The Home Equity Theft Reporter: Real Estate & Property Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Real Estate & Property Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Real Estate & Property Law

The Home Equity Theft Reporter

Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues.
By r morris

Post Frequency: 25.7/day

Last Entry: September 06, 2017 at 04:02:00

End Draws Near In 17-Unit Building In F'closure; Water Shutoff Due To Unpaid Bill, Vacate Order For Health, Safety Issues Spells Eviction For Renters

Posted on August 07, 2010
In Daytona Beach, Florida, The Daytona Beach News Journal reports:The worry on Shawn Ackerman's face spoke volumes as he sat outside his second-floor, riverfront apartment. After eight years in Unit 17 of Riverside Apartments, 245 N. Halifax Ave., Ackerman, 38, and his roommate, Sherrie Copeland, 52, said they may soon find themselves homeless...

20 Families Get Boot From Building In F'closure After Getting 24 Hours Notice; Village Officials Say Premises Unsafe, Uninhabitable; Landlords Go AWOL

Posted on August 07, 2010
In Maywood, Illinois, WLS-TV Channel 7 reports:The village of Maywood has condemned a building as unfit for occupancy, forcing its residents to move out of their homes. About 20 families were given 24 hours notice that they must vacate their homes in the 1800-block of 5th Avenue...

Transitional Rental Housing Facility In Foreclosure To Shut Down; 14 Families Get Two Weeks Notice Before Having To Face The Boot

Posted on August 07, 2010
In Valparaiso, Indiana, the Post Tribune reports:Fewer than half of Spring Valley Shelter's 14 families could attend [last week's] meeting about their future. One woman fought tears, and some bit their nails. Told that Spring Valley will shut down in two weeks and Friday was the employees' last day, they had one question...

Atlanta's Largest Homeless Shelter Faces Foreclosure; Advocates Claim Legal Action's A Conspiracy To Rid Hundreds Of Residents From Downtown Area

Posted on August 07, 2010
In Atlanta, Georgia, National Public Radio reports:The homeless problem in Atlanta may soon get worse. The city's largest homeless shelter has been foreclosed on because the group running it is deep in debt. Some say the foreclosure is a conspiracy to rid downtown Atlanta of homeless men, while others claim the shelter is a steady source of crime and civic frustration...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

60 Families Residing In Tacoma Mobile Home Park Face The Boot As Park Owner Facing Foreclosure Fails To Cure Safety, Health Violations

Posted on August 07, 2010
In Tacoma, Washington, The News Tribune reports:They say they pay their rent on time and take pride in their community, but about 60 low-income families in Lakewood may still be out on the streets later this year. The city has identified a litany of safety and health violations at the Fir Acres Mobile Home Park, which is currently in foreclosure, on the 12600 block of Bridgeport Way Southwest.

Atlanta Man Gets 39 Months In Attempt To Use Stolen IDs, Fictious Buyers, Phony Short Sales To Screw FDIC Out Of $2.2M

Posted on August 06, 2010
In Atlanta, Georgia, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:An Atlanta man who took out millions of dollars in illicit loans from the now-failed Omni National Bank was sentenced [] to more than three years in prison as part of a federal investigation...

Foreclosure Limbo Leads To Free Temporary Housing For Some Delinquent Borrowers

Posted on August 06, 2010
In Northern California, the San Jose Mercury News reports:Tens of thousands of Bay Area homeowners are trapped in a bizarre real estate limbo, living in houses but no longer paying for them, waiting and wondering if someone will help them ? or throw them out...

Another Lender Changes Its Tune When Local Media Intervenes On Behalf Of Screwed-Over Homeowner Seeking Loan Modification

Posted on August 06, 2010
In Douglasville, Georgia, WXIA-TV Channel 11 reports:For Marci Williams, a single mother of two, it was a long day at the Neighborhood Assistance refinancing event at the World Congress Center but it was worth it. "I got there at 3 a.m. and after nine hours I was seen," Williams said...

State Lawmaker Among Many Bagged By Central Florida County Appraisers For Illegal Homestead Exemption Claim

Posted on August 06, 2010
In Hillsborough County, Florida, The Tampa Tribune reports:If you know somebody claiming an illegal homestead exemption, Hillsborough County wants to hear from you. The appraiser's office has rolled out an online reporting site to make tattling on double-dippers quick and easy...

Attorney Accused Of Running Upfront Fee Loan Modification Racket Gets Booted From Legal Profession

Posted on August 05, 2010
The Florida Bar recently issued its quarterly "gossip sheet," in which it announced that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 27 attorneys, disbarring eight and suspending 17. Among those attorneys getting the boot was:Rudolph C...

Alleged Loan Modification Scammer Hit With 11 Felony Theft Charges; Accused Of Ripping Off 100+ Denver-Area Homeowners Out Of $300K+ In Upfront Fees

Posted on August 05, 2010
In Denver, Colorado, KMGH-TV Channel 7 reports:More than 100 homeowners in the metro area are out $2,500, and some have lost their homes. Investigators said it is all because of a company that promised to modify home loans, but instead stole homeowners' money...

Cleveland Housing Judge Invites Homeowners Living Near Blighted Houses To Submit Restitution Claims Against Absentee Property Owners

Posted on August 05, 2010
In Cleveland, Ohio, The Plain Dealer reports:Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka is ratcheting up the costs for absentee property owners who spread the damage from the foreclosure crisis. They will have to pay neighbors for economic losses caused by their neglect...

Federal Appeals Court Affirms Lower Court Dismissal Of Cleveland Civil Suit Alleging Subprime Loan Peddlers Created A Public Nuisance

Posted on August 05, 2010
In Cleveland, Ohio, The Plain Dealer reports:A federal appeals court has ruled that Cleveland's attempt to punish banks for bankrolling subprime loans has no merit, leaving the city with little hope of ever collecting millions of dollars in damages related to the foreclosure crisis...

More On Alleged South Florida Bogus Foreclosure Document Manufacturing Foreclosure Mill

Posted on August 04, 2010
Mother Jones recently ran a profile on South Florida foreclosure mill operated by attorney David J. Stern and the alleged manufacturing and backdating of bogus foreclosure documents that this firm his accused of engaging in.(1) An excerpt:LATE ONE NIGHT IN February 2009, Ariane Ice sat poring over records on the website of Florida's Palm Beach County...

Countrywide To Cough Up $600M To Settle Shareholder Lawsuits Alleging Failure To Disclose Loose Lending Standards

Posted on August 04, 2010
In Los Angeles, California, USA Today reports:Countrywide Financial will pay $600 million to end shareholder lawsuits alleging that it misled investors, in the largest settlement to emerge so far from the subprime mortgage meltdown. The agreement has received preliminary approval from a U...

S. Florida Foreclosure Mill Faces Civil RICO Charges In Suit Seeking Class Action Status; Allegations Include Manufacturing Phony Mortgage Assignments

Posted on August 04, 2010
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:Florida's purported largest foreclosure law firm filed thousands of documents to take people's homes that contained deceptive and intentionally ambiguous information, according to a proposed class action lawsuit...

Attorney Accused In Civil Suit Of Milking Deceased Client's Estate; Damages Estimated At $6M+

Posted on August 04, 2010
In Annapolis, Maryland, The Capital reports:When Robert Blackburn Hewitt died of a heart attack in 2007, the Arnold resident's longtime attorney estimated his estate at almost $4.7 million. He told Hewitt's widow that she and her two sons "would never have to want anything," according to a lawsuit filed in Circuit Court...

Woman Recovers Title To Home As Judge Invalidates Deed In Lieu Unwittingly Signed When Obtaining Loan

Posted on August 04, 2010
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:When federal securities officials closed Robert Stinson Jr.'s real estate investment firm - Life's Good Inc. - for alleged investment fraud in June, they said it had no "significant" property holdings...

Illinois Steps In To Stop Niece From Selling 100-Year Old Aunt's Farm Out From Under Her As State Probes Dubious Land Transactions

Posted on August 04, 2010
In Will County, Illinois, the SouthtownStar reports:State officials have told the niece of a 100-year-old Monee woman known as "Aunt Aggie" to stop trying to sell the woman's 70-acre farm. A cease and desist order was issued against Bridget Gruzdis and her firm, Phoenix Horizon LLC, to immediately stop marketing and attempting to sell the home of Agnes Albinger...

Pennsylvania Joins Baltimore, Memphis With Pending Lawsuit Accusing Alleged "Ghetto Loans" Peddler With Reverse Redlining In Philly Neighborhoods

Posted on August 03, 2010
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Weekly reports:The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission filed a complaint against Wells Fargo Bank early this month, claiming that the bank used reverse redlining in Philadelphia neighborhoods. In other words, Wells Fargo is accused of exploiting poor, African-American residents by allowing an abundant of sub-prime loans in densely black-populated

Media Report Probes Into Minister's Activities Involving Dubious Loan Modification Services

Posted on August 03, 2010
In Atlanta, Georgia, MyFox Atlanta reports:Some thought a minister who modifies mortgages would be a godsend. A FOX 5 I-Team investigation found that while one man had a Bible in one hand, the other one was in people's wallets. The I-Team's Dana Fowle went undercover to hear just what Mike Surgent and Trinity Corporation is preaching...

Technicality Leads To Dismissal Of Criminal Case Against Ex-Homeowner Accused Of Stripping $1M In Fixtures From Foreclosed Home; DA To Refile Charges

Posted on August 03, 2010
In Southern California, North County Times reports:Suzy Brown, who was accused of stripping $1 million worth of property from the bank-foreclosed home her Encinitas neighbors dubbed the "monster house," won a legal victory Thursday when a judge dismissed criminal charges against her on a technicality...

Forensic Loan Audit Operation Hit With Class Action Suit; Accused By Others Of Clipping Homeowners Out Of Thousand$ With No Results

Posted on August 02, 2010
In Rancho Cordova, California, cbs13.com reports:U.S. Loan Auditors claims it will review your loan documents to see if you're a victim of predatory lending, and will then help you go after your lender. Several customers have called [CBS 13 investigative reporter] Kurtis Ming saying they invested thousands, but got no results...

Foreclosure Rescue Operator Gets Six Years In Sale Leaseback Scams That Ripped Off $880K In Home Equity From Financially Strapped Homeowners

Posted on August 02, 2010
In Honolulu, Hawaii, KITV-TV Channel 4 reports:A man who prosecutors say used religion to lure victims into a mortgage fraud scheme was sentenced to prison Thursday. John Mendoza, 59, was sentenced to six years behind bar. That's not enough says a woman who said she was lured into one of his deals, which he still claims were intended to save homes for people facing foreclosure...

Michigan AG Files 19 Criminal Complaints Setting Forth 69 Charges Against Individuals, Firms Running Alleged Loan Modification Operations

Posted on August 02, 2010
From the Office of the Michigan Attorney General:Attorney General Mike Cox [] announced the filing of 19 criminal complaints and a total of 69 charges against illegal advanced fee "foreclosure rescue" operations accused of defrauding Michigan families of thousands of dollars...

Arizona Slams Outfit For Allegedly Peddling Home Refi Scam; Firm's Claims That It Would Buy Homeowners' Loans, Then Modify Terms Were Bogus, Says AG

Posted on August 01, 2010
From the Office of the Arizona Attorney General:Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard [] announced he has filed a lawsuit against The Guardian Group, LLC (?Guardian Group?) for engaging in allegedly deceptive mortgage loan reduction services that have cost more than 2,500 consumers millions of dollars...

Colorado AG Shuts Down Loan Modification Racket That Used Obama Video, FDIC Materials To Fake Affiliation With Federal Government

Posted on August 01, 2010
In Denver, Colorado, INDenver Times reports:Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced [] that his office has obtained a judgment against American Mortgage Consultants, its owner, Oliver Paul Maldonado, 37, and its principal employee, Santiago Fabian Pineda, 32, barring the company and its officers from engaging in mortgage fraud or any aspect of the mortgage business...

Non-Attorney Defendant Clipped Homeowners Out Of Upfront Fees For Bogus Legal Services, Says Colorado AG In Civil Lawsuit

Posted on August 01, 2010
From the Office of the Colorado Attorney General:Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced [] that his office has filed a lawsuit against a Denver man suspected of defrauding homeowners in foreclosure, including the elderly and disabled, by collecting upfront fees in exchange for fraudulent legal services...

Northern California DA Has Another Ex-Homeowner In Crosshairs For Allegedly Stripping $100K In Fixtures From Now-Foreclosed Home

Posted on August 01, 2010
In Ripon, California, KXTV-TV Channel 10 reports:For the second time in a week, the San Joaquin County district attorney's office is expected to charge a Ripon couple with "stripping" a house they had to leave. The large and beautiful home had nearly $100,000 worth of fixtures taken, allegedly by the previous owners...

Failing To Remit Mortgage Payments Collected From Client, Allowing Home To Be Lost To Foreclosure Among Acts That Lead To Disbarment For SC Attorney

Posted on July 31, 2010
In a recent ruling by the South Carolina Supreme Court, an attorney licensed in the state was disbarred over seven separate incidents of misconduct and was ordered to pay full restitution to all clients, banks, and other persons and entities, including the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection (ie...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Home is where the trailer is: Trailer on lot sufficient to destroy grandfathered lot status
The Appeals Court, in an unpublished decision, has determined that...

Real Estate Agents, Lenders, Appraisers & Home Inspectors: ARE BUYERS WASTING TOO MUCH OF YOUR TIME?
PREQUALIFY, PREQUALIFY, PREQUALIFY. It cannot be said enough times...

Going Home: Remembering Long Branch eminent domain activist Anna DeFaria
While she waited for the next round in the eminent domain fi...

Pennsylvania Nursing Home Director Admits Criminal Neglect of Patient
Donna Cameron, of Ashton Pennsylvania, who was the former Director...

Nursing Home Abuse: Organizations Defend Seniors
Boston, MA: Nursing home abuse is, unfortunately, not an uncommon ...