When a mortgage servicer forecloses on a home, it becomes responsible for the maintenance of the property (though banks don’t always live up to that obligation), and will often hire an outside firm to determine if a property is vacant and to handle the upkeep until the building is sold. However, a lawsuit filed by the Illinois Attorney General accuses the nation’s largest foreclosed-property maintenance company of illegally evicting homeowners and tenants in that state by, among other things, breaking in and changing the locks so that the residents can’t get back in. [More]
evictions
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Kick Off The Holidays With Yearly Moratorium On Foreclosures
By 12.3.12
For three years in a row, we’ve been able to take note of a particularly heartwarming act by two of the country’s largest mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Just as the two companies did in 2011 and 2010, they announced today that they’ll suspend all bank repossessions of homes starting Dec. 19 and Dec. 17, respectively, running through January 2, 2013. That simple act could help homeowners ensure they can stay home for the holidays. [More]
Should Tenants Be Punished For Landlord's Inability To Pay Water Bill?
By 8.8.12
The residents of a South Florida apartment complex could be on the street soon — not because they failed to pay their rent or utility bills, but because their landlord has allegedly run up a $14,000 water and sewer tab and won’t pay up. [More]
Government Prevents 101-Year-Old Evictee From Moving Back Home
By 1.23.12
Four months ago, a 101-year-old Detroit woman was evicted from her home because her son could no longer afford payments. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development stepped in and said she go back home, but has now reversed course, deeming the residence unfit to live in. [More]
County Pulls Surprise Eviction On Georgia Man
By 4.28.11
A Georgia man who says he was up to date on his mortgage came home to find his belongings strewn across his front yard, neighbors picking through the property and, presumably, an eviction notice from the county. [More]
Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae To Take A Break From Evicting During The Holidays
By 12.2.10
There are few things as depressing as having your house taken away from you on Christmas Eve, so the people at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are issuing a brief moratorium on evicting people from foreclosed properties during the holiday season. [More]
Woman And Her 30,000 Lbs Of Stuff Get Evicted
By 9.24.10
30,000 pounds of belongings stretched up and down the DC sidewalk. They all belonged to one woman who was evicted after she couldn’t make rent. [More]
GMAC Bungled Foreclosure Affidavits In 23 States
By 9.21.10
GMAC Mortgage is taking the eye-opening step of stopping evictions in 23 states because the affidavits used to support the kickouts contained information the employees didn’t themselves personally know to be true, and they were sometimes signed without a notary present, according to a company statement. [More]
GMAC Halts Evictions In 23 States
By 9.20.10
GMAC has told brokers and agents to immediately stop evicting homeowners in 23 states. In a memo, the Ally Financial Inc. subsidiary cited “corrective action in connection with some foreclosures” that may need to be taken. Smells like some people got foreclosed on that shouldn’t have, though we’ve been hearing scattered reports about that for a while without the banks doing much, so why drastic action now? Have they uncovered something massive? [More]
They Foreclosed On Our Landlord And May Leave Us Homeless
By 5.10.10
Jennifer says her apartment’s landlord suffered a foreclosure, which will leave the rooms uninhabitable if the utilities have been shut off. Her horror story is probably more common than you’d like to believe in this era of rapid foreclosures, and a cautionary tale of signing a lease in which utilities are included. [More]
Man Seals Self Inside Foreclosed Home
By 5.4.10
Now we finally understand the secrets of the pharoahs: a bunch of angry people in Stony Ridge, Ohio have sealed up a home with the homeowner inside, with his permission, leaving only a golf ball-sized hole in the front door. The man, Keith Sadler, says he fell behind last year after paying on his mortgage for 12 years, and that his bank promised to work with him but instead proceeded with foreclosure. [More]
Citi Promises No Foreclosures Or Evictions For One Month
By 12.17.09
About 4,000 borrowers who were either scheduled to have foreclosure sales or who were going to receive foreclosure notices will be left alone until January 17th, according to CNN. [More]
Need Affordable Housing? What About A Mobile Home?
By 10.28.09
Mobile homes have a less-than-stellar reputation, deservedly or not. I know my own mom always warned me against them by saying they were just tornado bait, which was enough to make me leery of even stepping foot inside a friend’s mobile home growing up. But if you’re not irrationally afraid of tornadoes, a mobile home might be a great housing option if you’re on a tight budget or looking to save money, writes Michigan Telephone.
Brooklyn Judge Rejects Improperly Documented Foreclosure Motions, Shocks Banking Industry
By 8.31.09
There’s a judge in Brooklyn, NY, who has tossed out nearly half of the foreclosure cases brought before him over the past year, because the lenders have such messy paper trails that they can’t prove ownership anymore.
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Despite Refinance, Homeowner Evicted And House Sold [Updated]
By 8.21.09
Imagine coming home to find the sheriff on your doorstep with an eviction notice, and then being given 3 hours to get the hell off your property, which is no longer yours because your bank mistakenly sold it out from under you for about a third of its value. Oops! Although we initially assumed WaMu/Chase was behind all of it, NCB Miami reports that actually “a mistake in the Miami-Dade Clerk’s Office appears to be behind the mishap, which landed Ramirez homeless for more than 24 hours.”
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur Urges Squatting In Foreclosed Homes
By 2.3.09
Last week I was watching Lou Dobbs while scrubbing my dentures and complaining about joint pain (two of those things are true, sadly), and I saw a segment on Ohio congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who is encouraging homeowners to stay put in their foreclosed houses. She argues that many of the loans made during the subprime fiasco may not be legit, and that you should seek legal counseling and demand a mortgage audit from the bank before leaving. Kaptur admits her advice doesn’t trump the sheriff knocking at your door with an eviction notice, but a real estate lawyer told the Toledo Blade that otherwise she has a point.
