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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

L.A. Feds Pinch Pair For Allegedly Using Property They Didn't Own As Loan Collateral & Fabricating Documents To Support Their False Claims

Posted on January 23, 2011
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Los Angeles, California):Two brothers were taken into federal custody [...] on charges that they bilked private lenders out of more than $5 million by pledging as collateral properties they did not own and fabricating numerous documents to support their false claims...

Lawsuit: BofA Pocketed Entire $60K Insurance Proceeds From Damage Claim To Cover $24K Foreclosure Deficiency; Refuses To Refund Balance To Homeowner

Posted on January 23, 2011
In Galveston, Texas, The Southeast Texas Record reports:Ross Durant and Ilva Lucia Rodriguez of La Porte seek approximately $36,000 from Bank of America after their settlement check from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association ["TWIA"] was used to cover costs generated by the foreclosure sale of their Galveston County property...

Plumbing Assessments On Aging Fort Pierce Condo Complex Begins Overwhelming Elderly On Fixed Incomes

Posted on January 22, 2011
In Fort Pierce, Florida, WPTV-TV Channel 5 reports:Nearly $6,000 in assessments per unit for plumbing repairs some call unnecessary have some residents at Inlet House Condominiums ? where many homeowners are elderly and on fixed incomes ? unable or unwilling to pay their bills...

Upstate NY Media Outlet Calls For End Of Indian Nations' Real Estate Tax-Dodging "Charade"

Posted on January 22, 2011
In upstate New York, the editorial board of the Auburn Citizen writes:The U.S. Supreme Court, in choosing to kick back a case involving county foreclosure on Oneida Indian Nation land, perpetuated the use of the state and federal court systems as a business strategy for New York state Indian nations...

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Fla. High Court Boots Lawyer From State Bar For "Preying Upon...Vulnerable Couple" Involving Conduct In Private Transaction Unrelated To Law Practice

Posted on January 22, 2011
In an August, 2010 ruling, the Florida Supreme Court gave what appears to be a well-deserved boot to now-former attorney Sherry Grant Hall from the legal profession in the state for her conduct in connection with a failed attempt to egregiously arm-twist an elderly married couple, Irving and Clara Godwin (Irving suffered from Alzheimer's disease), into selling property that they had been leasing

Vacant Foreclosed Home Faces $250K Repair Job After Vandals Give Premises A 'Professional' Trashing

Posted on January 22, 2011
In Huntington Beach, California, KABC-TV Channel 7 reports:A foreclosed home in Huntington Beach is undergoing $250,000 in repairs after vandals trashed the place. The real estate agent said it is the worst case he's seen in Orange County. The 3,000-square-foot house in a gated community on Radcliff Circle has extensive damage...

Ohio Man Found Guilty Of Torching Home; Cashed Out By Refinancing Mortgage Four Times In Three Years

Posted on January 22, 2011
In Akron, Ohio, WKYC-TV Channel 3 reports:The Summit County Prosecutor said Raymond Stewart, 38, of Sagamore Hills, was found guilty in a bench trial before Judge Thomas Parker of aggravated arson and insurance fraud.On March 30, 2009, Stewart set his own home on fire...

Nevada Regulator Orders Unlicensed Loan Modification Outfit To Cease & Desist; Says Company Clipped Six Homeowners Out Of $7,550

Posted on January 22, 2011
In Carson City, Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun reports:After getting six complaints, the state has issued a stop order against an unlicensed Las Vegas company that has been billing itself as loan and foreclosure consultants. The state Division of Mortgage Lending has filed an administrative complaint against American Home Services and its operators, Erika and Miriam Fimbres...

Beach Homes Along Central Oregon Coast Make For Trendy Targets For Off-Season Squatters

Posted on January 22, 2011
In Lane County, Oregon, The Examiner reports:Elmer ?Slim? Buchanan pulls a wagon full of his earthly possessions through this trendy coastal community that attracts high end lawyers, doctors and professionals from nearby Eugene who keep summer and weekend getaway homes along this picturesque seashore; at the same time, Buchanan says he?s ?invisible to such people? until they find ?us squatters

Wells Fargo Joins GMAC In Yanking Homes From The Foreclosure Docket; Begins To Take 'Sloppy Paperwork' Issue More Seriously

Posted on January 21, 2011
The Wall Street Journal reports:Wells Fargo & Co. said on Wednesday that it has begun dismissing an unspecified number of pending foreclosures in Maryland as a result of potential flaws in its document-handling practices. The disclosure came after GMAC Mortgage Corp, a unit of Ally Financial Inc...

SW Florida Courts Sees 100s Of F'closures Dropped; Failure To Properly Transfer Notes Into Securitization Trusts May Leave Lenders Behind 'Eight-Ball'

Posted on January 21, 2011
In Lee County, Florida, The Fort Myers News Press reports:Banks in recent weeks have been dropping hundreds of their Southwest Florida foreclosure lawsuits instead of facing defendants at trial, according to local attorneys and court records.Opinions varied sharply on whether that means banks are just taking a breather before refiling with stronger evidence - or giving up for good on hopelessly

Federal Court Temporarily Stalls F'closure; Appears Likely That Servicer Failed In 'Pre-Entry Of Default Notice' Legal Obligations To Homeowner: Judge

Posted on January 21, 2011
In San Francisco, California, Courthouse News Service reports:A woman can stay in her home, for now, after a federal judge granted her a temporary restraining order preventing Wells Fargo from proceeding with a foreclosure. Keng Hee Paik said the bank had not provided her "with 'any documents whatsoever'" when she took out a $750,000 home loan...

Two Admit Roles In Fractional Interest Deed Transfer Foreclosure Rescue Scam That Abused Bankruptcy Process To Stall Sales On 1400+ Homes

Posted on January 21, 2011
In Los Angeles, California, Westlaw News & Insight reports:Two people have admitted that they participated in a fraud scheme by using falsified bankruptcy petitions to delay foreclosures on more than 1,400 properties in California.(1) The scheme improperly postponed foreclosures on $725 million worth of mortgages and caused banks and lenders to lose out on loan payments from homeowners, according

Operator Of Loan Modification Racket Dodges Hard Time; Gets 9 Months In County Jail In $36K Ripoff That Led To Some Victims Losing Homes To F'closure

Posted on January 21, 2011
From the Office of the Nevada Attorney General:Defendant Doninador Palalay a.k.a. Dominador Palalay, has been sentenced in a foreclosure rescue scam case. On September 9, 2010, Palalay pled guilty to one count of Theft ?Obtaining Money in excess of $2,500 by Material Misrepresentation, a category B Felony, in connection with his role in operating a foreclosure rescue scam in Las Vegas during 2008

Feds Breathing Heavy In Probe Into Suspected Bay Area Foreclosure Sale Bid-Rigging Scams

Posted on January 21, 2011
In Oakland, California, KTVU-TV Channel 2 reports:The FBI Tuesday was investigating a dark underside to the Bay Area's mortgage crisis that finds some unscrupulous investors colluding to keep prices low when foreclosed homes are sold at auction.Folks at the Community Realty Property Management office on Fruitvale Avenue weren't talking when KTVU tried to ask if the FBI had been there last week.

Foreclosed Florida BofA Borrowers Demand Return Of Their Homes, $5M+ In Damages In Lawsuit Seeking Statewide Class Action Status

Posted on January 20, 2011
From a press release from the law firm Forizs and Dogali, P.A.:Teresa O?Neal and Marco Delgado, through the law firm of Forizs & Dogali, P.A., have filed a statewide class action against Bank of America alleging improper action during mortgage foreclosures...

Mortgage Elimination Racket Using Forged Lien Satisfactions Filed In Public Records Continues To Suck In Desperate Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

Posted on January 20, 2011
In Stanislaus County, California, The Modesto Bee reports:New variations on bogus mortgage elimination schemes are claiming victims throughout Stanislaus County, a fraud authority says. Con artists seem to be targeting Latino homeowners facing foreclosure, and some real estate professionals are getting sucked in as well, said Glenn Gulley, an investigator with the county district attorney's

State Homestead Law Prevents Lawyer From Recovering Legal Fees From Property Insurance Damage Proceeds After Being Stiffed By Client/Florida Homeowner

Posted on January 20, 2011
The following facts are taken from an April, 2010 court ruling by a Florida appeals court:Homeowner, Quiroga, suffered damages to his Florida homestead as a result of two hurricanes.Quiroga retained the services of a law firm on a contingency fee basis to help him secure the benefits due him pursuant to a homeowner's insurance policy...

Probe Continues Into Philly "Slumlord Millionaire" Suspected Of Using Rent-To-Own Racket To Unload Decrepit Homes On Unsophisticated Would-Be Buyers

Posted on January 20, 2011
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Daily News reports:TWO-AND-A-HALF years have passed since Robert N. Coyle Sr. defaulted on bank loans on nearly 300 Kensington homes that he rented to the city's poorest in search of the American dream.Dozens of tenants who had poured money into decrepit homes believing that they'd one day own them found themselves in the eye of a massive

State Court Of Appeals Slams Shut Rogue S. Indiana 'Debtors Prison', Limits Asset "Fishing Expeditions" In Attempts To 'Squeeze' Delinquent Borrowers

Posted on January 20, 2011
Valparaiso University School of Law Associate Professor Alan White recently wrote in Public Citizen's Consumer Law & Policy Blog:A while back I reported on the revival of debtor's prison in a southern Indiana county court. The Indiana Court of Appeals has now struck down the local county court rule that imposed contempt sanctions, including imprisonment, for debtors who failed to pay small claims

Failing To Name MERS In Utah Quiet Title Suits Leads To Default Judgments, Mortgage-Free Title For Homeowners; Lawyers Say MERS Not Entitled To Notice

Posted on January 19, 2011
In Salt Lake City, Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reports:Utah court case in which the owner of a Draper townhouse got clear title to the property, even though he still owed $132,000 on it, raises new legal and financial questions about a property-records database created by mortgage bankers...

Florida Bar Maintains '100% Rate' When Clearing Foreclosure Mill Attorneys Accused Of Ethical Misconduct

Posted on January 19, 2011
The Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:Florida courthouses are rife with evidence of errors and fabrications made by attorneys handling foreclosure cases, and yet so far no lawyers have been disciplined. With pressure mounting to police its own members, the Florida Bar established a special category of complaints listed as "foreclosure fraud...

Lawsuit: BofA Attempted Foreclosure On 'Ike-Ravaged' Home Over Unpaid $107K Loan Despite Sitting On $196K Pile Of Cash From Insurance Proceeds

Posted on January 19, 2011
In Harris County, Texas, Ultimate Clear Lake reports:A woman is suing Bank of America after her home, located in Clear Lake, was damaged by Hurricane Ike. Marie Holmes filed a lawsuit on Jan. 13 in the Harris County District Court against BAC Home Loans and Bank of America, alleging breach of contract and breach of duty...

BofA Gearing Up For Major PR Damage Control Effort In Light Of WikiLeaks Promised Document Dump?

Posted on January 19, 2011
AlterNet reports:WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is promising to unleash a cache of secret documents from the hard drive of a U.S. megabank executive. In 2009, he told Computer World that the bank was Bank of America (BofA). In 2010, he told Forbes that the information was significant enough to "take down a bank or two," but that he needed time to lay out the information in a more user-friendly

Lawsuit Forces Chase To Admit Improperly Clipping 1000s Of Military Families, F'closing On 14 Homes In Violation Of SCRA; Agrees To Cough Up About $2M

Posted on January 18, 2011
NBC News reports:One of the nation's biggest banks ? JP Morgan Chase ? admits it has overcharged several thousand military families for their mortgages, including families of troops fighting in Afghanistan. The bank also tells NBC News that it improperly foreclosed on more than a dozen military families...

Media Report Features Notorious Robosigner With "Impressive R�sum�"

Posted on January 18, 2011
In West Palm Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:Somewhere, presumably Georgia, lives a woman named Linda Green. According to investigators, her signature - and variations of it - appears on hundreds of thousands of questionable mortgage documents...

More Attorneys Seek Class Action Status When Defending Forclosures Involving Sloppy Lender Paperwork; Seen As Way To Make Most Of Scant Resources

Posted on January 18, 2011
In St. Paul, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:Jane Bowman has to turn away many Minnesotans who desperately need a lawyer to guide them through foreclosure hell. But if the court grants class-action status to one of her current cases involving jumbled foreclosure paperwork, Bowman could potentially help thousands of people nationwide...

Are More Florida Trial Judges Beginning To Hold Lenders Accountable In Foreclosure Actions?

Posted on January 18, 2011
In Marion County, Florida, the Ocala Star Banner reports:The facts aren't unusual: In 2008, a couple in Reddick defaulted on a home mortgage and the bank pursued foreclosure. The couple contested the action. But the outcome defies the usual pattern. The defendants prevailed at a non-jury trial and, to date, have been allowed to keep the home...

10,000 GMAC Foreclosure Cases Get The Boot In Maryland Over 'Stephan'-Robosigned Affidavits

Posted on January 17, 2011
Firedoglake reports:In a major ruling Friday, a coalition of nonprofit defense lawyers and consumer protection advocates in Maryland successfully got over 10,000 foreclosure cases managed by GMAC Mortgage tossed out, because affidavits in the cases were signed by Jeffrey Stephan, the infamous GMAC ?robo-signer? who attested to the authenticity of foreclosure documents without any knowledge about

Foreclosure Industry Begins Spinning Meaning Of Recent 'Ibanez' Ruling

Posted on January 17, 2011
AOL Daily Finance columnist Abigail Field writes:Last week, the top court in Massachusetts handed down a ruling chastising banks for their "carelessness" during the securitization of Massachusetts mortgages. That carelessness has clouded the title of thousands of already-foreclosed properties and creates major problems for future foreclosures...

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