Foreclosures Archives - Page 3 of 5

Wells Fargo Pays the Consequences in “Shocking” Foreclosure Case

Posted on March 10, 2014by Admin

A New Mexico judge issued a $3.2 million judgment against Wells Fargo & Co. for foreclosing on a man’s home after his death, even though he had a purchased insurance policy through the bank that would have covered the remaining balance on the mortgage. The judge called the bank’s conduct “shocking” and so reprehensible that in addition to damages, attorney’s fees and court costs; she awarded James Dollens’s estate $2.7 million in punitive damages.

Dollens had purchased an accidental death mortgage insurance policy for his Rio Rancho home that was marketed by Wells Fargo and issued by Minnesota Life. His death was reported immediately to Minnesota Life and to Wells Fargo to make a claim under the insurance policy.

However, instead of collecting funds from the insurance policy, Wells Fargo sent notices about the loan being in default and sent the loan to foreclosure. There was $125,000 owed on the mortgage.

When the bank received a $133,559 check from the insurance company in May 2011, it collected delinquent payments, late fees, and fees for lawyers and for 18 property inspections, leaving only $4,400 for Dollens’s estate ‘‘because of misapplication of the insurance proceeds,’’ the judge said.

Wells Fargo argues the family should have continued making payments regardless of the insurance policy. The judge called this case “a breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing- The bank’s unwillingness and failure to hold off on the foreclosure even when requested to do so by the insurance company was shocking.”

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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.

Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Foreclosure Nightmare Far from Over

Posted on March 7, 2014by Admin

The revival of the U.S. housing market has produced a sigh of relief for much of the economy, as home prices and construction have finally rebounded. However, for some homeowners the foreclosure crisis has never ended. The worst of the foreclosure crisis passed years ago, but it has continued to cast a shadow over homeowners in places like Maryland, where many old cases have yet to work their way through the system.

Last year, Florida’s foreclosure rate was the third-highest in the country, behind Nevada and Illinois, according to RealtyTrac. Nationally, it is estimated that 5.2 million foreclosures have been completed since 2007. But the vast majority happened in the early years of the recession, with 2013’s foreclosures making up just 9% of the U.S. total.

Maryland’s high foreclosure rate is actually linked to the state’s attempt to remedy the process for underwater homeowners. In 2010, the state passed a law requiring mediation if homeowners requested it, and some foreclosure cases from early in the housing crisis are now going through the program.

Consumer advocates believe that these reforms are an important preventative measure against abusive practices that abruptly forced people out of their homes. Mortgage servicers have continued to employ abusive practices, which plague underwater homeowners and prolong the pain.

The Moody family, for example, missed one payment in February 2009 after Paul Moody suffered a back injury and lost his job. Five years later, after dealing with three different mortgage servicers, two foreclosure attempts and more than a dozen different applications for loan modifications, there is still no resolution in site. Attempts to seek relief from state and federally backed programs have gotten the family nowhere.

The major rules for mortgage servicers only went into effect in January 2014, allowing many abuses to continue despite intense scrutiny and demands for reform at the height of the housing meltdown. For instance: servicers are now prohibited from “dual-tracking” homeowners by offering them a loan modification while moving forward with a foreclosure at the same time. Mortgage companies are now required to ensure their customer representatives can actually answer question and access relevant documents to eliminate red tape issues, mixed messages and unreturned phone calls.

The good news is, the Moody’s have been able to stay in their home while negotiating with their lenders. A quicker resolution could be far worse- at least from the homeowner’s perspective- Legislative attempts to fast-track foreclosures have denied homeowners their rights and took their properties away before they could save them.

The end is slowly coming into sight for others as well. Nationally, foreclosures have hit a six-year low. Though many Maryland homeowners are still underwater, the delinquency rate for loans that aren’t yet in foreclosure is dropping, falling from about 11% of all mortgages in 2009 to 8% by the end of 2013, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Rising property values in the area means that fewer foreclosed houses remain vacant for long.

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Bankruptcy Law, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Proposed ordinance in Coral Gables requires banks to maintain foreclosed homes

Posted on February 26, 2014by Admin

City commissioners tentatively approved an ordinance Tuesday that will require banks to maintain foreclosed homes in Coral Gables. This new ordinance will increase the annual cost of keeping a property on the city’s registry of abandoned homes, allow police to issue trespassing warnings on those properties and allow the city attorney and city manager to take legal action against lenders.

The move is in an effort to keep banks focused on dealing with the amount of abandoned properties and get them back on the market quickly so property values do not suffer. The registration fee is increasing from $200 to $600 annually. This will cover the city’s “additional costs in monitoring the property,” according to the ordinance. This registration will also give police the ability to issue trespassing warnings to squatters. At present time, 94 homes in Coral Gables are listed as bank-owned, according to RealtyTrac.

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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.

Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

NEW Mortgage Protections for Members of the Military

Posted on February 17, 2014by Admin

The responsibilities of home ownership and having a mortgage are demanding enough for the average consumer, but the process becomes increasingly more complicated for borrowers who are serving our country.

To help ease these hardships- which include job and relocation stress, along with time constraints- the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has written new mortgage protections for these consumers, which are now in place for military men and women.

Holly Petraeus, head of the CFPB’s military office said the new rules have come after the CFPB conducted nationwide listening sessions and heard stories from military families about poor mortgage servicing practices, inconsistent foreclosure practices and sloppy recordkeeping by lenders. These new rules will help military families struggling with a mortgage and those that just got orders requiring them to relocate.

Some of CFPB’s new rules include:

• Require a servicer to evaluate a borrower for all available options as soon as they receive an application for mortgage help.

• Servicers must have policies in place to ensure consistent and constant contact with borrowers.

• One of the big changes relates to what is known as dual-tracking. In the past, a member of the military struggling to make a mortgage payment might have been working on a potential loan modification at the same time their servicer was moving to foreclose on the home. This practice is now restricted under the new rules.

• Eliminate the issue of misplacing documents and other factors that make it hard for borrowers to get accurate and consistent answers regarding their mortgage.

• Mortgage servicers are now required to train their employees to be more readily able to answer questions for borrowers who run into trouble and must assign someone to help military borrowers to ensure a positive experience.

• In the past, service members had to apply multiple times for programs to help keep their homes. The new rules require mortgage servicers to evaluate a borrower who files a complete application for help for all the options that are available to that borrower. This will eliminate multiple rounds of applications.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Florida Home Values go Up as Foreclosures Loom

Posted on November 21, 2013by Admin

October’s single-family home sales for Brevard showed an increase of 9.3 percent over the year, to 727 sales, according to Florida Realtors. Median sales price- the point at which half the homes sell for less, half for more – in Brevard rose 3.4 percent in October, to $120,000, from a year ago. According to one realtor in Brevard County, most of her sellers are getting the full asking price or slightly more.

The positive sales numbers for October are the likely result of banks and lenders stepping up foreclosure activities against Brevard and Florida property owners who have been delinquent in payments. According to RealtyTrac, Florida continues to lead the nation in the number of homes threatened with foreclosure. In Brevard, RealtyTrac reports there were 10,184 properties in the foreclosure process, a nearly 22 percent increase from a year ago. That’s the highest the figure has been since at least 2009.

Housing experts say a key reason for the increase in local foreclosure activity is because banks and lenders are trying to free up properties to make them available to buyers, both investors and those who plan to live in a home.

Daren Blomquist, the Vice President of RealtyTrac, says “the banks realize they can get more money out of a property through a foreclosure than a short-sell and often prefer foreclosures because they can get paid in cash as opposed to depending on a traditional home loan.”

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Not Always a Fairytale

Posted on November 7, 2013by Admin

A number of families that appear on the popular TV show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” encounter obstacles once the cameras and crew leave town. Oftentimes, it is the struggle to afford the upkeep on their expensive new homes and the hefty monthly mortgage payments.

The first of several foreclosures for the show involved Eric Hebert. In an early 2006 episode, his family home, described as a basement with a roof over it, received a huge makeover. The new home resembled a multi-story mountain lodge. Public records show Mr. Hebert’s original mortgage was for $110,000 in September 2004. In January 2006, just before the show aired, he refinanced for $250,000. About a year later, came another refinance with Wells Fargo for $382,500. A notice of default was recorded in January 2009 and the home was foreclosed on in October.

The Okvaths received a 5,346-square-foot home with six bedrooms, a movie theater and carousel in the backyard for their home makeover. After falling upon hard times, the family could no longer afford the $3,056 monthly mortgage payment. The area has an 18-month supply of homes in that price range and the Spanish-style mansion is out of place in its modest surroundings.

Some contestants have opted for a quick fix and attempted to sell their new homes. However, the homes featured on the show are big, luxurious residences built in working-class, rural communities making the properties a tough sell.

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Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Trend Alert in Foreclosures: Courts Becoming More Homeowner Friendly

Posted on October 14, 2013by Admin

According to a panel of circuit judges, tougher standards for getting evidence into record is having an effect on the number of new residential foreclosures being filed in the State of Florida. The new law that took effect July 1 requires plaintiffs to acknowledge in foreclosure complaints that all documentation needed to prove a case is in their possession. The August 28th decision from the Fourth District Court of Appeal requires that banks’ expert witnesses have direct knowledge of the authenticity of records being submitted for evidence.

The silver lining for homeowners is the new Florida law and recent appellate decisions have made lenders hesitant about filing new cases. Homeowners are getting dismissals based on the lenders’ inability to show they have standing and the statute of limitations expiring five years after the notice of default. This has been particularly evident in Palm Beach County where new filings dropped 61 percent in July from the previous year.

Click here to read more on courts becoming more homeowner friendly in foreclosures.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Distressed Home Sales Increase in South Florida

Posted on October 2, 2013by Admin

A new report indicates that sales of distressed homes have greatly increased across South Florida in August, a sign that more foreclosures are working their way through the court system. Four out of 10 Broward County sales last month involved homes in some stage of repossession, according to RealtyTrac, Inc. Foreclosure-related homes accounted for only 21 percent of Broward sales in August 2012. In Palm Beach County, 36 percent of August sales involved distressed homes, up from 20 percent a year earlier.

The figures are based on county deeds and include single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes. Broward’s median price in August for distressed homes was $112,150, up 24 percent from a year ago, RealtyTrac reported. Palm Beach County’s median for distressed homes increased 21 percent to $110,000.

Individual investors and large investment firms have been buying these foreclosed properties, usually paying in cash. In July and August, nearly seven in 10 sales across Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties were all-cash deals, RealtyTrac reported. The investors add value through renovations, then turn around and sell the homes for a profit. Investment firms tend to rent the homes for a year or longer before selling.

According to real estate agents the demand has helped the market rebound from the housing crash, but has led to a shortage of homes and kept many young families from buying.

Click here to read more on the increase of distressed home sales across South Florida.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Florida’s Foreclosure Rate Drops to No. 2

Posted on September 17, 2013by Admin

Florida has fallen to the No.2 spot in the nation for foreclosure activity in August behind Nevada after three consecutive months at No. 1, according to RealtyTrac. In August, one in every 383 residences in Florida received a foreclosure filing. A total of 23,372 Florida properties received foreclosure filings in August, down 14 percent from July and down 15 percent from a year earlier.

The decrease in Florida foreclosure activity reflects a 65 percent decrease in new filings, which hit their lowest level since RealtyTrac began issuing its state report in April 2005.

In Miami-Dade County, one in every 264 residences received some type of foreclosure filing in August, as foreclosure activity fell 19.88 percent from a year earlier and declined 14.13 percent from July, according to RealtyTrac. In Broward County, one in every 372 residences received a foreclosure filing in August. That reflected a 12.23 percent decline in foreclosure activity from a year earlier and a 27.28 percent decline from July. In both Miami-Dade and Broward, new foreclosures filings were down in August from a year earlier, while auction notices and bank repossessions increased.

Among the 20 largest metropolitan areas, Miami posted the highest foreclosure rate, and Tampa ranked second.

Click here to read more on Florida falling to the No. 2 spot in the nation for foreclosure activity.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Reversal in Condominium Association Case Likely to Impact Foreclosures Statewide

Posted on September 16, 2013by Admin

Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach recently reversed a Final Judgment foreclosing a lien in favor of the Sebastian Lakes Condominium Association. This could ultimately affect how contested foreclosure cases throughout the State are tried. In Yang v. Sebastian Lakes Condominium Association, the court ruled in a consolidated appeal that the testimony of the plaintiff-association management company’s records custodian was insufficient. Without that necessary testimony, the introduction of business records upon which the association relied to establish how much money it was owed was error requiring the reversal.

The case arose from a condominium association’s attempt to collect past due assessments from unit owners, which involved the critical issue- admission of business records into evidence. Given the similarities between lien foreclosure and mortgage foreclosure cases, it will likely have ramifications in both types of cases for years to come.

The Sebastian Lakes Condominium Association filed suit to collect monies allegedly owed to it by a husband and wife who each owned one unit in the condominium. The husband and wife denied the association’s claims and asserted that the association failed to credit their accounts with all payments made, and claimed that the collection actions were brought in retaliation because they were part of a group investigating $100,000 in missing association funds.

The appellate court reversed the final judgments in favor of the association because the management company employee could not testify as to the starting account balances, never worked with the prior accountant and was unfamiliar with his recordkeeping. This decision overturning a final judgment entered after trial will be important in ongoing and future foreclosure trials and even motions for summary judgment because it establishes what a records custodian must testify to for the admission of business records. Plaintiffs in such contested matters typically rely upon records and custodian witnesses rather than persons with the actual knowledge of the underlying lien or mortgage.

In order to establish the amount owed to it using business records, a plaintiff in a foreclosure action must now be able to present a witness who says not only the “magic words” but who also can testify as to the basis for all amounts claimed to be owed, rebut defendants’ claims of unaccredited payments, and to the other facts Sebastian Lakes’ witness could not.

Click here to read more on the recent reversal and how this is likely to impact foreclosures statewide.