Mortgage Foreclosure

Declaring that he poses a “substantial threat of harm to the public,” the California State Bar has filed pleadings in State Bar Court to lift the law license of Michael T. Pines, the Carlsbad, Calif., attorney who made national headlines by advising clients to break into their foreclosed homes and start living there again.

Looking for something interesting to do in New York today? You might want to attend the Justice For All luncheon at the New York State Bar’s Annual Meeting at the Hilton New York.

In another mortgage foreclosure case apparently involving documentation flaws, a New York state judge, Justice Jeffrey Arlen Spinner, has questioned how the plaintiff could “with unbridled temerity, demand enforcement of the Loan Agreement against Defendant Stephen Steele, who has not executed that instrument and against Defendant Susan Steele, who is not even a party to that agreement.” 

American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc., thinks the decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in U.S. Bank National Association v. Ibanez is not that much of a problem. The group says: 

The highest court in Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court, has issued a decision in a mortgage foreclosure case that is likely to have an extremely significant impact on mortgage foreclosures in Massachusetts – and possibly throughout the country. 

As we’ve mentioned, Bank of America has agreed to pay $2.8 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy back “sour” mortgages. It’s also committed $10 billion in future buyback funds. David Galanter, CEO of freeMortgageFix.com, has some thoughts on what this will mean for those currently facing foreclosure and for the overall residential and commercial real estate markets in general. 

A New York court has dismissed a mortgage foreclosure action, finding that the plaintiff, which had been assigned the mortgage by the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (“MERS”), had not demonstrated that it also had been assigned the underlying promissory note.

A bank instituted an action to foreclose on a mortgage on a home in Brooklyn, New York. While that action was pending, the New York courts imposed an obligation on each attorney representing a plaintiff in a foreclosure action to file an affirmation that he or she communicated on a specific date with a named representative or representatives of the plaintiff regarding specified matters.

The federal Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”) will prevent only 700,000 foreclosures – far fewer than the three to four million foreclosures that the Treasury Department initially aimed to stop, and vastly fewer than the eight to 13 million foreclosures expected by 2012. 

Many homeowners having difficulty making their monthly mortgage payments are being targeted for financial fraud by criminals who falsely claim they can rescue a home from foreclosure, but who then charge large upfront fees and fail to deliver on their promises. In some of the worst cases, homeowners are tricked into signing away their ownership of a house.