WEEKEND EDITION, FEBRUARY 25 MARCH 1, 2013

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013

ACADEMIA ADVERSARIES ADVOCATES BLOGOSPHERE LEGAL LEGISLATE OP-ED HOMEOWNERS NEWS ForeclosureGate.org Is A Public Service Homeowner Coalition and Cooperative, Created To Exchange News And Information And To Advance Justice For American Homeowners

The Second-Mortgage Shell Game Surprisingly, such a tactic often makes sense for banks. When a lender forecloses on a first mortgage, the house in question is typically sold at auction. If the house is worth less than the loan amount, the bank gets only part of its money back. But after the sale, of course, theres no asset left to pay off any of the second loan. The holder of that second loan which has lower priority than the holder of the first gets nothing. So a lender can forgive a second mortgage which in the event of foreclosure would be worthless anyway and under the settlement claim credits for modifying the mortgage, while at the same time it or another bank forecloses on the first loan. The upshot, of course, is that the people the settlement was designed to protect keep losing their homes.

Why Do Banks Get Away With Murder? Regulators, prosecutors, and plaintiffs in lawsuits continue to unearth scandalous behavior from before, during, and after the credit boom. Bankers conspired with their colleagues, with their counterparts at other banks, and at ratings agencies to milk money through plainly illicit and unkosher means. When caught, frequently indicted by their own emails and instant messages, the banks agree to pay big fines, utter pro forma apologies, and move on. A few people may lose their jobs, and a lot of people.

Arkansas law jails tenants who dont pay their rent Landlords and corrupt public officials have frequently abused the law, which is unlike landlord-tenant law in any other state in the union. HRW reported, Several of the tenants interviewed for this report were confronted at home or at work by police officers who had warrants for their arrest. One woman was berated in open court by a district judge, who compared her to a bank robber. Another woman was repeatedly charged under the law based on false reports from the.

Can These New Federal Rules Rein in Foreclosure-Frenzied Banks? Servicers, which collect mortgage payments from borrowers and work out terms of a loan, are supposed to explore all alternatives to foreclosure before reclaiming a home, and to give homeowners a fair and clear evaluation process.

Henry Cisneros: The nation underestimated impact of foreclosure crisis It is unfortunate that this settlement is about abuses that occurred in the recovery process but it is not part of the long term solution. It was a necessary step but not a great contribution to solve the problem of foreclosures, Henry Cisneros, former Secretary of Housing and.

Now that's a revolving door Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was in a meeting Tuesday when a staffer interrupted to show her this tweet from the League of Women Voters Florida: "Sen. Darren Soto expresses concern about revolving door issue at the FL Attorney General's office and asks for regulation." The tweet refers to the practice of staffers leaving state agencies to work for firms that then lobby the agency they left.

Kentucky AG Conway investigating mortgage foreclosures Conway has been looking into the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, an entity created by the mortgage industry that allows financial institutions to trade mortgages behind the scenes without recording changes in ownership in local county clerks offices. In July, Conway said he was withholding $5 million from Kentuckys share of the National Mortgage Settlement so..

Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeals Standing Up For Consumers The facts of this case are undisputed, and only Mr. Palacios and the second mortgagee, Appellee Wachovia Bank, N.A., are interested parties in this appellate proceeding. On April 15, 2008, the circuit court entered a final summary judgment of foreclosure in favor of Florida Funding for $60,136.09. On May 9, 2008, the Clerk conducted the foreclosure sale, at which Mr. Palacios and Florida Funding were the only bidders. Florida Funding bid $40,000 and Mr. Palacios ultimately prevailed with a bid of $41,000. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Palacios moved to release his money from the Clerk because he discovered that there was a second mortgage on the property.

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WEEKEND EDITION, FEBRUARY 25 MARCH 1, 2013

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013

ACADEMIA ADVERSARIES ADVOCATES BLOGOSPHERE LEGAL LEGISLATE OP-ED HOMEOWNERS NEWS ForeclosureGate.org Is A Public Service Homeowner Coalition and Cooperative, Created To Exchange News And Information And To Advance Justice For American Homeowners

Martha Coakley presses banks on loans Concerned that some mortgage lenders are not complying with a new foreclosure law, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is asking banks to confirm in writing that they are following state rules to help troubled borrowers save their homes. Specifically, Coakley is concerned that loan servicers are not complying with a provision, made effective in November, that allows lenders to modify a loan even if there is a second mortgage on the property. Many lenders are reluctant or unable to negotiate a mortgage modification if there is a second loan and another lender involved in the property, which complicates the process.

Rising Foreclosure Shadow Inventory

Filings

Expand

the

Florida foreclosures investment firms

big

business

for

A recent opinion piece by Florida real property attorney Roy Oppenheim in U.S. News and World Report explains that real estate investors are at odds with the banks that are holding on to their Real Estate Owned (REO) portfolios. With too many foreclosures in the pipeline, the available inventory is depleted. This leads to an artificial sellers market and upsets investors. On one hand, banks would be at a disadvantage.

Oakland, Calif.-based Waypoint started buying properties in South Florida late last year, one of a growing number of investment firms pouring millions into distressed real estate nationwide. Malibu, Calif.-based American Homes 4 Rent bought more than 200 Florida homes last year, according to figures from RealtyTrac Inc. New York-based private equity giant Blackstone Group was behind the acquisition of 166 properties.

Zombie foreclosure could mean free house for some It's one of possibly two million so-called zombie foreclosures in the U.S. So the homeowner, unbeknownst to them, actually remains on the title to the property. Meaning they're still responsible for the real estate taxes, for maintaining the property, for anything that happens on the property, god forbid someone gets hurt, real estate attorney Shari Olefson said.

Mortgage Foreclosure Is Debt Collection under the FDCPA, Sixth Circuit Holds Lawyers whose principal business is mortgage foreclosure or who regularly handle mortgage foreclosures are debt collectors subject to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled. In its decision, issued on January 14, 2013, the Sixth Circuit refused to follow cases that have held mortgage foreclosure is not debt collection under the FDCPA because it involves the..

1.8 Million U.S. Properties With Foreclosure Filings in 2012 The report also shows that 1.39 percent of U.S. housing units (one in every 72) had at least one foreclosure filing during the year, down from 1.45 percent of housing units in 2011 and down from 2.23 percent of housing units in 2010. Other high-level findings from the report:

San Bernardino County abandons eminent domain mortgage plan San Bernardino County and two of its cities abandoned a plan that would use eminent domain to seize troubled mortgages and write down debt for homeowners. The decision strikes a blow to an idea that garnered national attention as a potential if unconventional and controversial solution to the mortgage crisis.

U.S. Bank, one of few mortgage servicers to participate in Oregon foreclosure mediation, says 'it's working' Though only a handful of mediation sessions have actually taken place, Minneapolis-basedU.S. Bankhas emerged as one of the few private banks participating both in mediation mandated as part of the foreclosure process and mediation requested by homeowners not yet in foreclosure. Of six completed mediation sessions, two involved U.S. Bank, which at the end of 2011 reported a $1.5 billion portfolio of residential mortgages in Oregon. Most of the rest involved state agencies with home loan programs.

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WEEKEND EDITION, FEBRUARY 25 MARCH 1, 2013

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013

ACADEMIA ADVERSARIES ADVOCATES BLOGOSPHERE LEGAL LEGISLATE OP-ED HOMEOWNERS NEWS ForeclosureGate.org Is A Public Service Homeowner Coalition and Cooperative, Created To Exchange News And Information And To Advance Justice For American Homeowners

Foreclosure Horror Story: Jacqueline Barber Struggles To Keep Her Atlanta Home From U.S. Bank My name is Jacqueline Barber. I spent 20 years working as an officer and detective for the Atlanta Police Department. I am working with Occupy Our Homes Atlanta. In 1998, I was struck by a car while on the job, causing spinal injuries that left me unable to work. Forced into early retirement, I spent the next few years recovering and welcoming new grandchildren to my ever-expanding family. In 2005, while visiting a former coworker with my daughter, I came across my dream home. A friend urged me to apply for a loan, which I did and then quickly forgot about. A few weeks later, I got a call from a loan officer telling me that I had been approved and asking me when we wanted to move.

Foreclosure: When MERS lays down and plays defendant MERS was introduced to the mortgage industry as a solution to electronically track the nations home loans in replacement for traditional land records. But its capacity in tracking loans quickly morphed making the giant a vested entity in the mortgages it helped to originate and in the nations foreclosure process it promised to streamline.MERS plays a changing role in the foreclosure process, making conflicting appearances on the foreclosure scene as both the agent to the foreclosing bank and as a.

Fannie Mae Announces New HomePath for Short Sales Escalation Process Once a case is escalated, Fannie Mae will directly engage with the agent or servicer to address challenges such as valuation disputes, delays by servicers or uncooperative subordinate lien holders. Agents can also use the new escalation process to receive a recommended list price from Fannie Mae prior to listing the property for sale. Our goal is to prevent foreclosures and help stabilize communities, says Jay Ryan, vice president for real estate sales, Fannie Mae. By giving agents a straightforward, transparent.

Blistering Judicial Opinion Regarding "Bring a court action" On the defense side, we see that nearly every letter that goes out contains some kind of deviationsome large, some smallfrom the contents expressly required by the contract. When the bank fails to send out a letter that contains all the elements required by the mortgage, we seek, and often obtain, a dismissal or judgment for the defense. On the plaintiffs side, the argument is always close enough.

Had Foreclosure Reviews Continued, BofA Would Have Owed At Least $10 Billion: Naked Capitalism Banks can now quickly channel $3.5 billion to homeowners, with nearly everyone who received a foreclosure notice in 2009 or 2010 getting a cut, they have said. But as we reported last week, the reviewers who were reviewing home loans until they were abruptly laid off at the beginning of the year say that the original goal of the reviews as described by regulators -- to distribute.

IRS Announces Guidance Reduction for HAMP

on

Principal

DAs office investigating modification/foreclosure fraud case

loan

To help financially distressed homeowners lower their monthly mortgage payments, Treasury and HUD established HAMP, which is described at www.makinghomeaffordable.gov. Under HAMP-PRA, the principal of the borrowers mortgage may be reduced by a predetermined amount called the PRA Forbearance Amount if the borrower satisfies certain conditions during....

A fraud case involving an alleged loan modification/foreclosure consultant in the Santa Maria area is being investigated by the Santa Barbara County District Attorneys Office. The case involves an organization that operates primarily out of Los Angeles County but has victimized many homeowners in northern Santa Barbara County.

California Inventory Continues to Diminish as Foreclosure Activity Falls Foreclosure activity was somewhat mixed in the five Western statesArizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washingtonobserved by ForeclosureRadar over the month of January California processed 5,447 foreclosure sales in January after 5,908 in December. While the alphabet soup of Federal programs has successfully prolonged, or catapulted delinquent homeowners out of the foreclosure process, the unintended consequence is now an acute lack of available housing inventory for sale, according to ForeclosureRadar. Adequate inventory is necessary for a recovery to take place, but is lacking in much of the state, according to the analytics firm.

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WEEKEND EDITION, FEBRUARY 25 MARCH 1, 2013

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013

ACADEMIA ADVERSARIES ADVOCATES BLOGOSPHERE LEGAL LEGISLATE OP-ED HOMEOWNERS NEWS ForeclosureGate.org Is A Public Service Homeowner Coalition and Cooperative, Created To Exchange News And Information And To Advance Justice For American Homeowners

Foreclosure Rescue by Eminent Domain Gets a Second Look One of the most interesting proposals to help hopeless homeowners that are deeply underwater on their outstanding mortgages consists of the use of the eminent domain doctrine of property possession for the public good. Such a move was seriously considered by San Bernardino County officials in California last year before it was foregone in early 2013. The plan is decidedly controversial: County officials concerned about the abandonment and blight of their neighborhoods due to foreclosure would exercise eminent domain on properties facing foreclosure with the financial backing of Mortgage Resolution Partners, an investment firm.

Waters presses for more information on end of foreclosure program Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, on Tuesday sent her second letter within the past few weeks asking regulators why they terminated the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) following a $9.3 billion settlement with 14 banks over shoddy foreclosures practices. "The opaque nature of the consent order process and resulting agreement in principle raises many questions about the validity of the IFR.

The LPS Non-Prosecution Agreement The fundamental proposition that I operate under is that this nation cannot heal because the cancer, the wounds that were inflicted upon the American economy, the American people have been ignored. Through settlement agreements, collusion, corruption and government misfeasance, malfeasance and just plain, black and white out right corruption, entire criminal enterprises have been permitted to walk away from a massive crime spree.unpunished.

Bondi, lawmakers take on state's surging foreclosure problem The programwhich includes money for homebuyer assistance, legal aid and foreclosure preventionis part of last years multibillion dollar national settlement that included cash payments to states. Bondi reached a deal with Weatherford and Gaetz after an initial disagreement over who had authority over the $334 million in funds allocated to Florida. In the end, the groups compromised to allow the.

Jennifer Britt, Detroit Foreclosure Activist, Speaks Out About How She Saved Her Home Facing eviction was the latest in a string of catastrophes to befall the then-49-year-old Detroit woman, who had lost her job as an administrative assistant in 2010. She had also lost her husband, Leon, who was killed in a car accident in 2006. Then, after years of negotiations, she received notice in 2010 that her home on 15071 Warwick in Rosedale Park was being foreclosed upon by Flagstar Bank.

MERS v MERS straddles foreclosure; conflict of interest may aid homeowners MERS, the exclusive so-called recording and tracking agent to the mortgage industry and focus of an ever expanding platform of criticism for fraud-based foreclosure practices, may have over-reached by aiding foreclosures as both a plaintiff - and defendant.

Banks Put Linda Green Behind Them With $10 Billion Robosigning Settlement The chapter on robosigning, i.e., Fraudclosure, is now closed with a $10 billion wristslap on US banks, of which a whopping $3.3 billion in the form of direct cash and $5.2 billion in "other assistance." The banks who are now absolved from any and all Linda Green transgressions in the past include.

As Many as 90% of Foreclosed Properties Held Off the Market So, the banks are deliberately keeping the majority of distressed homes off market in order to keep prices artificially high, fleece another generation of credulous buyers, and effect the appearance of a revitalised and soaring housing market. Nowtell mewhich part of this equation even vaguely resembles a free market? Its all central planning by a criminal bank cabal that controls all the levers of state power lock, stock and barrel. Even so, it looks like John Q Public has swallowed this latest load of public relations malarkey judging by data that shows that sales of new and existing homes are gaining pace. Ahh, but looks can be deceiving.

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WEEKEND EDITION, FEBRUARY 25 MARCH 1, 2013

FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013

ACADEMIA ADVERSARIES ADVOCATES BLOGOSPHERE LEGAL LEGISLATE OP-ED HOMEOWNERS NEWS ForeclosureGate.org Is A Public Service Homeowner Coalition and Cooperative, Created To Exchange News And Information And To Advance Justice For American Homeowners

Rental-Backed Securites: Wall Street's Clever Plan for Foreclosed Homes? It feels like this country went from a housing glut to a housing boom almost overnight. One day, all you're hearing about is how much extra housing capacity there is, and the next you're reading headlines about record home starts. But before the housing-market resurgence, the other thing you heard about was how no one knew what to do with all that extra housing. Well, Wall Street is trying to figure out what to do with it, and their idea doesn't bode well for either individual neighborhoods or the economy as a whole.

Foreclosure sales: Potential bargains can carry big risks Last May, Scheirer made an all-cash offer of $375,000 for the foreclosure, which he figured would need about $100,000 more in repairs. Fannie Mae accepted the offer, and Scheirer began carting his belongings including newly purchased appliances and furniture from his Chantilly home to his sons garage in preparation for the impending move.

State trails in providing foreclosure restitution to homeowners While Oklahoma has handed out an average of $11,000 in foreclosure restitution to fewer than 300 people, more than a half-million troubled homeowners in 49 other states received an average of $82,000 in assistance through the National Mortgage Settlement, data show. A report issued this week on the National Mortgage Settlement shows that the nation's five.

After St. Louis County acts, state lawmaker targets local foreclosure mediation program The St. Louis County Council passed an ordinance last year allowing a homeowner facing foreclosure to enter into mediation with the lender and servicer of a loan. Mediation involves a homeowner, lender and servicer meeting with a third party such as United States Arbitration and Mediation. The ordinance, which makes lenders and servicers pay for the mediation, would impose penalties if lenders dont participate.

Legislature Set to Change Foreclosure Sellback Rules Kurylo says he has a check ready with the full amount but a county law limiting an appeal of a real property decision to 120 days has kept the county from accepting his offer. Now, a group of legislators are proposing a change eliminating that 120-day limit and allowing sellbacks to Kurlyo and others if they can pay off the back taxes. "Broome County should not be in the business of taking private property if it can be helped. We're here today to correct that," said Broome County.

Americans still losing homes (video) The $26 billion National Mortgage Settlement, was supposed to hold big banks accountable for the U.S. mortgage crisis, and help struggling homeowners. Banks say they have already given back billions of dollars in aid, but people are still losing their homes. In California very little of the settlement money has gone to principal reduction.

The Bubble According to Todd Zywicki's primary criticism of the QM rule is that it fails to address what he believes was the root cause of the mortgage default crisis: strategic borrower behavior, which he believes needs to be addressed through down payment requirements and real liability for mortgage deficiency judgments, so that there is borrower skin-in-thegame.

Despite Aid, Borrowers Still Face Foreclosure A year after five of the nations biggest banks reached a pact with state and federal officials over claims of vast foreclosure abuses, the banks are taking credit for giving more than half a million struggling homeowners roughly $45.8 billion in relief. But despite the banner numbers released on Thursday in a report by Joseph A. Smith, the independent overseer of the settlement, thousands of homeowners are still not getting the help they need to save their homes from foreclosure, according to interviews with housing advocates and homeowners facing foreclosure.

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