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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

GMAC Calls Off Foreclosure Actions, Suspends Pending REO Sales In 23 States, Letting Buyers Back Out Of Deals; Cites Need To Take "Corrective Action"

Posted on September 21, 2010
Bloomberg News reports:Ally Financial Inc.?s GMAC Mortgage unit told brokers and agents to halt foreclosures on homeowners in 23 states including Florida, Connecticut and New York.(1)(2)GMAC Mortgage may ?need to take corrective action in connection with some foreclosures? in the affected states, according to a two-page memo dated Sept...

Technology Advances Continue In Effort To Help Lenders Identify Potential Short Sale Scams, Tracking Properties Even After Sale Is Completed

Posted on September 21, 2010
Housing Wire reports:DataVerify announced today changes made to its fraud management platform, Data Risk Intelligent Verification Engine (DRIVE), that help mortgage lenders identify potential short sale and property fraud losses. The program has updated tools for predicting risks such as employment disclosure, local conditions for flipping and individual history in the housing industry...

Ohio AG's Servicer Lawsuit Gets Go-Ahead As Court Denies Dismissal Motion; Conduct In Giving Loan Mods Subject To State Consumer Sales Practices Act

Posted on September 21, 2010
From the Office of the Ohio Attorney General:Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray?s lawsuit against Barclays Capital Real Estate dba HomEq Servicing, headquartered in New York City, just took a legal step forward with a recent decision by a state court...

Company Execs Quick To Shift Blame, Invoke "Flawed Business Model" Defense To Explain Collapse Of Alleged Loan Modification Ripoff Racket

Posted on September 21, 2010
In St. Louis, Missouri, a recent column in the St. Louis Post Dispatch describes the aftermath left by the now-defunct Home Safe Financial Assistance. The company's principals attempt to give reasons for their firm's problems in the following excerpt:Derek Doherty, Home Safe's president and owner, and Elijah Norton, the company's former chief executive, said their company really did help

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Wave Of Lawsuits Targeting Foreclosing Lenders, Contractors For Illegal "Trash-Outs" Seen On The Horizon?

Posted on September 21, 2010
The Palm Beach Post reports:The home repo business is booming as lenders break records this year to take back properties from delinquent borrowers. But some homeowners and attorneys complain the banks, and the property preservation companies hired to change door locks and clean homes, are overzealous in their work...

BofA Bagged Again On Wrongful Foreclosure Attempt; Says It's Sorry For Action Against Couple With Paid-Off Loan After Local Media Steps In

Posted on September 20, 2010
In Willcox, Arizona, KVOA-TV Channel 4 reports:A southern Arizona family is in fear of losing their house to what they call an unjust foreclosure, and they're now fighting back against one of the biggest banks in the country. The Willcox-area family says that house was paid for more than a year ago...

Arizona AG Scores $1.7M In USDOJ Cash To Escalate Efforts In Prosecuting Mortgage-Related Scams

Posted on September 20, 2010
From the Office of the Arizona Attorney General:Attorney General Terry Goddard [] announced he has been awarded a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Office of Justice Programs to fight mortgage fraud in Arizona. The grant will be utilized to create a new six-person unit devoted exclusively to investigating and prosecuting mortgage-related crimes...

Sale Leaseback Peddler Aquitted Of Charges Accusing Him Of Tricking Couple Facing Foreclosure Into Signing Over Deed To Home

Posted on September 20, 2010
In Farmington, Utah, the Standard Examiner reports:A judge rendered a not guilty verdict on two felony counts against a Morgan man accused of swindling a former West Point couple out of their home. Judge David M. Connors issued the not guilty verdicts Thursday in 2nd District Court following almost two days of testimony in a bench trial for Jeffery Q...

Lender Sells Same Foreclosed House To Two Separate Buyers; Blames Escrow Agent For Closing One Deal In Error

Posted on September 20, 2010
In San Clemente, California, KABC-TV Channel 7 reports:The real estate market may be suffering, but that didn't stop one Orange County home from selling - twice. Doug Garhartt and his partner Brandon Lively bought the foreclosed townhouse in San Clemente last March...

DC AG's Lawsuit Against Foreclosure Rescue Operator Alleges More Of The Same Use Of Sale Leasebacks To Rip Off Property Owners' Home Equity

Posted on September 19, 2010
A recent lawsuit filed by the Office of the District of Columbia Attorney General against local foreclosure rescue operator Vincent Abell alleges more of the same conduct that has earned him notoriety for allegedly ripping off homeowners in foreclosure through use of sale leaseback arrangements purportedly designed to help them keep their homes...

New Jersey Appeals Court Voids Mortgage Made In Violation Of Affordable Housing Deed Restriction, Leaving Lender With Unsecured Loan

Posted on September 19, 2010
The following facts have been adapted from a recent ruling of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division (New Jersey's intermediate appeals court):On January 14, 2004, one, Hough, purchased a condominium unit for $68,142.86. To fund part of the purchase price, Hough borrowed $61,329 from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc...

Bankruptcy Trustees' Foot-Dragging In Closing Out Cases Leads To Screwing Over For Debtor-Homeowners Involving Homestead Exemption Claims

Posted on September 19, 2010
A Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco, California recently issued a ruling in a bankruptcy case that resulted in a serious screwing over for a pair of homeowners occurring after the passage of a significant amont of time subsequent to receiving discharges in their cases...

Renting From Financially Strapped Landlords A Concern In Commercial Leasing

Posted on September 19, 2010
Large companies renting commercial office space from financially strapped and underwater property owners are not immune to the problems that may arise when the landlord subsequently goes into foreclosure. Attorney Jeffrey Margolis writes in The Commercial Oberver on how commercial tenants attempt to protect their rights in foreclosure when entering into a lease with a landlord...

Disabled Vet Gets Boot With No Notice After Landlord Loses Rental Home To Foreclosure

Posted on September 18, 2010
In Stuart, Florida, WPTV-TV Channel 5 reports:A local veteran is desperate for help after being put out of his home. He says the home he was renting went into foreclosure and he was told it was okay for him to stay there until everything was worked out...

Struggle Continues For Homeowners With Chinese Drywall Problems As Few Companies Step Forward To Accept Responsibility

Posted on September 18, 2010
In Plant City, Florida, The New York Times reports:Linda and Randall Hunter own their dream house in Plant City, Fla., with an oversize master bedroom, granite countertops in the kitchen and a screened-in pool. The problem is they cannot bear to live there...

Bill To Protect Innocent Tenants' Credit History In Evictions Resulting From Landlords' Foreclosure Needs Schwarzenegger Sign-Off

Posted on September 18, 2010
In San Francisco, California, Beyond Chron reports:Tenants evicted through no fault of their own frequently have their credit history damaged for years. In California, where hundreds of thousands of tenants are being evicted by banks because their landlords went into foreclosure, these credit impacts are particularly harsh...

Tenants In Government-Assisted, Low Income Housing Complex In Foreclosure Found Living In Squalor As Management Faces Allegations Of $600K+ Ripoff

Posted on September 18, 2010
In Edmonton, Alberta, the Edmonton Journal reports:Health inspectors found dead mice, bedbugs, mouldly walls, graffiti, blood-stained carpets and filthy hallways in low-income housing units run by the Amisk Housing Association, health records show. Inspection reports released by Alberta Health Services [...

Hundreds Fear Eviction From Now-Foreclosed Amarillo Trailer Park

Posted on September 18, 2010
In Amarillo, Texas, KFDA-TV Channel 10 reports:Change of ownership could be coming again to an area trailer park already plagued with confusion. It was a month ago [] that NewsChannel 10 was the first to tell you about massive foreclosure notices going out at an area trailer park...

Niece Gets 14-84 Months In $92K Home Equity Ripoff Of Now-Deceased, Dementia-Stricken Aunt; Scammer's Son Triggers Probe Leading To Mom's Imprisonment

Posted on September 18, 2010
In West Chester, Pennsylvania, Local Daily News reports:Mary Ellen Ashton has had a problem with housing. Over the years, she has defaulted on two mortgages ? one in Chester County and another in Montgomery County ? and ultimately stole more thousands of dollars from an aging and senile aunt to pay rent at a Chester Springs home...

Another Home Sold Out From Under Owner, Despite Continued Payments To Bank On Loan Modification Agreement

Posted on September 18, 2010
In Cape Coral, Florida, WINK News reports:A woman's beloved home, sold out from under her by the bank. It's the third such case uncovered by the WINK NEWS Call for Action team. And not only did the woman lose her home, but the bank still collected payments four months after selling it!For more, see Woman says Wells Fargo sold her dream home and didn't know it.

Foreclosure Of Predatory Loan, Subsequent Boot From Home Saves Family From Tragedy

Posted on September 18, 2010
In San Mateo County, California, The Daily Journal reports:The house at 1720 Earl Ave., less than a 200 feet from where a 167-foot-long and 26-foot-wide crater is now, sits empty with a red tag on it unable to be occupied. It was the home of the Nesbitt family up to July 20 when it was foreclosed upon by the bank...

Lender Threatens To Grab Five Torahs In F'closure Action Against Synagogue; "Oh, Too Bad!" Says Bank Pres When Told It Was Holiest Time Of Jewish Year

Posted on September 17, 2010
In Boynton Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:When Jews at Congregation Chabad-Lubavitch west of Boynton Beach gather Friday for the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays, they will be under a cloud of uncertainty.A bank is seeking to grab the Chabad's property and assets to pay off a delinquent loan...

Ohio AG Tags Three More Foreclosure Rescue Operators With Civil Suits Alleging Outfits Ran Illegal Upfront Fee Loan Modification & Related Rackets

Posted on September 17, 2010
From the Office of the Ohio Attorney General:Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed three new lawsuits against foreclosure rescue operations for bilking Ohioans out of tens of thousands of dollars. In the lawsuits, Cordray is seeking to shut down these outfits in Ohio with full restitution to homeowners...

BofA Accused Of Wrongfully F'closing On Property It Sold Months Earlier In All-Cash Deal; Buyer Says Lender's Subsidiary Issued Title Insurance Policy

Posted on September 17, 2010
In Galveston, Texas, The Southeast Texas Record reports:Claiming its property in Galveston was wrongly foreclosed, American Furnishing Inc. has filed suit against Bank of America N.A. and BAC Home Loans Servicing LP. The plaintiff argues that Bank of America had no lien on the property in question and the defendants covertly planned the foreclosure, according to the original complaint filed Aug.

1st Time Home Buyer Faces Loss Of $8K Federal Tax Credit As Town Drags Its Feet On Sewer Line Hook-Up

Posted on September 17, 2010
In Middle Township, New Jersey, The Press of Atlantic City reports:Anthony Soto expected that owning his first home would be an exciting milestone. Instead, the last few months have been full of unexpected delays and he faces the potential loss of an $8,000 tax credit because his new home has yet to be hooked up to a sewer line that the township promised to complete in time for the credit...

Florida Appeals Court Revisits Earlier Ruling Dealing With Two Lenders Simultaneously Foreclosing The Same Mortgage In Separate Legal Actions

Posted on September 17, 2010
A Florida appellate court recently re-addressed a one-paragraph ruling originally issued in June that dealt with two mortgage lenders who were foreclosing on the exact same mortgage in two seperate foreclosure actions. The re-issued ruling doesn't change the ultimate result in the case, but merely adds a brief statement of the procedural history in the case that led up to the defendant/homeowner

Federal Criminal Prosecution Of Major Maryland Sale Leasback Foreclosure Rescue Scam Concludes With Sentencing Of Final Defendant To 38 Months

Posted on September 16, 2010
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Greenbelt, Maryland):U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Rolando Alonzo Cousins, a/k/a ?Junior,? age 32, of Bowie, Maryland, [] to 38 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in connection with a massive mortgage fraud scheme which promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure

Federal Judge Again Boots Baltimore "Reverse Redlining" Suit Against Alleged Ghetto Loans Peddler; Extends Invitation To City For A 3rd Try

Posted on September 16, 2010
In Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:A complaint filed by the city alleging that Wells Fargo Bank is liable for lost property tax revenue because some houses that went into default were in poor condition was denied by a U.S. District Court judge Tuesday...

National Effort Partnering State, Local Governments & Nonprofit Groups Target Upfront Fee Loan Modification Scams

Posted on September 16, 2010
Public News Service reports:The fight against loan modification scammers continues [...], and now homeowners have a new weapon. It's called the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network, and it's part of a national effort partnering with state and local governments and nonprofit organizations...

Glendale Cops Begin Dipping Into $150K Grant Money As Battle Escalates Against Foreclosure Scams, Other Real Estate Rackets

Posted on September 15, 2010
In Glendale, California, the Glendale News Press reports:Glendale police detectives have begun using a $150,000 grant to investigate real estate fraud as more scam artists take advantage of homeowners looking to refinance their mortgages, officials said...

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