Miami foreclosure defense attorney Archives - Page 16 of 20

Bankruptcy Law, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Home Prices Increase, Outpacing Wages

Posted on April 6, 2015by Admin

According to RealtyTrac, home prices are rising 13 times faster than wage growth nationwide. From 2012-2014, median wages rose only 1.3% and median home prices climbed 17%. Low interest rates have helped keep buying an option. However, with wages not keeping pace with home prices in many of the markets analyzed, real estate experts believe this will result in another housing bubble.

On the flip side, homeowners who lost equity in their homes during the crash are likely rejoicing over the rapid increase. At the height of the crash, 13 million homeowners were underwater. Now the number is down to seven million.

According to the report, the markets with the highest rate of price appreciation compared to wage growth were:

• Merced, CA
• Memphis, TN
• Santa Cruz, CA
• Augusta, GA
• Palm Bay-Melbourne- Titusville, FL

First-time buyers often purchase starter homes, which according to RealtyTrac, have faced the biggest deficit in inventory. Rising home prices could be an incentive for more people to list their homes and ease up the tight inventory levels.

Click here to read more about rising home prices outpacing wages.

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

Florida Homeowners find a way to “Free” Foreclosed Homes

Posted on April 3, 2015by Admin

States such as Florida, New Jersey and New York have a five or six year statute of limitations on foreclosure cases. This allows cases of foreclosure to potentially be thrown out of court if dragged on for five or more years. Many Florida homeowners are using this statute of limitations to stay in their homes without having to make another payment to their lender.

Many defaulting homeowners continue to live in their homes after the foreclosure process has begun. For example, Bank of America has started the foreclosure process on approximately 20,000 mortgages that have not been paid in five or more years and 90 percent of those homeowners are still living in their homes.

While the issue is still being argued in the court system, Florida attorneys say lenders have five years to file a foreclosure once a homeowner defaults on his or her mortgage. The lenders argue that the clock resets every time a homeowner misses a payment.

Florida attorneys argue that once a foreclosure case is dismissed for technical reasons, the lender cannot re-file a foreclosure on the home because the statute of limitations has passed. However, in these types of cases the lender can keep a lien on the home that must be paid off before it is sold.

Click here to read more on this story.

Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

South Floridians Gaining Confidence in the Housing Market

Posted on March 23, 2015by Admin

A recent survey conducted by TD Bank revealed twenty eight percent of South Floridians are “very” or “extremely” likely to purchase a home in the next year or so, compared with only 9 percent in 2014. The survey polled 159 residents of South Florida, but was part of a larger national poll of 1,450 homeowners who purchased homes in the past ten years.

According to TD Bank, South Floridians are “finally finding the confidence to buy again” after the recession. Another survey from Zillow.com showed that South Florida renters are also gaining confidence in the housing market. The survey found that more than 161,000 renters in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties said they plan to buy within a year. South Florida will be a competitive housing market this year, with home prices ranging between $250,000 and $400,000. Nationwide, residents of South Florida, San Jose and San Francisco were most confident in the housing market, according to Zillow.

Click here to read more on this story.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Bill would Force Banks to Maintain ‘Zombie’ Homes if Passed

Posted on March 13, 2015by Admin

For years, homeowners who are being foreclosed upon have vacated the property before the foreclosure has been processed, often leaving the home in shambles. This has caused neighboring houses in those communities to lose significant value.

Currently, banks do not have a responsibility to maintain the properties until after the foreclosure is complete. This can leave homes vacant for months or even years. In an attempt to try and force banks and other mortgage lenders to maintain vacant properties during the foreclosure process, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman plans to introduce a bill that would require not only maintenance from banks during the process of foreclosure, but allow homeowners to stay in their homes until ordered out by a judge.

The bill, entitled the Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act would also create a registry of vacant properties to assist municipalities in enforcing local laws regarding property maintenance. Any fines collected would go into a fund to help hire more code-enforcement officers. Florida, New York and New Jersey hold the three highest rates of zombie properties, according to RealtyTrac.

Click here to read more on the Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

‘Zombie’ Homes Decreasing Neighborhood Property Values

Posted on March 12, 2015by Admin

Zombie homes are the name given to homes that are in the process of being foreclosed upon and have been abandoned by the property owner. In Florida, banks are not legally obligated to take care of properties until the foreclosure process is complete.

Unfortunately for nearby homeowners, the families who are foreclosed on are not the only ones who suffer. For example, in Florida a house worth $250,000 before the housing market crash is now worth only $68,000, due in part to zombie homes in the neighborhood. Zombie homes significantly impact the value of other homes in the neighborhood.

The State of Florida has more than 35,000 zombie homes, which is more than three times the national average, according to RealtyTrac. Many of the abandoned homes have overgrown lawns, plagued by snakes, spiders or other insects. Another common problem among these types of homes is “squatters,” who move into the vacant properties and then file for adverse possession, claiming that they now own the property because they have been living there for a certain amount of time.

Some states are in talks to pass a “Zombie Prevention Bill,” which would hold banks accountable for properties while in the process of foreclosure.

Click here to read more about the toll zombie homes are taking on Florida neighborhoods.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Trending: High-End Homes See More Foreclosures

Posted on March 10, 2015by Admin

The national foreclosure rate fell to 1.4% in December 2014, the lowest rate since March 2008, according to CoreLogic. However, foreclosures involving mortgages of $750,000 plus remain at a higher rate of 2.5%. After the housing market crash of 2008, foreclosure percentages have reached as high as 6.8% in May of 2012. Economists agree that it appears the market is on the mend. However, struggling homeowners with more expensive mortgages are recovering less quickly than others.

Before the housing market crashed, homeowners with $750,000 plus mortgages had lower rates of foreclosure than average. The recession has changed all that. CoreLogic data shows that in January 2006, the national average foreclosure rate was .1% and the foreclosure rate for $750,000 plus mortgages was .05%.

Some experts believe the higher foreclosure rate for “wealthier” homeowners is linked to the stock market crash and the subsequent housing market crash in 2008. Another contributing factor is that most states with higher stock in luxury homes also have the highest foreclosure rates since the crash. For example the three states with the highest foreclosure rates are New Jersey with a rate of 5.2%, New York with a rate of 4.0% and Florida with a rate of 3.7%. All of which have a large concentration of high-end real estate.

Click here to read more on this story.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Struggling Florida Homeowners Get a Break: No Default Notice Means No Foreclosure, Fourth DCA Rules

Posted on March 5, 2015by Admin

The Fourth District Court of Appeal has sided with the homeowners in a case involving Deutsche Bank and a mistake over the notice of default in a foreclosure case. A mailing address proved to be the bank’s downfall in an attempt to recover a house in Port St. Lucie, well-known for being one of the hardest hit cities following the housing collapse.

The attorney for the family argued the bank violated terms of the mortgage by sending the notice of default to a post office box as opposed to the property address, which was the official address listed on the mortgage. Even though the house was vacant at the time, the appeals court agreed and remanded the case to the trial court for dismissal.

Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Mortgage Rates Continue to Increase

Posted on February 26, 2015by Admin

Although the 30-year fixed-rate average is down year to date from 4.28 percent to 3.73 percent, mortgage rates moved higher again this week. One week ago the fixed rate average was 3.69 percent, up .04 percent. Earlier in February, the rate hit a 21-month low of 3.59 percent. The 15-year fixed-rate average also increased from 2.99 percent to 3.05 percent in the past week. The one-year ARM average moved higher to 2.45 percent, up .03 percent from last week.

With mortgage rates rising for the second consecutive week, housing starts declined 2 percent according to Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac deputy chief economist. However, Kiefer said home builders are remaining confident in new home sales. In addition to housing starts, home loan applications were also down approximately 13 percent last week. The refinance index decreased 16 percent while the purchase index dropped 7 percent. Economists say it is no coincidence that mortgage rates hit the highest number of 2015 and home loan applications dropped sharply, particularly for refinances.

Click here to read more on the rise in mortgage rates this week.

Credit, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Who will Claim $380 Million in Unspent Foreclosure-Abuse Money?

Posted on February 24, 2015by Admin

After a 2013 settlement, the Federal Reserve and Office of Comptroller of the Currency are attempting to reissue checks to borrowers whose homes were improperly foreclosed on between 2009 and 2010. The nearly 600,000 checks being reissued range from several hundred dollars to $125,000. In many cases, the Federal Reserve is reissuing these checks to updated addresses. Approximately $3.1 billion dollars has already been cashed or deposited by homeowners who suffered from the foreclosure-related abuse.

An independent review of the banks’ foreclosure practices was conducted in 2011 and found that bank employees were processing foreclosure cases without personally verifying accounts. It was also discovered that the banks were improperly denying loan assistance to homeowners, made errors in assistance plans and charged improper fees. Ultimately, fifteen banks signed the multi-billion dollar settlement leading the Federal Reserve to reimburse some 4.2 million borrowers.

Click here to read more on who will be claiming the $380 million in Unspent Foreclosure-Abuse Money.

Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

HARP: The Government Refinance Program the Banks Don’t want you to know about

Posted on February 10, 2015by Admin

Despite being launched in 2009, less than 0.5% of people have taken advantage of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). Few people know about it and even less know how to use it. HARP is designed to help homeowners obtain a more affordable, stable mortgage. It provides a bailout to help millions of homeowners save a significant amount of money by lowering their mortgage payments. Those who have taken advantage of the program have reduced their mortgage payments by as much as $3,000 a year.

The program expires in 2015, but there’s still time to get signed up. If you qualify and refinance through HARP, you may be able to take advantage of a number of significant benefits, including:

• Eliminating up to 15 years of mortgage payments and interest;

• Changing to a lower monthly payment;

• Refinancing at historically low rates.

Banks do not want you to benefit from the program, because it allows homeowners to switch lenders, taking millions out of their pockets and putting it back into the pockets of everyday people. If you feel like your mortgage interest rate is too high with your current lender, it probably is. HARP can help you switch to a new lender, one prepared to offer you today’s low rates, and you could save big. HARP is a government program and is totally free, so you have nothing to lose.

Click here to see if you qualify.