Atkinson police officer's widow faces foreclosure

Article Submission:



Atkinson police officer's widow faces foreclosure

By Eric Parry
eparry@eagletribune.com

CHESTER, N.H. — When Amy Lapham was a child, her favorite place was a field across the street from her parents' home on Fremont Road.

The area was still special to her in 2004, so she built a four-bedroom home with her husband, John, a former Atkinson police officer.

Now, Lapham, a mother of two boys, is being kicked out of her home, a year after her husband died from leukemia.

"I haven't even had a chance to grieve," Lapham said yesterday in the backyard of her home, which sits on six acres with a horse stable.

On July 1, Lapham received a letter from her mortgage company, Select Portfolio Services, saying it was going to foreclose on the house. It gave her 30 days to respond and then an auction would be scheduled.

She said she wrote back, pleading to refinance the mortgage, but instead the company responded with an auction date, Aug. 25.

"There was just no negotiating," she said.

Lapham's financial troubles haven't come as a surprise.

When they built the house, she said, the couple knew they were getting into an expensive mortgage, but didn't see any other options.

They had credit card debt and planned to refinance in a year or two.

Even before John died, they were falling behind on the mortgage, Amy said. But, she added, they were committed to staying in their home. John worked the midnight shift, but would regularly pick up detail jobs during the day to make extra money, she said.

After he died, she continued to pay the mortgage every month using John's life insurance money. But she took a gamble in February and stopped paying the mortgage. It was a gamble that didn't pay off.

The company she had been paying didn't own the mortgage, she said, and she couldn't think of any other way of finding the owner and trying to refinance.

"It was a 50/50 shot," said her mother, Noni Towle.

If she continued paying the mortgage, Amy said, the money from the life insurance would have run out within a year.

She also owes a lot more than the house is worth. Amy declined to reveal the balance of the mortgage, but the town's assessing records list the home at $432,900.

After John died in June 2008, Amy said she thought about selling the house, but it held too many memories for their two sons, Matt, 7, and Justin, 5.

The couple had planned on raising their two children at the home and she doesn't want them to feel the pain of losing a father and their home in the same year.

"Without the boys, I don't think I'd be fighting so hard," she said.

She thought she might have been able to generate some rental income, so she renovated the left side of her home into a two-bedroom apartment. But that has been put on hold and is still empty.

"If I could get a lower mortgage payment, I could get the house to pay for itself," she said.

All she needs is a little time, Amy said — she said she can make everything work.

She's been saving every penny and plans to go back to work, but not until she knows the fate of her house.

The couple had always planned that she would go back and finish her education degree once the boys were older, she said. But now she's not sure teaching will earn enough income.

Amy hopes to avoid the auction in 13 days, but she's not sure how that can happen. Even though she knows the family bought into a house they can't afford now, she still places some of the blame on the company who sold them the mortgage.

"The mortgage companies have to know these people can't afford these homes," Towle said.

If she does lose the home, Amy said, she will be forced to move across the street into her parents' home and be haunted by the sight of her old house every day.

"Whichever way it goes, I'm tired," she said.
August 13, 2009 8:56 AM
Anonymous said...

The house is worth $432K and she owes more than it's worth.

She has a mortgage over $432K?
August 13, 2009 9:01 AM
Anonymous said...

Amy hopes to avoid the auction in 13 days, but she's not sure how that can happen. Even though she knows the family bought into a house they can't afford now, she still places some of the blame on the company who sold them the mortgage.

"The mortgage companies have to know these people can't afford these homes," Towle said.




And the buyers didn't?? I feel bad about Officer Lapham but don't have any sympathy for people tat bit off more than the can chew!
August 13, 2009 9:22 AM
Anonymous said...

"When they built the house, she said, the couple knew they were getting into an expensive mortgage, but didn't see any other options."

I guess they had to buy it, no choice.

"she said she can make everything work.

plans to go back to work, but not until she knows the fate of her house.

But now she's not sure teaching will earn enough income."

Any income is better than no income. I saw this on tv last week too. They just need a good plan (not like the last one) and income from a job to survive. It's sad to see someone so helpless when everyone is in the same boat but the rest of us manage.
August 13, 2009 9:56 AM