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Real Estate & Property Law

The Home Equity Theft Reporter

Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues.
By r morris

Post Frequency: 25.7/day

Last Entry: September 06, 2017 at 04:02:00

BofA Accused Of Jerking Around 91-Year Old WW II Vet On Mortgage Payments

Posted on April 29, 2010
In Martinsburg, West Virginia, The Huffington Post reports:Peter Ruplenas, a 91-year-old combat photographer who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, is now battling Bank of America in federal court. The bank pretended not to receive Ruplenas' mortgage payments, which he made through a bankruptcy trustee, and tricked Ruplenas into thinking that he himself had to make the payments directly,

Federal Appeals Court Gives Indian Tribes The "Go-Ahead" To Buy Real Estate, Stiff Counties On Lawfully-Owed Property Taxes & Get Away With It

Posted on April 29, 2010
In Verona, New York, The Oneida Daily Dispatch reports:A three-judge panel in the Second Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that counties cannot foreclose on property owned by the Oneida Indian Nation ["OIN"] for non-payment of taxes and reaffirmed the Nation?s immunity...

Legal Non-Profits Get Go-Ahead To Claim Prevailing Party Attorney Fees In Successful Civil Lawsuits

Posted on April 29, 2010
Courthouse News Service reports:Legal Services Corporation may claim attorneys' fees under federal and state law allowing the fees to be awarded, according to an announcement(1) that an interim rule is final as written. The Feb. 11 interim rule was based on the elimination of the statutory prohibition on attorney's fees for the nonprofit in its fiscal year 2010 appropriate legislation...

Foot-Dragging Mortgage Lender Yields To HOA Demand; Abandons Foreclosure On Unwanted Collateral, Releases Security Interest In Condo Unit

Posted on April 28, 2010
In Miami Beach, Florida, WFOR-TV Channel 4 reports:A new tactic in dealing with foreclosed condo units is being used by one attorney in South Florida. [...] Attorney Ben Solomon of the Association Law Group explained, "The bottom line is the banks don't want to assume the liability associated with the unit, including the obligation to pay maintenance assessments to the association...

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NY Alleged Multi-Billion $ Bogus Lien Racket Used In Intimidation, Extortion, Racket Against Local Officials, Say Plaintiffs In RICO Lawsuit

Posted on April 28, 2010
In Albany, New York, Courthouse News Service reports:Ulster County and three towns in New York say they're the targets of a multibillion-dollar revenge and extortion plot aimed at "disrupting the administration of local government," because a town issued two traffic tickets to the plot's alleged ringleader...

Consumer Resistance Continues To Mount Against Bill Collectors, Zombie Debt Buyers

Posted on April 28, 2010
The New York Times reports:Even as collectors try to recoup debts from millions of Americans struggling to pay their bills, a small but growing number of lawyers and consumers are fighting back against what they describe as harassment, unscrupulous practices ? and, most important to their litigiousness, violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act...

Testimony Of MERS CEO, Senior VP Available Online

Posted on April 27, 2010
Available at GetDShirtz.com are depositions of Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) CEO R.K. Arnold and Senior VP and Corporate Secretary William Hultman which were taken in recent litigation, as well as a hearing transcript from Dalton et al v...

Lender Accused Of Improper Trash-Out After Selling Former REO To Michigan Homebuyer In All-Cash Deal

Posted on April 27, 2010
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, WOOD-TV Channel 8 reports:A Gowen couple is filing a federal suit against Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, saying the bank not only stole their belongings, but also, their sense of security. Rick and Sherry Rought say the same bank that sold them a home for their adult daughter is breaking into the house and treating it as a foreclosure...

Judge Gives Go-Ahead To F'closing Lender Despite Lack Of Conclusive Evidence Of Standing As Ch. 11 Debtors Refuse To Make Adequate Protection Payments

Posted on April 27, 2010
A recent ruling by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Northern California allowed for a foreclosure action to continue, despite the lenders' failure to conclusively establish that it had standing to foreclose, where a Chapter 11 debtor/couple adamantly refused to make "adequate protection payments" as apparently required by the bankruptcy law, pending full adjudication of the standing issues...

MERS "The Veiled Man Wielding The Home Foreclosure Ax" & "A Tax Evasion Broker"?

Posted on April 26, 2010
In Salt Lake County, Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune recently spotlighted Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), a loan registry designed to save the home loan industry millions of dollars on paperwork and recording fees, and the role it plays in foreclosure actions:Here and nationally, the company's legal status as a party in these actions is increasingly being challenged...

Assembly Line Attorney Does "Ralph Kramden" Imitation When Judge Seeks Explanation For Bogus Affidavit Filed In Foreclosure Action

Posted on April 26, 2010
The New York Post reports:GMAC Mortgage got slammed by a Florida judge this month -- and that may be good news for some of the 1,234 New York homeowners hit with a foreclosure action by GMAC since the beginning of 2008.In that case, Judge Anthony Rondolino voided a GMAC foreclosure win after he found out legal papers filed by the company with the court to steamroll its way over homeowner Debbie

Oklahoma Couple Beats Off Foreclosure As Lender Fails To Produce The Note, Prove Right To Collect

Posted on April 26, 2010
In Forest Park, Oklahoma, The Oklahoman reports:The Rev. Horace Scott for six years struggled to keep his house from being foreclosed on. Last week he learned he won?t lose his home. When it came down to it, no one could prove who actually owned what he thought was his...

Wells Fargo Sold Home Out From Under Me Despite Payments On Loan Modification Agreement, Says Homeowner In Lawsuit

Posted on April 25, 2010
In Las Vegas, Nevada, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports:When W.T. Joseph "Tyree" Brown, a 39-year-old sales manager, lost his job and tried to negotiate a home-loan modification, he became entangled in a situation as strange as science fiction, court documents suggest...

California Woman Cops Plea To Duping Mentally Impaired Homeowner Into Deeding Over Title To Property, Then Pocketing $336K On Subsequent Refinance

Posted on April 25, 2010
In Santa Clara County, California, the San Jose Mercury News reports:A San Leandro woman who defrauded a vulnerable San Jose woman by illegally refinancing her house and taking an estimated $336,000 pleaded guilty Friday to real estate fraud and grand theft charges, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office...

Rent Skimming Scam Stings Would-Be Buyer Of Elder Care Home Under Lease-Purchase Deal With Owner; Leaves Unwitting Seniors Facing The Boot

Posted on April 25, 2010
In Northern California, The New York Times reports:Sometimes even the licensed administrators managing an elder care home have been blindsided by an eviction notice resulting from a mortgage default. Inocencia Arindaeng, the administrator of a facility in Walnut Creek, Calif...

Underwater Homeowner Uses Short Sale, Leaseback Deal To Shed Onerous Bank Debt While Retaining Possession Of Property & Future Right To Repurchase

Posted on April 25, 2010
In Akron, Ohio, WKYC-TV Channel 3 reports:Dave Droge had few options when he lost his job in 2008. So he took a chance, a risk that not only kept his family from losing its home to foreclosure but also helped reduce a mammoth debt he likely never would pay off...

California State Pension Plan To Cease Predatory Equity Real Estate Investments After Writing Off Million$ In Soured Deals

Posted on April 24, 2010
In Sacramento, California, Bloomberg News reports:The California Public Employees? Retirement System, the largest U.S. public pension, said it will stop investing in real-estate projects that would eliminate rent-regulated apartments, such as New York City?s Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village...

Cops Search For KC Woman Accused Of Forging Elderly Alzheimer's Victim's Signature To Pocket Reverse Mortgage Proceeds

Posted on April 24, 2010
In Kansas Ciy, Missouri, The Associated Press reports:A Kansas City woman is accused of using an 89-year-old neighbor with Alzheimer's disease to obtain a reverse-mortgage loan of more than $64,000. Jackson County prosecutors on Thursday announced charges against 55-year-old Marilyn James, including financial exploitation of an elder/disabled person and two counts of forgery...

Houston Woman Says Lender Foreclosed On Her Twice By Mistaken

Posted on April 24, 2010
In Houston, Texas, KVUE-TV reports:A Houston woman says Wells Fargo sold her home through foreclosure by mistake last summer, quickly corrected the error, then did the same thing again. Debra Cannon's story began with a divorce in 2007 when she fell behind on her payments and threats of foreclosure followed...

Homeowner/Couple Say They Owe $20K+ Over $50 Ticket For Texas HOA's Rules Infraction

Posted on April 24, 2010
In Austin, Texas, The Dallas Morning News reports:Lawmakers say they have tried to write laws in recent years to prevent homeowners associations from gouging and abusing property owners, but more might need to be done. On Monday, outraged homeowners told a House panel they've been threatened with huge fines and possible foreclosure for what they described as minor infractions of association

Virginia Woman's Failure To Return $188K In Ripoff Proceeds From Senior Leads To Conviction On Felony Charge

Posted on April 24, 2010
In Spotsylvania County, Pennsylvania, The Free Lance Star reports:A woman who stole more than $188,000 from an elderly Spotsylvania County woman officially became a felon yesterday. Jerriett A. Bennett, 56, has repaid $143,000, Commonwealth's Attorney Bill Neely said, but so far has been unable to come up with the rest of the money...

Jury Convicts POA Abuser Of Ripping Off 89-Year Old Woman; Care Home Staff's Suspicions Raised After Scammer Put Victim's �300,000 Home Up For Sale

Posted on April 24, 2010
In Exeter, Devon (UK), the Herald Express reports:A "greedy" 67-year-old man has been found guilty of defrauding his elderly neighbour out of �40,000. Robert Cole, of Ilsham Marine Drive, Torquay, abused his position as power of attorney over the affairs of Hilda Falk, a jury at Exeter Crown Court found...

Renters Say "You Lend It, You Mend It!" As Lawyers Cite NY Legal Precedent In Attempt To Hold Banks Responsible For Repairing Property In Legal Limbo

Posted on April 24, 2010
In New York City, the Daily News reports:Thousands of city tenants living in foreclosed apartment buildings - many with deteriorating conditions - saw a glimmer of hope Wednesday. Lawyers for Legal Service NYC filed a motion in Bronx Supreme Court that would force banks foreclosing on a property to maintain the building's upkeep while the case is pending...

Pressure From State AG Leads Oregon Man To Cough Up Cash To Settle Complaints From Homeowners In Lopsided Sale Leaseback Arrangements

Posted on April 23, 2010
In Portland, Oregon, KATU-TV Channel 2 reports:Thousands of dollars have been returned to families that Oregon?s attorney general said were hurt in a scam that promised to save their houses from foreclosure, but the man who had to refund the money said he has done nothing wrong...

S. Calif. Man Suspected Of Openly Hijacking Title To Vacant Homes & Renting Them Out, Leaving Owners Frustrated, Neighbors Rattled, Cops Flat-Footed

Posted on April 23, 2010
In Southern California, The Orange County Register reports:California's foreclosure crisis has spawned an unusual operation by a bankrupt Orange County businessman who takes control of vacant homes and rents them out, according to police, property records and neighbors...

Upstate New York Man Charged With Using Forged Documents To Steal Dead Mom's Home & Ripoff His Six Siblings

Posted on April 23, 2010
In Washington County, New York, The Post Star reports:A former Whitehall police dispatcher has been indicted on five criminal charges that accuse him of cheating his siblings out of a Whitehall home after their mother died. John Dalton, 50, [...] is accused of filing a will and property deed with forged signatures of his mother that allowed him to take ownership of her West Street home, worth an

LA Real Estate Broker Cops Plea To Use Of Forged Documents In Deed Theft Scam

Posted on April 23, 2010
In Los Angeles, California, the Los Angeles Times reports:A former Los Angeles firefighter who also worked as a real estate broker pleaded no contest [] to more than a dozen felony counts in connection with a real-estate fraud scheme, authorities said...

Supremes Reverse Lower Courts; Say Attorney Screw-Up When Pursuing Foreclosure Action Is Indefensible As "Bona Fide Error" Under FDCPA

Posted on April 22, 2010
In Washington, D.C., Courthouse News Service reports:Attorneys cannot hide behind an honest mistake should they violate federal debt-collection laws when chasing down debt, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The ruling comes after the law firm of Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich filed suit in Ohio state court in 2006 on behalf of Countrywide Home Loans to foreclose on the mortgage for

Pair To Get Probation In Foreclosure Rescue Scam That Duped 22 Victims Into Signing Over Title To 34 Properties Into Fraudulent Trusts

Posted on April 22, 2010
In San Diego, California, San Diego News Network reports:A husband and wife who assisted others in a Ponzi scheme aimed at San Diego Filipinos struggling to make their mortgage payments pleaded guilty [] to felony charges. Ben Hebron, 51, and Gloria Hebron, 53, will be placed on probation and be required to give up their real estate licenses when they are sentenced May 20, said Deputy District

Foreclosure Volume May "Encourage" Sloppiness, Boilerplate Paperwork Or A lack Of Thoroughness;" Makes Process "Fraught With Potential For Fraud"

Posted on April 22, 2010
A recent story in The Wall Street Journal serves as another reminder of the problems inherent with mortgage lenders' use of assembly line law firms to prosecute foreclosure actions:[A] Florida ruling against U.S. Bank was also a critique of law firms that handle foreclosure cases on behalf of banks, dubbed "foreclosure mills...

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