HOBOKEN–Hoboken mayoral candidate Kim Glatt, who recently resigned her judgeship to run for mayor, responded today to a story that has been posted on the internet about her owning a home that is in foreclosure. The Reporter also obtained a copy of the foreclosure document this afternoon.
According to the document, this past August, HSBC Bank was involved in a legal hearing with Glatt and Glatt’s sister Stephanie related to foreclosure proceedings on a $999,900 loan for a house at 910 Castle Point Terrace in Hoboken. Glatt and her husband, attorney Jay Yacker, recently moved into a pricey condo in Hoboken’s W Hotel on the south waterfront. So the foreclosure proceedings on the Castle Point Terrace house beg some questions:
-Why is the house being foreclosed on if Glatt and her husband can afford a much more expensive condo in the W?
-Also: If Glatt’s finances end up in court, how will she manage Hoboken’s $100 million-plus municipal budget?
Glatt’s campaign manager said Wednesday that the house is not Glatt’s, but her mother’s. Campaign Manager Kathy Stack said, “She was helping her parents. This is a remodification of a loan with the bank. What happened is what has happened to 900,000 families across the country. She was helping her mother with a remodification of the loan.”
But Glatt’s mother’s name is not on the house. When asked for further explanation, Glatt’s husband, Jay Yacker, said the house was sold over a year ago by Glatt’s parents to her sister Stephanie. The parents and Stephanie continued to live in the house. But after Hoboken’s large tax increase, they were unable to make the payments for a few months, and the bank automatically began foreclosure proceedings because they were behind.
Yacker said that once the bank starts foreclosure proceedings, they won’t accept retroactive payments until the situation is worked out legally.
Yacker said that they are “a month or two away” from working the situation out, and that the house will be saved.
Glatt directed inquiries to her official statement, which said:
“Today’s posting on [another internet news site] is riddled with outright falsehoods and nuanced misrepresentations. It is an unfortunate example of how some individuals will misuse the virtue of ‘citizen journalism’ to post out-of-context information.”
The statement also hinted that Glatt believes she knows who is behind the leak of information.
“There are thousands of Hoboken residents who are working hard every day to make ends meet during these difficult times. They can know with absolute certainty that I can relate to their problems. When voters go to the polls on Tuesday, November 3rd, they should ask themselves whether the current councilmember behind this smear can do the same.”
There are two council people running for mayor – Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer, and Councilwoman Beth Mason. Besides the two of them and Glatt, four other candidates are running in the Nov. 3 Hoboken mayoral election.
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