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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

Trying To Unwind Or Undo A Deed Ripoff? Pleading Inconsistent Facts In Lawsuit May Be Necessary

Posted on November 13, 2010
In a recent ruling addressing various issues raised in a lawsuit filed by apparent victims of an alleged deed ripoff, a California appeals court said, among other things, that there was nothing disqualifying, as one Defendant asserted, for the Plaintiffs to plead alternative facts in an attempt to undo both the deed ripoff itself, and the mortgage that was placed on the subject properties

No Foreclosure Rubber-Stamping In This Courtroom

Posted on November 13, 2010
Over the last couple of years, Suffolk County, New York Supreme Court Justice Peter H. Mayer has demonstrated little hesitancy in holding foreclosing lenders' and other creditors feet to the fire when it comes to having all their paperwork in order when trying to take the home away from a delinquent borrower or otherewise attempting to enforce the terms of a loan...

The Parade Of Booted Lenders In Brooklyn Foreclosures Goes On

Posted on November 13, 2010
The following 2010 table of cases involve lenders who have been denied attempts to move forward on foreclosure actions this year by Kings County Supreme Court Justice Arthur M. Schack for a variety of missteps and assorted screw-ups:Lasalle Bank N.A. v Smith, 26 Misc 3d 1239, 2010 NYSlipOp 50470 (NY Sup...

3.5-Pound Yorkie KOs NYC HOA In Eviction Suit; Failed Attempt To Boot Pooch To Cost Unit Owners $100K As Underdog Wins Reversal Of Lower Court Ruling

Posted on November 13, 2010
In Middle Village, Queens, the New York Post reports:A Queens condo board spent a whopping $100,000 during a three-year battle to evict a cute, 3.5-pound pooch named Charlie -- and in a stunning upset, the underdog scored a knockout. For those counting, the figure comes to nearly $28,600 per pound of pup...

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Insurer Is Stiffing Us On Our Soured Loans Claims Over Lack Of Proper Paperwork & Lying Borrowers, Bellyaches BofA In Lawsuit

Posted on November 12, 2010
In Charlotte, North Carolina, The Charlotte Observer reports:Bank of America Corp. is suing its mortgage insurance company for denying its claims. It's the latest twist in finger-pointing over the mortgage crisis. The bank says that Old Republic Insurance Co...

Out-Of-Control, Rubber-Stamping Jacksonville Judge Featured In Recent Column

Posted on November 12, 2010
In a recent story in Rolling Stone, columnist Matt Taibbi writes about the foreclosure rocket docket in Jacksonville, Florida, and describes his experience observing one hour of court proceedings in one such docket presided over by Judge A.C. Soud.Mr...

Another Process Server (& Rubber-Stamping Judge's) Screw-Up, Another Void Judgment Vacated On Appeal; Foreclosed Homeowner Stalls Getting The Boot

Posted on November 12, 2010
A recent ruling by an Arizona appeals court again illustrates how a sloppy (or possibly corrupt) process server can submarine a legal action, even after a court judgment has already been granted.The case involved an attempt by a purchaser at a foreclosure sale to boot an ex-homeowner out of a home that was auctioned off at the public sale...

Ailing 90-Year Old Allegedly Left Homeless By Predatory Loan Fights Back

Posted on November 12, 2010
In Memphis, Tennessee, MyFoxMemphis Channel 13 reports:[M]emphis and Shelby County are suing Wells Fargo, alleging the mortgage company preyed on Mid-South African Americans for loans they could not afford. The company says its innocent and the lawsuit is still pending...

Moldy Wall, Missing Owner, Faulty Paperwork Leading To F'closure Delays For Abandoned Condo Unit Leave Ailing Neighbor "Living Next Door To Hell"

Posted on November 12, 2010
In Boynton Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:The mold blooming in unit L-107 at Venetian Terrace is a sickening black wallpaper of flowery-looking growths.Like thousands of homes throughout Palm Beach County, it is in foreclosure, abandoned and caught in a labyrinthine legal system that has left it to putrefy with a leaky air conditioner that leaves dark puddles in the carpet and

Bond Insurer Left Holding The Bag On $312M+ In Crappy Home Loan-Backed Mortgage Securities Sues Deutsche Affiliates To Force Buy-Back

Posted on November 12, 2010
Bloomberg News reports:A unit of Assured Guaranty Ltd. sued affiliates of Deutsche Bank AG over $312 million of mortgage-backed securities that the bond insurer guaranteed and says were ?plagued by rampant fraud and misrepresentations.?Assured Guaranty Corp...

C. Florida Man Seeks To Recover Home By Overturning Foreclosure Sale Resulting From Sloppy Paperwork, Despite Resale By Bank To Unwitting Third Party

Posted on November 11, 2010
In Pinellas County, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:Michael D. Carlson recently filed a motion in Pinellas Circuit Court seeking to undo a foreclosure judgment against him from 2008, saying he never knew about the legal proceeding until it was over...

More Judges Begin To Put Heat On Foreclosure Mills To Defend Their Court Filings

Posted on November 11, 2010
The Wall Street Journal reports:The push by mortgage companies to accelerate the snarled foreclosure process is running into resistance from judges who are cracking down on sloppy paperwork.In Florida, a state-court judge has begun forcing lawyers to defend fees charged to borrowers by law firms...

Tenants In Illegal Foreclosure Evictions Organize To Combat Violators Of Their Protections Under Federal Law As Help In Enforcing Rights Hard To Find

Posted on November 11, 2010
In Merced, California, The Fresno Bee reports:When Alandra Manzo moved with her family into their home in north Merced in July 2009, the 23-year-old had little idea how much trouble their yellow stucco rental on Tide Drive would bring them. Over the next year, the house would be foreclosed on and then resold...

Robosigner Johnson-Seck Featured Prominently In Recent "Schack" Ruling

Posted on November 10, 2010
A recent ruling by Kings County, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack in a Brooklyn foreclosure action prominently features the notorious, prolific robosigner Erica Johnson-Seck and her now-widely circulated deposition given in a separate Palm Beach County, Florida foreclosure case...

Foreclosure Rulings From Downstate NY Trial Judges Not Flying Under The Radar For Big Banks

Posted on November 10, 2010
In Suffolk County, New York, The Washington Post reports:A year ago, Long Island Judge Jeffrey Spinner concluded that a mortgage company's paperwork in a foreclosure case was so flawed and its behavior in negotiations with the borrower so "repugnant" that he erased the family's $292,500 debt and gave the house back for free [See Indymac Bank F...

Citi Sold Home Out From Under Texas Couple Seeking "Hope Now" Loan Modification Help: Lawsuit

Posted on November 10, 2010
In Jefferson County, Texas, The Southeast Texas Record reports:Two Beaumont residents have filed suit against their mortgage company, alleging it suddenly and without warning foreclosed on their property. Herbert Hoover Lee and Michelle Lee claim they only became aware of the foreclosure on their home after defendant CitiMortgage sold it on Oct...

Bay Area Couple Charged With Peddling Phony Loan Modification Services To Homeowners Looking To Dodge Foreclosure; Fraud, Theft Charges Pending

Posted on November 10, 2010
In Alameda County, California, KGO-TV Channel 7 reports:A Los Gatos man and a Fremont woman face state and local felony charges over a foreclosure scheme. Prosecutors say Michael Young and Angeline Lizarrago targeted Spanish-speaking and Southeast Asian homeowners...

Nationwide Title Clearing Robosigners On Parade

Posted on November 09, 2010
The Examiner reports:As more and more banks, title companies, and financial institutions become exposed to the foreclosure fraud that has clogged our courts and put more than 19 million people out of their homes, insiders are coming out and providing information that shows how deep the rabbit hole goes in Foreclosuregate...

Loan Modification Duo Cops 'Delayed' Guilty Pleas To Illegally Pocketing Fees; Convictions To Be Dismissed Upon Payment Of $40K, Probation Completion

Posted on November 09, 2010
In Livingston County, Michigan, WHMI Radio 93.5 reports:Two employees of a local mortgage company have pleaded guilty to violating foreclosure rescue regulations but would have no criminal record if they successfully complete probation.Michelle Garbuschewski of Howell, also known as Michelle Justice, and Lisa Joboulian of Northville both entered guilty pleas to one count each of violating the

Prosecutor: "Slow Learner ... To Get Free Rent" As Career Scammer Gets 6 Yrs In Title-Snatching, Home-Hijacking Racket; Used Homes As Bail Collateral

Posted on November 09, 2010
In Hamilton County, Ohio, The Cincinnati Enquirer reports:Do not rent a house or take a check from David Halsell. Halsell has been to Ohio prisons three times for financial chicanery, including renting out houses he didn't own. Now, he's going back to prison - this time for six years - for trying to get placed in his name other houses he never owned...

Colorado "Rule 120" Hearings Likened To A Mirage Offering Borrowers Facing Foreclosure Hope That Disappears The Closer They Come To It

Posted on November 09, 2010
The Denver Post reports:Borrowers facing foreclosure in Colorado have a right to a hearing before a county judge. But consumer advocates argue the proceeding, called a Rule 120 hearing, is so narrow in scope it doesn't provide much protection or relief...

Despite Robosigner Scandal, Loan Servicers Still Offering Low-Pay, Low-Qualification, Lofty-Titled "Foreclosure Jobs"

Posted on November 08, 2010
ProPublica reports:Prompted by a Financial Times article about banks hiring foreclosure experts, we went on a few job sites to browse the [job] listings ourselves, just to see if the qualifications for new hires have changed since the foreclosure-document scandal first surfaced...

"Fair Debt" Violations Among Allegations Facing BofA, Trustee-Affiliate, Others In Utah Suit Seeking Class Action Status

Posted on November 08, 2010
In Salt Lake City, Utah, KCSG-TV reports:ReconTrust and Bank of America, along with Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems ("MERS"), Countrywide Home Loans, HSBC Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Bank, Bank of New York/Mellon, KeyBank, and others that may have used ReconTrust as a trustee, have been named in a class action lawsuit filed in Utah federal court Friday alleging violations of the Fair

Homeowner Recovers House Lost In Foreclosure Sale After "Missing POA" Issue Raised In Subsequent Lawsuit Leads To Settlement With Lender

Posted on November 08, 2010
In Salem, Virginia, The Roanoke Times reports:The day his house was sold at an auction on the steps of the Salem courthouse, M.T. Warden said he didn't even know he was facing foreclosure. He knew he was several months behind on his mortgage. When he called American Home Mortgage Servicing to make a payment, Warden recalled recently, "they said my home had been sold, and I didn't live there...

Some Foreclosure Defense Attorneys Begin Going Into Mortgage Lending Business?

Posted on November 08, 2010
The New York Times reports:For some Florida residents, the price of getting out of foreclosure will include taking on a second mortgage ? payable this time to their lawyers. The new mortgage, which takes effect only if the foreclosure is dismissed and the homeowner?s debt to the bank is reduced, is controversial among defense lawyers, some of whom call it ?creepy? and ?crass...

St. Louis Feds Squeeze Guilty Plea From Alleged Rent Skimming, Sale Leaseback, Foreclosure Rescue Peddler Accused Of Causing $439K In Losses

Posted on November 07, 2010
In St. Louis, Missouri, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports:Jeremy Beadle, president of Network Ventures, a real estate and mortgage company in St. Charles, pleaded guilty Wednesday of defrauding lenders and homeowners who were facing foreclosure.Beadle, 37, of St...

NY AG Squeezes Guilty Pleas From 4 For Roles In Alleged Sale Leaseback, Equity Stripping Foreclosure Rescue Racket; 1 Awaits Trial On 23 Felony Counts

Posted on November 07, 2010
In Albany, New York, the Times Herald Record reports:Members of an Albany-based company who ran a lease buyback program that cost several local homeowners their homes have admitted their roles in a mortgage-looting scheme in a deal with the state Attorney General's Office...

Florida AG In Search Of Evidence Of Foreclosure Mill Kickbacks To Loan Servicers

Posted on November 07, 2010
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:Follow the money. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's office is looking for it, in its investigation of the foreclosure law firm of David J. Stern. What's at the bottom of the AG's investigation was almost a throw-away line in a recent hearing in Fort Lauderdale...

Wells Fargo OKs Repo On Fully Paid Car; Cops Tell Complaining Victim To "Take A Hike"; Owner Regains Possession Only After Media Intervention

Posted on November 07, 2010
In Tacoma, Washington, KING-TV Channel 5 reports:"I don't know what's going on. I thought they couldn't take my car, but it's gone!" Yes, Adlantus Newton's car is gone. Long gone. It was repossessed. Now she and her kids are parked on the porch, with no ride in sight...

Indiana Appeals Court OKs Jury Trial For Homeowner In Foreclosure Case; Says Counterclaims Under Federal, State Statutes Are Distinct, Severable

Posted on November 07, 2010
Lexology reports:The Indiana Court of Appeals recently held that a borrower is entitled to have claims based on consumer protection statutes and common law causes of action tried to a jury, even when those claims are asserted as counterclaims to a mortgage foreclosure action...

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