Foreclosure Mediation: Check, Please!
So you go out to a restaurant and the service is lousy and there is only one thing on the menu. Sounds like Foreclosure Mediation—check, please! Foreclosure Mediation is supposed to be a negotiation, but in reality, it is a monologue. You cannot negotiate only one option. And you cannot negotiate with someone who only has the authority to offer one option. The Florida Supreme Court mandated Foreclosure Mediation in 2009 to help relieve the backlog of cases, but the program stagnated over the singular result of all Foreclosure Mediations. A high court panel recently recognized the problem. Loan Modification (despite its mythic proportions) can be a viable resolution to foreclosure…so can a handful of other choices. Of the 350,000 foreclosure cases in Florida, they are not all alike. Homeowners benefit when they have more than one option. Foreclosure Defense offers a variety of choices, allowing the Homeowner to customize a strategy to his individual situation. Meanwhile, a legal defense questions the Lender’s authority to take action, keeping default from overtaking the Homeowner before a strategy has the chance to work. In the mayhem of Mortgage Backed Securities, does the plaintiff really own the loan and have the authority to [...] Read More
Evergreen & Bankruptcy
The ultimate goal of Bankruptcy is to be as evergreen as a plastic Christmas tree, but in the meantime, you have to endure a series of hard winters on spending. Bankruptcy is not designed for a deciduous lifestyle. You cannot squander your money annually and cry “Bankruptcy!” like it is a season of the year. Bankruptcy should be a sign of recovery, but it starts at the stump of your credit. You can only file Bankruptcy every so many years, and in the meantime, you are supposed to use the timber of your fall to build new credit. Going green is a nice notion, but it is a gradual process. Bankruptcy keeps creditors off your greenbacks, giving you a chance to recover your portfoliage, adding growth rings to your trunk to support your expenditure branches. Bankruptcy stops foreclosure in most cases, but it is not an action to be taken lightly because you have to come back from a hard freeze on spending. Read More
Foreclosure Stress
Tired of treating chronic heartburn? Foreclosure papers today…heartburn in 20 days? Enlargement of time now…heartburn later? Or default later and heartburn now? There is always better living through chemistry, but Foreclosure Defense may relieve some of the stress. Despite the 350,000 foreclosure cases currently in the Florida court system, foreclosure can be a lonely place, especially if you do not know where you are going. No one should go through foreclosure alone. Understanding the process, and being able to make informed decisions about your outcome reduces the element of the unknown. Competent legal counsel can review your case with you and discuss options available to you. Sometimes there are no resolutions, but just knowing the steps of the process may give you some relief. Knowing what is going to happen next will help you prepare for it, even if you cannot change it. Read More
Foreclosure – Top Ten Things NOT To Do
So you have been served a foreclosure complaint with a court summons. Here is a list of the top ten things NOT to do if you receive a lis pendens. 10. Get the matches. – No, that looks suspicious and could put you in criminal court instead of dealing with just a civil case. 9. Put all your drugs in the toilet and Flush! Flush! Flush! – Nobody asked you to clean out your locker; besides, you may need those drugs. 8. Spend all your remaining money on lottery tickets. – That might work, but you have a better chance of being struck by lightning. 7. Stop mowing the lawn. – Upkeep your house even during foreclosure proceedings. You still live there, and it will help the sale value of the property if you short sell it. 6. Stop talking to your lender. – In a freak reversal of intuition, keep talking with your lender, keep trying to work out a deal. Even if that lender has sent you a foreclosure lawsuit, continue to seek a modification. 5. Quit your job. – Keep working as a source of income and a basis of credit. Your credit score is going to [...] Read More
Twenty Days of Foreclosure Summons
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day—these are bank holidays and they do not count toward renter eviction procedure, but if you have received a foreclosure summons, you only have 20 sunrises to respond, regardless of hangover, religious worship, or tryptophan coma. The holidays are a terrible time to be served a foreclosure summons…so is any other season. Just when you are ready for a second helping of mashed potatoes you get served foreclosure papers. Foreclosure is not a festive occasion, but one that has to be dealt with in a timely manner. If you have received a foreclosure summons, it is time to talk turkey or your goose is cooked. Foreclosures come with deadlines…and decisions. Seek competent legal counsel to discuss your choices. The more deadlines you meet, the more options remain available to you. Timing is everything, and you do not want your foreclosure overdone and out of your hands. Carve the case to best suit you as much as you can. Read More
Foreclosure Defense & Sports Analogies
Yeah, no. Foreclosure Defense does not really work that way, but there are a few sports parallels we can draw on. Foreclosure Defense is about mitigation…not winning. Ultimately, the Home Team is doomed, but it has opportunity to gain many small victories along the way. And those small victories can add up to a better financial field position in tournament play towards credit standing. Yeah, you are going to lose the game, but how you lose will affect your ranking among credit bureaus. In turn, your credit ranking determines your purchase power, and how fast you can recover from a foreclosure. How fast after bankruptcy, short sale, or foreclosure can you get up and be in the running to buy another house? Or a car? Or get a student loan? The better your credit, the more you can buy. But if you are knocked flat on your foreclosure, it could take longer before you are able to make a big purchase. ESPN is not going to broadcast foreclosure proceedings and Aflac is not going to sponsor them. However, the best defense is a good offense, and foreclosure defense offers both, blocking the prosecution while allowing the Home Team to advance [...] Read More
Procedure, Procedure, Procedure in Foreclosure Court
The key to Foreclosure Defense is PROCEDURE, PROCEDURE, PROCEDURE. Court procedure is supposed to apply a legal protocol of checks and balances, assuring that both sides of a case are fairly heard. Witnesses should be sworn in, Rules of Evidence should be followed, and Justice should be served. However, procedure is getting short-changed in some foreclosure courts. Procedure is sometimes cited at the core of the foreclosure debacle. Starting with the Borrower and the Original Lender: did the Lender run down his checklist to make sure the Borrower fully qualified for the loan? Then following the chain of ownership of the loan: did the note follow the mortgage? Was the debt transferred properly? If not, then who really has the right to foreclose on the house? If the Borrower resolves with the Current Loan Servicer, will another financial institution also claim a right to that debt? Procedure is no small matter when it comes to legal jurisdiction…and procedure should be no small matter in courtroom procedure. Proper procedure is the difference between hoping and hopping in court. That is right, I am talking about Kangaroo Court, where foreclosure cases come in and get bounced out without consideration of proper procedure. [...] Read More
Lenny the Lender & Joey the Jurisprudent
Lenny the Lender was going to foreclose on the house of Joey the Jurisprudent. Joey had not paid his mortgage in quite some time, and Lenny expected him to turn over his home uncontested like most homeowners, but Joey the Jurisprudent did not give up so easily. Joey wanted to negotiate a short sale or loan modification, which would uphold his credit score above the “foreclosure” mark. Joey the Jurisprudent launched a Foreclosure Defense, forcing Lenny to prove his case. Lenny Motioned for Summary Judgment to avoid a Trial. A Summary Judgment will go quickly, Lenny reasoned, because you do not have witness testimonies like in a trial. So he gathered his paperwork and went off to court. He had a stack of affidavits, but they did not do him much good in a Summary Judgment. According to the Rules of Evidence for Summary Judgment, you cannot use an out-of-court document to prove a statement. An affidavit is an out-of-court document. It cannot be cross-examined, and without witnesses in a Summary Judgment, there is no one to verify the statement. “This is not an affidavit you see before you!” Lenny quickly told the Judge. “This is a Business Record.” Business [...] Read More
Greece Trap
Greece heralded the rise of Western Civilization…and may announce its demise. Lack of capital can cause a debt ceiling collapse onto a column of bills. With debt in Olympic proportions worldwide, your foreclosure can seem like an individual-sized Greece trap. For centuries, Greece has been known for tragedy and ruin. You do not have to translate that into a personal level of Roman numerals. Just because you own a Trojan house full of negative equity does not necessarily mean that history will stampede over you. Before you sacrifice yourself to Dionysus, consider your choices…not the Fates. A foreclosure lawsuit can read like ancient Greek and be nearly as long as the Iliad. You do not need an oracle; a competent foreclosure defense attorney will do. Good legal counsel will review your case with you and discuss your possibilities, putting the power in your hands to make decisions that affect your financial future. So you have enjoyed an ouzo appetite for spending on a Greecy spoon budget, now is the time to clean out your Greece trap. Seek competent legal counsel to steer your foreclosure odyssey towards the best possible outcome. Read More