Most people who lose their homes to a short sale or foreclosure do what they can to conceal that fact, such is their embarrassment.
Not so for one Sebastopol couple, whose highly public protest over their plight reveals a rage that normally remains hidden.
Whether Robert Hynes and his wife, Kim Wardwell-Hynes, are entitled to those feelings is debateable, given their own roles in landing where they are today.
From their perspective, blame for their situation rests with the banks and mortgage lenders that they feel snookered hardworking people like them into getting subprime loans, which have led thousands to walk away from their homes.
Faced with the prospect of losing their South High Street house in a short sale, the couple has erected a large sign on their front lawn that reads, "Another family displaced by subprime lies and corporate greed. Shame on you GMAC and Chase. We will miss you High Street."
"I want people to know the names of the banks that are driving us out of here," said Wardwell-Hynes, a 47-year-old cancer nurse at Redwood Regional Oncology Center in Santa Rosa. "They run these ads constantly touting what good guys they are. They're not. They're greedy SOBs."
The couple's children, Fiona, 9, and Zack, 6, assisted with the protest, using chalk to draw "Boo GMAC" and a house with an "X" through it on a retaining wall near the sign.
Few who pass by can miss the sentiments, as the home sits on the corner of High Street and Hayden Avenue, across from Pine Crest Elementary School.
Plenty of homeowners share similar feelings of anger and frustration but would be hesitant to air them in such a public way.
But Wardwell-Hynes characterized the family's protest as a cathartic way of releasing the anger they feel after months of failed negotiations to save the house.
The couple paid $526,000 for the 2-bedroom, 1-bath house with about 1,100-square feet in 2006, just as the market that had driven housing prices to record levels in Sonoma County and across the country was about to crest.
After putting down $10,000 of their own money, the couple obtained two interest-only loans for the purchase, the first loan for about $422,000 at an interest rate of 6.5 percent, and a second for about $102,000 at an interest rate of 10 percent. Both loans are set to adjust next year.
Wardwell-Hynes said the couple knew it would be a struggle to pay the monthly mortgage payment of $3,700.
But she said their lender told them not to worry and that in five years the couple could refinance the home or sell it.
She said in hindsight, she probably could have gotten a better deal on the loans, which are in her name, as she said she had a high credit score and no significant debt.
"I feel like I was duped, absolutely," she said.
Wardwell-Hynes said that when her husband's work as a self-employed electrician began to dry up and her hours were reduced at the cancer center, the couple no longer could afford the monthly payments and stopped paying them in February.
At the same time, they contacted GMAC Mortgage, which holds the first note, and Chase Bank, which holds the second, to ask for a loan modification.
After several months of back-and-forth negotiations, Wardwell-Hynes said the best the couple could get was a new loan in which they paid a little on the principal and got a $100 reduction in their monthly payment.
She said that wasn't good enough, and that they will have to move. They found a 4-bedroom, 3-bath rental house not far from their current location for $2,100 a month, which is substantially larger than their current home and for a lot less money.
"It's got a hot tub and decks. It's going to be a mansion, comparatively speaking," Wardwell-Hynes said. "But we would have stayed here if they (lenders) had helped us."
Instead, the couple is working with a Realtor to put the High Street house up for sale, most likely for a substantial loss, as it was recently appraised for $200,000 less than what the couple paid for it four years ago.
To those who might say the couple have only themselves to blame for their situation, Wardwell-Hynes responded by saying that they could not have foreseen the collapse of the economy or the housing markets.
"I'm in a home that lost over $200,000 in equity," she said. "Why wouldn't the mortgage companies make some modifications? Why wouldn't the system adjust itself to try and keep people in their homes?"
Millions are in the same boat. Under President Barack Obama's loan modification program, which the Hynes said they don't qualify for, only 398,198 loans have been permanently modified. And only $321 million out of the $30 billion allotted for the federal program has been spent so far.
James Olecki, a spokesman for GMAC Mortgage, said he could not comment specifically on the Hynes' situation without researching their case, which would require the couple to sign a waiver.
Olecki said the company "expends every available effort in assisting at-risk homeowners with permanent payment relief and avoiding foreclosures wherever possible," and that since 2008, the company has permanently modified 200,000 loans.
"We are looking into this particular situation and will contact the borrower directly," he said of the Sebastopol couple.
Margaret Lynch, who lives across the street from the couple and is chairwoman of the Sonoma County Library Commission, said she empathizes with their plight.
"They're lovely people and I like the kids. I'll miss having them across the street," she said.
But Lynch, who paid $147,500 for her High Street home in 1989, said she would never have had the "guts" to buy a home with a $3,700 monthly mortgage payment attached to it.
Nevertheless, Lynch said she has no concerns with the couple going public with their protest.
"This is Sebastopol," she said. "If they put out a &‘I love Dick Cheney sign,' that might be a little more distressing."
You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.
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