Foreclosure Auctioneer Planning to Change her Career
Liese Varenkamp is planning to give up her job of auctioneer dealing with foreclosures. She is 51 years old and is the publisher of Santa Cruz Record and Investors Edge. She is the crier at auctions on the steps of the Government Center of the county for about 3 years. She has rattled off 3,600 names of house owners who had failed on their mortgage dues and seen their properties swallowed by foreclosure auction by the banks and lenders.
Now she wants to move away from this job to another direction. After reading a piece by an attorney Ellen Brown on her site The Web of Debt she came to know that a court ruling of May could set the precedent that would make it impossible for lenders to initiate foreclosures on 62 million mortgages in the instance of transfer of ownership without the same being recorded. Varnkamp said that she is keen to help the house owners and was concerned that this game by the lenders had caused the counties to lose funds being deprived of recording fees. She was looking for proper legal assistance for helping the people to fight this crass injustice. She will take part for the last time in foreclosure auction the next Wednesday.
At the auction on Friday she called out the addresses of about 36 properties in Santa County that are in foreclosure. Realtor Alex Johnson was among the few handfuls of those who had gathered in Capitola. Investment broker Aaron Lieben was also present with his toddler daughter Zara. Nearly 24 foreclosure sales were postponed and there were 3 cancellations. Varenkamp called out the opening prices that the trustee firms had given her on behalf of the lenders. The bidders had to come with certified cheques covering the entire purchase amount. Lieben opined, “There’s a shortage of really nice homes. The market is not stable, so it’s hard to get a margin.” He decided not to make a bid. The only person who did bid was Johnson for a house in Soquel on Golf Drive. He paid $456,706 – one dollar more than the price asked for by the lender. The last owner had purchased the house back in 2005 and had fallen into debt for $700,000.
There were seven other units but no bidders; the properties reverted back to the banks or lenders.
