\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that we didn\u2019t manage our money,\u201d Comfort said. \u201cWe know in America, everyone owes something. We couldn\u2019t get things done the way we expected. It happens to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Boatengs are still living in the Fairwood home. They have not made a mortgage payment in more than six years.<\/p>\n
Prince George\u2019s County had the highest foreclosure rate of any county in Maryland, and Fairwood, despite its $173,000 median income, was the fourth-hardest-hit neighborhood in the county.<\/p>\n
Fifty percent of the loans made there in 2006 and 2007 went bad, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. Nearly one-third of the foreclosures were among African immigrants such as the Boatengs, even though they made up only 5 percent of the county\u2019s black population.<\/p>\n
The Boatengs opened up their financial records and provided The Post with hundreds of pages of bank, credit and mortgage documents for review. Every 90 days since May 31, 2010, they have received a letter threatening to foreclose on their home.<\/p>\n
They have been able to stay in the house through a confluence of factors: banks wading through a glut of foreclosures, the slow gears of the legal process, bureaucratic negotiations for mortgage modifications and an aversion by lenders to empty homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a transient feeling, almost like you\u2019re in transit,\u201d Kofi said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like you have this feeling, a grief kind of thing. But then at one point you feel there\u2019s hope. Then another time, the feeling of loss comes back again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comfort and Kofi had met as teenagers in the choir at Calvary Baptist Church in the Adabraka area of Accra, Ghana\u2019s capital and largest city. In 1987, the 100-member choir performed throughout the United States, including in Maryland.<\/p>\n
Kofi stayed in Takoma Park and noticed all the foreign cars \u2014 Toyotas, Volvos, Mercedes-Benzes, Nissans \u2014 and thought the area might be welcoming to a foreigner like him.<\/p>\n
Back in Ghana, he graduated with a degree in computer science at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, while Comfort attended the Agence D\u2019or Secretarial School, earning the equivalent of an associate\u2019s degree. They married in 1989, when she was 26 and he was 30. A year later, Comfort was pregnant with their first child.<\/p>\n
Seeking better opportunities, they applied online for a lottery administered by the State Department to receive a U.S. permanent resident card. It was a long shot. Annually, less than 5 percent of the 1 million immigrants granted permanent residency enter the United States through the lottery, according to federal data.<\/p>\n
But in June 1996, they learned they were going to the United States. Kofi boarded a Ghana Airways plane on July 9, 1997, headed to Maryland.<\/p>\n
He got a job as an IT instructor. Comfort worked as an administrative assistant processing loans at a local bank, but it was a low-level job that did not require her to master the intricacies of lending.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about loans and houses,\u201d she said. \u201cI was basically doing the data entry part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first year the couple and their two children, 6-year-old Yaa and 2-year-old Kwabena, lived at a friend\u2019s apartment in Gaithersburg. In 1998, they rented an apartment in that city. On May 5, 2000, they bought a three-bedroom townhouse through CitiMortgage for $128,900 in the Gunners Lake Village subdivision of Germantown. They had spent two years saving $3,000 for the down payment. Two years later, Kofi Jr. was born.<\/p>\n
The Boatengs became citizens in 2003, allowing Comfort\u2019s mother to get a green card and move in, eliminating the $300 weekly child-care costs. But with three bedrooms and two full bathrooms for six people, they needed more room.<\/p>\n
Thanks to a booming housing market, their townhouse was worth $355,000. It was time to buy a bigger home.<\/p>\n
For advice on neighborhoods, the couple turned to their 300-member church, where Kofi directed the choir. Most of the congregation is from Ghana or Nigeria. The church members suggested Prince George\u2019s County.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prices were far better if you compare it to the same thing we\u2019d have in Gaithersburg or Germantown,\u201d Kofi said. \u201cIt\u2019s half of what we would have to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friends mill around outside the house during the special luncheon in Fairwood.
\nOn a trip with their real estate agent to see Fairwood in late 2004, Kofi was struck by the trees, which reminded him of the ones around his college dormitory in Ghana. \u201cI liked what they said about it, that they wanted to keep the botanical feel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There were long driveways, new European cars, manicured lawns, intercom systems at front doors and wooden decks and few fences.<\/p>\n
Fairwood had drawn other Ghanaians, as well as Nigerians and Cameroonians who were part of a general influx of West African immigrants into the Washington area, particularly into Prince George\u2019s. The county has the second-highest rate of African immigrants per capita nationwide, behind only Baltimore County, according to recent census estimates.<\/p>\n
In 2005, Kofi and Comfort met with one of the home builders in Fairwood, which sits in an unincorporated area of Prince George\u2019s outside of Bowie, and they decided to build a house for a little more than $600,000. This was more house than they were expecting to buy, but they believed it would be a good investment. They said they thought it would go up in value, like their Germantown house, and they could use that equity to finance their children\u2019s college educations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of getting the house was to get our kids through college,\u201d Comfort said.<\/p>\n
Their real estate agent told them they could afford it by refinancing the mortgage on the Germantown house \u2014 which they were going to keep \u2014 and cashing out the $60,000 in equity. That could serve as the down payment for the Fairwood house. At the time, Kofi\u2019s credit score was 748, a superior rating that indicated that they were good at managing their debt.<\/p>\n
Working through a mortgage broker, they applied for a loan, which they received from Lehman Brothers Bank under Kofi\u2019s name. They said they were told that, based on their income, they could qualify for an interest-only, adjustable-rate mortgage. They would pay only the interest for the first five years, after which they would be required to make payments on the principal and interest. Such loans are riskier, and borrowers and have been shown to default at higher rates than a traditional 30-year fixed rate mortgage.<\/p>\n
The Boatengs ended up borrowing $493,600 from Lehman Brothers, at an initial loan rate of 6.1 percent. In five years, it would reset to at least 8.3 percent. Their payments would start at $3,662 and go up to $4,336.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we really understood everything. . . . We didn\u2019t take it too hard that this was going to be a problem. We thought we\u2019d be able to manage it.\u201d \u2014Comfort Boateng
\nThey thought they would be able to refinance to a better rate in the future. In those days, refinancing was easy to get, and the Boatengs went with the tide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we really understood everything,\u201d Comfort said. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to deal with everything, especially when you\u2019re dealing with this huge document that you don\u2019t really understand. We didn\u2019t take it too hard that this was going to be a problem. We thought we\u2019d be able to manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Workers started building the house in June 2005, and the closing was set for October. But in August, Kofi was laid off after his company lost its lucrative government contract with the Army. \u201cThe company said, \u2018We have no job for you,\u2019 \u201d Kofi said.<\/p>\n
Now, the Boatengs faced a dilemma. Their home was nearly finished, and they had become emotionally attached to it. They were worried they would lose their $20,000 deposit, and they weren\u2019t even sure they could back out of the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, it\u2019s not like we wanted to back out, too,\u201d Comfort said. \u201cWe had already done everything for the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
They did not tell the bank that Kofi lost his job.<\/p>\n
Banks are supposed to verify employment and income prior to approving a loan. Nevertheless, the loan closed, and the Boatengs also received a second loan to complete the financing through their broker\u2019s company, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of $61,700 at 8.5 percent. They paid $29,000 in closing costs and put down a total of $73,000 in cash at the closing.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 25, 2005, the family\u00a0moved into their new home in Fairwood.<\/p>\n
With Kofi out of a job and so much of their money sunk into the new house, the Boatengs didn\u2019t have enough left over to furnish it. A letter arrived stating that their first payment on the Fairwood house was due Jan. 1, 2006.<\/p>\n
Kofi looked for a job and the couple sought a renter for their Germantown home. Their payments on the two houses amounted to $5,550 each month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to sell it,\u201d Comfort said of the townhouse. \u201cBut some church members also have rental properties. So they said we shouldn\u2019t, that we should rent it out. And we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In December, they found a tenant, whose rent check would cover the Germantown mortgage. And Kofi was hired by a tech company in Fairfax County, earning $82,000 a year.<\/p>\n
But February and March came and went with no rent check. Soon they were in court asking a judge to evict the tenant, a process that takes months. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t pay their rent,\u201d Comfort said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t kick them out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kofi went to Bank of America and took out a $5,000 personal loan to cover their mortgages for a month. When the case dragged on, Comfort went to Bank of America and received a personal loan for $10,000.<\/p>\n
In subsequent months, with Kofi\u2019s consent, she took out a $20,000 personal loan from Federal Credit Union in Montgomery County to start a home business selling Mary Kay products. The loan carried a 15 percent interest rate over a 10-year term.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t see the loan as a risk but as a way to help the family, and she says she believed that she could earn up to $7,000 a month with Mary Kay.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy intention was to help, so we were able to make our payments and have some money around,\u201d Comfort said.<\/p>\n
She said she quickly earned director status and was given the choice of a leased car, a Pontiac Vibe, or the money in cash, $700 a month. The family decided to take the money.<\/p>\n
To grow her Mary Kay business, Comfort said she took out another $20,000 loan from the same credit union, under the same terms, but this time she did not tell Kofi. She was sure she would be successful. But now she was juggling selling cosmetics and recruiting people for Mary Kay with a job search in her own field. She fell behind. Cases of merchandise sat in their home.<\/p>\n
In late 2006, the couple decided to refinance their Fairwood mortgage and consolidate their debt, including the personal loans and some auto and student loans. They met with another mortgage broker, also a church member.<\/p>\n
They eventually took out a $620,000 refinancing loan from Countrywide Home Loans. It was also an interest-only subprime loan, carrying a 6.29 percent interest rate and adjusting in two years instead of five. Their payment on the Fairwood house would rise to about $5,230 by November 2008.<\/p>\n
As the broker walked them through their credit report, Kofi learned about the second $20,000 loan taken out by Comfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never had my husband say anything about divorce until that money issue thing, the Mary Kay thing,\u201d Comfort said. \u201cHe\u2019s quiet. So when he\u2019s extremely quiet, you know something is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comfort apologized for not telling him, but Kofi remained silent.<\/p>\n
Comfort Boateng, a resident of Fairwood, sifts through mortgage and financial documentation in the family\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
In mid-2006, the housing bubble began to deflate. The next year, as home values dropped and the principal came due on many loans, more and more people could not pay their subprime mortgages. Wall Street had been using the mortgages to create securities with high returns, so the problem with subprime eventually helped touch off a worldwide financial crisis in 2008.<\/p>\n
The Boatengs held out for a long time against this tide. They were not among the 1.3 million who went into foreclosure in 2007. As the crisis worsened the following year, with 2.3 million more foreclosures, the couple said they paid their Fairwood mortgage for as long as they could. But they knew they would not be able to make it when it readjusted upward in November 2008.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not have the money at all,\u201d Kofi said. \u201cWe knew there was no way we could pay $5,000 a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the credit markets melting down, the Boatengs could not refinance or borrow any more money. More than 2.4 million people were denied refinancing loans in 2008, according to a Post analysis. When the Boatengs thought about selling the Germantown home, they learned it was probably worth $30,000 less than what they owed on it. They said they also had some medical bills that added more than $4,000 in costs.<\/p>\n
When the couple sought mortgage relief from Countrywide in April 2008, they said they were told that because they had not missed a payment they could not show a hardship. Countrywide was absorbed by Bank of America in July 2008.<\/p>\n
The Boatengs made their last Fairwood mortgage payment on Sept. 18, 2008.<\/p>\n
They applied for a loan modification through Bank of America. The bank said it made \u201cseven attempts to help and modify the mortgage for the Boatengs\u201d between 2008 and 2012, offering them a fixed-rate mortgage that would increase the amount they owed per month to about $4,900 but stabilize their payments, bank spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens said.<\/p>\n
The Boatengs said it was too high.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, we were paying close to $4,000 and were struggling,\u201d Comfort said. \u201cAnd that was too much for us to pay. Anything (about) $3,000 would have been manageable for us at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, the Boatengs were also getting help from the Massachusetts-based Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, a nonprofit counseling agency that worked as an intermediary between the bank and the Boatengs. But NACA learned the Boatengs owned more than one property, which under NACA\u2019s guidelines prohibited the nonprofit from working on the family\u2019s behalf to modify their mortgage.<\/p>\n
The Boatengs received their first notice of Bank of America\u2019s intent to foreclose on their home on May 31, 2010. The mortgage was 606 days past due.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me as a man, you feel like you\u2019re failing everybody in your life,\u201d Kofi said. \u201cYour children, they come around and think, \u2018Oh, our dad is successful.\u2019 And you don\u2019t feel successful at all. You feel, I\u2019m working hard and I want us to succeed, and I want the kids to know that when you work hard you succeed. But it doesn\u2019t look like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the financial rescue, Congress in 2009 created the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which provided relief for beleaguered homeowners by allowing them to modify the terms of their loans. Working through a church member who owned a law firm, the Boatengs asked Bank of America for a HAMP modification.<\/p>\n On April 28, 2011, they were told they were not eligible. The bank said the amount of relief the Boatengs needed to achieve an \u201caffordable payment\u201d exceeded the limits allowed by HAMP.<\/p>\n Their monthly loan payments were to go up again in November 2011, rising to about $6,000. On Aug. 16, 2011, the bank warned in a letter: \u201cThis could be a significant increase and result in a condition referred to as payment shock.\u201d<\/p>\n Two weeks later, on Aug. 31, 2011, Bank of America sent an unsolicited \u201cshort sale agreement\u201d to the Boatengs, which would require the couple to sell their home. The bank offered them $3,000 to assist with moving expenses and told them they had to agree to sell by Christmas Day.<\/p>\n The bank valued the house at $378,216.<\/p>\n Comfort and Kofi sent a letter to the bank on Dec. 16, 2011, pleading for assistance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe trust in your organization to work on our behalf in getting this mortgage issue settled so we can avoid foreclosure and start making an affordable payment,\u201d the Boatengs wrote.<\/p>\n Comfort asked church members for help. One gave them $2,000.<\/p>\n The couple said someone \u2014 they do not remember who \u2014 referred them to the Brooklyn-based Litvin Law Firm, which specializes in foreclosure defense. The Boatengs said they started paying Litvin $750 monthly. This continued for two years, for a total of $15,000, they said. But then they got a call from an ex-Litvin employee who said the Boatengs should stop paying because the firm was not licensed to conduct business in Maryland.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Litvin, we realized we don\u2019t have anybody,\u201d Comfort said.<\/p>\n On Nov. 18, the Litvin Law Firm settled a complaint with the Maryland attorney general\u2019s office that it had charged hundreds of consumers large fees but often did not help them avoid foreclosure or modify their loans.<\/p>\n Litvin can continue to operate in Maryland but under more strict procedures. The company is in negotiations with the state to determine repayment for consumers, said Assistant Attorney General Lucy Cardwell. The Boatengs may be eligible for part of that relief, Cardwell said.<\/p>\n Litvin officials did not return calls for comment.<\/p>\n Friends and church members, including Vida Gyimah, Abena Agyapong and Jennifer Adu, from left, dance at a memorial luncheon for Agnes Akosua Nipaa Ayim, Comfort\u2019s mother, at the Boatengs\u2019 home. Beginning in 2003, she had been a part-time student in health-care administration at University of Maryland University College, with a goal of getting a bachelor\u2019s degree and eventually a master\u2019s. To help pay for the schooling, she took out student loans. She had earned two bachelor\u2019s degrees, one in health-care administration in 2009 and another in organizational management in 2010, but by the time she completed her master\u2019s in health-care administration in 2013, the debt had reached $90,000, including interest.<\/p>\n She said she went to school and took out the loans because she thought that was the American way to get ahead and earn more for her family.<\/p>\n![\"Comfort](\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Capture-6.jpg\")
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\nDuring much of this time, Comfort was unemployed or not working full time. In October 2010, she lost her administrative assistant job at Family Health International in Virginia. Her unemployment benefits ran out after eight months.<\/p>\n