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 [...]
So I have been playing around with a new feature added to Property Shark: Deep Owner Search. You can type in a person’s name, a corporation name or an address and see what properties are associated with that information. From there, you can also search that person’s associates and so forth. Since I have practiced [...]
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 [...]
Inman columnist Bernice Ross posted an excellent article, in response to a Seller’s question, on what to do if your buyer is $5,000 short for the deal. As a New York real estate lawyer, I wanted to add my two cents as to a rather innovative way to close that gap.
New York is one of [...]
Evidently the government is serious about getting these delinquent mortgages modified – here is another positive change to HAMP:
Press Release from HUD:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Shaun Donovan today announced the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
has implemented changes to its loan modification program to ensure
consistency with the Obama Administration's Home Affordable Modification [...]