A p ril 17,2013
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TheW eekin Review
Page 3
Fred Meyer
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photo by
D onovan M .S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
An uncertain future is ahead for Annette Steele, an elderly northeast Portland woman who com­
pletely paid o ff her home o f 2 6 years before taking a loan to make repairs and now faces eviction
over a dispute on the repayment o f the loan.
h iu m sH h i
pages 12-16
C alendar
C lassifieds
page 17
Lending Nightmare
Woman, 80, battles for her home of 26 years
pages 18
R eligion
pages 19
F ood IU
page 20
by D onovan
M . S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
When one lives somewhere for
over 26 years, that place simply
comes to be called “home;” and a
home is not easily parted with, at
least not for Annette Steele.
Steele, who recently turned 80, is
standing strong over the possible
eviction from her northeast Port­
land house, with the backing of
concerned neighbors and commu­
nity activists.
‘When I walked through that
d o o r, so m eth in g said to me,
Annette, this is your home,” says
Steele, referring to first time she
visited the house on the 4000 block
of Northeast 14th Avenue. With
nothing but 75 cents filling her pock­
ets that day, she thought purchas­
ing the house to be impossible.
But her friend and then owner of
the property allowed Annette to set
the price, and without a down-pay­
ment, she moved in that same week.
A couple of decades later, with the
consistent weekly payments on a
contract loan, the $27,000 bill had
been paid off.
With the house officially hers,
she began looking into the possibil­
ity of making some much needed
repairs. The bank offered to handle
those costs for her. She jumped at
the opportunity.
That opportunity was a subprime
continued ,W ' on page 7