New York is a judicial foreclosure state and the process can take over a year to proceed from Summons & Complaint through judgment and then auction. A homeowner has a right to redeem up and until auction, but unlike many states, there is no right of redemption after Sale (but see Bill proposing to allow [...]
Having recently issued a decision canceling an Indymac mortgage lien in another foreclosure action, Judge Spinner turns his attention to the outrageous actions of Wells Fargo and holds the mortgage behemoth liable for trespass, resulting in $155,092.00 judgment, in Wells Fargo v. Tyson. At the outset, the court pointed out that the Plaintiff sent a [...]
On Friday, January 15, 2010, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan issued a press release, as part of HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization initiative, temporarily waiving FHA’s 90 Day Seasoning Rule. Amazingly, HUD is cognizant that the seasoning guideline is having a negative impact on alleviating the problem of abandoned and blighted homes:
“In today’s market, FHA research finds that [...]
In our current distressed market, there are a few avenues available to distressed, underwater homeowners: loan modification, Deed-In-Lieu, short sale or foreclosure. For those that lack the necessary income to qualify for a loan modification, a short sale is often the best choice. If the property is the homeowner’s principal residence, the debt forgiven in [...]
Any real estate professional, who engages in short sale negotiations, is fully aware of just how frustrating the process can be or even downright impossible. There are financial incentives for mortgage servicers to drag out the process as long as possible. It takes weeks, sometimes months, to get a response from the banks, who often [...]
There appears to be a buzz going around about short-sale flipping and the FBI adding this genre to its list of mortgage fraud. However, not all short-sale flips are fraudulent. This bears repeating: NOT ALL SHORT SALE FLIPS ARE FRAUDULENT. There are many real estate professionals out there closing back to back transactions in a [...]
Banks, Servicers & the Government continue to try to stave off the growing tide of foreclosures. They are devastating our citizens, neighborhoods and economy. News is buzzing about Fannie Mae’s new policy, announced this past Thursday, to rent homes instead of foreclosing. Loan Audit Blog reports that Fannie Mae, through its new “Deed for Lease” [...]
This investigation comes as no surprise – I have been speaking with clients and those who wanted to jump on the loan mod bandwagon about the New York Foreclosure and Lender Responsibility Act of 2008 and its effect on them, but often to deaf ears. Most people weren’t even aware of the Act or just [...]
I have been advising everyone in the real estate industry, that New York’s Foreclosure Prevention and Lender Responsibility Act went into effect September 1, 2008 and includes, among other items, strict requirements for those who seek to perform loss mitigation on behalf of distressed home owners. These requirements include written, notarized contracts with a right [...]