Matt Weidner – Fighting With The American People

Posts Tagged ‘reo’

Today’s St. Petersburg Times quotes an article that I first wrote about yesterday which suggests that more than 46% of homes in the Tampa bay have mortgages on them that total more than the value of the homes.  While the article, and the study in the Wall Street Journal do not report exactly how they came up with the value of the homes, I rather suspect the value of the homes is overstated and that as a result, ther are ore than 50% of homes that are underwater.

For decades Americans worked hard to pay their bills and protect their credit.  Certainly part of the motivation for this behavior was good old fashioned value and morality, but a big motivation for many people was so that the consumer  could continue to access credit to buy all the things that are required to be a good American consumer.  With the consumer credit market across the country very much locked up and consumer’s buying and borrowing habits changed, this motivation may no longer be as important.

As reported earlier, lenders are faced with very few options when a consumer fails to pay their mortgage and the reality is if your credit is already tanked, the consequences for walking away from a mortgage may be acceptable when compared to the alternative of slaving away making payments to creditors that your income can no longer support. Make no mistake, this is not advice or a suggestion to stop paying bills, it’s merely a practical reflection of a judgment many consumers are already making!

For more information visit my website at www.mattweidnerlaw.com

Lost notes and unrecorded assignments of mortgages complicate an already nightmarish problem infecting the foreclosure process across the country.  A Pinellas County Circuit Court case was recently overturned by the Second District Court of Appeals that, if it weren’t overturned, could have been used to help mitigate some of the problems caused by this failure of the system.  The case involves Florida Statute, Chapter 701.02 requires that when a mortgage is sold or assigned to a third party, the parties are required to record in the same public records an Assignment of Mortgage to show the entity to whom the mortgage has been assigned.

Immediately after a mortgage is taken out on a property, that mortgage is recorded in the public records so that any interested person is aware of the debt against the property.   Prior to a sale or refinance, a title search is performed and, because of a sophisticated and accurate recording system, all details relating to a property are easily discovered.

Prior to the recent period where mortgages were sold and traded multiple times after their execution, it was usually a pretty simple task to identify any party that would have an interest in the mortgage—their name was printed in black and white on the recorded mortgage.  During the frenzied period of mortgage securitization and sales, it is now virtually impossible to determine exactly who owns an interest in the mortgage, but much of this confusion could have been avoided if lenders had been required to follow laws such as Florida Statute, Chapter 701.02 and other laws that have been in existence for years.

For more information on how this might apply to your case, contact Matt Weidner at www.mattweidnerlaw.com

A recent article in the Sarasota Tribune detailed the newest chapter in the mortgage/foreclosure crisis, which involves homeowners “selling” their homes to a purchaser who turns around and immediately to a third party after skimming off a significant profit.  The transaction only works when the lender agrees to a payoff which is less than owed on the property.  After the flipper recieves the reduced payoff, he’s free to market and sell the home for a price greater than agreed to by the lender.

The obvious losers in the transaction are lenders who accept the reduced payoff and the homeowner who still may face liablity on the balance of the mortgage.  To read the article, visit the Sarasota Tribune here.

For more information, contact Matt Weidner at www.mattweidnerlaw.com.

A key question facing any party involved in the foreclosure crisis is when the conditions that have caused this problem will begin to clear.  The unfortunate facts are that for a variety reasons, borrowers will continue to receive notices of foreclosure and the residential home foreclosure process will continue for the foreseeable future.

The US Housing market has been in a profound slump for the past four years.  Having said that, this must be considered in the context of the fact that the average US home price nearly doubled between 2000 and 2006.

• Since then the average has fallen about 30% nationally and 39% in Miami where about a quarter of all households with mortgages are behind in their mortgage payments.
• More than 6.7 million US households or 13% are behind on their mortgages or in foreclosure.
• About 20% of owners of single family homes with mortgages owe more than the current value of their home.
• If a borrower loses a home in foreclosure, it will probably be three to five years before that borrower can qualify for a home mortgage insured by the government. (although I expect this requirement to be loosened.)

(See the related article in the Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Wall Street Journal Report)

Unemployment remains the highest in the US since the Great Depression and the housing market cannot post any reasonable recovery until something is done to arrest the unemployment problem.  The Federal Government has thrown billions of dollars at lenders and servicers and is spending even more on programs and problems that will have little or no effect on the unemployment crisis that grips the country.

For more information about foreclosures contact Matt Weidner at www.mattweidnerlaw.com

1.  You Must Hire a Foreclosure Defense Attorney- When you are served with foreclosure, you will be solicited by all manner of people promising help…in Florida most of these solicitations are illegal (see the Florida Foreclosure Rescue Fraud Prevention Act Here)…only an attorney licensed in Florida can help you!

2. You Must Act Quickly After You Receive a Notice of Foreclosure- Most foreclosure lawsuits require you to hire an attorney and file a response within 20 days after being served.  If you fail to respond within that period you may lose all your rights.

3. A Homeowner in Foreclosure Has Many Rights- Not so long ago judges granted foreclosure to lenders without much thought or consideration.  Things have changed dramatically recently so that borrowers have many rights that judges are recognizing.  An attorney who is experienced in this area of the law can help ensure your rights are protected.

4. Mortgage Modification Alone Will Not Stop Your Foreclosure- Many homeowners are lulled into a false sense of security when they obtain a modification of their mortgage or the lender appears to be working with them.  The problem is lenders are often not communicating with the attorneys who are working to take your home.  Don’t trust the lenders or their attorneys– make sure you have your own attorney to protect you!

5. The Government is Not Doing Enough to Help Homeowners- Despite the fact that your federal government (using your tax dollars) is providing the lenders that caused all these problems billions of dollars, they are not providing forceful requirements that these lenders do enough to help the homeowners who are trapped in foreclosure.

For More Information Contact Matt Weidner at www.mattweidnerlaw.com

An article in today’s Saint Petersburg Times asks the important question that many who are in foreclosure and others who are experiencing the crisis first hand are asking….who can we all blame for this crisis.  The article identifies all of the major players in the crisis we all see unfolding…buyers, lenders, regulators, speculators and builders and makes a convincing case that all are responsible.  While this is clearly true, what is staggering is that in hindsight it was ever allowed to get as bad as it has.

A fifth grader capable of doing simple math could recognize that while the cost over housing was rising dramatically, the average wages during the same period were either stagnant or not increasing at all.  So while lending standards were continuing to lessen to the point where there really were no standards at all and anyone could qualifiy for any loan, incomes were decreasing at the same time.  The most important question is given these facts, why wasn’t more done to head off the crisis we now find ourselves in?

The fact of the matter is far too many corporate, community and government interests were involved in the housing boom to let it slip away.  Economists and thinking people knew exactly where we were headed but the interests that profited from the system as it existed were too powerful to allow their cautionary voices to be heard.

For more information, and to view the article in the times, click here.