"They'll do anything"

Senator O’Brien of Bloomfield Hills says when he was a kid, his dad, a Michigan senator, won all his political battles. All of them, that is, until the politician tried to regulate mortgage banking, at which point “he got his butt kicked,” says O’Brien. Now, O’Brien, a singer-songwriter, and his actress wife, Nicole, know how his dad must have felt. They are fighting to keep their house for their daughter, Vivian, 3. They bought the quaint abode in 2000 for $116,000. When a few payments went late, their monthly bill went from $1,100 to $1,900. When the O’Briens tried to refinance, they found that their mortgage holder had foreclosed and sold the house. The couple hired a lawyer. “These people are so wicked,” says O’Brien. “We’re out here in Bloomfield Hills. You wouldn’t think this would happen out here. Maybe in Detroit, but here? These people, they’ll do anything. And it’s wrong.”