Foreclosures Archives - Page 18 of 56

Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Widows, divorcees struggle with foreclosure rules

Posted on March 29, 2016by Admin

According to a recent report from the National Consumer Law Center, widows as well as surviving family members and the recently divorced continue to struggle to stay in their homes. It is estimated that thousands of homeowners, usually women who did not sign the original loan documents, are having trouble getting access to relief that the new federal guidelines have provided other homeowners since the foreclosure crisis.

The Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is being urged to adopt rules that would expand protections to others who may have homeownership interest in a property, aside from just the borrower. Every month of delay increases the interest that the homeowner owes, increasing the fees on the loan amount and decreasing the changes of a loan modification.

Federal regulators need to do more to educate borrowers. Borrowers can fill out paperwork allowing lenders and mortgage companies to disclose financial and loan information to family members or spouses. Many borrowers are unaware that they can agree to disclosures so family members and spouses communicate with lenders to avoid undue hardships after death.

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Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

House Passes Foreclosure Extension Protection for Military Homeowners

Posted on March 23, 2016by Admin

The Foreclosure Relief and Extension for Servicemembers Act of 2015, which extends foreclosure protection for military homeowners, has been extended from the current 90-day period to a one-year period beginning in January 2018.

The foreclosure protection element of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) expired at the end of last year, but the extended protection will be retroactive when the bill is signed by President Obama. The legislation was backed by a coalition of veterans’ organizations and housing and financial services trade associations.

The SCRA’s extension provides important foreclosure protections to the brave men and women of our military who are transitioning back into civilian life. This is a vital homeownership tool that helps members of the military stay in their homes.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it received approximately 2,800 complaints from military personnel related to mortgages during 2015. The majority of these complaints were related to servicing issues, including loan modifications, collections and foreclosures.

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Bankruptcy Law, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Miami Bankruptcy Judge Sides with Homeowner Facing Foreclosure

Posted on March 22, 2016by Admin

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurel Isicoff recently ruled in favor of a Miami homeowner facing foreclosure, an important decision linking bankruptcy and foreclosure cases. The 14-page ruling challenged other decisions forcing homeowners to stop fighting foreclosure on property they surrender in bankruptcy. The judge ruled that surrendered property not administered by a trustee is abandoned to the debtor, not the creditor.

“Compulsory surrender of real property collateral by a debtor to a lienholder in Chapter 7 is not supported by and indeed ignores the express provisions of the Bankruptcy Code,” Isicoff wrote. “And consequently I must disagree with my colleagues who have held otherwise.”

The case involved mortgage holder AS Theia LLC, a Miami homeowner and his Sunny Isles Beach condo. It was the latest in an ongoing debate about the meaning and consequences of house surrenders in bankruptcy court. The central question is whether homeowners who surrender their property to get bankruptcy protection must stop fighting in state court to save the same homes from foreclosure.

In a similar 2011 case, In re Failla, the judge ordered the borrowers to stop defending a pending foreclosure action. The judge acknowledged the bankruptcy law did not specify whether a surrender was to the trustee or lienholder, but found the borrowers committed fraud by agreeing to surrender in one court but fighting to keep the property in another.

The district court upheld the decision, ruling the critical question was the “legal effect of the debtor’s decision to surrender,” not whether the property went to the trustee or lienholder.

Isicoff suggested the ruling ignores a key factor: whether or not the debtors complied with the surrender by not interfering with the trustee’s administration of the property.

This is an important decision because it gives homeowners the opportunity to have their day in court and require the lenders prove their case.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Former NFL Player, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, Losing Home to Foreclosure

Posted on March 16, 2016by Admin

Chad Johnson, six-time Pro Bowl NFL receiver turned reality TV star is faced with losing his 6,000-square-foot mansion in Davie, FL to foreclosure. The residence at 2899 Juniper Lane was foreclosed on earlier this month and will be put up for public auction in April.

“Chad Ochocinco,” as he is commonly referred to grew up in Miami and spent the prime of his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he caught more than 1,000 receiving yards in seven of his first nine seasons. He legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ochocinco, in honor of his jersey number, 85 in 2008. He later changed his name back to “Johnson” in an effort to “find himself.” He also starred in a reality-TV dating series called Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch , which ran for a single season on VH1 in 2010.

After playing for the New England Patriots in 2011 he signed with the Miami Dolphins, but before the season began, he was arrested for domestic battery and was cut from the team. In February 2015, the Long Lake Ranches West Homeowners Association placed a lien on Johnson’s home, claiming he owed more than $3,500. After not paying, the association sued and on March 1, a Broward County judge officially granted a final motion of foreclosure on Johnson’s home. The home is currently worth approximately $1.1 million, according to property records. The home will be posted for sale at broward.realforeclose.com on April 15.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Florida Ranks #1 in Completed Foreclosures for January

Posted on March 15, 2016by Admin

Foreclosure inventory decreased nationwide by 21.7 percent and completed foreclosures dropped 16.2 percent in January compared to the previous year, according to CoreLogic. The number of U.S. homes in some stage of foreclosure totals approximately 456,000, compared with 583,000 in January 2015.

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in January were Florida (74,000), Michigan (49,000), Texas (29,000), California (25,000) and Ohio (24,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall topped all other U.S. metro areas for completed foreclosures in January, with 6,919.

Foreclosure inventory represents the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure, and completed foreclosures represent the total number of homes lost to foreclosure. There have been 6.1 million completed foreclosures across the country since the financial crisis began in September 2008. Since that time there have been 8.2 million homes lost to foreclosure.

Related Resources:

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/blog/2016/03/florida-tops-innation-for-completed-foreclosures.html

http://247wallst.com/housing/2016/03/08/january-foreclosures-highest-in-florida-michigan/

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

America’s Foreclosure Crisis Isn’t Over Yet

Posted on March 9, 2016by Admin

Goldman Sachs is the latest big bank to settle claims related to its role in the 2008 housing crisis. The global investment bank reached a deal with the U.S. government, agreeing to pay $5.1 billion as part of the settlement. Nearly $2 billion of which will be set aside for programs to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.

During the height of the financial crisis, the government’s top priority was backstopping the nation’s banking system. Congress authorized $475 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Approximately $46 billion of that was allocated to programs to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Tens of billions of dollars were also set aside following a string of settlements between the government and a number of Wall Street banks, including Bank of America. These funds were put into programs such as the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) to provide relief to homeowners.

Eight years after the housing bubble burst, foreclosures and underwater mortgages are down nationally. However, there are several areas and states that are still struggling. In 2013, Christy Goldsmith Romero, special inspector general for TARP, warned that homeowners were defaulting on their modified loans at an “alarming rate.” Data released in September of 2015 revealed the rate of defaults on the reset mortgages increased greatly over time. Romero’s office released a statement that said, “The longer a homeowner remains in HAMP, the more likely he or she is to re-default out of the program.”

Between 2009 and 2015 nearly 2.2 million homeowners applied for a trial modification but nearly 786,000 canceled. Out of the remaining 1.4 million granted HAMP modifications through the Treasury Department, approximately 467,000 re-defaulted.

According to thousands of calls and complaints received on the Special Inspector General TARP hotline (SIGTARP), banks and mortgage servicers are to blame for the high default rate. Homeowners claim that the banks lost paperwork and made clerical errors resulting in defaulted mortgages. According to SIGTARP, “dual-tracking” is also an issue. This is a practice where the servicer of the HAMP mortgage continues to pursue foreclosure while the homeowner is in the HAMP program.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

South Florida Foreclosures Continue to Decline

Posted on February 26, 2016by Admin

Once a foreclosure hotbed during the U.S. economic downturn, South Florida’s housing market continues its recovery in the New Year. The number of homes in some stage of foreclosure reached 3,063 during January, according to RealtyTrac. That is approximately one in every 808 homes- a rate that has fallen by 45 percent compared to January 2015.

Miami-Dade had the most foreclosures out of South Florida’s three counties with 1,358 homes in distress. Broward and Palm Beach counties had 919 and 786 last month. The decrease in foreclosures means South Florida now ranks 22^nd in the nation for properties in financial distress.

Nationally, the trend was similar. A total of 95,186 homes were in some stage of foreclosure last month, a decline from 11 percent compared to the same month a year ago. The U.S. is now at its lowest foreclosure rate since 2008, according to RealtyTrac.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Florida Supreme Court to Rule on Statute of Limitations in Foreclosures

Posted on February 17, 2016by Admin

In Florida, there is a five-year statute of limitations that prevents banks from proceeding with a foreclosure beyond that time period, even after a lengthy court process. However, some mortgage servicers are making payments on behalf of their borrowers to help keep the accounts active in an attempt to preserve their foreclosure rights.

These servicers are waiting on the Florida Supreme Court’s decision on the case U.S. Bank v. Bartram. This case will determine if servicers can restart foreclosures after five years or if they will be barred by Florida’s statute of limitations.

If the court rules that mortgage servicers cannot restart the clock, some foreclosures could be permanently barred, forcing banks to accept less, give deals or greatly lower the monthly payment, according to the article by Moody’s Investors Service. Banks may also opt for a short sale in order to get any recoveries.

According to the report, the court’s ruling will impact a minor amount of cases. “Only approximately three percent of private label loans backed by properties in Florida had a prior foreclosure dismissed and are greater than 60 days delinquent or in foreclosure.”

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

How Foreclosure Rates Affect Homeownership

Posted on February 9, 2016by Admin

The housing market has experienced a gradual recovery largely due to the fact that foreclosure start rates are returning to “normal,” pre-recession rates. In 2014, foreclosure start rates fell to 1.75 percent, after exceeding 5.4 percent at the height of the housing market crisis in 2009. The third quarter of 2015 experienced the lowest foreclosure start rate since the second quarter of 2005, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Prior to the housing market crash, homeownership reached a peak rate of 69 percent of households, meaning that 31 percent of households were renters in 2006. Studies show that most people rent before they own, therefore the ‘normal’ flow is for renters to become owners with age. According to the National Association of Realtors, first-time buyers closed approximately 36 percent of the 6.5 million existing-home sales in 2006. Which meant that approximately 2.3 million renters became buyers in 2006.

There is also a flow in the opposite direction where homeowners become renters. In 2006, 1.9 percent of existing mortgages entered into foreclosure. This means that approximately 900,000 homeowners left their homes and became renters. Using these two measures, first-time homebuyers and foreclosure starts, we can see that the flow into homeownership was strong and the flow out of homeownership was weak in 2006.

This trend greatly changed during the housing market crash. At the height of the recession in 2009, the foreclosure rate rose to historically high levels and first-time homebuyers fell drastically. That same year, nearly 2.8 million homeowners left their homes after entering into foreclosure and became renters.

Mortgage companies have since offered assistance to first-time homebuyers to ensure the housing market stays on the right track. For example, many mortgage companies offer first-time buyers the ability to obtain a mortgage with less than a 20 percent down payment. Mortgage companies have also tightened their grip on mortgage lending criteria for obtaining a home loan. Lending companies’ historically reckless lending practices played a big role in the housing market crash.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Foreclosures and Delinquent Mortgages Decline in South Florida

Posted on February 5, 2016by Admin

A report released by CoreLogic revealed that the housing market is improving in South Florida. Both property foreclosures and delinquent mortgages are down from previous years.

The foreclosure rate in Broward County decreased 2.01 percent in November 2015 compared to November 2014. Approximately 2.55 percent of mortgages in Broward County were in foreclosure this year, down from 4.56 percent the previous year.

Palm Beach County had the lowest foreclosure rate at 1.95 percent. This is down from 3.49 percent the previous year. Miami-Dade County’s foreclosure rate dropped from 4.8 percent to 3.12 percent.

South Florida’s rate of improvement was higher than the average rate in the country. However, the actual number of foreclosures remained substantially higher in the area. The national foreclosure rate fell from 1.49 percent to 1.17 percent.

The number of mortgage loans that were at least 90 days delinquent also improved in South Florida and across the country. Broward County’s delinquency rate was 6.29 percent, down from 9.50 percent; Palm Beach County’s rate was 4.75 percent, down from 7.54 percent and Miami-Dade County’s rate dropped from 10.67 percent to 7.25 percent. The average rate across the country dropped from 4.14 percent to 3.25 percent.

The improvements in the market are good news for today’s buyers. Lenders are using a stricter underwriting process to avoid lending to risky borrowers, which experts attribute to the decrease in foreclosures. Property values are on the rise, restoring equity and confidence among homeowners and buyers.

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