Man Bulldozes His Own Home To Avoid Foreclosure

Terry Hoskins has been struggling with RiverHills Banks over his Clermont Country home for nearly a decade now, and the struggle was finally coming to an end as the bank began foreclosure proceedings on his $350,000 home.

But unlike so many homeowners, Hoskins would rather “tear it down” before letting the bank take it. And that’s exactly what he did.

“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 had an $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could get more from selling it in foreclosure.

After that, Hoskins was left with only one option. He issued the bank an ultimatum. “I’ll tear it down before I let you take it,” Hoskins told them.

In the end, even if it isn’t much of a victory, Hoskins had won. The bank never did get his house. Message sent.

Source: macedoniaonline.eu