KEY POINTS:
"Stressful!"
That's how Lagi Auimatagi described the pressure of being a mortgagee sale victim, as she backed out of the driveway of the Papatoetoe house she is losing.
She was heading for her 2pm work and was worried about being late and what her boss might say.
She doesn't know where her family will go, but they're looking.
No one driving past would know the crisis descending on this shift-working family. The neat brick house has marigolds in bloom out the front and a football sits idle on the lawn.
The vast landscaped section is on a tidy street where camellias are in full bloom. They are one of many suffering in the housing downturn, the hidden face of the many Auckland families who cannot pay off their mortgages.
So the banks are moving in and selling their places, evicting people from the havens they call home.
In Papatoetoe, no real estate agency sign is planted on the grass verge, even though the home is on Trade Me and Barfoot & Thompson has it listed. QV shows the house owned by Mose and Lagi Auimatagi is valued at $435,000.
But the family's purchase was for much more than that just two years ago. QV recorded their purchase in December 2006 at $595,000.
"Extended families check this out," Trade Me says. "Single-level large five-bedroom home. Two living areas, modern kitchen, two bathrooms, great decking. This 1950s home has undergone major extensions. The exterior is a mix of brick and vertical wooden panelling. Separate double garage. Level right-of-way. 1561sq m section. A great place to bring up your family. Popular location."
A few kilometres across to the other side of Papatoetoe lives Sunita, 26, her first child born this week and sleeping in his parents' warm double-bed. He is oblivious to the crisis going on around him.
Sunita tells how she cannot talk about the mortgagee sale without her husband's permission. She is desperate to find new shelter for her family.
QV says her place on a noisy and busy road is worth just $255,000. Yet the most recent sale was last year for $302,000. A crop of For Sale signs stick out of the grass verge. Vandals have kicked over the latest, most urgent sign, edged out in pink hand-lettering: "Open Home, Fri, Sat, Sun 1pm-8pm. Urgent Sale."
For all their urgency, many families wanted as few people as possible to know about their situation.
Real estate agents selling family homes on behalf of banks said the families were "too upset" and "too embarrassed" to talk to the Weekend Herald.
One said mortgagee sales were such a sensitive topic, he found it hard to broach it even with the families involved.
Many were "mums and dads" were still coming to terms with what was happening to them.
One agent told of a Remuera family who were so ashamed of their situation he had agreed not to put a For Sale sign up outside their house.
Another agent said mortgage brokers had been influential in getting banks to loan far more than some people could repay: "I feel sorry for these people," he said.
STEPS TO A MORTGAGEE SALE
* If the homeowner is 30 to 90 days late with payments, the bank issues an arrears notice.
* If this gets no action, the bank issues a formal repayment demand and solicitors prepare a Property Law Act notice, meaning the bank is about to sell the house.
* A final demand gives a minimum 30 days to pay. After that the bank has power of sale.
* If the homeowner won't or can't sell, the bank organises the sale itself.
* The buyers might have to evict the old owners if they refuse to leave.
