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Real Estate & Property Law

The Home Equity Theft Reporter

Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues.
By r morris

Post Frequency: 25.7/day

Last Entry: September 06, 2017 at 04:02:00

Court Says Foreclosure Sales Were Invalid As Banks Didn't Acquire Interest In Delinquent Loans Until After Legal Action Was Completed

Posted on May 28, 2009
In a recent ruling by the Massachusetts Land Court, two foreclosure sales were held to be invalid because, at the time of the publication of the notices of foreclosure sale, neither foreclosing lender owned an interest in the mortgage (either recorded or unrecorded) each was attempting to foreclose...

New FHA Program Allowing Use Of Reverse Mortgages To Purchase Home Prohibited In Texas; OK Everywhere Else

Posted on May 28, 2009
The San Antonio Express News reports:Imagine being able to buy a new home with a 40 percent down payment and not ever having to make a mortgage payment for the rest of your life. The Federal Housing Administration early this year approved such a deal as a form of reverse mortgage for home buyers who are 62 or older...

NYC Tenants Look To Fannie To Maintain Complexes On Which They Hold Mortgages As Overfinanced Buildings Throughout City Begin Falling Apart

Posted on May 28, 2009
In New York City, Crain's New York Business reports:In 2005, Cammeby?s International bought a portfolio of five rent-regulated housing complexes in the city for $295 million. Just two years later, it flipped the grouping of former Mitchell-Lama buildings to Urban American Management for $918 million...

Missouri AG Tags Loan Modification Firm With Allegations Of Clipping Homeowners For Illegal Upfront Fees; Seeks Restitution & Civil Penalties

Posted on May 27, 2009
The St. Louis Business Journal reports:Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster on Tuesday sued a St. Louis company that allegedly failed to offer the foreclosure relief and mortgage modifications it promised to Missourians. Koster said the company, Gateway Mortgage Modification, charged ?large sums of money and promised it would negotiate a new, workable solution on the client?s existing mortgage,

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Colorado Mortgage Broker Charged With Forging Documents, Fudging Numbers To Obtain Unaffordable Loans For Homeowners

Posted on May 27, 2009
In Wheat Ridge, Colorado, KUSA-TV Channel 9 reports:Investigators say a mortgage broker forged documents and doctored numbers to get people into homes and loans they couldn't afford, leading to a string of foreclosures. Zach Magalei will appear in Jefferson County Court next week...

SC High Court Lifts Stay On Foreclosure Sales; Creates Procedures To Ensure Uniform Handling Of Cases Where Eligible Homeowners Seek Out Federal Help

Posted on May 27, 2009
In Columbia, South Carolina, The Associated Press reports:South Carolina's highest court has lifted a temporary stop on thousands of pending foreclosure sales in the state. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal on Friday replaced an injunction with procedures to ensure foreclosures are handled uniformly while eligible homeowners seek out federal assistance...

Parents Testify Against Son Accused & Subsequently Convicted Of Using Forged Documents To Refinance Family Home, Pocketing �55,000

Posted on May 27, 2009
In Gloucestershire, UK, the Daily Mail reports:A couple were horrified to discover that their son had remortgaged their home to raise �55,000 which he spent on luxury living, a court was told. Darrell Keen, 26, forged his father's signature to remortgage the family home in the Cotswolds - then blew the surplus cash in four months on restaurants and clothes...

Loan Modification Outfit Sued By Idaho AG Abruptly Shuts Down; Homeowners, Employees Left High & Dry As Feds, State Slap $700K+ In Tax Liens On Firm

Posted on May 26, 2009
In Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, The Spokesman Review reports:Apply 2 Save Inc. in Coeur d?Alene has closed its doors, shutting out hundreds of frustrated customers who did not receive the mortgage help they paid for and employees who are owed wages. The Internal Revenue Service on Monday filed four tax liens totaling more than $663,000 for unpaid 2008 federal unemployment and income taxes...

Virginia Feds Get 3 Guilty Pleas In Scam That Ripped Off $600K+ From Unwitting Homeowners' HELOC Accounts; One Suspect Remains A Fugitive

Posted on May 26, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Eastern District - Virginia):Chad Antoine Vieux, age 27, of Central Islip, New York, pled guilty today to Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud, [...] and one count of Bank Fraud, [...]. On April 2, 2009, Happie Harris, age 27 of Chester, Virginia, and on May 4, 2009, Sandra Caiby-Ramkissoon, age 37, of Glen Allen, Virginia also pled guilty to the same charges...

Pennsylvania Regulator Issues Cease & Desist Orders Against Six Loan Modification Firms

Posted on May 26, 2009
From the Pennsylvania Department of Banking:The Department of Banking has ordered six out-of-state mortgage modification companies to end their unlicensed business activities in Pennsylvania. The companies advertise on their Web sites to refinance mortgages in Pennsylvania as part of the loan modification process when they are not licensed to do so...

New Housing Law Protects Tenants Nationwide Against Being Blindsided By Surprise Foreclosure Evictions

Posted on May 26, 2009
The Associated Press reports:Buried in a housing law signed this week by President Barack Obama are protections that will help thousands of renters stay in their homes ? at least for awhile ? after their landlord has been foreclosed on.The law allows tenants to remain in their foreclosed rentals through the end of their lease and then 90 days after that before being forced to vacate by the lender

NY Title Agent Charged With Misappropriating Escrow Funds From Real Estate Deals; Uses "Ponzi" Approach In Attempt To Conceal Earlier Thefts, Say Feds

Posted on May 25, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Southern District - New York):LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, [and other officials] announced that BRIAN H. MADDEN, who controlled and operated three title insurance agencies in New York and Suffolk counties, was arrested today for misappropriating millions of dollars of escrow and other client funds and

Cleveland Housing Court Judge Slams Brakes On All Wells Fargo Foreclosure Sales Within City; Lender Accused Of Dumping Blighted Homes

Posted on May 25, 2009
In Cleveland, Ohio, The Plain Dealer reports:Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka on Thursday ordered Wells Fargo Bank to temporarily stop selling any foreclosed homes it owns in the city. A housing-advocacy group sought the temporary restraining order, saying that Wells Fargo has expanded its practice of dumping vacant and deteriorated homes for paltry sums without first doing repairs.

Closing Agent Gets 24 Months After Copping Plea To Pocketing Proceeds Of Real Estate Transactions; Insurance Underwriter Forced To Cough Up $1.2M+

Posted on May 25, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Rhode Island):A federal judge [last week] sentenced Angela Raposa, age 33, a resident of Riverside, Rhode Island, to 24 months in federal prison for Wire Fraud. Raposa pleaded guilty to that offense, admitting that between February 2006 and February 2007 she operated a title insurance company, Title America Closing Services, and used mortgage proceeds that

Cincinnati Man Charged With Stealing Bar Claims He's The True Owner; Accuses Alleged Victim Of Forging His Name On Papers To Illegally Transfer Title

Posted on May 25, 2009
In Cincinnati, Ohio, The Cincinnati Enquirer reports:A 40-year-old man was charged Tuesday with deceiving the owner of the East End Caf� to sign the deed over to him, Cincinnati police said. John Yeager of Sycamore Township was booked into the Hamilton County jail on charges of theft, breaking and entering, and securing writings by deception, court records show...

Tennessee Feds Charge Mortgage Broker With Ripping Off Refinancing Proceeds From Customers

Posted on May 25, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Eastern District, Tennessee):Thomas Duane Roderick, age 42, of Wesley Chapel, Florida, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Greeneville, Tennessee, charged with one (1) count of wire fraud, three (3) counts of bank fraud, and three (3) counts of money laundering...

California Fugitive Suspected Of Stealing, Then Selling, Home With Forged Deed Nabbed By Texas Cops

Posted on May 24, 2009
From the Office of the San Bernardino County, California District Attorney:In 2006, the San Bernardino County District Attorney?s Office filed felony charges against Daniel Schrey, 28, formerly of Yucca Valley, involving several counts of Real Estate Fraud...

North Carolina Man Charged With Forging Ex-Wife's Signature To Steal Her Interest In Home

Posted on May 24, 2009
In Cary, North Carolina, the May 20th Police Blotter reported in The Cary News contains this entry:On May 12, police charged Robert Harry Vogt, 40, of 1202 Castalia Drive, with one count each of obtaining property by false pretenses and forgery. Vogt allegedly forged his ex-wife?s signature in order to have her removed from the deed to their house...

Harvard Law's "No One Leaves" Group Makes House Calls To Help Tenants Fight Off Foreclosure Evictions

Posted on May 24, 2009
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Harvard University Gazette reports:On a bright May afternoon, two third-year Harvard Law School students set out on one of their regular visits to Dorchester and Mattapan. They are a slightly odd couple: Nick Hartigan, an intense, fast-talking 225-pound former running back, and David Haller, a laid-back native of Arkansas, with a slow Southern drawl...

Tennessee Couple Loses Home In Phony Foreclosure Rescue Scam; Operators Turn Out To Be Convicted Felons

Posted on May 24, 2009
In Hardemon County, Tennessee, WREG-TV Channel 3 reports on a local couple facing foreclosure who was offered and accepted assistance from Freedom Property Investment, a foreclosure rescue company that turned out to be a scam.WREG News Channel 3 Investigators spent weeks trying to track down the company's president, William Boxley...

NY Feds Indict Four In Alleged Short Sale, Straw Buyer Flipping Fraud Targeting Homeowners In Foreclosure

Posted on May 24, 2009
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Southern District - New York):LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, [and other officials] announced the filing yesterday of a six-count Indictment against LAVETTE M...

20-Unit Condo The Target Of Suspected Straw Buyer Mortgage Scam Leaves One Unit Owner Facing Loss Of Home Despite Having Made All His House Payments

Posted on May 24, 2009
In Escondido, California, the North County Times reports:[A] North County Times investigation that began in July has traced the demise of Brookhaven, a community emblematic of the nation's housing bust: Born of a 2005 project to convert apartments to condos, the complex has since been plagued by subprime loans, foreclosures, failed loan modifications, inflated values, strange rent agreements on

Oregon Bride Persuades Judge To Open Shuttered Hotel In Foreclosure To Host Wedding; Now Cries Foul Over "Extorionate" Receivership Bill

Posted on May 23, 2009
In Hood River, Oregon, The Oregonian reports:Plenty of brides gnashed teeth, sobbed and cried foul in January when the landmark Columbia Gorge Hotel abruptly closed, keeping their wedding deposits. But just one, Lynne Haaland of Toluca Lake, Calif., fought the distance...

Scammers Putting Bogus Chinese Drywall Notices On Vacant Homes In Foreclosure To Drive Down Prices At SW Florida Courthouse Sales?

Posted on May 23, 2009
In Cape Coral, Florida, WINK News reports:A mystery in Cape Coral. Notices, warning of Chinese drywall, are popping up on vacant homes in the city. The catch: The warnings are fake! The yellow notices claim to be from the Department of Health, and say the home has been inspected and contains Chinese drywall...

Elderly Cincinnati Tenants In Bed Bug-Infested Building Send S.O.S.; Landlord, City Refuse Assistance In Battle Against Blood Suckers

Posted on May 23, 2009
In Cincinnati, Ohio, WLWT-TV Channel 5 reports:A Tri-State apartment building for seniors is infested with bed bugs and the residents are claiming that nobody will give them the help they need. The Cincinnati Health Department said the responsibility for battling the bugs lies with the landlord...

NYC Pro Bono Recruiting Meetings Begin This Week; Outreach Program Needs Attorneys For Housing, Consumer Credit, Immigration Law For The Unrepresented

Posted on May 23, 2009
In New York City, the New York Law Journal reports:The first of five meetings to recruit, motivate and inform attorneys for the new NYC Legal Outreach initiative will be held [Tuesday night, May 26] in Brooklyn. The campaign is an "unprecedented" joint effort by the judicial and executive branches to expand pro bono legal assistance, Corporation Counsel Michael A...

NY Fed Looks To Iron Out Conflict Of Interest Issues With City's Elite Firms On Pro Bono Help For Homeowners In Foreclosure

Posted on May 23, 2009
In New York City, The Am Law Daily reports:The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has summoned lawyers at some of the city's elite law firms and largest banks for a meeting Wednesday to discuss the low participation in a year-old waiver program meant to allow firms to handle foreclosure cases for homeowners pro bono...

Foreclosure Of NH Assisted Living Home Gets Go-Ahead; Elderly Residents Could Face The Boot; Lender Expects To Acquire Facility & Continue Operations

Posted on May 23, 2009
In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, SeacoastOnline reports:After a three-year fight in the state?s bankruptcy court, The Pines at Edgewood assisted living residence has been foreclosed and will be sold during a June 3 public auction, said Concord attorney Carl Anderson who represents the mortgage lender...

100+ Rescued Animals Face Foreclosure From RI Farm; Owner Says Servicer Screw-Up When Mortgage Was Sold Led To Failure To Properly Apply Loan Payment

Posted on May 23, 2009
In Glocester, Rhode Island, WPRI-TV Channel 12 reports:A Rhode Island farmer who helps abandoned and even tortured animals may have lost the fight and is now facing eviction. Dan Mackenzie's foreclosure deadline ended without an extension, leaving him and more than a hundred rescued animals on the edge of eviction or worse...

Foreclosing Lender Screw Ups When Seizing Collateral Not Limited To Homes As Boat Repo Firm Twice Takes Wrong Vessel - Once With Owners On Board

Posted on May 23, 2009
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:A Fort Lauderdale company that claims to be the biggest boat repossession firm in the world has run into trouble for twice seizing the wrong vessel, once with the owners inside. Walter and Joann Dethier were in bed in their 40-foot Magnum sport cruiser, tied to a Key Largo marina, when they heard thumps as electric power lines

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