Well, an item we discussed previously is now up and running. The FHA's program to help those who are underwater (owe more than the home is worth) went into effect on Tuesday, September 7. Basically, it is directed at non-FHA borrowers, and aims to offer FHA-guaranteed refinancing of their existing loan. While it will NOT help all homeowners who are in this situation, estimates range from 250,000 to 1.5 million owners that will be helped.
The way it will work is that FHA will provide FHA-guaranteed refinance loans to homeowners who are in a negative equity position, and whose existing lenders will agree to write of a minimum of ten percent of the presently existing loan balance.
Comment: This is an excellent opportunity for those who qualify! My advice: Call both HUD and your lender TODAY!
Good luck!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Is Your Loan Held by MERS?:Possible Salvation
Those of you who follow this site regularly know that I don't normally encourage litigation unless there has been some egregious behavior on someone's part. However, in today's posting, I am going to make an exception because this information is so important. Although most people don't know it, there is a system out there that acts in behalf of mortgage lending institutions and holds the mortgages. Named the MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEM, or MERS, it allows mortgages to change hands from bank to bank without any recordation of these changes in the mortgage to ever be made. It sounds like a great idea, until you stop and realize that it almost never appears to actually have the mortgages under its own name and is only in essence holding them for some bank. "So what", you ask? Well, here's what! A recent California court case has held that this convenient electronic device the banks created effectively prevents the underlying banks to prove their ownership of titles and thus, also precludes their being able to foreclose on said properties! How does that sound?
So how does this relate to you and your mortgage if you are facing foreclosure? Well, MERS has over 62 million mortgages currently held in its name--loans that it never had anything to do with making!
The California case, decided on May 20, 2010, is called In re Walker. In it the court held that MERS couldn't foreclose because it wasn't the lender, held no lien rights and was just a 'nominee', someone standing in for the lender. Because of that the real lender, Citibank, couldn't foreclose because MERS had the loan on its books.But since MERS had no proof whatever that it didn't own the actual mortgage note (the legal proof of the debt), it had no interest in those same notes to pass to Citibank to lat Citi foreclose. If you don't own the legal proof of the debt, the promissory note, you can't pass on the right to foreclose under that note.
In case some of you out there are thinking this is just another example of California craziness, the judge cited as precedent cases from the appellate courts of Kansas, New York, and Ohio.
MERS has been the target of these problems in many earlier cases as well. But these earlier cases usually found fault with MERS because MERS was unable to actually produce the legal evidence of the debt, the promissory note, to prove it had the right to foreclose. Same principle: no note, no foreclosure right.
If you live in Florida, you may be interested in hearing about an attorney with Legal Aid who has been helping homeowners avoid foreclosure since 2004 using this same argument about the missing promissory note. April Charney says over five years later she still has a number of homeowners living in their homes because of her efforts fighting 'no note' foreclosures. She's now taking this to the next level by helping many of these same homeowners to take action in court to regain full title to their homes through what are called "quiet title" lawsuits. In case you have similar problems and don't live in Florida, Charney says she's trained many attorneys across the country to use these methods to help their homeowning clients avoid foreclosure.
For more info, you may wish to contact Charney. She's based in the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid office, and can be found online at their website: www.jaxlegalaid.org . Separately, you could also contact Ellen Brown, the author of a very detailed article from which much of my info has come, for YES MAGAZINE. Additionally, you may wish to check out the tale of Richard Davet, who stalled the Bank of America and related institutions for over ten years in his fight to avoid foreclosure. Though finally losing, his action proves that, at a minimum, one can use the courts legitimately to delay the bank's takeover of a home, and, at a maximum in some cases, stop the foreclosure cold.
Good Luck!
So how does this relate to you and your mortgage if you are facing foreclosure? Well, MERS has over 62 million mortgages currently held in its name--loans that it never had anything to do with making!
The California case, decided on May 20, 2010, is called In re Walker. In it the court held that MERS couldn't foreclose because it wasn't the lender, held no lien rights and was just a 'nominee', someone standing in for the lender. Because of that the real lender, Citibank, couldn't foreclose because MERS had the loan on its books.But since MERS had no proof whatever that it didn't own the actual mortgage note (the legal proof of the debt), it had no interest in those same notes to pass to Citibank to lat Citi foreclose. If you don't own the legal proof of the debt, the promissory note, you can't pass on the right to foreclose under that note.
In case some of you out there are thinking this is just another example of California craziness, the judge cited as precedent cases from the appellate courts of Kansas, New York, and Ohio.
MERS has been the target of these problems in many earlier cases as well. But these earlier cases usually found fault with MERS because MERS was unable to actually produce the legal evidence of the debt, the promissory note, to prove it had the right to foreclose. Same principle: no note, no foreclosure right.
If you live in Florida, you may be interested in hearing about an attorney with Legal Aid who has been helping homeowners avoid foreclosure since 2004 using this same argument about the missing promissory note. April Charney says over five years later she still has a number of homeowners living in their homes because of her efforts fighting 'no note' foreclosures. She's now taking this to the next level by helping many of these same homeowners to take action in court to regain full title to their homes through what are called "quiet title" lawsuits. In case you have similar problems and don't live in Florida, Charney says she's trained many attorneys across the country to use these methods to help their homeowning clients avoid foreclosure.
For more info, you may wish to contact Charney. She's based in the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid office, and can be found online at their website: www.jaxlegalaid.org . Separately, you could also contact Ellen Brown, the author of a very detailed article from which much of my info has come, for YES MAGAZINE. Additionally, you may wish to check out the tale of Richard Davet, who stalled the Bank of America and related institutions for over ten years in his fight to avoid foreclosure. Though finally losing, his action proves that, at a minimum, one can use the courts legitimately to delay the bank's takeover of a home, and, at a maximum in some cases, stop the foreclosure cold.
Good Luck!
Monday, August 9, 2010
More Helpful Info
The FHA has announced that it will introduce a program of FHA-insured mortgages beginning September 7 to slow foreclosures further. Available to homeowners who have loans that are not currently FHA-insured, these should help further stem the REO tide. Basically, they will be made available to homeowners who are still current on their mortgage payments, but whose home value is less than the mortgage still owed. One further condition is that the existing lender has to agree to write of 10% of the current principal balance. Check with your lenders or directly with the FHA for more info. Good luck!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Good News in NC,SC,Ohio,RI and Oregon
The Obama administration has approved the state housing agencies in these five state using Federal funding to help further their own foreclosure avoidance programs at state level. Total Federal funding to be used in the programs is about $600 million. Check with your local housing agency if you live in any of these states and are facing possible foreclosure. Good luck!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Mortgage Payment Assistance
In addition to various previous payment assistance plans for those unable to make their mortgage payments, Congress just this past week added another source of funding to the list of help for struggling homeowners. Included in the new financial regulations bill that became law last week, the program, Emergency Mortgage Relief, makes loans available from the Federal government to homeowners who are unable to pay their mortgage loan payments. It is specifically directed at those at least three months in arrears on their payments, and will provide loans up to a maximum of $50,000 for coverage of these payments. The reasons for the delinquency must be either unemployment or medical problems that have caused the delinquency on the mortgage. The loans will be made available beginning October 1 of this year from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). You can find them in the 'Government' pages at the front of most phone books today or go online: www.hud.gov . Good luck!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
BofA Help in Massachusetts & Florida
Well, readers, this week Bank of America has announced more assistance for some of its customers. They have opened OutReach Centers in Dedham, MA and Ft. Lauderdale, FL to provide assistance to home borrowers who are having trouble making mortgage payments to the bank. In order to get the maximum benefit in each case, individual private appointment will be used by the bank to assist the borrowers. If you're in South Florida or Massachusetts, and have a mortgage with BofA, call. This may be the call that helps you save your home. Good luck!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Healthy California Trend
According to Foreclosure Radar, the month of June evidenced a healthy trend in foreclosures in the Golden State. While it is only a trend, it is encouraging. The number of actual foreclosure auction sales being cancelled--no foreclosure completed--increased 27% since May of this year and 153% since June a year ago. What this would indicate is an increased number of homes facing foreclosure ending up averting the auctioneer's hammer by reason of loan modification. The largest number of these is with JP Morgan Chase, largely due to its acquisition of Washington Mutual and that lender's large default portfolio. So, if even a share of these loan mods remain healthy, a major step has been taken to reduce the overall effects of the foreclosure crisis.
REMEMBER: If you do accept a lender's loan mod terms, make certain it is something that you truly can afford so that you don't find yourself back behind the eight ball a few months later under the loan mod's terms.
REMEMBER: If you do accept a lender's loan mod terms, make certain it is something that you truly can afford so that you don't find yourself back behind the eight ball a few months later under the loan mod's terms.
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