Homeowner Spotlight: Frank Morales

00:00:08:05 - 00:00:31:27 DJ Olojo Hey, Foreclosure fix family. Welcome to the Foreclosure Fix podcast. I'm your host, D.J. logo, and I am excited to be here with you today. Hey, if this information resonates with you, please do us a favor. Like subscribe and tell the friend that we're here to help. On today's podcast, I am pumped up because I have my good friend Frank Morales joining us.

00:00:32:03 - 00:00:33:24 DJ Olojo Frank, welcome to the podcast.

00:00:33:27 - 00:00:35:13 Frank Morales Thank you, sir. Good morning.

00:00:35:15 - 00:01:08:14 DJ Olojo Awesome. Good morning. So Frank is a real estate investor. He's an affordable housing advocate. But the reason why Frank is on today is because he is actually kicking off one of our homeowner highlight series. As you all know, his followers are the foreclosure fix podcast. Our goal is to help a million homeowners successfully navigate foreclosure. And so as part of that journey, we want to highlight the stories of homeowners who have faced foreclosure and how they have been able to rebound.

00:01:08:21 - 00:01:15:00 DJ Olojo And so Frank is our first homeowner spotlight. So, Frank, we appreciate you for joining us today.

00:01:15:02 - 00:01:17:13 Frank Morales No problem. Glad to be here, sir.

00:01:17:15 - 00:01:36:07 DJ Olojo Awesome. Awesome. One of the things we do is got the bow tie around. And in that bow tie around, obviously, is where I guess I get to tie went on with our listeners. And so the bow tie around the bee stands for the best advice you have for someone in foreclosure. The old stands for one thing you are grateful for, and the W stands for your Wow.

00:01:36:07 - 00:01:51:26 DJ Olojo It is the most interesting foreclosure related story, right? And so, Frank, we're going to spin that around because we want to start with your story. So your wildest or most interesting foreclosure story, which is your story. So go ahead and tell us about your foreclosure story.

00:01:51:28 - 00:02:25:03 Frank Morales Okay, great. Thank you for having me. I'm actually from the Seattle, Washington area. So we crashed in, you know, heavily arrested in 2004 through 2012, 13, when my bankruptcy ultimately was filed. I was rehabbing houses up there and had three houses. My mortgage was $12,000 a month for three houses. Wow. That's a lot of money. And the revenue cut off and started losing houses.

00:02:25:06 - 00:02:55:11 Frank Morales So I lost one house to a foreclosure, one to a short sale. My primary residence went to foreclosure five times, but by God's grace, it was saved. That was the the the big picture of the of my process. But, you know, we're talking about years and years of struggle and financial struggle and stress and stress and divorce and going to jail and and bankruptcy and not, you know, facing the possibility of living.

00:02:55:11 - 00:02:58:10 Frank Morales You lose your home where your kids sleep is terrible.

00:02:58:13 - 00:03:22:05 DJ Olojo Wow. Wow. So, Frank, you just gave us a whole lot of information there. Right. So, first of all, I appreciate your transparency. Right. I know that it's hard for people to come on and tell their story, but since I've known you, you've always been a straight up, straightforward guy. And I appreciate that about you. But I want to unpack some of that so our listeners can really understand your journey where you've come from and what you're doing today.

00:03:22:07 - 00:03:34:15 DJ Olojo So with that, it sounds like you have three houses, $12,000, $12,000 a month and mortgage payments and you are investing, right? So you are an investor in Seattle.

00:03:34:21 - 00:03:44:15 Frank Morales Yes, we're rehabbing. You know, I was an investor in Seattle doing trying to do trying to flip, but I had no experience. I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

00:03:44:17 - 00:03:46:24 DJ Olojo So now I totally understand that.

00:03:46:24 - 00:03:59:04 Frank Morales And actually, that's exactly what's supposed to happen when you go out there and you're exposed and you take a calculated risk as opposed to the market is supposed to serve you with very bad food. So you don't do it again? Well.

00:03:59:06 - 00:04:12:05 DJ Olojo I definitely know you learned your lesson from that. And so during that time, you said you had all this pressure, all this stress. Help us understand what you were going through mentally and emotionally.

00:04:12:08 - 00:04:34:07 Frank Morales Oh, man, It was very bad, man, you know? I mean, very bad from the having to that I was having heart attack suicide watch. It was all bad. Well, you know, when you lose your when you start to have partnerships, see, that was probably the one of the harder parts was disappointing my partners and my family losing everything.

00:04:34:09 - 00:04:58:29 Frank Morales And then, you know, the the dealing with the prospect of not having a place to live for your children, honestly, is is is kind of it's kind of hard to describe. And it's very embarrassing. See, in 2005, 2006, 27, eight and all that stuff, when it was going on, there was no you know, there was no outlet, there was no YouTube, There was no deejay Giving podcast.

00:04:59:02 - 00:05:20:13 Frank Morales How do you survive this stuff? There was nobody to talk to everybody and a silver bullet, none of them work. They all cost thousands of dollars. We're getting beat all the time. You know where they had, you know, the foreclosure crisis in the metro, the electronic signing, you know, all kind of robo signing, all kind of stuff was going on.

00:05:20:16 - 00:05:35:01 Frank Morales Yeah. And, you know, it's just noise everywhere. But at the end of the day, it was a very stressful period. Very, very, very stressful period of of of a very stressful chapter in my book.

00:05:35:03 - 00:05:49:24 DJ Olojo Absolutely. And so, you know, they say pressure makes demands. Right. And so what did you do during that time to cope? What did you do to make it to where you are now on the other side of foreclosure, successful and rebound it?

00:05:49:26 - 00:05:55:22 Frank Morales Well, in the beginning, I did a lot of unhealthy stuff, like drinking too much eating too, you know, that kind of stuff.

00:05:55:24 - 00:06:02:05 DJ Olojo No, no, no, that, that. And Frank, man, again, I appreciate your candor. Right. Because you know.

00:06:02:07 - 00:06:02:12 Frank Morales That's.

00:06:02:15 - 00:06:04:22 DJ Olojo The truth.

00:06:04:25 - 00:06:05:07 Frank Morales Yeah.

00:06:05:13 - 00:06:15:29 DJ Olojo Everybody has their coping mechanisms, right? I mean, you take it out on other people were mad at the world, you know what I mean? We're flicking everybody off while we're driving, and we're just upset.

00:06:16:01 - 00:06:40:27 Frank Morales You're upset? Just mad at the world, not sleeping. All that stuff, you know? And. And it was real. It was real. It was a real rough period. But eventually we had to come to terms with is over, you know, you know, throwing a lot of good money after bad money. Right. See, there comes a point where it's time to let go, that, you know, there is a point where it's time to let go.

00:06:41:00 - 00:06:58:24 Frank Morales If I knew better, I would have held on longer because by the time we started learning the game, it was, you know, our lost a house. But we could have, you know, could have potentially held on longer. And, you know, there were things I would have done differently. But by God's grace, we're here and it's just a big learning experience.

00:06:58:26 - 00:06:59:25 DJ Olojo No, absolutely.

00:06:59:28 - 00:07:08:16 Frank Morales Now, look, relocated to Atlanta and had to start over. And had we not had those experiences in Seattle with the foreclosure, we wouldn't be here.

00:07:08:19 - 00:07:27:29 DJ Olojo So take me back, Frank. You are stressed out. You're frustrated. You're trying every trick in the book. Everybody has a dog and pony show and they want you to pay $3,000 for that $4,000 for that. And they're not working. You got partners who are saying, Hey, Frank, you know, you always money or, you know, you messed up this partnership.

00:07:28:01 - 00:07:34:18 DJ Olojo What is your advice to somebody who was in that same situation right now?

00:07:34:20 - 00:07:55:00 Frank Morales Well, fortunately, today there are many, many, many more resources out there to help people, particularly if you your primary residence that are going through a foreclosure. As a matter of fact, the Atlanta Urban League has a class on it every Monday at 2:00. It's online. And I have a friend that's going through foreclosure right now. I'm trying to get her to get involved with it.

00:07:55:00 - 00:08:19:24 Frank Morales So there are many, many more resources available today as a result of the financial crisis back in 2000, you know, eight, nine, ten. And that stuff is pretty much ironed out now, whereas back before when we would sit in our three inch document, three inches of documents by fax, they would lose it every month. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that was called the merge.

00:08:19:24 - 00:08:42:18 Frank Morales That was electronic filing people, the murders mortgage electronic registration system. Right. But so that's, you know, but anyway yeah, I think today you're know you're in a very good position because it's also not likely that you you're not out of equity. Do you probably have equity So you don't have to necessarily walk away. You do have options. You can sell, you can you know, there are there are options.

00:08:42:18 - 00:09:03:20 Frank Morales And the main thing is don't bury your head in the sand. Don't ignore the problem. You got to be aggressive and, you know, make phone calls, call heard, call, call, call your local city in Atlanta, you can call three, one, one, and I'll give you some resources to get you started. You know, there are many resources out there today that did not exist, you know, 15 years ago.

00:09:03:22 - 00:09:27:21 DJ Olojo Absolutely. So take us back to your journey in Seattle. Was the foreclosure the cause of some of the other stressors in your life? Like you said, divorce. You said, you know, jail, you said bankruptcy, or were those things kind of the precursor for the foreclosure? Does that make sense? Like, you know, or was it just all kind of a downward spiral where at one time, you know.

00:09:27:27 - 00:09:45:09 Frank Morales It was all it all went bad at one time, but the foreclosure didn't just happen. Right? It's just not didn't just happen. My first foreclosure, I think, was December 2008. But up to that point, there comes a point when you can't make the payments anymore, right? Yeah. You know, when you can't make the money runs out, you cannot make, you know, become financially insolvent.

00:09:45:09 - 00:10:15:03 Frank Morales It doesn't just happen overnight. So is that right? So, okay, I got I got. I got my, my, my, my, my, my monthly expenses are $50,000. I got $20,000 left. What am I going to do? So you can see the you can see the the signs before it happens, but then it starts to happen. And then you get, you know, and then it's embarrassing, you know, is is I don't want to tell nobody because, you know, it's you know, all these different emotions are happening at the same time.

00:10:15:05 - 00:10:29:00 Frank Morales So eventually the foreclosure was a result of rising interest rates, option arms going to the bank, taking, you know, do you remember option arms.

00:10:29:03 - 00:10:35:03 DJ Olojo Yeah, I remember saying that they adjust just you real quick. Yeah, right. You know, I had.

00:10:35:03 - 00:10:46:11 Frank Morales An option. I could pick my payment, you know, so, you know, it was all good. I was good. But then no more, you know, habitually crash catch. It was the foreclosure was just one of many things.

00:10:46:14 - 00:11:02:21 DJ Olojo So so, Frank, when you were going through that, were you thinking about your future or was it not until you said, hey, you know, the music has ended, it's done. Like, when did you go from dealing with the situation to thinking about your future and how you move forward?

00:11:02:23 - 00:11:29:13 Frank Morales Well, you know, when this going on is complete survival mode, right? So not you know, it's not is laser focused on us, on a solution, complete survival, the future. I mean, there comes a point where by the time you get to the point where your foreclosed credit is destroyed so that that fairytale is over. Yeah. You know, so then then, you know, I don't know how we're going to survive in the future.

00:11:29:17 - 00:11:43:26 Frank Morales I guess the future's the future's there, but we're thinking long term future of a more short term future. How are we going to put out this fire? And then the fire grows and grows and grows and then it becomes completely unmanageable. Yep. And now you have an inferno now?

00:11:43:26 - 00:11:48:09 DJ Olojo Absolutely. When all this was going on, you know, how did it impact your kids?

00:11:48:12 - 00:12:05:15 Frank Morales Hmm? Well, it was I'm not sure that they were really abreast of what's going on, because it was kind of, you know, on a down low. But I know at the end I had to make a decision. I couldn't pay child support and pay a mortgage. So I had to rent out rooms in my house with my son.

00:12:05:18 - 00:12:14:19 Frank Morales So, you know, I'm sure that he didn't appreciate that at that time. But, you know, I had to do what I got to do as a result of that. 2023 we still have at home.

00:12:14:21 - 00:12:32:00 DJ Olojo Wow. That's that's pretty awesome. So. So your kids didn't fully understand. But, you know, obviously, they saw you know, you rent out rooms in your house, right? You said you moved to Atlanta. You filed bankruptcy. You were able to kind of stay off the mortgage for as long. I mean, stay off the creditors for as long as possible.

00:12:32:00 - 00:12:41:24 DJ Olojo You did a short sale on one house. You got foreclosed on another house. You moved to Atlanta and you started to rebuild. What was that journey like for you on a rebuild side?

00:12:41:26 - 00:12:51:01 Frank Morales The first house we bought here was 2011 when my bankruptcy was until 2013. So that would that would have been my wife's house.

00:12:51:03 - 00:12:52:09 DJ Olojo Gotcha.

00:12:52:12 - 00:13:11:03 Frank Morales So it was very scary. Everything scary, you know, I mean, the whole new world. The whole new world and leaving everything familiar and not so good of circumstances. And and then eventually we got a Penske truck and drove across the country 2013 and we settled down in Kennesaw.

00:13:11:05 - 00:13:16:04 DJ Olojo And so it was probably a lot different than it is now.

00:13:16:06 - 00:13:26:12 Frank Morales Was 2000. It was I mean, I haven't been there lately, but I'm sure it's not too much different, you know? I mean, it was a great we really enjoyed Kennesaw and then we eventually moved closer to Atlanta.

00:13:26:12 - 00:13:49:14 DJ Olojo So that's. So in Atlanta, you've been able to rebuild and you've been able to start afresh. And how do you even know kind of all the background and context that you're sharing with our audience today? Right. I just know you because you're active in Atlanta Market. You are an affordable housing advocate. You are always trying to get other people into the real estate business.

00:13:49:14 - 00:14:11:08 DJ Olojo And you are a likable, well-rounded guy and husband and father. And so that's kind of what I knew of you. And so you've been able to just have a whole new start here. You've been able to have great success. What attributes, what characteristics, Like what things allows you to come to Georgia and be able to be successful this time around?

00:14:11:11 - 00:14:13:02 DJ Olojo Well.

00:14:13:05 - 00:14:40:21 Frank Morales My, my, my big blessing is my wife, of course, that was my you know, went through all that mess. I did find love of my life and find a life partner. That's awesome. We got married 29 in the middle of all that. Wow. So that made things a lot easier because I was no longer you know, I had somebody that that that was going through a similar track in her world and we were able to do it together.

00:14:40:24 - 00:14:58:11 Frank Morales But because of the storm opportunity was is that you could buy houses very affordably in Atlanta versus Seattle. So we could come here, buy a house in northwest Atlanta. And, you know, for $5,000, $6,000, $7,000 like that. And that's what we did.

00:14:58:14 - 00:15:28:08 DJ Olojo Awesome. And now you have been able to rebuild. You've been able to refocus and you have a huge smile. Every time I see you. You are living a good life. You're traveling around the country, around the world, matter of fact. And in life is different. So if you could go back in time and talk to the Frank Morales in 2008 when all this stuff was going on, what would you tell that, Frank, about his future?

00:15:28:10 - 00:15:51:19 Frank Morales Um, I you know, I'm actually grateful for the experience because I would tell myself, you know, it's going to be okay, but the struggle is important. You know, the struggle is important. This is what's going to create grit. You know, it's going to be okay. And this is a necessary step in the process for you to get to where you have to go.

00:15:51:21 - 00:16:10:19 Frank Morales And because, you know, I know a lot of people back home, I'm trying to recruit them to come to Atlanta because I don't understand how regular people survive there today. I don't understand that if you working at a restaurant, you're trying to survive in Seattle, compete with the Amazon. But they do, you know, and they drive 80 miles to work two days in traffic.

00:16:10:19 - 00:16:37:29 Frank Morales So, you know, it is rough. And and the way I see it out here in the Southeast, United States is still very relatively affordable compared to out there. So that's why, you know, I'm grateful. I'm you know, I think it's I call it divine intervention, because had I not gone through that, had I been successful, it would have been okay.

00:16:37:29 - 00:16:40:04 Frank Morales But I don't think it would be like it is now.

00:16:40:06 - 00:16:59:20 DJ Olojo Awesome. And that's one less one perspective that I'm happy you're sharing, because a lot of times the people who are listening to this podcast, the people who are going through a challenging foreclosure situation or just life situation, they feel like they're alone. They feel like there's no one out there who's been through what they're going through. They go into their house.

00:16:59:20 - 00:17:18:22 DJ Olojo They see people pulling into their garages with their nice cars. They're on Facebook and Instagram and all the social media. They're looking at all the posts and likes and people traveling, people doing all this great things, and they feel like their world is crashing down while everybody else is in some one wonderful, wonderful story. And that's not the case.

00:17:18:22 - 00:17:40:12 DJ Olojo And it takes people like you to share your story, to share your journey, to say, you know, life has always that. Life has not always been a bed of roses. It's been challenges. There have been things that are tough. But like you said, it brought grit. It brought the ability to know that no matter what comes your way, you're going to survive and that you're going to get better, that you're going to grow from it.

00:17:40:13 - 00:17:58:16 DJ Olojo And I appreciate you sharing that, that journey and that story with our listeners today. And I think there's thousands of folks out there who are listening now who all say the exact same thing is that you gave them hope that if they can just keep putting one foot in front of the other, that life gets better. It's going to be difficult.

00:17:58:16 - 00:18:03:08 DJ Olojo It's going to be tough. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. And I appreciate you for doing that, Frank.

00:18:03:10 - 00:18:04:19 Frank Morales Thank you, sir.

00:18:04:22 - 00:18:19:08 DJ Olojo So I told you, we flipped the boats around around a day and we started with your wildest story. Right. Which is which is just amazing. But let us know. You know your best advice for someone who is going through foreclosure right now.

00:18:19:10 - 00:18:26:27 Frank Morales Don't hide. Don't, don't, don't. This is real. You're not going to pay your way out of this.

00:18:26:29 - 00:18:32:08 DJ Olojo And you're telling you're telling me if I just start speaking in tongues, it's not going to go away.

00:18:32:08 - 00:18:56:10 Frank Morales Like, you know, it's necessary, but not sufficient. And I love it. I love it. I love it. So. So you got you've got to take action. Take advantage of all these resources out here. Don't hide from your lender. Talk to them. Lots of times the lenders are more flexible. They don't want the house back either. So, you know, they don't want the house back.

00:18:56:10 - 00:19:12:14 Frank Morales And if you have a plan that makes it to them, they may listen to you. You can do, you know, worst case scenario, you do a short sale or you do. It is very likely that today you're going to have equity that we did not have back then. So you don't have to walk away from your house. You don't have to lose your house.

00:19:12:15 - 00:19:18:20 Frank Morales The nuclear option is to sell it, right? It sucks, but it's better than you getting put out on somebody else's time.

00:19:18:22 - 00:19:23:15 DJ Olojo Absolutely. Frank, what is one thing that you are grateful for right now?

00:19:23:17 - 00:19:44:14 Frank Morales I'm grateful for many things. I'm grateful for my wife. I'm grateful for my relative good health. I'm grateful that I had that experience and that exposure. So I had a it gave me the stimulus to change my ways, change my location, my geography, everything. You know that none of this would be happening if I didn't have if I wasn't pushed.

00:19:44:16 - 00:19:50:19 Frank Morales That's all I need. I even got I got fired from the VA. You know, you got to be special. Get fired from federal job.

00:19:50:19 - 00:19:52:29 DJ Olojo I say, Hey, yeah, you got to fire from the VA.

00:19:53:06 - 00:20:03:15 Frank Morales Come on, man. What would you do it, Frank? Hey, hey, hey, hey. And the best part of the story is one day the V.A., we look for housing.

00:20:03:18 - 00:20:05:05 DJ Olojo AOL. Man.

00:20:05:07 - 00:20:07:29 Frank Morales It's not bad for background, for close fellow. Hey, man.

00:20:08:03 - 00:20:10:14 DJ Olojo It always comes full circle, right? It comes full.

00:20:10:16 - 00:20:12:28 Frank Morales Circle.

00:20:13:00 - 00:20:36:18 DJ Olojo Frank, may your story and your journey is inspiring to me, just knowing you from afar, but then also to the people who are going through the storm. And so, man, I am I'm excited that you are sharing this candid site. You are a funny guy, for sure. I mean, I can attest with with all certainty and confidence that that Frank's wife is is is is phenomenal.

00:20:36:18 - 00:20:56:08 DJ Olojo She's an awesome person. And I can understand why she brings you so much joy and you know why y'all have a special relationship. So that that is phenomenal, man. Frank, for our listeners who who may want to get in contact with you, who just may want to follow your journey, I know you do a lot with the with the Atlanta housing.

00:20:56:08 - 00:21:01:22 DJ Olojo I know you're active in Atlanta market. You know, how can people get in contact with you if they ever want to reach out to you?

00:21:01:24 - 00:21:06:26 Frank Morales You can send an email at Morales Frank, 76, at gmail.com.

00:21:06:28 - 00:21:20:27 DJ Olojo Awesome. Yeah, I got that. If you ever want to reach out to Frank, you know, he's he's an open book, a wonderful guy, somebody who I consider a friend and he is available if you need help in the metro Atlanta area with that.

00:21:21:00 - 00:21:30:07 Frank Morales Not even the metro Atlanta area anywhere in the world where you're hearing this, because generally the principles are the same. Don't hide. Your instinct is going to be to shut down. Don't do that.

00:21:30:11 - 00:21:55:18 DJ Olojo No, no, I appreciate that, ma'am. This wraps another episode of our Foreclosure Fix podcast. I'm grateful to Frank for being our first homeowner spotlight. He has left some big shoes that people will need to feel mass. This was an amazing episode. Hey, if this mission resonates with you, please do us a favor. Like subscribe. Tell a friend we are trying to get the message out to help a million homeowners successfully navigate foreclosure.

00:21:55:21 - 00:22:02:06 DJ Olojo With that, we appreciate you for being part of the foreclosure fix. Family. Thank you. God bless you. And I love you.

00:22:02:08 - 00:22:03:10 Frank Morales Thank you, sir.

00:22:03:12 - 00:22:07:24 DJ Olojo Thank you.

00:22:07:26 - 00:22:17:00 DJ Olojo The views and opinions on this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. If you have a specific legal question, we highly recommend you contact a qualified legal professional.