A group of Italian journalists dropped in on me recently. They had picked up a copy of the Los Angeles Times in Costa Mesa, saw the Daily Pilot in it and decided to call me for help with a story they were working on about how the economic crisis is affecting America. They work for a TV news magazine show in Italy that’s not affiliated with the government channels (it’s on the Anno Zero channel).

They had been over to some of the Costa Mesa hotels after reading the New York Times piece on how so many local homeless families are staying in cheap hotels after losing their homes. They asked if I could  help them find some people who had to make a short sale on their homes. They want to tell a story about some upper-income, white collar workers who have tumbled to homelessness. I don’t consider myself much of an expert on real estate so I thought I’d steer them toward our area social service agencies because they have been overtaxed this year with onetime, upper-income, white-collar workers who have fallen on hard times. They liked that idea and I thought it would be easier to pull that off than finding someone who had to resort to a short sale, especially since this was Thursday afternoon and the guys had to catch a plane back to Italy Saturday morning.

So I cleared the decks and editor Brady Rhoades said he’d look after some of my chores so I could play tour guide for the Italians. I tried calling some of my connections with the social service agencies but had no luck. So I called the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce and it was suggested I call Realtor Larry Weichman. Of course, I thought. I called Larry and not only did he get on the line he had time to show us around and talk about short sales in Costa Mesa. I told the guys and we jumped in their rental and drove right over to Larry’s office on Mesa Verde Drive.

Turns out Larry and his wife, Laurie, also a principal in the business, had recently been to Italy and loved it so he was eager to help the Italians, led by reporters Corrado Formigli and Andrea Casadio.

Weichman explained to us why a short sale can be more advantageous when you can’t pay the mortgage. Sure, you’ll lose money but it’s a two- to three-year hit on your credit as opposed to a foreclosure, which will hurt you for seven years. The trick is getting the bank to negotiate a short sale with you. Most of the time the bank wants to keep you in the house since it stands to lose more money in a foreclosure.

Weichman showed us an Augusta-model home build in 1962 at 1806 Samar Drive that had a $1.1 million mortgage on it. Now it’s on the  market for about $650,000, but could sell for a little more. The market’s drawing attention now from bargain hunters, leading to mini bidding wars that inch up the value of foreclosed homes — even homes like this one on Samar that needs $100,000 in repairs. The homeowner bought the house three years ago with no money down. The previous owner had it for 35 years. The most recent owner was paying $6,000 monthly on the mortgage with $12,000 annually in taxes. When the market flagged, his furniture business slumped and he couldn’t make the payments anymore, Weichman said.

What about Weichman’s business as a Realtor these days? “My income has dropped 40%,” he said.

Still, the bargain-hunters keep him busy. He sold five houses last week, in fact, and he’s made $200,000 already this year.

“I was raised German,” Weichman said, meaning he’s always been conservative with his money. He’s a saver and didn’t spend it as quickly as he made it in the go-go times like some of his contemporaries.

During his interview with Formigli in the house, Weichman said he gets calls on a daily basis from desperate homeowners trying to stave off foreclosure.

“My advice to them is to go back to the lender,” and work out a deal, he said. It’s to their advantage to keep people in their homes. “Unfortunately, I get these calls daily. It’s tough.”

People’s lives get ruined and Weichman’s on the front-lines in that “war” as Formigli puts it.

Weichman took us over to the  Mesa Verde Country Club next to get some exterior shots and further interviews. A couple of the guys on the camera crew who have never picked up golf clubs before were invited to take a shot or two. It was even more amusing than me taking chip-shot lessons from the golf pro.

Next up, was Share Our Selves. We dropped in unannounced but the excellent crew there got us everything we needed, including an interview with Dr. Patrick Chen from Hoag Hospital who helps run the medical clinic and Maribel Baez who directs the social services programs, which includes the food giveaways.

We also talked to Alan, a 49-year-old carpenter who was waiting for his prescription. He never had any insurance until recently and has always paid doctors in cash. That was fine in better times, but now he’s living with his girlfriend in a sober-living facility, and the housing industry has shriveled and he’s nearly shelter-less.

“Thank God for this place,” he says, referring to Share Our Selves. His girlfriend told him about it a few months ago so now he has a place where he can get his blood pressure medicine.

The irony is that as a carpenter he usually works on multi-million-dollar custom homes and now even that market has dried up because the super rich are worried about building a million-dollar home that will only sell for $800,000.

“I go out every day from places like Borders to 24-Hour Fitness to fill out job applications,” he tells Formigli.  “Most places won’t even take an application now.”

He admits “I never really planned for the future.” He never imagined the economy could get this bad. He recalls the recession during President Reagan’s first term, but it didn’t seem as terrible or as long-lasting as this one, he said. Back then he played in a blues band for a year, “but that’s a hard life,” so he was glad to put it behind him.

One of the worst parts about life these days is, “The insecurity of not knowing what I’m going to have for dinner or where I’m going to sleep,” he said. “I sold my tools, I sold my car, I’ve sold a lot of my things just to pay rent.”

But even worse is the hit on his self-esteem.

“I just don’t feel good about myself not working,” he said.

When Formigli asked him who’s to blame for the hard times, Alan said he’s never been that political and doesn’t keep up with the news as closely as he thinks he should. But then he went into detail about what’s wrong with the country that showed more sophistication than he would suspect. Formigli, quite naturally, is looking for the political angle because his news program has a left-ward bent.

“You can’t spend billions of dollars killing other people in another country without taking care of your own people here,” Alan said. “Hopefully Obama will turn things around. At least he’s spending the billions of dollars here instead of outside the country.”

The Italians dropped me back off at the office. They were headed back to the Costa Mesa hotels so they could see the children as they returned home from school. They still needed that interview with someone who had to make a short sale — Weichman left them saying he would keep working on setting that up. Shortly after I got back behind my desk, Weichman called saying he found a customer who would talk anonymously so I sent the information to my new friends. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find out what happened with that as I took the day off Friday to attend the Coachella music festival. When the news program is aired the guys will send me a link to it, which I will share.

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