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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

Group Cops Guilty Pleas In Debt Collection Racket; Used Phony Law Enforcement Claims To Strong-Arm $6.7M+ From 1000+ Victims Around The Country

Posted on February 05, 2011
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Buffalo, New York):U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced [] that Timothy E. Arent, 38, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty [...] to mail fraud and tax evasion charges. The charges carry a maximum penalty 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine...

Sovereign Citizen Movement & "Paper Terrorism"

Posted on February 05, 2011
In Talledega County, Alabama, a recent story in The Daily Home contained this excerpt describing how those who subscribe to the Sovereign Citizen movement have been known to engage in "paper terrorism" and create chaos in the real estate title recording system:According to Southern Poverty Law Center spokesman Mark Potok, sovereign citizens organizations [...

Low Income Tenants Find Themselves Stuck In Legal Cracks Of Mess Left By Private Equity Slumlords; Clueless Investors Wash Their Hands Of Bad Bets

Posted on February 05, 2011
In The Bronx, New York, The Huffington Post reports:First, a heating pipe broke in the adjacent apartment, sending a powerful blast of steam into his home along with an unrelenting stench. Then, chunks of the ceiling started falling into his bathroom, and black mold began creeping up the walls...

Bank Rejects Full Price Short Sale Offer, Prefers To F'close Instead; Fannie, Loan Servicer Mum, Despite Homeowner-Signed Waiver Allowing Comment

Posted on February 05, 2011
In Vancouver, Washington, KATU-TV Channel 2 reports:Stacy Baker fought for two years to sell her father?s house and to keep it from being auctioned off, but lost the fight even after her real estate agent said an offer was made to the bank that met its own conditions...

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City Steps In, Coughs Up $250K To Rebuild Seven Backyards Gobbled Up By 'Rogue' Canal As Evacuated Townhouse Residents Get Green Light To Return Home

Posted on February 05, 2011
In Sunrise, Florida, WFOR-TV Channel 4 reports:A handful of residents in a Sunrise community are rejoicing tonight. Nearly 8 weeks after being evacuated from their homes when part of their backyards collapsed into a canal, repairs are completed at Spring Tree Cove West and residents are able to return home...

BofA Backpeddles On Post-Foreclosure Eviction Threat After Hit By Local Media Spotlight

Posted on February 04, 2011
In Stone Mountain, Georgia, WXIA-TV Channel 11 reports:[Homeowner Paulette] Davenport says she got a call from Bank of America saying that the foreclosure was a mistake -- then just a few days another call saying it wasn't an error and the bank had already foreclosed...

State Regulator Seeks $50K Fine Against Suspected Las Vegas Loan Modification Racket For Allegedly Playing Fast & Loose With Clients' Trust Funds

Posted on February 04, 2011
In Las Vegas, Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun reports:The state is seeking to levy a $50,000 fine against a Las Vegas couple in the foreclosure and loan modification business, accusing them of mishandling their clients? money. The state Division of Mortgage Lending has filed a complaint to revoke the license of Jeff and Gail Strum, operators of US Loan Modification Services, [...

Buffalo Feds: Rogue Housing Counselor For Local Non-Profit Agency Ripped Off $200K From Dozens Needing Help Fighting Foreclosure

Posted on February 04, 2011
In Buffalo, New York, The Buffalo News reports:A woman hired to help struggling Western New Yorkers save their homes from foreclosure has been accused of lying and stealing their money so she could gamble at local casinos. Lori J. Macakanja, 35, of Dunkirk, was fired last year as a housing counselor for HomeFront Inc...

Defaults On Reverse Mortgages Spike As Elderly Fail to Keep Up With Property Tax, Insurance Payments

Posted on February 04, 2011
The Orlando Sentinel reports:Thousands of older homeowners in Florida who tapped the equity in their paid-off homes to boost their income now face the possibility of foreclosure as the number of defaults on such "reverse mortgages" skyrockets.More than 30,000 U...

Use Of Voluntary Dismissal To Dodge Scrutiny After Failed Attempt To Dupe Court By Producing, Filing Dubious Docs At Issue In Recent Foreclosure Suit

Posted on February 03, 2011
In West Palm Beach, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:A South Florida homeowner who is fighting a mortgage foreclosure could end up reshaping state law. An appeals court on Wednesday asked the Florida Supreme Court to consider Roman Pino's case as a matter of "great public importance," a move legal experts say could result in reforms in foreclosure cases where there is evidence of

Illinois Appeals Court Disregards Real Estate Deal Structured As Sale Leaseback w/ Repurchase Option; Says Arrangement Constitutes Equitable Mortgage

Posted on February 03, 2011
An Illinois appeals court recently upheld a Cook County trial court ruling that, given the facts of the case, a sale of a home, coupled with a contemporaneous leaseback and option to repurchase was not to be treated as an absolute sale, but rather, the transactions taken together constituted an equitable mortgage...

Fed Reverses Course On Proposal That Would Have Pulled Rug Out From Under Homeowners Invoking TILA To Undo Bad Mortgage Loans

Posted on February 03, 2011
Reuters reports:The Federal Reserve said on Tuesday it is backing away from a final rule impacting home foreclosures after consumer advocates said the reform would remove incentives to modify troubled loans. The Fed said it will instead leave the issue for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...

NJ Appeals Court Boots Rubber Stamped Foreclosure Judgment; Says Bank "Failed To Meet Burden To Establish Bona Fides Of Alleged Assignment"

Posted on February 03, 2011
The following facts are taken from a recent ruling by the New Jersey intermediate appeals court (footnote 1 below is a footnote appearing in the court ruling):Bank filed a foreclosure action against homeowners.Homeowners filed a response, which was accepted as an answer and challenged, among other things, the bona fides of a later assignment of the mortgage...

Alleged Failure To Come Clean On Defects In Recording Mortgages Leads To Another Proposed Class Action Lawsuit Targeting BofA

Posted on February 03, 2011
In New York City, Reuters reports:Bank of America Corp was hit with a lawsuit on Wednesday claiming the lending giant hid foreclosure problems that eventually led to a decline in its share price. The suit, a proposed class action, says Bank of America concealed defects in the recording of mortgages, which harmed investors when the company had to temporarily discontinue foreclosures last fall...

Chase Faces Asset Seizure For Stiffing Homeowner's Attorney Out Of Legal Fee Award After Carrying Out Wrongful Foreclosure While TRO Was In Effect

Posted on February 02, 2011
In El Paso, Texas, Bloomberg reports:A JPMorgan Chase & Co. branch in El Paso, Texas, may have furniture and computers seized by the sheriff unless the bank complies with a judge?s order to pay the legal bills of a single mother whose eviction case he dismissed...

Maryland Foreclosure Rescue Operator Gets 27 Months In Sale Leaseback Equity Stripping Ripoff; Feds Estimate Losses At Between $1M To $2.5M

Posted on February 02, 2011
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Baltimore, Maryland):U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced James William Fox II, age 40, of Crofton, Maryland [last week] to 27 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme which he promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes, but

Requiring Borrower To Escrow Deed In Lieu As Precondition To Getting Mortgage Loan An Illegal Clogging, Says Maryland High Court

Posted on February 02, 2011
In a recent court ruling, the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, concluded that:A deed in lieu of foreclosure executed as a precondition to originating a loan, before any default on the loan occurs, is not valid under Maryland law, because it clogs a borrower?s equity of redemption...

No Rescue For Philly Couple After Dealings With Local Foreclosure Rescue, Sale Leaseback Peddler End In $180K Home Equity Fleecing

Posted on February 02, 2011
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran a story of the plight of a local couple who, finding themselves in a financial pinch, made the ill-advised decision to turn to local foreclosure rescue operator Anthony J. DeMarco III and his outfit, DeMarco REI, to refinance their home through what allegedly ended up being a sale leaseback ripoff that took the couple for

Foreclosure Mills Resist Franklin County Court Orders To Personally Certify Authenticity, Accuracy Of Filed Documents

Posted on February 01, 2011
In Franklin County, Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports:In response to a national outcry over fraudulent foreclosure filings, three Franklin County judges are requiring lawyers to verify that all of the documents in residential-foreclosure actions are valid...

Rogue Federal Judge Reverses State Court Ruling & Allows NV F'closures To Go Forward; Ruling Issued w/out Prior Court Hearing

Posted on February 01, 2011
In Las Vegas, Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun reports:A Bank of America subsidiary can resume work on thousands of foreclosures in Nevada after a federal judge on Monday dissolved a restraining order against the foreclosures statewide issued by a Nye County District Court judge...

Florida Bar Directs Attorneys To Notify Judges About Any Evidence Of Potential Foreclosure Fraud, Even If Case Is Closed & Home Has Been Auctioned Off

Posted on February 01, 2011
The Palm Beach Post reports:In an opinion that could have unfathomable consequences in countless foreclosure cases, The Florida Bar says attorneys must notify a judge about potential fraud ? including robo-signed affidavits and forged notary stamps ? even if a foreclosure case is closed and the home has been sold at auction...

Florida Bar Creates Course On Court Requirements, Rules & Ethics For Attorneys Representing Foreclosing Lenders

Posted on February 01, 2011
The Palm Beach Post reports:Florida attorneys representing banks in foreclosure cases may now take a free class from the Florida Bar on the court requirements, rules and ethics of repossessing homes. The free four-hour program, which is available online, was created after the so called "robo-signing" debacle in the fall that shut down foreclosure cases temporarily while banks reviewed and

Failure To Properly Authenticate Paperwork Sinks Bank In Attempt To Establish Standing To Sue In NJ Foreclosure Action

Posted on January 31, 2011
A recent ruling by the New Jersey intermediate appellate court concluded that Wells Fargo Bank failed to properly authenticate paperwork submitted in an attempt to carry out a home foreclosure and accordingly, said that it failed to establish standing to maintain a foreclosure action...

Suspect Pinched In Home Hijacking Rental Racket Invokes 'Adverse Possession' Defense, Posts Bail, Then Continues Operating Business As Usual

Posted on January 31, 2011
In Hemet, California, KABC-TV Channel 7 reports:A man has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out a rental scam in the Hemet area. For the resident who only wanted to give his first name, Lee, it all started about a month ago, when he saw a "for rent" sign in front of a Hemet home...

Dept. Of Justice Opens Probes Into Recent Servicemember Screwings By Banks In Violation Of SCRA

Posted on January 31, 2011
The Wall Street Journal reports:The U.S. Attorney General has "several" ongoing investigations into violations of a law meant to protect active-duty members of the military from high interest rates and foreclosures. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said in an emailed statement that the investigations are looking into lenders who overcharged and foreclosed against the homes of

Concerns Over Deutsche's Dubious Documents, Foreclosure Process Spurs U.S. Trustee Probe In Connecticut Homeowner's Bankruptcy Case

Posted on January 31, 2011
Reuters reports:A branch of the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Deutsche Bank filed false documents and attempted to mislead a bankruptcy judge in a foreclosure action. Although the investigation involves the case of only one homeowner in Connecticut, a court document filed on January 26 by the United States Trustee's Office said it wants to elicit information about Deutsche

Bank F'closes After Double-Cross Dupes Homeowner Into Abandoning Bkptcy Filing; Court Nixes Voiding Sale, But Says Estoppel, Fraud Claims Can Proceed

Posted on January 30, 2011
The following facts, as alleged in a lawsuit by a foreclosed homeowner, are taken from a recent court ruling from a California Appeals Court:Homeowner, a married woman, obtained an adjustable rate loan from a bank to purchase real property secured by a deed of trust on her residence...

Appeals Court Affirms Conviction Of Sale Leaseback Peddler; Objection To Restitution Liability For Entire Proceeds Of Ripoff Falls On Deaf Ears

Posted on January 30, 2011
In Sacramento, California, a recent ruling by a California appeals court affirmed the conviction of Defendant Timothy Hogue, Jr., an equity stripping, sale leaseback peddler on one count of engaging in prohibited actions as a foreclosure consultant (Civ...

Cops: Toll Could Reach 80 Victims As Woman Faces Embezzlement, Grand Theft Charges In Alleged Upfront Fee, Loan Modification Ripoff

Posted on January 30, 2011
In Salinas, California, The Monterey Herald reports:A Salinas woman accused of stealing several thousand dollars by posing as a real estate agent and mortgage broker may have victimized people beyond Monterey County, according to Salinas police. A review of documents seized from Blanca Maciel Sanchez, 37, has revealed that there are possibly as many as 80 potential victims, [...

Wall Street, Mortgage Industry Seeks To Whitewash Foreclosure Mess

Posted on January 30, 2011
Joshua Holland writes on AlterNet:They committed widespread fraud ? largely whitewashed by the corporate media ? and, in the process, threw the economy into a tailspin. They've broken into and stolen people's homes, and, in the name of ?efficiency,? bilked state governments out of billions of dollars in real estate transfer fees...

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