I picked up two newspapers today and one said the housing market is coming around, and the other said foreclosures are up 15% from the same month last year.  The reality is the numbers don’t mean anything when people are losing their homes.  In January 2010, over 315,000 households in the United States received a [...]

As a mortgage foreclosure defense attorney, it really burns me up that homeowners are once again getting the short end of the stick.  There is a double standard going on in this real estate meltdown.  Lenders are telling homeowners that they have a “moral obligation” to pay their mortgages, and the failure to do so [...]

As the managing partner of the largest foreclosure defense firm in Northeast Florida and the only practicing attorney on Jacksonville’s Foreclosure Task Force, members of the media often contact me for my opinion foreclosure issues.  Last week, I appeared on local National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate, WJCT, to discuss “homeowner walk-away” with the host of [...]

Author’s note – Although not publicized, I am absolutely convinced there is a race in the State of Florida to prove which Floridian can do the dumbest thing.  Given recent actions by some bankers, lawyers and public servants, my guess is that the prize for first place must be pretty awesome.  This series will expose [...]

2.8 million properties foreclosed in 2009.
And the trend?  Bound to get even worse.  Record high default rate now, as over 13% of homeowners are behind on their mortgage payments.
American homeowners now $745 billion underwater on their mortgages, according to First American CoreLogic.
Sounds low to me.
Why? Interest only mortgages, which are not sub-prime, which switch over [...]

Many of our clients facing foreclosure in Illinois and Wisconsin speak only Spanish. So when I tell them that the Obama Mortgage Modification Program has been a great disappointment, it comes out “gran decepción”.  And after explaining to my clients how disappointed I have been with the mortgage “modification” program, I couldn’t help thinking that [...]

The other day I wrote a blog containing my thoughts on the recently enacted “Hope for Homeowners Act of 2008″.  After giving the new law more thought and listening to some recent news clips, I decided to detail more problems with the legislation.  This law has no teeth because of the voluntary participation aspect.  That’s right, [...]

Anyone who works with consumers these days–attorneys, housing counselors, lenders, and brokers and, for that matter, anyone who reads media reports on the mortgage crisis–has no doubt reacted to some tale of financial woe like this:  “How could anyone be that dumb!”  We’ve all heard some version of the exploding ARM, the payments which are [...]

The Treasury Department appears to have begun to notice that HAMP may not be working; in response, a directive that any trial loan modifications set to expire by January 31, 2010 must remain in place while servicers establish that the borrowers are eligible for modification. In another announcement, the Treasury Department has issued a conditional waiver for the requirement for escrow accounts under certain circumstances.

The US Treasury Department announced today that it recovered $200 Billion of the $700 Billion bailout for financial institutions.  Despite popular belief, the Bailout was not a free handout.  The money came with strings and the banks want out from under the TARP.
A number of banks have already paid TARP money back.  One of the [...]