Marta Sanchez and her husband bought their Panorama City house inApril of 2006, their hearts beaming with hope and high expectations.
"We could finally say, 'this is ours' and stop throwing our money away in rent," Sanchez says, recalling the excitement at the time. Then her smile quickly fades. "If only we could have known what was coming."
Almost three years later, the Sanchez's are among thousands of San Fernando Valley families teetering on the brink of foreclosure.
In the 28th U.S Congressional District, in the San Fernando Valley alone, more than 23,000 homes are in danger of foreclosure this year. The Sanchez's join those who, broken hearted, have seen their dreams crumble alongside property values, anxiety rise with interest rates, and who with every missed payment, have only sunk deeper over their heads.
"We didn't know this catastrophe was coming - that property values would plummet and the economy would be like this," she says.
Since their loan from Countrywide Financial adjusted last June, the Sanchez's have not been able to keep up with the $5,000 monthly for their three-bedroom house.
"We've only been paying interest on our home for the last two years.
We haven't even begun to cover the principle, so in a way it's like renting. And for $5,000 we could be renting a house in Beverly Hills," she said.
