsuit) did was pay to move (if you call the
unprofessional and hasty pack-up done by Bennett Moving of Hicksville, NY
"moving") and store our property for
30 days. The house is in Woodside Queens, New York, and the property was stored in
Hicksville, Long Island. We just woke up one morning after paying our rent the
week before, only to find the City Marshall padlocking our doors. There was no
notification whatsoever, no due process, and no compensation for relocation
expenses. In addition, since most of our family and friends live far away, and
since we had to be back at the house at 9AM the following morning to be there
while the moving company packed up our apartments, most of us ended up sleeping
on park benches in the pouring rain with just the clothes on our backs and
whatever we could carry. I had my dog Rocky with me. You can bet that Washington
Mutual will be hearing from our lawyers, and I’ve been contemplating getting
together with all of the displaced tenants and do a “Wa-hoo™” commercial on
YouTube that they’ll never live down.
Luckily for me, I had a friend at Big Sam Moving. Sam had wanted me to work for
him for a long time, but the commute is a terror, and so I declined. Perhaps
this is Divine providence, since I am now working in the Jersey City warehouse
and living nearby. I’m
here to tell you that YOU also have a friend at Big Sam…. And if you’re stuck in
a similar situation, we understand what you’re going through. Let us help. |
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Contact Information
This site written with
Copyright © 2008
Big Sam Movers Inc.
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by
David Todeschini of