Jose Becerra stood at his home located at 17 Sixth Street in Chelsea moments before the scheduled auction was halted. A foreclosure auction for a two-family residence on Sixth Street was rescheduled to February 7 after protesters gathered Tuesday morning outside the property in opposition. Approximately 20 demonstrators, including participants from the Chelsea Collaborative, assembled with Jose and Olga Becerra in front of their 17 Sixth Street residence just before the 10:00 a.m. auction was set to commence. The auction did not take place. Singing in Spanish and shouting their objections in both Spanish and English, the protesters discouraged potential bidders from participating or caused them to leave the scene. GMAC, which held the property’s mortgage, had allegedly declined to negotiate a loan modification for the Becerras. As the demonstration intensified and Mr. Becerra spoke from his front porch to the assembled crowd, the auctioneer documented the protest through electronic photographs and transmitted them to the lawyers representing GMAC in the auction proceedings. Following this action, the auction was postponed. “Jose and Olga will be submitting an application immediately to Boston Community Capital, a non-profit bank in Boston, who we hope will be able to buy the house in a short sale and sell it back to the Becerras. In the meantime, Jose will also continue to try to communicate directly with someone from GMAC to review his finances and offer a lower monthly payment and lower interest rate,” stated Eliza Parad, an official with the Chelsea Collaborative. Economic hardship affected the Becerras’ circumstances. The couple has two daughters in their teenage years. Job cuts and layoffs prevented them from maintaining their mortgage obligations. The current GMAC loan balance on the two-family home where they live stands at $344,000. The auction would have opened at $181,000 – representing a potential $160,000 loss for GMAC. Beyond the financial implications, the foreclosure would have displaced the Becerras from the home where they had lived for more than eight years. The Becerras have since found employment and are prepared to resume modified mortgage payments. GMAC, however, has declined to engage in such negotiations. Attempts to reach GMAC representatives proved unsuccessful. “Why force another family out of their home when they can afford to pay? Why create another abandoned house in the neighborhood? The Becerra’s should be given another chance to negotiate with the bank and to remain in their home,” remarked the Collaborative’s Parad.
Foreclosure-auction Sale Put off Following Angry Protest
