89-Year-Old Woman's Washington Home Auctioned Off By Bank After Mix-Up

An 89-year-old Washington woman is facing homelessness following a misunderstanding over the home she lives in, according to KING 5.

Chieko Durham has in her Oak Harbor home with her husband and retired U.S. Navy master chief, John Durham. John now lives in a nursing home, but he took out a reverse mortgage to make sure his wife would be financially secure. A condition of that mortgage is that the borrower lives in the home. Since Durham's husband moved out, someone was sent to verify if she lived here.

Durham, who speaks English as a second language, never answered the door.

"If someone comes to the door, she's not answering it, especially if she doesn't know them. She's scared, you know," Paula Murphy, a longtime family friend, told reporters. "This is very devastating for them because she's worked all her life, her husband has worked all his life. They worked hard for this house."

Unfortunately, the bank determined no one lived inside the house and therefore foreclosed on it. Jeff Harding, a Lake Stevens resident, bought the home from an auction. KING 5 says Harding started eviction proceedings against the elderly woman but has since backed off, according to his attorney Paul Newmiller.

Despite this, it may not get better for Durham.

"There was a false assumption that she had moved out of the house," Oak Harbor banker Jason Joiner explains. "Unfortunately, there is no legal basis upon which she can get this overturned. There is no winner here."

Friends and family have started a fundraiser to buy back the house from the owner, which would cost over $100,000. Newmiller says his client is "willing to discuss any reasonable solution."

"She really wants to stay here until her last breath," Murphy says. "God willing, that will happen."