Kingcade Garcia McMaken, P.A. Bankruptcy Attorneys

South Florida Foreclosure Update: Recent report shows negative Equity and Foreclosures still High

Posted on June 18, 2013by Admin

Although South Florida has recently shown impressive gains in home prices and sales volume, it still has a long way to go. Corelogic reported that 40.7 percent of the mortgaged homes in the greater Miami area and 39.3 percent of those in the greater Fort Lauderdale area remained underwater in the first quarter. According to the real estate data firm, that is roughly double the national average of 19.8 percent of all mortgaged homes. In Broward County, foreclosure activity spiked 112.8 percent in May from a year earlier. One of every 317 residences in Broward received some sort of foreclosure filing during May, RealtyTrac said.

Much of the foreclosure activity reflects lenders moving forward with cases that were long delayed while regulatory concerns about robo-signing and similar mishandling of delinquent loans were settled. This recent data helps to explain the lack of inventory available in South Florida at present time. Most homeowners are less likely to put their home on the market if that means having to pay out cash at the closing table.

Click here to read more on the latest foreclosure data compiled by Corelogic for South Florida.

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 website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.

TREND ALERT: Lenders seek Court Actions against Homeowners Years after Foreclosure- Find out who they’re targeting…

Posted on June 17, 2013by Admin

homes underwater In an increasing foreclosure trend, a number of homeowners are being taken to court by their lenders years after their houses were lost to foreclosure. Lenders are filing motions in old foreclosure lawsuits and hiring debt collectors to pursue leftover debt, plus court fees, attorneys’ fees and tens of thousands in interest that had been accruing for years. It’s all part of a legal process known as a “deficiency judgment,” which is allowed in 40 of 50 states- including Florida.

It works like this: A property with a $500,000 mortgage might be worth only $300,000 following the housing crisis. The $200,000 difference, or what’s commonly referred to as the “underwater amount,” is known to lenders as a deficiency balance. Among the lenders pursuing the judgments are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Officials at those agencies said the judgments are necessary to recoup money lost in the housing market crisis.

Deficiency judgments are financially devastating to the foreclosed home buyer and also come with income tax consequences. Freddie Mac seems to be targeting “strategic defaulters,” which the agency defines as “someone who had the means but chose to go into default, that there were no extenuating circumstances that affected their ability to pay. If you’re choosing not to pay off your mortgage, but you’re paying other bills, this would be considered strategic default.”

Click here to read more on lenders seeking court actions against homeowners years after foreclosure with deficiency judgments.

Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Five Credit Tips for College Grads

Posted on June 14, 2013by Admin

For recent college graduates, the end of college means entrance into the ‘real world’. While new grads tend to focus on pressing issues like submitting job applications and sending out resumes, it is important to pay attention to personal finances.

1.) Choose cards selectively and apply seldom: Be selective about which cards you apply for, and only apply for one credit card at a time. Most credit applications result in an extensive inquiry, and if you have too many inquiries in a short period of time, you may be less likely to be approved by lenders when you apply for additional lines of credit in the future.

2.) Use your cards wisely: To build strong credit, use your credit card to buy everyday items, preferably things that you’re getting rewards points and cash back for, and pay the bill in full every month.

3.) Pay down your student loans: If you have a student loan payment that’s too high, your best option is to negotiate with the lender and try and make a reduced payment every month. You’ll be paying down the debt at a slower rate, but it’s a start. You may also consider consolidating all your loans into one, which may help lower monthly payments and better manage your outstanding debt. Deferment and forbearance are not wise options. These simply postpone the inevitable.

4.) Pay your bills on time: Your payment history contributes to 35% of your credit score, and on-time payments matter. Set up alerts and use online (automatic debits from your bank account) payments to help you stay current when it comes to your bills. Any payment more than 30 days late will likely be reported to the credit bureaus as delinquent.

5.) Check your credit report: Go to www.annualcreditreport.com and check your credit report at least once every year. It’s free to do! A recent report by the Federal Trade Commission found that 20% of consumers had an error on at least one of their three credit reports. Errors may impact your ability to receive financing on things like a mortgage or car loan or limit your access to the best credit cards.

Click here to read more on the 5 credit tips for recent college graduates:

If you are in a financial crisis and are considering filing bankruptcy, contact an experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney who can advise you of all of your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade & Garcia, P.A. has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys’ help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild and recover. The day you hire our firm, we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade & Garcia website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Timothy Kingcade Posts

How to Obliterate your Student Loan Debt

Posted on June 13, 2013by Admin

homes underwater Paying off student loan debt can often be just as difficult as earning your degree. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 1 in 5 households carry student loan debt. That’s nearly double the number of households from 1998. U.S. students on average borrow $27,000 for education, according to the Project on Student Debt, which is more than twice what students borrowed, on average, about 20 years ago.

No matter what debt eliminating strategy you use, giving up a portion of your paycheck to pay off student loan debt takes discipline and oftentimes radical lifestyle changes. Here’s how three couples worked to pay down their student loan debt in record time.

• Understand the Problem: It wasn’t until Deacon Hayes and his wife wrote down their student loan debt on paper that they got serious about paying it off. They credit their strict budgeting and using the debt snowball method (paying down debt starting with the smallest amount and working up) as the reasons why they were able to pay off all of their debt in just 18 months. In addition, they combined cell phone plans, saving $50 per month and sold Hayes’ brand-new car.

• Close the Leaks: Once you understand where your money is going, plug budget leaks and open new income streams. Both tactics are helping Bryan Lovgren and his wife in their plan to tackle nearly $28,000 in loans in just 10 months. They bargain shop for necessity items and have switched to a more vegetable-based diet to lower food costs. More importantly, they have committed to living off one salary, while Lovgren’s wife devotes her entire paychecks to the loan. They have also generated $7,000 to $8,000 by selling things they own through a local classified service.

• Stay Motivated: Statistically, consumers spend less when they use cash over credit cards, plan purchases in advance, automate their savings and keep projected savings goals in mind. Keeping your eye on the prize also helps. To pay off more than $100,000 in student loan debt in five years, Tricia Meyer and her husband made loan payments equivalent to their mortgage payments each month and built that into their necessary household expenses. To make the extra payment, they both took freelance consulting or teaching jobs and Meyer launched a couponing website where she now works full time. Together the couple generated between $10,000 and $15,000 annually in side income.

Click here to read more on how three couples paid off their student loan debt in record time.

Bankruptcy Law, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Lauderdale Lakes Rental Inspection Program Challenged in Federal Court

Posted on June 12, 2013by Admin

A group of Lauderdale Lake apartment complexes is suing the city in Federal court, claiming its new rental inspection program amounts to unnecessary and unwarranted searches of their property. The suit seeks to have the law declared unconstitutional and is asking for an injunction to keep the city from conducting inspections while the suit is heard.

City officials created the inspection program in February as a way of dealing with the foreclosure crisis that saw many single-family homes turned into poorly maintained rental properties. Under the program, inspectors go inside every rental to make sure the plumbing works, the electric circuits are wired properly, illegal rooms have not been added and walls and ceilings are not falling down.

The suit says even if there were a legitimate city purpose for the inspections, they would at least have to be required of all residences. In addition, plaintiffs believe that the inspection fee (of $150) is excessive and arbitrary because no such fee is charged to residential property owners whose apartment or residences are not for rent.

Click here to read more on the Rental Inspection Program being challenged in Federal court.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Property Values on the Rise in most Broward Cities

Posted on June 11, 2013by Admin

Property values in Broward County are on the rise according to new data. Cooper City leads the way with an 8.56-percent increase in taxable value; North Lauderdale comes in second with a 7.07-percent increase. Parkland has registered a 6.20-percent increase, while Coral Springs has seen a 4.08-percent spike in value.

These new numbers confirm the worst may be behind us. Mayor Vince Boccard expects property values to increase gradually in the next few years. Interest rates remain at historic lows, which have contributed to the shrinking inventory of homes on the market and an increase in housing prices all over the country. Many people are coming to realize that it costs less to purchase a home than to rent one.

Click here to read more on the rise in property values in Broward County.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Scott Signs Controversial ‘Fast Track’ Foreclosure Bill- Puts Florida Homeowners at Disadvantage

Posted on June 10, 2013by Admin

On Friday, June 7, 2013 Governor Rick Scott signed the controversial ‘fast track’ foreclosure bill. The bill is the first substantial change to Florida foreclosure laws since the burst of the real estate bubble in 2007, which pushed thousands of homeowners into default and overwhelmed the court system with foreclosures.

HB 87 requires homeowners to respond more quickly to foreclosure filings and gives community associations more power in the process. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jack Latvala and Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, also requires lenders to have their paperwork in order before filing a foreclosure complaint. And it cuts the time period in which banks can seek a deficiency judgment against homeowners to one year from five.

Scott, along with other supporters of the bill believes it will help Florida’s economic recovery ‘by placing abandoned homes, caught up in the foreclosure backlog, back on the market.’

A major concern of opponents is the provision that gives homeowners only monetary damages if their home is foreclosed on fraudulently. The measure is meant to protect third-party buyers from losing the home after purchase, bill sponsors said. But defense attorneys and other opponents say the measure erodes time-honored property rights and is unfair to homeowners.
The law will also allow any lien holder, including community associations, to request a so-called “show cause” order that would require homeowners to present a defense more quickly and give the judge the ability to make a faster ruling.

Click here to read more on the foreclosure bill recently signed by Gov. Scott that puts Florida homeowners at a disadvantage.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

72K Floridians to get $1,480 Foreclosure Relief Checks

Posted on June 7, 2013by Admin

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced this week that more than 72,000 Floridians who lost their homes to foreclosure from 2008 to 2011 will receive $1,480 from the record $26 billion mortgage settlement. To be eligible, borrowers must have lost their homes to foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2011, suffered certain foreclosure abuses, submitted valid foreclosure claims and had mortgages serviced by Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase or Wells Fargo.

According to Bondi, every borrower who filed a claim will receive a letter regarding their outcome in the upcoming weeks. Borrowers with questions about their National Mortgage Settlement payment can call the settlement administrator at 1-866-430-8358.

Click here to read more on foreclosure relief checks being mailed to Floridians who lost their homes due to foreclosure.

Timothy Kingcade Posts

Bipartisan Bill in U.S. Senate would make Tax Cheats Lose Federal Jobs

Posted on June 6, 2013by Admin

With the IRS scandal over targeting conservative groups still making headlines, two senators – one from each party – say that it is time to go after a real, proven target: federal employees who cheat on their taxes.
Senators Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, and Mark L. Pryor, Arkansas Democrat, have introduced a bill that would allow federal agencies to fire any employee with “seriously delinquent” tax debt. This qualifies as outstanding debt for which a notice of lien has been filed in public records.

According to the most recent IRS data, almost 312,000 current and former federal employees owed more than $3.5 billion in unpaid federal taxes as of 2011. That is an 11.5 percent increase in the delinquency rate of federal employees compared with 2010, which also was up from the previous year. The 2011 figure included more than 107,000 current civilian federal employees who owed more than $1 billion in unpaid taxes, and almost 142,000 military and civilian retirees who owed $2.1 billion.

Senator Coburn has proposed additional legislation that would bar tax evaders from receiving government assistance- including grants, contracts, loans and agriculture-related tax credits. He has submitted the additional legislation as an amendment to the Senate’s $955 billion farm bill — a measure that includes agricultural subsidies and the food-stamp program. A vote is expected in the coming weeks.

Click here to read more on the proposed bill that would make tax cheats lose Federal jobs.

Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Casey Anthony Civil Suits Focus on Tampa Bankruptcy

Posted on June 5, 2013by Admin

Casey Anthony’s bankruptcy case resumed in Tampa with the focus primarily on the two defamation suits filed against her by Zenaida Gonzalez and Roy Kronk. Last month, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge K. Rodney May heard from attorneys representing the two. Gonzalez and Kronk want the judge to delay the deadline to object to the bankruptcy until after their civil suits are decided. The judge must also decide whether the suits should be resolved in state or federal court.

Anthony filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in January in Tampa, claiming $1,000 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities. Gonzalez and Kronk were listed as creditors and their cases were put on hold. Gonzalez’s suit claims her reputation was ruined when Anthony told investigators looking for Caylee in 2008 that a babysitter named Zenaida Gonzalez had kidnapped her daughter.

Kronk, a meter reader who found Caylee’s remains in the woods near the Anthony home, claims his reputation was harmed when Anthony’s attorneys wrongly implicated him in the child’s death. Anthony’s civil attorneys have said both lawsuits are frivolous and should not deny her the “fresh start” she is seeking through bankruptcy protection.

Click here to read more on the latest in the Casey Anthony bankruptcy filing.