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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

Another Foreclosed Homeowner Suspected In Murder-Suicide; Bodies Found In Burning Home Hours Before Eviction Proceedings

Posted on January 30, 2010
In Henrico County, Virginia, the Richmond Times Dispatch reports:A father, mother and son found shot to death in their burning Henrico County home last week were scheduled hours later to undergo eviction proceedings in district court. The state medical examiner's office said [...

Rhode Island State Cops Probe Allegations Of Lawyers w/ Sticky Fingers; Bag Two Suspected Of Swiping Client Cash, At Least Seven Others In Crosshairs

Posted on January 29, 2010
In Providence, Rhode Island, The Providence Journal reports:Disbarred lawyer Robert D. Natal has been arrested by the police and charged with 11 felony counts for misappropriating $1,136,013 from real-estate transactions.(1) He is the second disbarred lawyer within a week to be charged with misappropriating clients? money...

Some Foreclosed & Short Selling Homeowners Find Themselves Still "On The Hook" For Deficiencies

Posted on January 29, 2010
In Miami, Florida, Bloomberg reports:When John King stopped making payments on his home in Coral Gables, Florida, two years ago, he assumed the foreclosure ended his mortgage contract, he said. Last month, a Miami-Dade County court gave collectors permission to pursue him for $44,000 stemming from the default...

Foreclosure Rescue Operator Admits To Unauthorized Practice Of Law; Agrees To Refund Pocketed Upfront Fees, Dodges Civil Penalties

Posted on January 29, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court recently approved a consent decree in which upfront fee foreclosure rescue operator American Foreclosure Specialists, L.L.C. admitted "that it engaged in the unauthorized practice of law by drafting and preparing a court pleading and providing it to one of its customers with instructions to file the same with the court," agreed to refund the $995 fee it clipped from a

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County Backs Down On Imposing Deed Recording Taxes On Debt Forgiveness In Short Sale Transactions After State AG Weighs In

Posted on January 29, 2010
In Anne Arundel County, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:Anne Arundel County said it will no longer tax short sales on more than a home's purchase price, reacting to an opinion from the Maryland attorney general's office Wednesday that the practice isn't supported by state law...

Foreclosure Rescue Operator, Closing Attorney Found Jointly Liable For $690K+ In Bogus Sale Leaseback, Equity Stripping Ripoff

Posted on January 28, 2010
A federal bankruptcy court in New Jersey recently ruled in favor of a homeowner/couple who were screwed over for over $100,000 in home equity by a foreclosure rescue operator in a bogus sale leaseback, equity stripping scam. In addition to holding the operator liable for damages to the tune of $116,791...

Texas Woman Sold Home Out From Under Grandmother, Pocketing Bulk Of Sale Proceeds, Says Suit; Constructive Trust Sought For Value Of Home

Posted on January 28, 2010
In Jefferson County, Texas, The Southeast Texas Record reports:A Groves woman claims her granddaughter sold her home without her knowledge and only gave her $6,000 from the $148,000 transaction. Lenora Fawcett filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County District Court against Stephen and Kimberly Young...

BofA At Center Of Another Screw-Up; Central Florida Couple Faces Foreclosure Despite Having Proof That All Mortgage Payments Were Made

Posted on January 28, 2010
In Central Florida, WSOC-TV Channel 9 reports:Roger Wilsford and Teresa Stamey are about to lose their mobile home to foreclosure. Wilsford said he'd been paying his monthly payments of $762 to mortgage company Taylor, Bean and Whitaker, but last August it went into bankruptcy and he didn't know it...

Michigan Man Found Guilty Of Using Rubber Checks To Make Court-Mandated Payments In Connection With Earlier Deed Theft Conviction

Posted on January 28, 2010
In Detroit, Michigan, the Detroit Free Press reports:A Grosse Pointe Woods man who used bad checks to pay $26,000 in property taxes as part of a sentencing agreement in a real estate fraud case was found guilty Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court of check fraud...

Miami Judge Forces "Reverse Foreclosure" On Foot-Dragging Lender; Court Grants HOA's Request To "Strong-Arm" Bank Into Taking Title To Home

Posted on January 27, 2010
In Miami, Florida, the South Florida Business Journal reports:Attorneys for the Keys Gate Homeowners Association in Homestead have won a legal victory in a case that could set a precedent for banks that drag their feet in taking title to homes facing foreclosure...

Lien Stripping Bankruptcy Court Trial Between Homeowner & 2nd Mortgage Lienholder A Battle Of "Dueling Appraisers"

Posted on January 27, 2010
A recent bankruptcy court case decided in Northern California provides an illustration of how a trial involving an attempt by a homeowner/debtor to free her home from the encumbrance of a 2nd mortgage lien boils down simply to whether her appraiser's valuation of the home is more persuasive than the one obtained by the 2nd mortgage holder...

Foreclosing Lenders Failing To Comply With City Foreclosure Ordinance To Be Clipped $2K & Prohibited From Recording Foreclosure Deeds

Posted on January 27, 2010
In Providence, Rhode Island, The Providence Journal reports:The City Council has approved a $2,000 fine for banks or lenders that fail to follow the city?s new foreclosure ordinance, which requires that lenders attempt to renegotiate mortgages with homeowners before filing a deed of foreclosure with the city...

National Major Media Outlet Shines Light On Allegations Of BofA's Seizures Of Wrong Homes

Posted on January 27, 2010
In New Bedford, Massachusetts, ABC News reports:Some 2.8 million homeowners faced the threat of foreclosure last year, but it wasn't supposed to happen to Charlie and Maria Cordoso. In 2005, the New Bedford, Mass. couple paid in full -- in cash -- for a house in Springville, Fla...

Non-Profit Law Firm Extracts Unwitting Illinois Couple Out Of Sale Leaseback Foreclosure Rescue Mess; Effort Restores Homeowners' Equity, Foils Ripoff

Posted on January 26, 2010
In Round Lake Beach, Illinois, the Lake County News Sun reports:Denied refinancing from their bank and running out of money, a local couple was desperate to lower their mortgage payments. Concerned about providing for their four children and keeping their house, Kevin and Heather Funk turned to a mortgage broker for help...

Disbarred Lawyer, Two Others Charged With Grand Theft By False Pretense, Conspiracy For Allegedly Screwing 400+ Struggling Homeowners In Loan Mod Scam

Posted on January 26, 2010
In Orange County, California, The National Law Journal reports:An ex-lawyer in Irvine, Calif., has been arrested on charges of defrauding more than 400 victims in a $1.25 million loan modification scam targeting struggling homeowners. According to the Orange County, Calif...

Calif. State Bar Probers Have Hands Full With Loan Mod Ripoff Complaints; 1200 Probes Pending; Attorney Scams Begin To Drain Client Security Fund

Posted on January 26, 2010
In Northern California, The Fresno Bee reports:[A]mid the real estate free-fall and shady loan-modification programs that sprang from it, some lawyers saw an easy way to make money. The State Bar is investigating more than 300 California lawyers involved in loan-modification rip-offs...

Landlord To Deed Over Title To 11,000 Rental Units As Attempt To Restructure $4.4B Debt On $1.8B Complex Fails; Equity Held By Pensions Appears Doomed

Posted on January 26, 2010
In New York City, The Wall Street Journal reports:A group led by Tishman Speyer Properties has decided to give up the sprawling Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in Manhattan to its creditors in the collapse of one of the most high-profile deals of the real-estate boom...

Nevada AG Bags 3 In Alleged Upfront Fee Foreclosure Rescue Scam; Outfit Accused Of Clouding Title To Homes w/ Bogus Liens To Impede F'closure Process

Posted on January 25, 2010
In Las Vegas, Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun reports:Three men have been indicted on theft charges in an alleged foreclosure rescue scam that bilked people out of thousands of dollars to modify loans, the state Attorney General?s office announced [...]. Jason Todd Wilhite, Ronald Quilang and Benjamin Moraleda allegedly operated a document preparation and loan modification business called Rescorp

"Repeat Offender" Foreclosure Rescue Operator Gets 22 Years For Scamming Homeowners Facing Foreclosure, Banks Out Of $5M

Posted on January 25, 2010
In Orlando, Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reports:Convicted once before in New York of mortgage fraud, Garry Martin moved to Orlando to bilk homeowners and banks out of more than $5 million in recent years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. On Friday, U...

Connecticut Man Cops Plea To Peddling Bogus "Accountant Letters" Used In Mtg. Fraud Scam To Obtain "Liars' Loans" From Lenders On Behalf Of Homebuyers

Posted on January 25, 2010
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Hartford, Connecticut):Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that JOSE I. FLORES, 50, of Fairfield Avenue, Stamford, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty yesterday, January 20, before United States District Judge Christopher F...

Recession Drives Uptick In Cheating, Stealing By Lawyers, Say Calif. Bar Officials; Some Fail To Pay Back Cash "Borrowed" From Client Trust Accounts

Posted on January 25, 2010
The Fresno Bee reports:The recession has driven an increasing number of California lawyers to cheat and steal, say State Bar officials, who expect to discipline or expel hundreds of them in coming months. Financial pressures are behind the increase in lawyer wrongdoing, they say...

More Confusion Surrounds Short Sales As Maryland Municipality Clips Consumers For Additional Recording Taxes On Forgiven Debt

Posted on January 24, 2010
In Anne Arundel County, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:The real estate industry is up in arms about an Anne Arundel County decision to collect taxes on certain types of home sales based not on what the buyers paid, but on what the sellers owed on their mortgages as the deal was struck...

Boulder Man Offered Chance To "Buy Down" Sentence After Copping Plea To Bilking 79-Year Old Employee Out Of $400K+; Victim Left w/ $195K Loan On Home

Posted on January 24, 2010
In Boulder, Colorado, the Boulder Daily Camera reports:The former president of Boulder-based used-car business CarFind USA could spend up to nine years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to convincing a 79-year-old employee to loan him more than $300,000 for car payments, vacations and real estate purchases...

Florida Homeowner Faces Financial Ruin As City Seeks To Enforce $27K+ "Parking Ticket"

Posted on January 24, 2010
In North Port, Florida, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:The used car was a blessing, a gift from her church to help Diane Pearson, a single mother with three children and a long commute to work. And after receiving the 1998 Mercury from her church, Pearson found her drive to Sarasota a bit less stressful...

West Virginia AG Obtains $214K In Refunds For Consumers In Connection With Alleged Debt Settlement Ripoffs

Posted on January 24, 2010
In Charleston, West Virginia, The West Virginia Record reports:Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office has announced it has reached settlements with three debt relief companies.The settlements, according to a press release from McGraw's office, equal $214,000 in refunds for 226 state consumers...

Elderly Couple's Caregiver Gets Three Years In $80K+ Swindle; Allegedly Boosted Victims' Reverse Mortgage Payments To Conceal Ripoff

Posted on January 23, 2010
In Fairfax, California, the Marin Independent Journal reports:An in-home caregiver was sentenced to three years in state prison Thursday for embezzling more than $80,000 from the retired Fairfax couple who hired her.(1) Jane Macam McClellan [also known as Jane Macam Deleon], a 47-year-old mother of eight, was also ordered to pay $83,099 in restitution to the couple, who are in their 90s...

Man Gets 27 Months In Federal Prison For Ripping Off Elderly Mom Of $99K, Leaving Her With No Money To Pay Retirement Home Bill

Posted on January 23, 2010
In Peoria, Illinois, the Journal Star reports:For taking nearly $100,000 from his elderly mother four years ago, a Bloomington man was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison Thursday. Douglas Shadewaldt, 59, [...] used the money to buy a motorcycle, a condo and a car, and not to pay for his mother's retirement home expenses...

Man Gets 90 Days In Home Repair Ripoff Victimizing Senior Out Of $21K

Posted on January 23, 2010
In Chatham, Ontario, The Chatham Daily News reports:A 48-year-old Chatham man who bilked an elderly man out of more than $21,000 will spend 90 days behind bars. William Joseph MacDonald pleaded guilty [...] to fraud over $5,000. "You preyed upon and you stole from an ill and vulnerable person," said Superior Court Justice Edward Ducharme...

Luxury Home Developer Charged With Cutting Down Trees On Neighbor's Property To Enhance Coastline View From His Ridgetop Chateau

Posted on January 23, 2010
In Santa Cruz, California, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports:A luxury home developer faces felony charges after allegedly cutting down 49 trees on his neighbor's property without permission, giving his new ridgetop "chateau" an unobstructed view of the Monterey Bay coastline...

Landlord Accused Of Using "Self-Help" Eviction Tactics; Shut Off Heat & Power, Trashed Toilet & Crib In Attempt To Coax Woman, Baby To Vacate

Posted on January 23, 2010
In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Post reports:A landlord from hell was busted for shutting off a tenant's power and heat and tossing her toilet out into the street to try to get her to move out of his Crown Heights building, sources said. Mario Eugene, 46, ordered the woman and her baby to vacate the Buffalo Avenue apartment near St...

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