Home Remedy for a Case of Foreclosure
Bankruptcy is not known to cause to flatulence, pimples, or unwanted facial hair. That does not mean it is good for you. If you are dealing with home foreclosure, there is a whole medicine cabinet of legal choices to consider before you down a bottle of Bankruptcy. Foreclosure may cause Tourette’s in some homeowners. Where better living through chemistry has failed you, try your legal options to address mortgage malaise. A foreclosure defense attorney can examine your situation and prescribe a legal treatment towards your best benefit. Foreclosure defense does not offer an overnight cure, but comes with time as a side effect. While the loan servicer is occupied trying to prove his case, you have time to heal a home loan through an alternative to foreclosure. Bankruptcy is known to stop foreclosure in many cases, but it is a harsh medicine with a long-term effect of bad credit. Seek competent legal counsel to review your case and the best treatment for it. Read More
Selfish Reason to Pay HOA Fees
You do not have to rely on altruism as a motivation to pay your Home Owners’ Association fees (HOA fees). You can pay them selfishly and feel narcissistic about it. Yes, yes, yes HOA fees benefit everybody and because they pay for the upkeep of the common grounds, pool, blah, blah, blah in your neighborhood. HOA fees benefit YOU because they help maintain property value. If you are fumbling with home foreclosure, mismanaging mortgage payments (you know who you are), then chances are you are not in your happy place—emotionally or financially. Foreclosure is one situation where it is all about you…but not in a good way. It can be difficult to ride the top of your ego with a process server at your doorstep. You do not have to live in the unflattering shade of humility. Mow your lawn, make your minor home repairs, and pay your HOA fees…and do it selfishly. You can be completely egocentric in an effort to keep property value high in your neighborhood so that your house will bring the highest possible price in a short sale. (Also, generally a judge will look more favorably on your foreclosure case if you show effort in [...] Read More
Life in the Bubble Room…And Afterward
Life was good in the real estate bubble. People were buying and selling property and making a fortune. Then the music stopped, and suddenly it was not Christmas any more. A restaurant called The Bubble Room opened on Captiva Island in 1979. Located in Lee County Florida, the area today hosts one foreclosure in every 648 housing units, which is not bad considering the national average of one in every 418. But it is not the ideal on which to build nostalgia of yesteryear. If today’s housing market is to be a golden era, then memory loss would be a blessing. It is hard to forget a foreclosure, especially on your credit record. Seek competent legal counsel to pursue foreclosure alternatives with faster recoveries for your credit. Read More
The FDIC Footfall on Home Loans
It takes the owner of a loan to modify that loan…the other shoe to fall is FDIC insurance. A foreclosure often nets a bank less than half of the loan’s unpaid balance, so why do they not negotiate instead of letting the home go into foreclosure? Easy answer: money. As banks buy banks and take over loan servicing, they are insured for loss through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. In 1933 the Glass-Steagall Act created a temporary governmental corporation called the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC guarantees the safety of deposits up to $250,000 per depositor per insured bank. Thus bank customers are assured a certain amount backed by the federal government. However, that insurance may interfere with your mortgage negotiations. The bank may let your house go on the courthouse steps for far less than what you could have gotten in a short sale. That is not necessarily the bank being lazy. That is the bank making more money through an FDIC claim (with the added benefit of not having to go through the hassle of negotiation with the homeowner). Because of FDIC insurance, the lender, or servicer, is not highly motivated to modify the loan. That [...] Read More
Trouble in River City…And Beyond
Trouble starts with T that rhymes with P that stands for Mortgage-Backed Securities POOL. In the real estate bubble, the water was fine…and then it went toxic. It takes the owner of a loan to modify that loan. Only the owner has the authority to say, Why yes, I will take a lesser amount and negotiate the terms of that lessness. The problem with the mortgage loans that flooded into securities pools is that they lack single ownership. The loan is owned by a lot of different investors, none of whom have the authority to make a decision which affects everyone else in the group. Thus when a distressed homeowner sits down to a foreclosure mediation, there is no one at the table with him. Oh sure the bank sends a representative, but that person is usually authorized only to accept a HAMP modification, which the homeowner is entitled to anyway (without the expense of mediation). Mediation that starts with M that rhymes with “slim” that stands for your chances of getting a true negotiation. A negotiation is not a negotiation if there is only one outcome possible. Mediation is great in theory, except foreclosure cases do not do so [...] Read More
Ten Symptoms of Oncoming Foreclosure
There are lots of different reasons people wind up in home foreclosure, and often more than one reason combines to make a compound problem on top of a troubling situation. Here are the ten symptoms that you (or someone you love) may be heading for home foreclosure: 1. Unable to pay bills on time 2. Having trouble paying for routine maintenance and upkeep 3. Having to choose which bills to pay 4. Unable to pay homeowner association fees or property taxes 5. Using payday loans or pawning valuables 6. Borrowing money from family and friends 7. Facing loss of employment or a reduction of hours 8. Going through a divorce or separation 9. Dealing with a major illness / injury or death of a spouse 10. Served a Foreclosure Complaint lawsuit If number 10 happens, you only have 20 calendar days to make a proper response. Seek competent legal counsel right away if you have been served to discuss your legal options. Read More
The Drag of Foreclosure
Home foreclosure is a drag. Nobody buys a house just to stop making payments and trash their credit. Nobody wants to spend hours on the phone trying to renegotiate their mortgage, or go through the hassle of moving if they do not have to. However, besides the physical and emotional toll foreclosure proceedings can take on you, foreclosure can be a drag in court too, literally speaking. That is not always a bad thing for the homeowner. There seems to be a double standard against the people who have not paid. Continuances are given to the plaintiffs if they do not have their witnesses in place or if they do not have all their paperwork, but if the foreclosure defendant does not come prepared, then he loses. Thus foreclosure defendants have to be Boy Scouts at every hearing—they have to ‘Be Prepared.’ However, they can use a continuance to their advantage. A continuance puts time on the homeowner’s side, and often time is what is needed to pursue an alternative resolution, such as loan modification or short sale. Foreclosure is a drag, but you can use that drag to bring the best benefit to a bad situation. Consult competent legal [...] Read More
Mistaken Identity in Foreclosure
Mrs. Widow Homeowner had paid her mortgage all her life, even after her husband passed away, and she was still making her payments on time every month. First, Woolworth Wealth sent her a foreclosure lawsuit, and then she received another foreclosure lawsuit from Montgomery Mortgage. You can imagine the Judge’s surprise when both plaintiffs showed up in the courtroom against Mrs. Homeowner, especially when Mrs. Homeowner arrived with a pocketbook full of cancelled checks from her regular payments. It happens. Banks and loan servicers do not always have their records right. Just because a bank or loan servicer has the experience of handling thousands of similar accounts, that does not necessarily mean they have yours right. You may need to seek legal counsel to defend you against mistaken identity. Read More
Pay Your HOA…Even in Foreclosure
Debt management is often a matter of priority. Power bill—check. Water—check. Home Owners Association—huh? If you cannot afford your mortgage, why keep paying HOA fees? The answer lives right next door: your neighbors. Association fees, for homeowners and condo residents, go towards the infrastructure of your neighborhood or condominium and help to upkeep the amenities and common areas you and your neighbors enjoy. And the benefit lives where you do too: your credit score. You may have to move out of your house, but your credit score is coming with you wherever you go. Even in foreclosure, it is in the homeowner’s best interest to maintain the property—mow the grass, make repairs, and pay your association fees. Not only does this help to upkeep the property value of the area, but it may help you with a short sale, which could help you avoid a foreclosure on your credit report. Generally a judge will look more favorably on your foreclosure case if you show effort in trying to upkeep the property value. Your good intent could count even if you cannot put your money where your mortgage is. Read More
Second Look at HAMP with Expanded Eligibility
Are you employed but still struggling to make your mortgage payments? HAMP may be able to help, even if it could not in the past. HAMP is the Home Affordable Modification Program that modifies home loans for lower monthly payments. As of June last year, the Federal Government expanded the program so that more homeowners would be eligible. If your first look at HAMP turned you down, you may want to take a second look. As on their website, HAMP eligibility now includes: Homeowners who are applying for a modification on a home that is not their primary residence, but the property is currently rented or the homeowner intends to rent it. Homeowners who previously did not qualify for HAMP because their debt-to-income ratio was 31% or lower. Homeowners who previously received a HAMP trial period plan, but defaulted in their trial payments. Homeowners who previously received a HAMP permanent modification, but defaulted in their payments, therefore losing good standing. For more information about HAMP, go to http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov. Read More