In October 2017, a house in a Brooklyn neighborhood sold for $4.4 million.
The seller, a real estate agent named Jessica Belsky, told the Post that she got the listing through a friend of her son’s.
She was hoping to move out and sell it, but after she learned that the house was for sale and she wanted to get an “official” description of it, she called a broker and got the price.
She said that the buyer didn’t have the money to buy a home, so she put down $2.5 million.
She did have to go through the approval process, but it didn’t stop her from buying.
“I think the house has such great character,” she told the Times.
The buyer was not happy with the listing.
“The house looks like a toy factory,” she said, adding, “I just want a house that’s my own.”
Jessica Bensky, pictured here with her son in the video, is one of many Brooklyn families that has found themselves in the hot seat in the face of rising home prices.
“A house that was worth $4 million, then it’s worth $5 million, and then it goes up to $7 million, which I guess I never even expected to see,” she continued.
“But the house is still a home.
You can’t have a home without the people who live in it.
And the people that live in the house, they’re not going to leave unless they have to.”
Belskys husband bought the home from a previous owner in 2014, but they have been stuck in a battle with the bank.
“When we tried to pay our mortgage and they told us it was not allowed, they said, ‘Oh, you can’t do that, you have to pay the money upfront,'” she said.
“They never told us that it was against the law to sell a house.
It was very frustrating.
It’s been really hard for us.”
Benskys family says the bank never gave them any warning that the sale was illegal.
They filed a complaint with the New York Attorney General’s office in 2016, but the bank has not made a decision.
In the meantime, they are having to pay their rent, buy food and put up a security fence.
The bank’s policy, they claim, is that if a family’s home is for sale, they must agree to the bank’s terms before the sale can take place.
“It’s very frustrating,” Belska said.
The Belsks also lost the house to foreclosure in 2019, and they’ve had to fight for legal representation.
They had to pay $50,000 in legal fees, as well as another $40,000 to the government, according to a New York Times article published in 2018.
“We tried everything,” Jessica Bolsky told the newspaper.
“There were multiple appeals and we got no answers.”
Now, Belskaya is facing eviction, and she and her son are fighting for compensation.
They have a $7,000 legal defense fund, which includes an attorney and a fund for other relatives who may be facing eviction as well.
“If we can just get them a place in the city, then we can move on with our lives,” Bolska said, according with the Times article.
“Hopefully, if we can get a good lawyer to represent us and protect our assets, then things can be sorted out.”
The Bolsks say they are trying to be more creative in the future.
“Every year we put down the same amount, we’re still looking for a new house,” Jessica said.
They are also hoping to get more help from the public.
“People don’t want to give up,” Jessica told the paper.
“You can’t just buy a house, and have it fall apart in a month.”
Balsky told ABC News that she and Jessica have made the same plea to others, and hope to continue fighting for justice for others like them.
“This is not a new thing for us.
We’ve had this house for 10 years,” she added.
“And it’s still going to be there for us and it’s not going anywhere.
We just need the legal system to do the right thing and not just let the house fall apart.”
[ABC News, ABC News, New York Post]
