Moonshadow, you are amazing. What a through contribution! I know when I used to rent, I would make a list of any little issues the house had. I'd send a copy to the landlord and invite him/her to inspect the house before I moved in. I did this because I didn't want to be blamed when I moved out. Never lost a deposit because of that well filed list. Dated photos are helpful too. I've had some great landlords in the past but there have been a few doozies too. I lived in a rental for 5 years. The oven didn't work and it was on my list, along with dates and times I phoned him about this situation. Finally I gave up and purchased my own range. I called him to tell him I was putting his range on my back porch and he should come pick it up. I noted all communication on that list regarding that stupid non-working range oven and thank goodness. He never picked up the range so I took it to the dump after a year on my back porch. When I moved he tried to keep my deposit. I mailed him another (updated) copy of my list that included my "journal" of our communication regarding his range. I offered to go to small claims court and let the judge decide if I should get my deposit back. He quickly returned my deposit. Fact was, he never did anything he said he was going to do. The only time he returned a phone call was when my hot water heater went out. I responding to his voice message informing callers that he was out of town, explaining I had no hot water and I was going to call in a repairman to fix or replace the hot water heater. He called me when he returned, just to get mad at me for being unwilling to go without hot water for a week and a half. I told him he should have contacted me before he left town to let me know who was going to be in charge of his rental while he was gone, but since he didn't, I acted on his behalf. He paid for the repairs, I guess. I never heard from the plumber either way.

kec01: "It's a circle...and folks like me who invest are just as much as part of the circle as the big,bad nasty guys." Excellent point. However, if one wishes to stay away from investing in anything that smacks of fraud or deceptive practice, they have no choice but to not invest at all... Basically, one has to assume that ALL entities are corrupt to some degree...as it is extremely difficult...if not impossible... to turn a huge profit without some of that in the mix... The point is, one can either stuff their mattress with any money they wish to save....and see no return at all...or only invest in vehicles that provide full disclosure (which of course rules out hedge funds...which most if not all MF's invest in to some degree), and try to act via due diligence. This is a very sad dilemma for truly honest people...as they are precluded from investing if they wish to not be part of the dirt. How very sad. Apparently, the world of finance is indeed morally bankrupt (no pun intended) and therefore irretrievably broken...and all the good guys can do is live their lives forever trying to protect themselves from the bad guys..and all too often, without success.

In doing more research for the owners I've found this...looks like American Home Mortgage has resolved the Freddie seizure of tax & insurance payments issue. "American Home Mortgage Clarifies Certain Information Regarding its Servicing Operations Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae Issues Resolved; Property Tax Checks Mistakenly Dishonored by Outside Financial Institution Will be Honored MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2007--American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. (OTC:AHMIQ) ("American Home") announced today that it has resolved the issues surrounding the Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae owned loans. American Home currently services more than 220,000 loans, of which approximately 4,600 are serviced for Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Immediately prior to American Home's bankruptcy, both Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae took direct control of the homeowner escrow accounts where the monies were deposited by American Home to pay taxes and insurance. Consequently, American Home had been unable to make payments that were due after August 24. American Home is pleased that it has now reached agreements with both Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae regarding these matters. -- Both Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae have made available the funds in the homeowner escrow accounts, and American Home has paid on the behalf of homeowners all tax and insurance remittances scheduled to be made between August 24 and today -- Homeowners will not be liable for any penalties or interest that may have been incurred due to late payment of tax and insurance -- In addition, arrangements have been made so that homeowner escrow funds will be available in the normal course to pay all taxes and insurance due in the future. As part of its agreements with Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, American Home expects to realize value from its servicing rights related to Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae loans for the benefit of its estate. In the case of Freddie Mac, American Home has agreed to temporarily transfer servicing to Bank of America, and Freddie Mac has agreed to allow American Home to sell the servicing rights to a permanent buyer. In the case of Ginnie Mae, American Home has been granted a limited period of time to sell the servicing rights associated with these loans. American Home believes these consensual resolutions are fair and should prevent any further disruptions to administration of the homeowner's escrow accounts. American Home further noted that this matter concerned only Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae; no other mortgage-backed securities portfolios were affected. For the balance of its approximately $60 billion servicing portfolio, American Home continues to submit tax and insurance payments on a timely basis. Separately, American Home announced it had resolved a situation concerning a limited number of checks that were dishonored due to bank error. In early August, due to confusion on the part of an outside financial institution regarding accounts affected by the American Home bankruptcy, approximately 500 property tax checks were mistakenly dishonored. This misunderstanding has been corrected. -- American Home has actively worked to replace any dishonored checks to date and stands ready to do continue to do so. -- Tax authorities that may have received dishonored checks may contact (866) 540-5834 to pursue replacement. American Home regrets any inconvenience or anxiety caused to homeowners as a result of either of these situations. The Company's objective is to continue to provide high quality mortgage servicing to homeowners." I'm glad they issued an apology. /tricia

Here are some of the greedy, stupid and irresponsible investors in the Madoff fund, and Madoff was a past chairman of the board of directors of the Nasdaq Stock Market as well as a member of the board of governors of the National Association of Securities Dealers and a member of numerous committees of the organization, according to his firm's Web site. That said, I am still waiting for the rants and raves from those who still want to believe that this economic tsunami was all about "stupid, greedy, irresponsible" mortgage borrowers. (foot tapping) Notice how all of these wealthy, highly educated folks did not understand they were being scammed. Where is the outrage on THEIR lack of due diligence. Hmmmm? "...New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, GMAC LLC Chairman J. Ezra Merkin and former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman were among the dozens of seemingly sophisticated investors who placed money on what could prove to be history's largest financial scam. Giant French bank BNP Paribas, Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings Inc. and Neue Privat Bank in Zurich are also exposed, according to people familiar with the matter. And at least three funds of hedge funds -- which raise money from investors and farm it out to hedge funds -- may have significant losses. Fairfield Greenwich Group and Tremont Capital Management of New York placed hundreds of millions of their investors' dollars into funds overseen by Mr. Madoff. On Friday, Maxam Capital Management LLC reported a combined loss of $280 million on funds they had invested with Mr. Madoff. "I'm wiped out," said Sandra Manzke, Maxam's founder and chairman. The Darien, Conn., fund of hedge funds will have to close as a result of the losses, she said..... .....The alleged fraud has "swept up some of the most prominent and wealthy Americans, along with many people who thought they were embarking on a comfortable retirement and have now been left destitute," says Brad Friedman, a lawyer at Milberg LLP, which with Seeger Weiss LLP represents more than 30 investors with losses they believe could total more than $1 billion...... .....Details emerged Friday of how Mr. Madoff ran the alleged scam, fostering a veneer of exclusivity and creating an A-list of investors that became his most powerful marketing tool. From New York and Florida to Minnesota and Texas, the money manager became an insider's choice among well-heeled investors seeking steady returns. By hiring unofficial agents, tapping into elite country clubs and creating "invitation only" policies for investors, he recruited a steady stream of new clients. During golf-course and cocktail-party banter, Mr. Madoff's name frequently surfaced as a money manager who could consistently deliver high returns. Older, Jewish investors called Mr. Madoff " 'the Jewish bond,' " says Ken Phillips, head of a Boulder, Colo., investment firm. "It paid 8% to 12%, every year, no matter what." As his reputation grew, Mr. Madoff gained the trust of prominent businessmen, including ex-Eagles owner Mr. Braman, who owns a chain of Florida auto dealers. A voicemail message left with Mr. Braman's office was not immediately returned. Mets owner Mr. Wilpon, who also owns real-estate investor Sterling Equities, often raved about Mr. Madoff's investment prowess and invested tens of millions of dollars of both his own money and the team's with his company, say financiers who have worked with him. Mr. Madoff handled investments for the Judy & Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, which distributed about $1 million a year in 2005 and 2006 to charities, according to its most recent federal tax returns..... .....Mr. Merkin, the chairman of former General Motors Corp. financing arm GMAC, is also a money manager at Ascot Partners LLC in New York. Ascot, which had $1.8 billion under management as of Sept. 30, had substantially all of its assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter to Mr. Merkin sent to clients Thursday night. Mr. Merkin said as one of the largest investors in Ascot, he believed he had personally "suffered major losses from this catastrophe." Mr. Merkin could not be reached for comment. Mr. Madoff tapped social networks in Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. In Minnesota, he attracted investors from Hillcrest Golf Club of St. Paul and Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, investors say. One of them estimated that investors from the two clubs may have invested more than $100 million combined. One of the largest clusters of Madoff investors was in Florida, where losses could be substantial. Mr. Madoff relied on a network of friends, family and business colleagues to attract investors. According to investors and agents, some of these agents were paid commissions for harvesting investors. Others had separate, lucrative business relationships with Mr. Madoff. "If you were eating lunch at the club or golfing, everyone was always talking about how Madoff was making them all this money," one investor says. "Everyone wanted to sign up." Jeff Fischer, a top divorce attorney in Palm Beach, says many of his clients were also Mr. Madoff's clients. "Every big divorce that came through my office had portfolio positions with Madoff," he says. Two of his investors said that among his clients, Mr. Madoff was considered a money-management legend; they would joke that if Mr. Madoff was a fraud, he'd take down half the world with him.... ...Richard Spring, a Boca Raton resident and former securities analyst, says he had about $11 million -- or 95% of his net worth -- invested with Mr. Madoff. "That's how much I believed in him," Mr. Spring said.