It’s not taboo to talk about losing a home July 9, 2010

There are some things people have a hard time talking to journalists about.

Losing a home isn’t one of those things. At least, not anymore.

I wrote extensively on the topic of home foreclosures and mortgage modifications during my last few months at The Daily Herald, mostly because the sheer volume of homeowners in trouble has skyrocketed during the last year.

For me, foreclosure reporting started with one family: the Lemkes. They applied to modify their home loan with Bank of America, but got caught up in a tangled and confusing process marked with mixed signals and dead ends. I first talked with Gregory Lemke in the Herald break room while his seven-year-old daughter sat quietly drawing with markers.

After that, there were more interviews with other homeowners — on the phone, at kitchen tables, during lunch breaks. They all had one thing in common: An unexpected change in circumstances. Usually, it was a job loss.

When each story about foreclosures ran, I’d arrive at work to the same scene: phone messages and email from readers worried about losing their homes. They reported frustration with the loan-modification process, usually centered around mountains of paperwork, unresponsive bank representatives and confusing communications.

The frustrating modification process has caught the attention of reporters across the country, maybe in part because of efforts from ProPublica, a non-profit journalism project. The organization launched a matchmaking service earlier this year, offering to pair troubled homeowners with journalists in their area.

“Journalists, sign up here and we’ll put you in contact with struggling homeowners in your area who want to talk with local journalists,” ProPublica wrote in March.

I took the bait, submitting my contact information and specifying what region I covered. They matched me with two homeowners.

But when I contacted them, both homeowners had changed their minds about talking to the media.

Other journalists had different experiences with the project. ProPublica reported making 140 matches by mid-April, with stories appearing in news sources around the country.