Archive for July, 2010
Who’s To Blame When Mortgages Aren’t Modified or Short Sales Are Not Approved? Noone Knows?
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
In far too many cases, homeowners are refused reasonable modifications and short sales are not approved…and nonone really knows why….or who is making the decisions. The article attached here and first published on loansafe.org should have everyone thinking.
Why are we allowing billions of dollars in property and capital be transferred by judicial process to corporations that cannot be identified and who engaged in fraud and potentially criminal acts?
One thing we all need to be far more educated about is the fact that the named plaintiff in foreclosure cases is often times just that, a plaintiff in name only. We know from depositions and the shifty maneuvering of lenders and their affiliates that the real parties pulling the strings are operating in the shadows. We only begin to understand and appreciate that the Plaintiff doesn’t have real interest in the outcome of the case when their courthouse maneuvering is brought to the attention of judges…and this is often met with a shrug of the judicial shoulders.
How many ex-parte Motions to Substitute Party Plaintiff, Assignments of Bids or Post-Judgment Change in Certificate of Title Orders have been entered in courtrooms all across this state and across the country? (The answer is probably tens of thousands, but because no-one is watching, who knows?)
How many Assignments of Mortgage or Endorsement of Note were entered when the authority and veracity of these important documents was questionable at best. (The answer is definitely in the hundreds of thousands.)
How many foreclosure cases have been filed where the capacity of the plaintiff seeking to invoke the court’s power has been properly pled? (By my estimation the number is fewer than 10% of the cases filed in this circuit and I doubt whether this is number is higher in any other circuit.)
I get back to those key questions that continue to perplex me…..
Why are we allowing billions of dollars in property and capital be transferred by judicial process to corporations that cannot be identified and who engaged in fraud and potentially criminal acts?
Why are our circuit courts just ignoring basic elements of rules and law just so they can plow through these foreclosure cases?
Why the big rush to conclude these foreclosure cases? What’s going to happen to all the foreclosure inventory? Who can afford to purchase all the foreclosed REO homes?
For more on that last question, read another article that appeared on loansafe.org that reports lenders taking back more than 4,000 properties per month in South Florida. This number will only accelerate as courts adopt the new Rocket Docket procedures, but what in the world are the lenders going to do with these properties once they get them….I’m thinking it will be a big case of, “Be careful what you wish for, because you might not like what you get……”
Are Circuit Courts Complicit in The Latest Wall Street Con Games?
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
I have been screaming for months now that the lenders, servicers and shadowy entities that are pushing foreclosures through are engaging in more fraud that threatens to destabilize our economy and further damage American’s already shaky trust in government and institutions.
The fraud and con is being played out in circuit courts all across the State of Florida. It happens when a foreclosure case is first filed and the Plaintiff is not even properly identified at all. (i.e. Aurora Loan Servicing, US Bank, Deutsche Bank National Trust) I see very few complaints where the Plaintiff properly identifies itself in a manner that would allow the court or any party involved to actually know who was bringing the action and who was dragging the homeowner into court. Accordingly, judges all across this state are granting billions of dollars in foreclosure judgments, but they have absolutely no idea who they are granting these judgments to.
There are any number of improper purposes behind the active efforts of lenders to conceal the real identity of the parties at interest in these foreclosure cases. One of the key reasons it seems is to conceal the true magnitude of problems that are plaguing the financial institutions, trusts and investment vehicles that are invested in these trusts. We know from depositions and other sources that the real parties in interest are working actively to keep themselves distanced from litigation….and they attempt to take title and salvage their losses after the case is concluded. Why…
Well, read the two articles below:
Record Number of Foreclosures Cancelled
So how are our courts complicit in these con games? When they allow substitution of party plaintiff, assignments of bids and when they grant judgments to entities that they cannot identify and which have no legitimate claim to the mortgages they are suing upon.
When is it going to stop? When will we all have enough of the Great Cons that continue to be perpetrated on us by the Titans of Wall Street?
When will judges demand that the parties appearing before them have fulfilled the most basic requirement of pleading and establishing capacity before they can even open the courthouse door and certainly before they are permitted to take one more American’s home.
When will it stop?
Scridb filterMore Bad News for David Stern and DJSP Enterprises…..
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
Another day, another bad newspaper article in the St. Petersburg Times for David J. Stern, (ahem) the Law Offices of David J. Stern, David J. Stern Enterprises or whatever the heck the evil empire is called…..I cannot imagine that the small number of institutional lender clients will continue to refer cases to a law firm that is the subject of lawsuits and unfavorable press. I wonder how many investors actually bought stock in this enterprise, seeking to capitalize on other’s misfortune…..I think about them as I see the stock price just diving, diving, diving down lower.
I also wonder whether judges will start examining David J. Stern cases more carefully in light of the allegations.
Read the full article here.
Scridb filterFrom Today’s WSJ- HAMP Modification a Dismal Failure, Absurd Requests and Delays
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports what we’ve all known for quite a while….The HAMP program is an absurd joke and a dismal failure. Full article here.
So far, the 17-month-old effort has delivered a permanent fix to less than 15% of the borrowers the administration said it could ultimately help. Through June, roughly 398,000 of the nearly 1.3 million homeowners who entered the program had been granted permanent fixes. But more than 520,000 borrowers have fallen out of HAMP.
It is important that borrowers continue to document all contact with the lenders and their agents, judges increasingly want to know what the borrower has done to try and resolve the situation. Be prepared to show an accurate and detailed list of all communications with the lender to the judge as part of your arguments against foreclosure.
Scridb filterThe Banks Win, We All Give Up, You Can Have The Keys To The Courthouse.
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
We’re all acutely aware that there is a foreclosure crisis across this country and in the State of Florida in particular. It has been widely reported that there are 33,000 active foreclosure cases pending in Pinellas County, Florida. I actually think the number of foreclosures that could be filed would be closer to double or triple that number if the banks and lenders filed foreclosures on all the homes in Pinellas County that were sixty or ninety days behind in payment…but suffice it to say the 33,000 number far understates the magnitude of the economic troubles in Pinellas County alone…and the troubles are even greater elsewhere.
So what if every lawyer and homeowner and advocate that was fighting cases in Pinellas County just gave up. Threw in the towel and said to the banks….YOU CAN HAVE THIS STINKING HOME. I can’t afford the insurance, taxes, repairs. I’ve lost my job so I couldn’t even really pay half the mortgage that currently exists on the property. If the AC goes or the roof blows off, I don’t have the money to pay it, so I tell you what…I can rent a comparable house or apartment for much less that the best and most unheard of modification would ever provide.
Forget about who really owns the mortgage or who has a right to foreclose or who is owed the debt or what non-registered trust or foreign corporation claims the right to own the home….anyone come and get it…What would become of the 33,000 homes that have now reverted back to the shadowy entities that are now trying to take the homes? Who would purchase them? Who could qualify for the mortgage? Who would move in and take care of the grass and fix the problems?
The answer to the question is, there are not 33,000 people in Pinellas County that could step in and purchase these properties….there’s probably not even half that. It will be very interesting to see what becomes of all the properties that are reverting back to banks in the new Rocket Docket procedures that have now been implemented. If there are 300 summary judgment hearings held a week in Pinellas County….well even if every one of them isn’t granted that’s still hundreds of homes reverting back to the lenders when the foreclosure sales start happening 30-90 days from now.
Forget about the abuse of court process, the fraud, the mistakes the faulty titles that this mess of a foreclosure crisis has dumped in our courtrooms….just think about the very real and practical impact of all this faulty inventory flooding the real estate marketplace….
WHAT’S THE POINT OF ALL THIS FAST FOOD FORECLOSURE ANYWAY?
Scridb filterTRICKED, CONNED, SCAMMED- ANOTHER HOMEOWNER’S HOME SOLD WHILE IN ACTIVE NEGOTIATIONS WITH LENDER
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
Actually it probably happens hundreds, perhaps thousands of times a week across the state. A hapless but hopeful homeowner is working with his lender (or someone he thinks is his lender), thinking that he is on the verge of a mortgage modification, when behind the scenes, the lender has convinced a judge to grant foreclosure and his home is sold.
There are remedies when this happens, but you’ve got to act quickly. Hopefully you can catch this within ten days after the foreclosure sale. Even if you don’t remember judgments are void or voidable if there is fraud or mistake in the files…and there is quite a bit of fraud and mistake in most foreclosure files.
Remember to challenge the sale and attack the judgment. Read the case below, Elliott v. Aurora for an example of the facts that the court will consider….you might consider contacting the Plaintiff’s attorney but good luck getting through to someone and in my experience, you will not get their attention until you have pled out a very good case with compelling facts and good case law.
As more counties adopt their foreclosure mediation programs, I’m concerned there will be more default judgments and sales as the homeowner is distracted by the mediation and does not respond to the lawsuit. After meeting with those who will be running the mediation program here in Pinellas County, Mediation Managers, Inc., I’m hopeful that this will not be a major problem here in our county. I’m convinced those running our program will be working hard to prevent errors and mistakes that will lead to false judgments.
Scridb filter
