Ex-Serviceman Loses House to Foreclosure
Manuel Sanabria is determined not to be bogged down by life’s misfortunes. Once a Mariner in Iraq, the man returned to Florida only to find his home foreclosed and debt piling up. His home will soon be auctioned and he along with his wife will move to his mother-in-law’s home.
Twenty five year old Sanabria is confident that he will be able to restart life “I am young and I have seen worse,” he says with rare optimism. But there are others who cannot garner the courage that Sanabria has shown. These veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars are completely crushed by the economic crunch and what’s worse some of them have developed mental and physical problems.
There are no precise numbers to corroborate this. Recently the Congress has asked the Veterans Affairs Department to investigate into the number of people who have run into foreclosures. The Army has also begun operations to help people with foreclosure filings.
Bobby White, director of Fort Lauderdale’s Vet Center, said there are several local bodies who are offering financial aid to soldiers who in Afghanistan and Iraq.
White says that the recession has affected all. For the veterans, however, this is more of an uphill struggle than the ordinary citizen.
Justin Wells, an employee of Veterans Support Organization’s South Florida chapter, says his organization gets calls from veterans who want help with electric bill, rent and mortgage payments.
However, Sanabria says that the aid he received was too meager and he got it too late. When his wife Laura, lost her job, they tried to palm off the spacious house for $70,000. But they could not. The couple found it very difficult to pay the bills. Now Laura has taken up a nursing course and is determined to put her act together.
Sanabria had joined Marine Corps after finishing class XII in 2002. He served his country in Iraq and was injured in 2004. Two of his friends were killed in the encounter. Sanabria was hospitalized and after he was cured he took up home in Broward County. They had invested $50,000 on the house.
Sanabria also enrolled for a residential program to adjust to his new civilian life. Although he says that he has never been better, yet his stress levels suddenly rose when he had heard that the condominium where his mother-in-law lived would not allow his two service dogs. But the problem has now been resolved.
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