Tomorrow CitiMortgage is kicking off a special 1-day “call-a-thon” where people in trouble with or confused about their mortgages with Citi can call in and talk to foreclosure prevention staff. In addition, “senior managers and increased numbers of supervisors will be on hand to provide additional support,” says Citi. [More]
real estate
Next Big Thing In Mortgage Fraud: Fake Attorney Signatures
By 12.14.10
The next big wave in disgusting mortgage fraud revelations could be faked signatures from foreclosure attorneys. And homeowners fighting foreclosure are using it to hold onto their house. [More]
Find Foreclosures Using Google Maps
By 12.13.10
You can check out foreclosures all over the US just by drilling down in Google Maps. [More]
U.S. Home Values Set To Plummet By $1.7 Trillion This Year
By 12.9.10
Property valuation site Zillow says that signs of stability in the housing market are vaporizing, and U.S. home values are poised to drop another $1.7 trillion this year. [More]
Time To Make An Offer They Can't Refuse On ''Godfather' House
By 12.2.10
Forget that Amityville Horror house they were selling out on Long Island. If you want to really live out scenes from a 1970s hit movie, there’s a much cooler (and less creepy) house up for sale — the Corleone estate from The Godfather. [More]
Dream Home Is Actually A Meth House
By 11.29.10
A young couple thought they got a great deal, $190,000 for a two-story house in the historic district of Bristol Borough, PA with a yard and plenty of space. After they moved in, the headaches, sore throats and difficulty breathing started. Three weeks later, one of their new neighbors told them something the seller had neglected to mention: their new home used to be a meth house. [More]
Foreclosures Are Hurting The Children
By 11.22.10
Children are an overlooked victim in the mortgage meltdown. Experts are growing concerned about the negative social, emotional and academic impact foreclosure turmoil is having on kids. Everything from forced relocation, moving to a new school, seeing your parents at each other’s throats over money, to coming home and finding all your belongs in the trash takes its toll, and there isn’t currently a public policy response to address the issues. [More]
Super Complex Chart Of How A Mortgage Gets Securitized
By 11.18.10
Gee, how could people who haven’t graduated high school mess this up? This is a chart showing how a mortgage gets securitized made by a guy whose job is to audit securitizations by reverse-engineering them. This is one he did for the mortgage on his own house. My favorite part of the diagram is where the documents go into a black hole. Literally, that’s an actual part of this flowchart. [More]
Is It Time To Recast Your Mortgage?
By 11.16.10
If you have already refied your mortgage, or are unable to because of new tighter loan restrictions, there’s an additional and little-known step you can take to lower your monthly payments. It’s called “recasting” or “re-amortizing.” [More]
Foreclosures Drop 9% Over Fudged Paperwork Fallout
By 11.11.10
For the first time in a long while, foreclosures actually dropped in October, falling 9%. The big drop came about as several big banks halted foreclosures across the board after news about the robo signers began to emerge. Foreclosures are expected to pick back up again November, albeit at a softened pace. It may be 3-4 months before the rate fully resumes. So take a gasp, homeowners behind on your mortgage, you just caught a temporary break. [More]
"Adversely Possessing" Empty Houses: Robin Hood Or Fraudster?
By 11.9.10
Citing a law from the 1850’s, Mark is going around Florida looking for foreclosed and abandoned houses and filing paperwork to try to claim their deeds. It’s called “adverse possession.” [More]
Squatters Spoil Dream Home With Fake Deed Claims
By 11.3.10
A Seattle couple were 10 days from closing on their new house when they discovered squatters had moved in who claimed they had seized “free land.” [More]
Banks Paper Over Robo-Signer Errors, Structural Problems Remain
By 11.1.10
After the foreclosure fraud scandal broke, banks scrambled to fix what they described as “procedural” errors and “technicalities.” But the lawyer whose deposition of a former robo-signer sparked the uproar says all the banks have done is put bandaids over bandaids. [More]
Walk With A Family Walking Away From Their House
By 10.28.10
What’s it like to walk away from your house? No, not to go down the street to get some ice cream. Walk away like mailing the keys to your mortgage lender and saying, “Take it. It cost me more than it’s worth.” Immoral? Perilous to future job prospects? Is it “just business?” NPR follows along with one couple grappling with these very questions. [More]
Oops We Lost Your Docs So You're Going To Foreclosure
By 10.27.10
After Alexis’s employer started making her and other workers taking mandatory furlough days, her income dropped so much that she had trouble making mortgage payments. So, like many others, she sought a loan mod. She followed all of Bank of America’s instructions and thought she was on the path to getting a mod. Then BoA told her they were going to foreclose on her house. [More]
Consumer Lawyers Drawn to Foreclosure-Fighting Bootcamp On Remote Farm
By 10.27.10
A growing band of consumer lawyers have been pilgrimaging to a farm located in the depths of the North Carolina mountains to learn the secrets of fighting foreclosures by exploiting lenders’ flawed document trail. [More]
Understand The Essential Players In The Foreclosure Scandal
By 10.25.10
Having trouble keeping track of all the different players and abbreviations and names in the latest foreclosure fraud mess? ProPublica offers a handy primer. [More]
Buyers Unearth Old Real Estate Law To Escape Now-Crappy Home Deals
By 10.20.10
A law implemented in 1968 to protect would-be swampland purchasers is now the best friend of home buyers who went into contract at the height of the bubble and are now trying to escape paying well-above market value and get back their deposits. [More]
