His stance stems from a bizarre incident that thrust Bailey into the news in  2008, when he suddenly became a public relations liability for embattled home  lender Countrywide  Financial of Calabasas.

Bailey had blanketed Countrywide with emails begging for a mortgage  modification. The reply came from none other than Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide’s  chief executive, who accidentally hit “reply” instead of “forward” on a note  meant for colleagues. In the misfired missive, Mozilo called Bailey’s letter a  “disgusting” and “unbelievable” example of the form letters then inundating the  lender from borrowers saying they couldn’t pay.

The email:

“This is unbelievable. Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the internet. Disgusting.”–Countrywide Financial founder, chairman and chief executive Angelo Mozilo

Bailey insists that Bank of America is obligated to honor an agreement that  Countrywide’s damage-control squad struck to silence him — a verbal deal he says  entitles him to live for free in the two-bedroom, 938-square-foot bungalow he’s  called home for 21 years.

Bailey, a struggling photographer, said he struck his deal with a Countrywide  executive he knew as Ms. Morgan. She told him he could stop paying his mortgage,  but only if he signed off on a loan modification within 24 hours and kept quiet  about Mozilo and his errant email.

Read the full article here:

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-live-for-free-20131214,0,4150658.story#ixzz2nTDr1qf6