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Suicide over Foreclosure By Meghna Chakrabarti  Listen to story (Real Audio)
TAUNTON, Mass. - July 24, 2008 - A package to help struggling homeowners, as well as mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is expected to become law within days. The US House passed the Housing Relief bill Wednesday and the Senate is expected to follow suit. President Bush now says he'd sign the bill into law. The new legislation comes amid a record rate of foreclosures across the country. For one woman in Taunton, the stress was just too much. 53-year-old Carlene Balderrama took her own life on Tuesday, hours before her foreclosed home was to go to auction. WBUR's Meghna Chakrabarti has more on the story. TEXT OF STORY: [SOUND OF TAUNTON NEIGHBORHOOD] MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: The Duffy Drive neighborhood where Carlene Balderrama killed herself is quiet. There are no cars pulling out of driveways, no kids playing in the street, no couples working on the groomed lawns that front the yellow, red, and blue houses huddled along the road. NOREEN MENDES: "Quiet, just peaceful. Ideal for raising a family and everything." CHAKRABARTI: And yet, neighbor Noreen Mendes says no one on Duffy Drive knew Balderrama was losing the house. Mendes has lived in the neighborhood for 34 years. Balderrama, she says, was silent about financial issues. They'd talk about the weather, about kids and grandkids, about home improvement. MENDES: "She had workmen there, and they were talking about the roof. She was comparing workmen, and the cost of shingles and so and so, just two weeks back. So, it's just... shocking..." CHAKRABARTI: Shocking that no one knew Balderrama's house had been foreclosed. No one knew that on Tuesday, the same day her house was going to auction, Balderrama faxed a suicide letter to her mortgage company. No one heard the gunshot from her husband's high-powered rifle. No one knew when police arrived an hour later to investigate, and potential buyers milled around outside waiting for the auction to begin, that Balderrama was dead inside. Balderrama's husband John had filed for bankruptcy three years in a row, the last in 2006. Each petition was rejected. He told the Associated Press that his wife handled the family's finances, and he had no idea she hadn't paid the mortgage 3 and a half years. Taunton Police Chief Raymond O'Berg says, no one, not her husband, not her 24-year old son, knew Carlene Balderrama had left a note in the house saying she'd run out of options. POLICE CHIEF RAYMOND O'BERG: "They found a suicide note. Part of it said take the insurance money and pay for the house." [DUFFY DRIVE SOUND CROSSFADES WITH BUSY STREET SOUND. ] [SOUND OF DOOR OPENING TO REAL ESTATE OFFICE.] REALTOR: "It's just nuts, the way the market is. It's crazy. You know?" CHAKRABARTI: A mile from Duffy Drive, at the office of Jack Conway realty, one agent says her client list is full of desperate sellers, but few buyers. REALTOR: "Nothing's the same." CHAKRABARTI: "Does this surprise you that this happened?" REALTOR: "To be honest with you, no." CHAKRABARTI: She doesn't want her name used, she says, because business is tough. The foreclosure rate hasn't relaxed. In fact, over the past two months, Taunton has had the 10th highest foreclosure rate in the state, according to ForeclosuresMass, a group that tracks the Massachusetts real estate market. Almost 130 homes have been foreclosed in the past six months. Police Chief Raymond O'Berg says families need not suffer in silence: O'BERG: "We just hope that people reach out and seek financial help, and mental health help. Financial stress can lead to tragic consequences, as it happened in this case." CHAKRABARTI: Some families are reaching out. Officials at Pro-Home, a not-for-profit Taunton mortgage counseling group, say calls for help come into their office every week. They say a slow economy and ballooning mortgage payments were already pushing many homeowners to their financial limits. Now, add in high fuel costs, and a new wave of homeowners who were once hanging on are spiraling into crisis. And the crisis is spreading, according to another Taunton real estate agent. [SOUND OF SECOND REALTOR?S OFFICE] REALTOR#2: "One of the biggest things that hits everybody, is the cost of gasoline and oil. The president ended up giving everybody a 300, or 600, or 1200 dollar check. That helps them out for, a week?" CHAKRABARTI: I ask the agent if I can use his name. He shakes his head no, but keeps talking: REALTOR#2: "Most people, have a choice. They either pay for gasoline, or to buy food. Or to even go to work. And those who have to travel all the time, sometimes they have to leave their jobs, or try to work from home, which not every job can do." CHAKRABARTI: The realtor stops. He's had a long day and little business to show for it. He loosens his tie and takes a long drink of diet soda. His own neighbor lost his house not long ago, he says. REALTOR#2: "But the thing is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and there is a means of escape. It's not like there's nothing you can do." CHAKRABARTI: He wishes he could have told Carlene Balderrama that. REALTOR#2: "Do not wait. Do not wait. Do not wait. As soon as you know you're in trouble, even if you make this month's mortgage, but you're not going to make next month's, don't wait, take care of it now. Talk to somebody as soon as you can." CHAKRABARTI: I ask him again if he would use his name, so maybe someone hearing this could call him for advice. REALTOR#2: "No. No." CHAKRABARTI: Because, he says, he isn't sure he'll be able to pay his own mortgage next month. REALTOR#2: "And that's the best I can tell ya." CHAKRABARTI: And with that, this realtor, too, falls silent. FOR WBUR, I'm Meghna Chakrabarti.
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