Bomb suspect lost Conn. home to foreclosure

[sinkingfeeling]

Source: MSNBC.com

The suspect in the Times Square bombing attempt defaulted on a $200,000 mortgage on his Connecticut home and the Shelton property is now in foreclosure, according to court records.

Chase Home Finance LLC sued Shahzad, 30, in September to force the foreclosure. The case is pending in Milford Superior Court.

In Shelton, former neighbor Brenda Thurman told the New York Times that Shahzad and his wife, Huma Mian, spoke limited English and kept mostly to themselves. The couple had two young children, a girl and a boy, she said.

Thurman told the newspaper that the couple had lived at the house at 119 Long Hill Avenue for about three years before moving out last year.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36934331/ns/us_news-security/

---

This may have led to his returning to Pakistan. They've said his wife is there.

[Demeter]

1. So It Is Domestic Terrorism, After All

perpetrated on these immigrants by Goldman, et al. Broadway reaping what Wall St. sowed.

[Robb]

2. LOL

Oooookay.

[24601]

29. No, I don't believe his bomb training was in New jersey. The trip

to Pakistan makes it sufficiently international, unless that is the 51st state.

Since he's a US Citizen, if his act is considered making war on the US, the possible charges could include Treason.

[AlphaCentauri]

3. Another crippled American dream n/t

[Roland99]

4. Friend of mine used to live in Shelton. $200k doesn't buy SQUAT there

Several years ago his small 2BR condo was $250k. Unless the guy put a huge chunk down. Wonder if his employment situation had changed or some other debts incurred (medical?)

[Robb]

6. Or he up and left.

Remember, foreclosures are dragging 6-9 months behind delinquent payments at the moment.

If Chase sued to foreclose in September, payments probably stopped around January-March -- around when apparently this guy was in Pak.

Much to find out, still.

[Roland99]

10. "Much to find out, still.' Agreed totally. Speculation doesn't really gain much.

[slackmaster]

15. It's less than a comparable house in San Diego

:argh:

[karynnj]

5. The dates don't work - his wife followed him to Pakistan in May

(Though maybe he lost his job in April and quit paying then - but he had money to go to Pakistan a few times.)

[riderinthestorm]

30. He voluntarily quit his job. The foreclosure dates appear to be because he stopped paying

when he quit and decided to go to Pakistan.

I agree it's still to be determined exactly the timeline but right now it appears he quit his job, stopped paying when he left for Pakistan and let the house go.

I don't think the bombing had anything to do with being foreclosed from what I can tell. The foreclosure was because he abandoned the property and left voluntarily.

[starroute]

7. How could he speak limited English and be a naturalized citizen?

Actually, I just checked and the answer doesn't seem to be that the requirement for proficiency in English doesn't amount to much.

This actually seems kind of warped to me. Grandstanding right-wingers have been trying to make it impossible for foreign residents to take driver's license exams in any other language but English -- which is not an answer to anything and would create a whole new set of problems. But at the same time, you can become an American citizen without having integrated into American society or shown any intention of doing so.


http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/passing-your-naturalization-interview-for-us-citiz.html

How does the officer determine your English proficiency? He will probably ask you to read or write some simple sentences in English, as well as ask you a few questions about what the words mean:

* Reading: You may be asked to read out loud parts of Form N-400, the Application for Naturalization you sent the BCIS or INS when you first started the naturalization process. Or the officer may ask you to read some simple civics questions out loud and to answer them. Typical questions may be, "How many stars are on our flag?" or "What are the three branches of government?"

* Writing: The officer will probably ask you to write a couple simple sentences in English to test your writing skills. The sentences may be something like "I want to be a United States citizen," or, "Today I am going to the store."

* Speaking: The officer evaluates your ability to speak English by the answers you give throughout the interview, so you don't have to worry about studying for this separately.

[Demeter]

19. It Has Always Been So

My Great-grandparents emigrated in early 1900's. Never mastered English, but since half of Detroit was Polish, it wasn't necessary. Their children learned English. They paid taxes, bought a house, survived the Depression, etc. They never blew anything up, accidentally or on purpose, though.

English is not that easy to master--look at the Teabaggers, been here for generations...can't spell worth a damn. Or think, either.

[starroute]

26. But had your great-grandparents become citizens?

I was surprised recently to discover that as of the 1910 census, my great-grandmother -- who had been in this country since the 1880's -- had never been naturalized and spoke only Yiddish. (She was also illiterate, which may have had something to do with it.)

But clearly your great-grandparents in Detroit, like mine on the Lower East Side, were members of large and cohesive ethnic communities -- much like Hispanics today. That's very different from this would-be bomber, whose family apparently lived in a non-immigrant community but kept to themselves and didn't interact much with their neighbors.

That degree of isolation is bothersome. It sounds too much like what people say when their neighbor turns out to be a serial killer. And though I doubt this guy fits the serial killer profile, I think there's something about social isolation that tends to break down a sense of common humanity.

I don't really know what the answer is. Making citizenship dependent on becoming more acculturated probably isn't the key. But I do think that the failure of community in this country may be one cause of the spiking levels of social paranoia which the tea-baggers demonstrate so dramatically.

[Demeter]

27. I believe they did--but I don't know.

After all, I knew 5 as a child, but the last died before my first child was born.

[grasswire]

8. I called this yesterday on DU

This is what I posted:


grasswire (1000+ posts) Mon May-03-10 10:20 AM
Response to Original message
25. maybe the bomber was foreclosed by BofA
Remember what that guy who divebombed the IRS wrote: Nothing changes until there's a body count.

I haven't seen any speculation about BofA being the target.

Alert | Add to my Journal Printer Friendly | Permalink | Edit | Reply | Top

[amandabeech]

20. Expect more of this.

Desperate people do snap.

How would an econometric equation take this type of "cost" into account?

How does economics take any social cost into account?

Maybe they don't, and the omission results in the mess we have now.

[DebbieCDC]

22. That was my first thought grasswire

When I heard that SUV was parked in front of BoA, I wondered....

[Snarkoleptic]

9. Public records show they bought it in 2004 for $273K.

That was when the housing bubble was near peak. It was reassessed last year at $242K.
In addition to losing the family home, he most certainly lost his original investment plus whatever he spent on impvoements.
Also, he may/may not have gotten a subprime loan as Chase was heavily in the biz in 2004.


More-
Property Features Financial History
Single Family Residence
Year Built: 2003
3 Bedrooms
1.50 Bathrooms
Approximately 1,356 Sq Ft
Lot size: 4,792 Sq Ft
Stories: 2
Rooms: 6
County: Fairfield
Source: Public Records Last sold for $273,000 on 7/27/2004
Last assessed at $242,690 on 2009

Previous sales
$273,000 on 7/27/2004

Previous assessments
$242,690 on 2009
$242,690 on 2008
Source: Public Records

[Robb]

11. Hm. Even at just 5% down, that's gonna be like a $2K payment.

NYC-Dubai's what, a $1K ticket? Then on to Pak?

[mainer]

12. Wait .. the failed bomber is an engineer?

"Shahzad attended Southeastern University in Washington, D.C., then transferred in 2000 to the University of Bridgeport, Conn., where he received a B.A. in computer science and engineering, according to the Journal."

You'd think that someone with his education would have built a better bomb. This is puzzling.

[proteus_lives]

14. Well...

"You'd think that someone with his education would have built a better bomb. This is puzzling."

It's a stressful situation, perhaps he's a little unbalanced....

Plus, I've met people with doctorates in engineering who couldn't program their VCRs or change a tire.

[Dappleganger]

21. +1

Being married to an engineer for over 20 years, I can attest to the fact that those degrees don't automagically make them mechanically inclined, LOL! The problem is they think they can do or fix anything, then break more in the process and take forever to complete it. Eventually my harassment compels him to give up and call someone else to clean up his 'mess' or give in and replace it.

*sigh*

[NotThisTime]

16. Maybe his college didn't require electrical engineering coursework... I guess be thankful.

All I know is that I have a BS in CS and I had to take Electrical coursework as part of my software engineering curriculum... The fact the guy's home is being foreclosed, sounds like maybe he just walked away....

[KamaAina]

23. Whoa! UB opens up a whole new can of worms -- or should I say Moon Pies?

That's right, Shahzad's alma mater has been run since the 1990s by an arm of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Bridgeport

The university had financial troubles in the 1990s and was the subject of controversy when the trustees were obligated to enter into serious negotiations with and subsequently gave control of the institution to the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA), an affiliate of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church in order to save it from closure. Since then, in an effort to boost enrollment numbers, the University of Bridgeport has attempted to recruit more international students.

:wow:

[hayu_lol]

28. Another thread, and I don't remember whose...

said that he got a masters in business administration from a Mooney school. No mention of engineering at all.

[slackmaster]

13. He bought it new for $273,000 with an ARM for $218,400 on July 27, 2004

He got an equity loan (maybe a HELOC) of $65,000 on February 9, 2009.

If he was underwater on the house, it was only slightly.

He was current on annual property tax of $4,516.

[NotThisTime]

17. So his arm must have reset last July, he was definitely under water if the home was only worth 240K

Unless he paid a significant portion down, like a very significant portion....

[slackmaster]

18. Being underwater makes no real difference if you can keep up with the payments

The problem is it makes it much harder (or impossible) to refinance.

[Roland99]

24. More details from the NYTimes >>>>>>>>> (but nothing really fascinating)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/nyregion/05profile.html

[Robb]

25. NTY went through his trash!

:rofl:

[zbiker]

31. i guess the other view

would simply be that his thoughts were " hey, i am going to be fleeing after the bombing, so why keep throwing money into this pit"
if you know your not going to be around to enjoy the house, why keep paying the morgage ?? maybe once this all shakes out we will know the truth