Brett
Gripe said he wants to rebuild after losing his house in Larkfield’s Mark West
Estates neighborhood to the Tubbs fire.
“I
think so. Still, it’s too early to tell,” said Gripe, a retired police officer
who teaches at Santa Rosa Junior College’s police training academy and referees
youth sports. He and his dog escaped from the fast-moving fire thanks to a
family friend who knocked on his door at 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 to wake him up and
tell him to flee.
As
part of the recovery process, Gripe has had several phone conversations with
officials at his insurance company, Safeco. He’s also been in touch with his
mortgage lender, Exchange Bank, where he had just recently refinanced his home
loan.
Mortgage
lenders are urging the thousands of displaced homeowners like Gripe to reach
out to them in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires so fire victims can
begin the process of either rebuilding or moving on, leaving behind the home
they once had.
“Most
of us haven’t been through anything like this before,” Gripe said. “I have
lived in Santa Rosa most of my life. Hopefully, they will rebuild the
neighborhood.”
While
homeowners do reach out to their insurance agents right after natural
disasters, mortgage lenders may be an afterthought. But those banks also play a
critical role in the recovery process and can aid loan holders as they start
down a path that will be new and foreign to the vast majority of them. Most
notably, the homeowner is still responsible for their mortgage and property
taxes as they go through the claims process.
“People
really need to reach out. At Redwood, we want to help people,” said Diane
Berthinier, senior vice president of lending at Redwood Credit Union, which had
customers who lost their homes. “Everybody is here to help.”
Mortgage
holders could be eligible for immediate relief, depending on their
circumstances. Redwood, for example, is willing to defer mortgage payments if
borrowers are financially strapped as a result of the fires. “There are a lot
of people living just paycheck to paycheck,” she said.
Wells
Fargo Bank is offering a 90-day relief period for its mortgage customers in
areas where residents are eligible for individual assistance by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, said spokesman Ruben Pulido. Homeowners outside
those areas could be eligible for relief and should contact the bank. The
company has 53,000 home lending customers in Northern California who could have
been affected by the wildfires. To read more, here's the article: CLICK
HERE.
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