3:20pm | Recently-elected 9th District City Councilmember Steven Neal may lose his North Long Beach home to a bank auction after defaulting on the loan, according to the Press-Telegram today. Neal says he is working on ways to keep his home and stated that he will not be leaving. The home is scheduled to be sold at auction on October 12.
Neal says he made “a very bad financial decision on my part” to enter into an Option ARM loan on the $300,000 home in 2003, and that he owes far more that the home is actually worth.
According to the article:
A lot of it was me, and not realizing how drastic the payments were going to change,” Neal said. “The lesson for me is … read the fine print. And when dealing with these transactions, it’s probably good to have an attorney go over it.”
Neal’s district is one of Long Beach’s hardest hit areas in terms of foreclosed homes.
Just two weeks ago, Neal publicly led the charge to create a Foreclosure Ordinance intended to raise revenue by fining banks that took over defaulted homes but did not maintain their upkeep. The banks would be required to pay a registration fee upon issuing a notice of default, and would prevent banks from letting foreclose homes become blight in their community.
The item passed unanimously as the City Manager and City Attorney are currently drafting the ordinance.
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