RESCUE MY HOME: Foreclosure Defense and Debt Solutions Blog
A community of free information sharing provided to the public by your friends at the Law Offices of Bilu & Bilu. "Your home is your castle and under the law you are entitled to defend it."
Pino- Part Deux
May 10th
pdate: I watched the oral arguments this morning. The Court really laid into both sides. Essentially the Court was asking the Homeowner’s attorney why they were upset that the case was dismissed against their client (ordinarily that is a good thing). Her reply was that if they had gone through with the Sanctions hearing, the case would have been dismissed with prejudice- meaning that the “lender” would forever be barred from bringing the case again. By voluntarily dismissing the case without prejudice, the lender was basically trying to avoid the consequences of the fraud that it had perpetrated on the Court and start over again.
The question that the Court had for the Bank’s attorney was why they felt that they should be able to avoid the consequences they should face for perjuring themselves
Huge Day for the Florida Supremes
May 9th
So this is actually a hugely important Case for the Florida Supreme Court to be hearing. What the question ultimately boils down to is this: “Can a litigant escape the consequences of perpetrating a fraud on the Court by dismissing its case the day before a hearing?” I say no! To do otherwise would litigants free reign to attempt to defraud the Court and then allow them to pull back if they get caught. I am looking forward to watching the oral arguments tomorrow– should be fascinating.
The Force-Placed Insurance Scam!
May 7th
As someone who has worked in the Title Industry for the last 10+ years, I have a lot of experience with this issue. There is one very important part of this scheme that the author leaves out of this editorial. The lender actually hires a company (usually a subsidiary) which the borrower pays a nominal fee to at the closing (generally between $10-$15– check your settlement statement if you think I am kidding). That company checks on the insurance coverage every year and notifies the lender AFTER the insurance policy has lapsed. The company then has the exclusive right to procure the new force-placed policy (at 10x the market rate) and get their commission on it. They “justify” the increased premium because the policy is retroactive (meaning that they are buying a policy on May 5, 2012 that has an effective date of, for example, March 15. 2012). I decided to ask my insurance agent if I could buy a retroactive policy like that. She asked me if i was insane! I then cold called several other insurance agents and got the same answer. This is the very definition of corruption!
Now is the Time to Buy
May 3rd
Contrary to popular opinion, we are not all doom and gloom. Funny enough I have been predicting since around 2000 that the market would “bottom out” around the middle of this year. Hopefully, I am right. I have investors coming in and snatching up properties at ridiculously low prices. Real Estate is a long-term investment and will ALWAYS go up over time, as long as you have the holding power. Unfortunately, those of us who bought at the top of the market will have to wait a really long time. For those who are considering buying now, prices not going to get any cheaper, and mortgage rates are not going to get any lower! Whether it is an investment property or a home, the right time is now.
Scott: Its a Lack of Jobs that Causes Banks to Abandon Properties
May 2nd
Well, Governor Scott does it again. Somehow the banks who refuse to maintain the properties that they own are not to blame for the blight they cause, it’s a lack of jobs! If that were true, then couldn’t the banks just hire people to maintain the properties. Maybe he is on to something here. What I really wonder, though, is if this guy listens to himself when he talks. First off, he claims that we could “cure” the problem by divesting the Courts of their power to oversee foreclosures. So, let me see if I have this straight: The banks have more properties than they can sell or maintain, and are therefore effectively abandoning many of them. The way to cure this problem, is to make it easier for the banks to take over the properties faster?!?!? But don’t worry if you don’t like his opinion, it changes just a few minutes later when he says that the blight caused by abandoned properties is really a local problem and not a State problem. I am embarrassed to admit that this guy is an attorney. He really gives the rest of us a bad name.
Too Big to Operate Honestly
Apr 30th
This is the part of high finance that makes most people’s heads spin if they really try to follow it. Basically, these banks that the Government and the Fed declared were “Too Big to Fail” were apparently also too big to follow the law. That’s nothing new. What is so interesting about this case is the amount of information that was uncovered just to file this lawsuit. As you can well imagine the existence and structuring of these off shore shell companies (whose two-fold purpose is to apparently keep the banks from paying their fair share of taxes and to take bad debt off of the bank’s balance sheet) is not a subject that any of these defendants are willing to openly discuss. Kudos to the Spyre Law Group. We will be keeping an eye on this case and are looking forward to helping help our clients join the class once it is certified.
Children: The Silent Victims
Apr 23rd
It really makes me sad to see an article like this. As a parent of young children, i know how much even a minor disruption in their schedule affects them- I can only imagine the effect this is having on 14% of children in Florida. It serves as a sobering reminder that what we do is not a game, the future of our nation is literally at stake
Short Sales vs. REOs
Apr 18th
This confirms what I have been telling my clients for years- “Banks are in the business of collecting money, not properties.” That is why banks are offering such great incentives to distressed homeowners ($27,500 is the highest I’ve seen) to secure to sweeten the pot and make sure that a distressed homeowner does not decide to scrap the short sale and become a long term foreclosure defendant. On the back end, the bank also does not have to bear the costs associated with selling a foreclosed property (i.e. repairs, maintenance, utilities, landscaping, real estate commissions, property taxes, etc). Hiring a qualified attorney to negotiate your short sale means that you have someone on your side to make sure (a) that the lender is waiving the deficiency and (b) working to get you the maximum incentive the lender is willing to offer.
Night of the Living Foreclosure
Apr 16th
7000! That number is just staggering- and that is just in Palm Beach County. This is not the number of files that are being actively defended- this is the one where there has been no records activity in over a year. I am sure that some of them are files that have been resolved by way of a Short Sale, Loan Modification or Bankruptcy, but from my experience, there are plenty that have just gone nowhere (i have several in my office). While it is often to the client’s advantage to have the case dismissed, that is not always the case. I have spoken to judges from several different counties who have all lamented over this problem. Like it or not, this problem is not going away for a while.
Bar Hit With Tsumani of Foreclosure Related Complaints
Apr 12th
I read stories like this, and it just makes me shudder. I can’t even begin to count the number of clients that we have that were ripped off by a loan modification scam (either using an attorney as a front or not). Lately i have also taken over a lot of cases from attorneys who have not provided adequate (much less, first rate) representation for their clients. Our firm offers a full range of options, including Loan Modifications, Foreclosure Defense, Short Sales, and Bankruptcy- so we can find the solution that best meets our clients’ needs. If you or a friend are facing foreclosure, please make sure you make the right choice and hire a competent attorney who can offer the right solution.
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