Man bulldozes his house in face of forclosure

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Like many people, Terry Hoskins has had troubles with his bank. But his solution to foreclosure might be unique.
Hoskins said he's been in a struggle with RiverHills Bank over his Clermont County home for nearly a decade, a struggle that was coming to an end as the bank began foreclosure proceedings on his $350,000 home.
"When I see I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000, and someone decides they want to take it – no, I wasn't going to stand for that, so I took it down," Hoskins said.

Hoskins said the Internal Revenue Service placed liens on his carpet store and commercial property on state Route 125 after his brother, a one-time business partner, sued him.

The bank claimed his home as collateral, Hoskins said, and went after both his residential and commercial properties.
"The average homeowner that can't afford an attorney or can fight as long as we have, they don't stand a chance," he said.
Hoskins said he'd gotten a $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could get more from selling it in foreclosure.
Hoskins told News 5's Courtis Fuller that he issued the bank an ultimatum.
"I'll tear it down before I let you take it," Hoskins told them.
And that's exactly what Hoskins did.

The Moscow man used a bulldozer two weeks ago to level the home he'd built, and the sprawling country home is now rubble, buried under a coating of snow.
"As far as what the bank is going to get, I plan on giving them back what was on this hill exactly (as) it was," Hoskins said. "I brought it out of the ground and I plan on putting it back in the ground."
Hoskins' business in Amelia is scheduled to go up for auction on March 2, and he told Fuller he's considering leveling that building, too.
RiverHills Bank declined to comment on the situation, but Hoskins said his actions were intended to send a message.
"Well, to probably make banks think twice before they try to take someone's home, and if they are going to take it wrongly, the end result will be them tearing their house down like I did mine," Hoskins said.
Man Has No Regrets Over Bulldozing House
Hoskins said he's heard from people all over the country since his story first aired Thursday, and he said most have been supportive.
He said he sought legal counsel before tearing down his home and understands the possible consequences, but he has never doubted his decision once he made it.
"When I knew I was going to lose it, I decided to take it down," Hoskins said.
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Hero or jerk?
 
He's in legal and financial troubles with the IRS, his bank and his family - and this is just what we know from this one story... sounds like a swell guy!
 
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Jerk. He signed a mortgage and agreed to make the specified payments. If he couldn't make them easily he never should have signed the loan papers.

People want to hate banks--and with good reasons. But a loan is a contract, if you can't life up to it, it's your fault. Even if it was for circumstances outside your control, you have to man up and give the home up if you can no longer make the payments.

And he says he's giving the bank back what was on the hill when he got the loan...that's just nonsense. The loan presumably wasn't just for the land, but also for the supplies to build the home, labor to build the home etc. Is he also going to give that back?
 
Idiot. He had plenty of equity. The house might have sold enough in auction to get the IRS goons off of his ass.

...

For some reason, it reminds me of this one heavy equipment operator at a former employer. After 35 years, he gets fired. Instead of taking 60% of his base pay for the rest of his life, he crushed the supervisor with a frontend loader. Cops show up to make an arrest, but dumbass keeps driving all over the place tearing shit up. So, the cops used their rifles.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']People want to hate banks--and with good reasons. But a loan is a contract, if you can't life up to it, it's your fault. Even if it was for circumstances outside your control, you have to man up and give the home up if you can no longer make the payments.[/QUOTE]

Normally I'd agree with you but but banks seem to have the ability to decide what agreements to honor and what to default on - no worries though, the government will just bail them out. Bonuses for everyone! Yay!

P.S. This guy is an idiot. If he owed $160k to the bank, the bank doesn't have the right to not accept payment because it thinks it could get more selling it in foreclosure.
 
[quote name='javeryh']P.S. This guy is an idiot. If he owed $160k to the bank, the bank doesn't have the right to not accept payment because it thinks it could get more selling it in foreclosure.[/QUOTE]

Exactly what I was thinking. If someone would buy it for 170K, why not accept that, pay off the debt and get 10K for yourself? It's not like the bank can keep you from paying back your loan.
 
[quote name='elprincipe']Exactly what I was thinking. If someone would buy it for 170K, why not accept that, pay off the debt and get 10K for yourself? It's not like the bank can keep you from paying back your loan.[/QUOTE]

The bank wouldn't let him.

Hoskins said he'd gotten a $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could get more from selling it in foreclosure.
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[quote name='Sporadic']The bank wouldn't let him.[/QUOTE]

How is that possible? I think he was duped. They can't prevent you from paying your debt. Maybe he signed a really stupid loan agreement that didn't allow him to pay off his debt early?
 
[quote name='elprincipe']How is that possible? I think he was duped. They can't prevent you from paying your debt. Maybe he signed a really stupid loan agreement that didn't allow him to pay off his debt early?[/QUOTE]

This would be highly unusual in a loan of this type. Even so, the worst thing that would happen is there would be some sort of prepayment penalty and I'm pretty sure there are percentage caps as to what a bank can charge in connection with a prepayment. Banks simply cannot refuse payment on outstanding debt.
 
I tried convincing my parents to gut the inside of their house before the foreclosure went through. They didn't want to because they had too many memories in it. With all the equity they had put into fixing it up, I figured there was no reason the bank should benefit from the hardwood floors, newly remodeled bathroom, and re-painted interior that my parent's put into it. This guy obviously took it a little further but ah well.

I understand the personal responsibility piece of honoring your contractual agreements, I really do, but if they actually, as the article suggests, found a way to flatly deny his full re-payment so they could make more on auction, they got what they deserved.

Let's not forget the IRS piece. They'll screw over anyone and everyone without a second thought. For example, about 20 years ago my dad purchased a hotel. Only problem is, the owner he purchased it from found a way to hide the IRS lien on the property. Even after the ownership of the property had changed hands, what did they go after? The property or the sleazeball tax cheat? The property, my dad was left with nothing from what he had invested. The IRS didn't give a shit, they had their lien on the property and they planned to get theirs.

Edit-After re-reading the article I see what's going on here. The mortgage wasn't actually for the house I'm thinking. It sounds like it was a business loan for his business. The bank then went after his house because it was one of his assets. The part here
The bank claimed his home as collateral, Hoskins said, and went after both his residential and commercial properties.
Click to expand...
is what makes me think that. So therefore, him trying to pay back $170,000 wouldn't be a repayment on the house's mortgage, it would have to be applied to the original business loan, which must obviously be much more than the $170,000 he was attempting to pay. That would be why the bank was more concerned with getting more money out of an auction. The one thing that surprises me is that his business wasn't set up as a corporation to help prevent that kind of personal asset seizure from occurring.
 
Hoskins said the Internal Revenue Service placed liens on his carpet store and commercial property on state Route 125 after his brother, a one-time business partner, sued him.
Click to expand...

Nice brother he had there.

If I were him, I would've had another bulldozer at the carpet store and any other properties and knocked those down too.
 
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