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<H1>Squatter Nation: 5 years with no mortgage payment</H1><SPAN class=byline>By
Les Christie</SPAN> <SPAN class=cnnDateStamp>June 12, 2011: 9:23 PM ET</SPAN>
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alt="Foreclosed homeowners have stopped paying their mortgages."
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<P>Millions are staying in their homes without paying their mortgages.</P></DIV>
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<P><STRONG>NEW YORK</STRONG> (CNNMoney) -- Charles and Jill Segal have not made
a mortgage payment in nearly five years -- but they continue to live in their
five-bedroom West Palm Beach, Fla. home.</P>
<P>Lynn, from <A
href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/snapshots/PL1263000.html">St.
Petersburg, Fla</A>., has been living without paying for three years. </P>
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<P>In <A
href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/snapshots/PL0678582.html">Thousand
Oaks, Calif.</A>, an actor has missed 30 payments, and still, he has not lost
his home. </P>
<P>They're not alone. </P>
<P>Some 4.2 million mortgage borrowers are either seriously delinquent or have
had their cases referred to lawyers to pursue foreclosure auctions, according to
LPS Applied Analytics. Of those, two-thirds have made no payments at all for at
least a year, and nearly one-third have gone more than two years.</P>
<P>These cases can go on and on. Nationwide, it takes an average of 565 days to
foreclose on borrowers in default from their first missed payments to the final
auction. In New York, the average is 800 days and in Florida, where the <A
href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/25/news/economy/ag_subpoena_robosigners/index.htm">"robo-signing"
issue</A> is particularly combative, it's 807.</P>
<P>If they want to fight evictions hard, borrowers can remain in their homes
even longer while their cases are being worked through. </P>
<P>The Segals have been doing that -- in court. They bought their home in 2003
with an adjustable rate mortgage. After a few years, their monthly payments
tripled to $3,000, just as their home-inspection business was cratering.</P>
<P>The Segals want the bank to modify the mortgage so payments are affordable,
and they think the court will agree that their lender put them into a toxic
loan.</P>
<P>"The evidence will show that we were defrauded," said Jill Segal.</P>
<H2><A
href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/07/real_estate/walk_away_mortgage/index.htm?iid=HP_LN">Walk
away from your mortgage? Time to get ruthless</A></H2>
<P>If they lose, of course, they'll finally have to leave. And, unfortunately,
more than 50 months of missed mortgage payments hasn't translated into big
savings. </P>
<P>"It's very hard to save," said Jill Segal. "Our company's billing is 90% off
and my husband is only working about four days a week."</P>
<P>Lynn, who didn't want her last name used, purchased a two-bedroom on Tampa
Bay in 1998 for $135,000.</P>
<P>As the waterfront property's value skyrocketed, eventually reaching $750,000,
she refinanced twice (once to expand a business), and took out a second
mortgage. She now owes more than $600,000 on the home, which is worth only
$235,000. </P>
<P>Living in this foreclosure limbo is "Hell," Lynn said. "I feel like I'm
locked in a box. I work for a financial organization and if this came out, it
could cost me my job."</P>
<P>She's still hoping to negotiate the loan. In the meantime, small things
bother her. "A couple years ago, I lost my dog and I can't decide on getting a
new one," she said. If she has to move, she can't be sure she'll go somewhere
that allows pets. </P>
<P>The actor from <A
href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/snapshots/PL0678582.html">Thousand
Oaks, Calif.</A> began having problems during the screenwriters' strike in late
2007, followed by a threat of a strike by the Screen Actors Guild.</P>
<P>He's working with his lender toward a mortgage modification, submitting page
after page of documents, which the bank has often misplaced or waited so long to
examine them that they had grown too old to use. </P>
<P>His ideal outcome is get the loan modified and get all his late fees waived.
He feels entitled to that because the bank advised him to stopped paying in the
first place to qualify for one of the government's foreclosure programs. Before
that, he had missed only one payment.</P>
<P>Meanwhile, he has cobbled together some income streams -- small acting parts,
teaching acting classes and even handyman work.</P>
<P>"In a way, I feel like I'm lucky because I haven't had to pay any 'rent' for
30 months," he said. </P>
<P>But he feels like he's always under a cloud. "I haven't slept in three
years," he said. "It's terrifying. I have to have the ultimate poker face in
front of my kids."</P>
<H2><A
href="http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/real_estate/1105/gallery.cheapest_housing_markets/index.html">10
dirt cheap housing markets</A></H2>
<P>Ruben Martinez, a Staten Island, N.Y., man trapped in a particularly bad
adjustable rate mortgage, stopped paying more than three years ago. His
attorney, Robert Brown, has managed to stave off one foreclosure. </P>
<P>Martinez, still struggling to find work, has little in savings despite the
missed payments. He's earning some income as a pastor and consulting for a
non-profit family counseling organization.</P>
<P>"There's pressure on me every day," he said. "I have a wife, three daughters
and two grandchildren. Where are we going to live?" <A
href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/09/real_estate/foreclosure_squatter/index.htm#TOP"><IMG
border=0 alt="To top of page" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/money/images/bug.gif"
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