Vietnam Town Foreclosure?

Last week,  East West Bank initiated the foreclosure process of Vietnam Town shopping mall on Story Road in San Jose.  The currently half-finished retail mall is own by TWN Investments.  The development was first announced with fanfare in 2002.  The principal of TWN Investments, Tang Lap (middle of picture),  presold the retail condonium development to buyers at $300/ square feet in 2002 and up to $500 /square foot in 2006.  There were about 185 units for sell.  The development was supposed to be completed 2007.  Buyers were asked to deposit 1/3 of the money up front.  The idea was to use the deposits as part of the equity for the construction loan. 

Tang Lap claimed to have sold most of the units.  However, in early 2007, somehow, he ran into finanical problem and could not paid his general contractor, Reeve-Knight Construction, and the interest payment on the construction loan from East West Bank.  The value of the project dropped in 2007 and there was not enough equity to cover the loan since the money deposit in escrow was less than claimed.  Thus, East West Bank in 2008 demanded more equity or they would not release additional money for construction. 

After a year of construction delay,  Tang Lap managed to convinced Ha Ly, a wealthy owner of Hayward Quartz, to invest $10 million into the project.  Part of money was used to settle liens against the project as well as other debts.  He then received construction loan from United Commercial Bank with guaranteed from Evetrust Bank and the project restarted in early 2009.  However, UCB filed for bankruptcy in late 2009.  The FDIC took over and sold UCB's assets to East West Bank.    East West Bank is now the holder of the oustanding construction loan.

According to the article in Jan 22, 2010 by San Jose Business Journal  -http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2010/01/25/story5.html?q=vietnam%20town%20in%20san%20jose -  East West Bank has refused to lend the additional money, $28 million, to finish part of the construction, unless more equity is put in.

According to buyers who had managed to get their deposits refunded last year since Tang Lap could not completed the construction as stipulated, they pulled out because the value of their retail condo units have decreased at least 50% purchased price.   The San Jose Business Journal reported the value of the project has decreased from estimated $100 million in 2007 to now $40 million, a 60% loss in value.

Tang Lap is now scrambling to find investors from Vietnam to either invest or purchase the property outright. East West Bank has no interest in keeping the mall and is taking step for foreclosure sale.  Tang Lap is the majority owner of Grand Century Mall on Story Road and couple years ago he purchased a Coldwell Banker franchise in Vietnam.  He is well known within the Vietnamese-American community for his political support of California State Assemblyman Van Tran and San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen.

Like with Vallco Fashion Park in Cupertino, Tang Lap is trying to find investors in Vietnam to bail out his investment.  Tang Lap was one of the original buyers of Vallco Fashion Park in 2003 for about $80 million by raising $18 million with Emily Chen and other Vietnamese-American investors.   Ultimately, Vallco was forced into bankruptcy and was bought out by Tram Be, a wealthy Vietnamese businessman from Vietnam for $60 million in 2009. 

Ha Ly and other investors are basically at the short-end of the foreclosure.  The original buyers who did not get or ask for the refund of their deposit might be able to get some of their money back or none at all.  There are people in Vietnam who have the money to buy the property out right from East West Bank.   The asking price is circulated to be anywhere from $20 million to $30million.   The potential owner of course has to put in another $25 to $30 million to finish the construction.  

With the commercial market downturn and the overbuilt of retail shopping mall in San Jose, it would be difficult to lease 185 retail units for a narrow market segment not a lone selling them.  Each unit right now is probably worth $150 - $175 per square feet at best.   This put the value of the fully built out shopping mall at about $40 million.  It would not be suprising to have East West Bank depart this unattractive property for $20 million.

Homeowners Signed Demand to Banks

Homeowners In Action, a local grassroots movement which was formed in response the public outcry against unfair foreclosures and loan modification practices, yesterday organized a town hall meeting at Martin Luther King Library in downtown San Jose. During the meeting attended by about 300 people, many frustrated homeowners who had applied for modification of their mortgages while facing the possibility of foreclosure described to an appalled audience the agony of going through an convoluted process without knowing whether or when they would lose their house.

Many of the people attended eagerly submitted their stories in writing and signed a document titled “Demand for Improvement in Loan Modification Process: Good Faith, Fairness, Transparency and Effectiveness”, available on the group’s website at http://tinyurl.com/ygwym5u. The group resolved upon a collective demand to various banks for an improvement of the loan modification process and for fair business conducts.

Six volunteer attorneys, either founders or supporters of the group, outlined the legal, moral and ethical points underlying the demand, discussed various aspects of the loan modification, foreclosure and bankruptcy proceedings, and conducted a Q&A session, during which many irate homeowners recounted how they were unfairly treated by the banks. In amazingly similar stories, their lenders extended the “trial payment plans” way beyond the required three months period, requested every month submission of evidence of income, told them that the evidence provided wasn’t sufficient, refused to provide any confirmation in writing, denied loan modification applications with little or no explanation, rescheduled the trustee sale date without providing homeowners with any notice, and even offered loan modifications packages where the homeowners payment obligations actually increased, making it impossible for the homeowners to accept.

Attorney Jenny Do, co-founder and leader of Homeowners In Action, said after the meeting: “Some of the heartbreaking stories we heard today reinforce our conviction: banks are not applying fair business practices during the processing of loan modification applications. The similarity of the stories leads us to suspect that the way banks deal with these homeowners is in fact part of the banks’ policies.”

In the coming days, Homeowners In Action plans to collect more data from individual homeowners in order to prove that banks’ unfair practices are the direct result of bank policies. The group will also gather more signatures to the demand and organize follow-up meetings. After a careful examination of the individual homeowners’ situation and experience with the banks, the group will consolidate the signatures by lender and present the demand accordingly.

For a more complete description of the event, including pictures, please check Homeowners In Action website at www.HomeownersInAction.com. To contact the group, please email at info@HomeownersInAction.com or call at 408.455.0175.

Van Tran, Quang Pham, Tan Nguyen, Katherine Smith and the D47 Congressional Race

Two weeks after Quang Pham suspended his congressional campaign, there are still a lot of questions unanswered.  Within the Vietnamese-American community, he seemed to be on a roll with Van Tran on the defensive.  It was so bad that Van Tran did neither file nor gather the necessary signatures for the election until the last minute.  He only pulled the paper after Quang Pham decided to pull out of the race one week before the filing deadline.

It turned out they both received similar polling results.  The latest poll showed that if Quang Pham and Van Tran were running against each other, Katherine Smith would win by about 20%.   A Republican primary in June would have on a high side about 20,000 to 22,000 voters turn-out.   The Vietnamese-American voters would make up about 1/3 of the total votes due to the excitement of having two Vietnamese-American candidates.

Quang Pham would have a very good chance of beating Van Tran if it was a 2-man race.  However, with Katherine Smith in the race, the poll shows that they both could lose.  And the polling is worse for them with Tan Nguyen in the race.

In a game of Chicken, Quang Pham yielded since he realized that even if he had won the primary, it would be a tough battle against the incumbent Loretta Sanchez in a district where 2/3 of the population is Hispanic.  And the fact of the matter is that Sanchez has a very good rapport with the Vietnamese-American community while the OC Republican Party is all talk but cannot raise money for any candidates so far, even for Van Tran.

Loretta Sanchez is obviously benefited from Quang Pham's departure.  She worries more about Quang Pham taking away her Vietnamese-American votes than Van Tran.   Her strategy is very simple, stick close to the Vietnamese-American community and split the votes. And also by riding the coattail of a suprisingly active Phu Nguyen's campaign, she has a real good chance of getting 50% of the Vietnamese-American votes.

Minh Duong and Patrick Phu Le Gathering Support from the Community

It was a busy weekend for candidates Patrick Phu Le and Minh Duong.  Minh Duong -http://www.minhduongforcouncil.com/ -  was at the Santa Clara Republican Party Convention and mingled with party's leaders.  He was appointed to be the chairperson of the Vietnamese-American Republican Party Committee of Santa Clara County. 

On the hand,  Patrick Phu Le - http://patrickphule.com/ -  had his fund raising at Grand Fortune Restaurant with about 150 people in attendance.  His main supporters at the event were from the group called Vietnamese-American Community of Northern California (VACNORCAL).   This is the group that currently in legal battle with the San Jose City over whether Councilmember Madison Nguyen violated the Brown Act. 

The campaign is getting heated with many behind the scene deal making, arguments and the typical posturing

between candidates.   It is now clear the Vietnamese-American community is divided into three camps: 

1.  With the help of the Recall Team, the people who were motivated to vote in the recall against Madison Nguyen are lining up behind Minh Duong

2.  The VACNORCAL group is behind Patrick Phu Le.   This group is mostly made up of older folks who are in constant turmoil with their attacks on each other to determine who are more anti-communist than the others. 

3.  David Duong (the owner of California Waste Solutions) and his friends of wealthy businessmen are behind Madison Nguyen.  The majority of them don't live in San Jose but they have the money and the influence to get the votes for Madison Nguyen.   David Duong (center) in 2008 received recognition by the Mayor of Ho Chi Minh City for his business work in Vietnam. 

The other Vietnamese-American candidate, Viet Nguyen, 29, has not began his campaign yet.   He is considered by the community to be a pretender and more or less a fame seeker.

Minh Duong - A Replubican City Council Candidate for D7

So now there are officially 5 candidates (1 incumbent) vying for the San Jose city council seat in District 7 . 

There is one Hispanic - Rudy Rodriguez - and 4 Vietnamese-Americans.  The heavily favorite in the race is  Madison Nguyen, 36, the incumbent who has the support of Labor Unions, the Demcrotic Party and the owner of California Waste Solution - David Duong.

But since this is a year of the anti-incumbent and the lack of support of Madison Nguyen in her own Vietnamese-American community,  there are two credible challengers vying for her seat - Phu Le, 61, a long time community activist and is well known for his campaign efforts in the Vietnamese-American community on behalf of elected officials like Chuck Reed, Dave Cortese and Kansen Chu.   Minh Duong, 32, a Republican businessman and a community activist and advocate.

Yesterday, Michael Tran and Andrew Diaz withdrew from the race.  Bryan Do, another community activist who also was trying to run but could not gather any support from the community.   An unknown Vietnamese-American in the community, Viet Nam Nguyen, 29, a worker for the San Jose City Rec and Parks, also decided to throw his name in the race just for the sake of having his name in the race.

Phu Le is a well respected community activist and a member of the Santa Clara County Health Commission.  His personal bio can be found on - http://patrickphule.com/

Minh Duong, a furniture owner and an eloquent candidate, is running as a Republican.  He is also a member of  San Jose Small Business Development Commission.   He was at the Santa Clara Republican Party Convention yesterday and received enthusiastically by the party's leaders.  Minh Duong is standing next to Councilmember Pete Constant in the picture above. 

A surprise last minute entrance to the mayoral race is Thomas Nguyen.  He was a member of the Recall Team and a long time community activist.  He is an IT support engineer for the Santa Clara County.

Quang Pham Suspends Congressional Campaign

Quang Pham, fiscal conservative and Republican candidate for California’s 47th Congressional District, said today that he will no longer seek the nomination. The filing deadline to appear on the ballot is March 12.

According to recent polling, Quang Pham would have been competitive in the primary election,” Congressman Ed Royce said. “But he realizes that the ultimate goal is to defeat Loretta Sanchez and that a bitter primary fight would leave the winner with fewer resources to accomplish our mission.”


Several senior Republican leaders praised Quang’s candidacy and his political future. “Quang’s energy, passion and intelligence are impressive. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) just enrolled him in our Young Guns Program. Perhaps more importantly, Quang is the consummate team player, and his future in Republican politics is bright,” Congressman Kevin McCarthy, chief deputy whip and head of recruitment for the NRCC, said.

Scott Baugh, Chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, added, “I applaud Quang Pham and I respect and support his difficult decision. We welcome his participation with open arms.”

As a business owner and Marine Corps combat veteran, Quang Pham thoroughly impressed many of us in the New Majority,” Tom McKernan, Chairman of New Majority Orange County added.  "We admire his desire for unity and his commitment to the long term success of Republican values. We are encouraging him to stay active the Republican Party."

“Winning a seat in Congress requires full commitment of time and money” said Quang Pham. “Yet my business and my employees now need all of my focus. In addition, the dynamics of the race have changed significantly.”

Politician Van Tran vs. Ex-Marine Pilot Quang Pham for the D47 Congressional Race