Miami foreclosure defense attorney Archives - Page 9 of 20

Foreclosures at New Low, Mortgage Delinquencies Jump

Posted on May 31, 2017by Admin

The number of first-lien mortgage delinquencies increased 13% last month, the largest increase since November 2008. Month-over-month there were 241,000 additional borrowers past due on mortgage payments, according to data from Black Knight Financial. The delinquencies were mostly in their early-stage.

Active foreclosure inventory was at a 10-year low in April and the month also saw the fewest new foreclosure starts since January 2005, only 52,800, down 12.4% from March and 10% year-over-year. Most improved by percentage were New Jersey (14%), Florida (13%), New York (13%), Nevada (11.7%), and DC (9.7%).

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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.

Miami–Dade has Second Highest Rate of Repeat Foreclosures in the Nation

Posted on May 17, 2017by Admin

Miami-Dade County has the second-highest rate of repeat foreclosures of any major market, according to a newly released report from Attom Data Solutions. New York City took the number one spot.

Miami-Dade’s rate was 32 percent, followed by Los Angeles County with 39 percent and Maricopa County (Phoenix), with 26 percent, according to Attom’s April 2017 report. New York’s rate was 54 percent.

A repeat foreclosure is defined as a foreclosure start filed in 2016 on a property with an address and owner’s last name combination that also showed a previous foreclosure start with the same property address and owner combination in the last 10 years, according to Attom.

Nationwide foreclosure activity in April dropped to the lowest level since November 2015. Miami-Dade saw its foreclosure rate fall 35 percent in April, year-over-year, to 986 foreclosure filings from 1,509 filings in April 2016.

Miami-Dade’s rate of foreclosures still remains higher than Broward County, which had 730 and Palm Beach County 578 in April.

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Credit, Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

New Lawsuit Accuses Ocwen Financial Corp. of filing bad foreclosures… Again

Posted on April 27, 2017by Admin

A lawsuit filed by the State of Florida alleges Ocwen Financial Corp.’s errors have resulted in “significant harm to borrowers, including but not limited to improper late fees, inaccurate negative credit reporting and borrower frustration.”

Twenty states have filed similar actions, along with the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Florida lawsuit, filed by the state Attorney General and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, says the West Palm Beach-based company filed illegal foreclosures, mishandled loan modifications, misapplied mortgage payments, failed to pay insurance premiums from escrow and collected excessive fees.

“When Ocwen has sent escrow statements, in many instances the escrow statements have contained inaccurate information pertaining to the borrowers’ account histories, escrow balances, and escrow payments,” the lawsuit said.

The complaint filed in federal court in West Palm Beach alleges violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and Chapter 494, Florida Statutes.

This is not the first time Ocwen has been accused of foreclosure misconduct. In 2014, a court approved a $2.1 billion settlement between Ocwen and 49 states, as well as the District of Columbia and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to address allegations of Ocwen’s mortgage servicing misconduct.

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Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Florida Couple Triumphs in Foreclosure Appeal

Posted on April 24, 2017by Admin

A Florida couple won an appeal in a foreclosure ruling by the 4^th District Court of Appeal of Florida. The appeals court determined the couple had a valid case and overturned the trial court’s decision, favoring the borrowers and that the bank, “failed to establish standing.”

In 2008, the couple defaulted on a loan three years after they signed a mortgage with the original lender, Bankers Mortgage Trust Inc. The couple was accused of two counts: 1. mortgage foreclosure and 2. “reestablishing” a note that was allegedly lost. A piece of paper attached to the copy of the note approved the new owner of the loan from the original lender to GreenPoint Mortgage Funding Inc. The claim about the lost note was dismissed after the bank failed to prove that it was the “legal and/or equitable owner and holder of the Note and Mortgage and (had) the right to enforce the loan documents.”

It didn’t help the bank when their sole witness, Pamela Bingham, who worked as a home lending research officer, couldn’t determine when the approval for GreenPoint Mortgage to take over the loan was included in the note or whether it was on the back or on another piece of paper, according to court documents.

The couple filed an appeal alleging the bank never provided valid evidence that it received the note from the original lender, and therefore it could not win the case as a non-holder in position with the rights of the holder.

“There was nothing, however, connecting the bank the endorsee of the note, GreenPoint Mortgage, to EMC Mortgage or the Bank,” according to the court. “In other words, the Bank failed to prove the series of transactions through which it purportedly acquired the note from the endorsee.”

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Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Why are mortgages getting cheaper?

Posted on April 19, 2017by Admin

The average rate of a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 4.08% this week, the fourth consecutive week of declines and the lowest level this year, according to Freddie Mac.

A higher Federal Funds rate makes it more expensive for banks to borrow money, which can translate into higher borrowing rates for consumers. But recent global uncertainty and signs that the White House might not be as productive with its agenda as many thought has caused yields to recently fall. The 10-year Treasury yield is around 2.23%, down from around 2.62% nearly a month ago. Mortgage rates have moved lower as well.

Freddie Mac predicts that we will see rates increase to around 4.5% by the end of the year. Potential home buyers should welcome the drop in rates with open arms as the busy buying season heats up.

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Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

New Home Sales Surge to Seven-Month High in February

Posted on March 30, 2017by Admin

Last month, new single-family home sales jumped to a seven-month high. The hike suggests the housing market recovery is stable despite the challenges of high prices, increased mortgage rates and tight inventories. According to the Commerce Department, new home sales increased 6.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000 units last month, the highest level since July of last year.

New home sales were up 12.8 percent when compared to February of last year. Economists believe the hike in sales is partially due to the unseasonably warm weather across most of the country. In the Northeast region, new single-family homes dropped 21.4 percent. However, in the Midwest, sales were up 30.8 percent and in the South sales were up 3.6 percent.

Fortunately, high mortgage rates have not had a negative impact on home sales this year, largely due to a tightening labor market that is improving employment opportunities for young adults. The market is also benefitting from a shortage of properties for sale in most areas.

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Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Foreclosure Inventory Hits “Pre-Crisis” Level

Posted on March 3, 2017by Admin

According to CoreLogic, 21,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed in the month of December. This number is equal to the average number of monthly foreclosures for the first time since the housing market crashed in 2007.

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (45,000), Michigan (30,000), Texas (24,000), Ohio (21,000) and California (19,000). The five with the fewest foreclosures in the prior 12 months through December were North Dakota (182), District of Columbia (254), West Virginia (312), Montana (630) and Alaska (668).

Of the 10 largest U.S. metro areas, the foreclosure inventory was highest in the New York area, at 2.5%. The Miami metro area’s foreclosure inventory totaled 2.0%, with the Las Vegas metro and Chicago each at 1.1%. The lowest totals were posted in the San Francisco (0.1%) area and in Denver (0.2%).

Foreclosure and delinquency trends continue to move in the right direction, a result of increasing employment levels, stricter underwriting standards and higher home prices over the past few years, according to CoreLogic’s CEO Anand Nallathambi. Further declines in foreclosure and delinquency rates are expected in 2017.

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Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

The Foreclosure Litigation Strategy Targeting Florida Seniors

Posted on February 21, 2017by Admin

A new defense strategy by lenders is targeting a growing number of low-income seniors. It involves suing to foreclose on government-guaranteed home loans under various defaults, then fast-tracking the lawsuits by filing motions for orders to show cause. These motions shift the burden of proof to the borrower, requiring them to appear in court and explain why a judge should not grant final judgment against them.

“All of a sudden, we saw a spate of foreclosures where the mortgage companies alleged the seniors no longer lived in the home,” said Gladys Gerson, supervising attorney for Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida’s senior unit. “This has been happening around the state.”

A dozen more cases statewide have appeared targeting low-income seniors. Florida is ground zero for issues involving seniors, but experts believe this tactic is likely to spread to other states.

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Bankruptcy Law, Credit, Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

South Florida Pair Arrested in Bank Fraud Scheme

Posted on February 20, 2017by Admin

Authorities have apprehended two bank fraud suspects who reportedly owned $17 million worth of property in Florida and New York, then victimized tenants and residents who lived there.

Issak Almaleh, 63-years old and Antoaneta Lotova, 51-years old were arrested in Hollywood on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and other offenses. The Sun-Sentinel reported the two chose properties in foreclosure that were owned by FDIC-insured banks. Authorities say they filed fraudulent and forged warranty deeds to show the transfer of those properties to corporations they controlled.

Almaleh, who was a notary, would notarize the documents as genuinely signed by representatives of the financial institutions and Iotova would sign the documents on behalf of the companies they controlled, officials said. This allowed them (with the help of police) to evict residents from their home and change the locks on the properties. The tenants were informed by the bank that their lease agreements were invalid and that they needed to vacate the property, officials said.

The two remain in jail.

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Related Resources:

http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2017/01/26/south-florida-pair-arrested-in-17-million-bank-fraud-scheme/

Debt Relief, Foreclosures, Timothy Kingcade Posts

Completed Foreclosures Drop 40%

Posted on February 16, 2017by Admin

Homes in serious delinquency have fallen to the lowest level since 2007, according to a National Foreclosure Report released by CoreLogic. Completed foreclosures dropped from 36,000 in December 2015 to 21,000 in December 2016. The report revealed that foreclosure inventory dropped by 30% annually.

The foreclosure inventory represents the number of homes that are in some stage of foreclosure, while completed foreclosures reflect the total number of homes lost to foreclosure.

Foreclosure inventory dropped to just 0.8% of all homes with a mortgage in December, down from 1.2% in December 2015.

Homes in serious delinquency, defined as those 90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure and REO, decreased 19.4% annually in December. The states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in December 2016 included Florida with 45,000, followed by Michigan with 30,000, Texas with 24,000, Ohio with 21,000 and California with 19,000.

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