In an article this week featured in Default Servicing, Carrie Bay reports that one in every four homes is upside down. Upside down means you have absolutely no equity in your home.  For example the principal amount due and owing on the mortgage is $100,000 but the property value is only worth $90,000.  In this [...]

There are two reports that anyone involved in the mortgage industry should be aware of:  The first one was published in 2000 by the HUD-Treasury Joint Task Force entitled “Curbing Predatory Home Mortgage Lending” (June 2000, 119 p.)  This report proposes a four-point plan to address predatory lending practices, identifies and defines four types of [...]

Regardless of whether you have filed a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy you can receive a Motion to Lift Stay on your home.  This will occur if your mortgage payments are behind or perceived to be behind.
A Motion to Lift Stay is a request from the mortgage company to the court to asking permission [...]

Susan Saulny, a New York Times reporter, recently interviewed me to inquire about why mortgage companies are refusing to foreclose on properties when a debtor does not pay the mortgage payment.
I explained to Susan that mortgage companies are abandoning homes left and right instead of choosing to foreclose on the property.  Yes that sentence was [...]

Even the Simpsons have fallen on hard times and are facing foreclosure due to their Home Equtiy Loan issued by Countryfine. Not only did the Simpsons get roped into an adjustable rate mortgage but Countryfine gave them a balloon and a “not understanding the contract” fee.  Matt Groening takes a satirical look at the current economic crisis [...]

Good Morning America has been doing a series of financial stories including the website Making Home Affordable. The story features a family reviewing the site Making Home Affordable.  This story leaves the viewer feeling that this site will be the answer to all their prayers and that is very quick and easy.  My problem with [...]

Some of my clients want to purchase a home now.  The interest rates are low and because of the economy your dollar goes further than it did in years past.  They are too excited and as a result they are letting their emotions control their decisions instead of thinking logically.  I advise my clients to [...]

What is a mortgage?  The term mortgage is derived from two French words mort which means dead and gadge which means pledge.  A pledge is a promise and we know that death signifies the end.  So a mortgage is a pledge of real property (land) as a security interest (the money you receive in exchange [...]

Loss Mitigation is a term used to describe the process of reducing the loss to the owner. It is used quite frequently these days as our economy continues to head for a down turn.
I hear loss mitigation most often in reference to landlords and mortgages. Landlords because they have a duty, generally, to [...]

On Monday July 28, 2008 the Attorney General for the State of Missouri filed charges against

St. Anthony Avenue LC, based in St. Louis County. The lawsuit was filed in St. Louis County;
Private Funding Solutions, based in St. Charles, and its president, Mike C. Rothweiler. The lawsuit was filed in St. Charles County;
Brian J. Thompson, of [...]