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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

Wisconsin Appeals Court OKs Home Foreclosure Where Refinanced Mortgage Lacked One Co-Owner's Signature; Says Bank Steps Into Former Lender's Shoes

Posted on March 19, 2011
The State Bar of Wisconsin News reports:After the brother defaulted on a separate mortgage loan, the District I Wisconsin Court of Appeals recently applied the doctrine of equitable subrogation to uphold a foreclosure judgment against his sister?s interest in a home they both owned...

Mass AG Settles Suit With Ex-BofA Loan Officer For Allegedly Exploiting Status As Bank Employee To Run Loan Mod Ripoffs Targeting Strapped Homeowners

Posted on March 19, 2011
In Boston, Massachusetts, the Boston Business Journal reports:A former Bank of America Corp. mortgage loan officer accused of tricking distressed homeowners into thinking he was a lawyer will pay $6,250 in restitution as part of a settlement with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley...

Connecticut Orders California Loan Modification Peddler To Cease & Desist

Posted on March 19, 2011
From the Office of the Connecticut Attorney General:Attorney General George Jepsen is warning consumers that the California companies, Novation Marketing Center and Novation Law Center, are not licensed in Connecticut to provide mortgage loan modification services and are not affiliated with Webster Bank...

Crackdowns Continue In Effort To Recover Unpaid Real Estate Taxes Stemming From Fraudulent Florida Homestead Claims

Posted on March 19, 2011
In Deltona, Florida, Southwest Volusia News reports:Morgan Gilreath, Volusia County Property Appraiser, knows that Florida Homestead Exemption fraud is a problem, in not only Volusia County, but also the entire State of Florida and Gilreath is not standing idly by...

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Indiana Real Estate Agent Accused Of Running Foreclosure Rescue, Loan Modification Ripoffs Tagged With Emergency License Suspension

Posted on March 19, 2011
In Chesterton, Indiana, the Chesterton Tribune reports:Local real estate agent Don Johnson?s license has been suspended, on an emergency basis and for 90 days, by the Indiana Real Estate Commission (IREC), in response to complaints received after Nov...

"Human Intervention" Triggers Vacant Home Going Up In Flames, Says State Fire Marshal As Homeowner In Foreclosure Gets Pinched w/ Felony Arson Charge

Posted on March 19, 2011
In Escambia County, Florida, NorthEscambia.com reports:A Molino man has been charged with setting fire to his home that was in foreclosure last fall. George Thomas Alexander, 49, is facing a felony arson charge in connection with the fire in the 3500 block of Molino Road on October 6, 2010...

Baltimore Non-Profits To Launch Education Campaign To Help Keep Tenants From Getting Steamrolled Out Of Their Homes Due To Landlord's Foreclosure

Posted on March 19, 2011
In Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:If you're renting a home, don't assume foreclosure won't affect you. As tenants across the country have discovered the last few years, you can end up with a bank wanting to throw you out if your landlord doesn't keep up with the mortgage payments...

Corrupt Mortgage Company Head Cops Plea In Flipping Racket; Agrees To Finger Title Insurance/Closing Agent In Ongoing Prosecution

Posted on March 19, 2011
In Cleveland, Ohio, WKYC-TV Channel 3 reports:Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said a grand jury has brought down a 46-count indictment against owner Donna Sherman and her title company, Sherman Title Agency, of Northfield. Sherman, 33, of Middleburg Heights, fraudulently closed $1...

BofA Breaks Contract For Sale Of REO; Stiffs Homebuyer On Earnest Money Refund Until Media Makes Inquiries

Posted on March 19, 2011
In Port Charlotte, Florida, WINK-TV News reports:A Port Charlotte woman signed a contract to buy a foreclosed home but the bank backed out of the deal. The bank also kept her money. That's when she called for action.Ellie Serra's move stopped before it started...

'Straw Buyer' Recruiter In N. New Jersey Sale Leaseback, Equity Stripping Racket Gets 12 Months, 3 Years Probation, $275K Restitution Order

Posted on March 18, 2011
From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Newark, New Jersey):A Bloomfield, N.J., man was sentenced [] to a year and a day in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme carried out by the owner and employees of Elite Financial Solutions, a company based in Scotch Plains, N...

Citimortgage Tagged With NJ Suit As HAMP Class Action Parade Continues; Loan Servicer Allegedly Grabbed TARP Cash, Stiffs Loan Mod-Seeking Homeowners

Posted on March 18, 2011
From the Office of Berger & Montague, P.C.:The law firm of Berger & Montague, P.C. has filed a class action complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on behalf of all New Jersey homeowners whose mortgage loans have been serviced by CitiMortgage, Inc...

Sloppy Lender, State Homestead Law Leave Iowa Couple w/ Voided Mortgage; Bank Left Holding The Bag After Failing To Get Wife's Signature On Loan Docs

Posted on March 18, 2011
In Ankeny, Iowa, the Des Moines Register reports:Talk about sticking one to the bank. Matt and Jamie Danielson own their $278,000 Ankeny home outright, and paid almost nothing for it. A hasty home-loan approval and a 123-year-old law that requires mortgages be signed by both spouses helped the couple fight foreclosure all the way to the Iowa Court of Appeals...

Would-Be Buyers In Possession Under Unrecorded Purchase Agreements Have Land Mortgaged Out From Under Them By Seller

Posted on March 18, 2011
In Surry County, North Carolina, WXII-TV Channel 12 reports:Some Surry County residents are being forced to move after they said they bought property from a landowner. But the bank who owns the deed to the land said the properties are in foreclosure and is holding an auction for the land...

Goldman Says It's "Exploring Strategic Options For Litton Loan..." As It Begins Effort To Wash Hands Of Mortgage Servicing Unit

Posted on March 17, 2011
Bloomberg reports:Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, said it?s trying to sell Litton Loan Servicing LP, the Houston-based mortgage-servicing unit it acquired more than three years ago. ?Goldman Sachs is exploring strategic options for Litton Loan Servicing, which include a possible sale,? Michael DuVally, a spokesman in New York, said in a telephone interview...

Freddie Dumps Another Fort Lauderdale-Area Foreclosure Mill; Cases To Be Transferred To New Counsel

Posted on March 17, 2011
Housing Wire reports:Freddie Mac pulled its cases from a Florida law firm that is under investigation by the Florida attorney general. Freddie Mac spokesman Brad German confirmed Tuesday that Freddie has pulled its cases from the Law Offices of Marshall C...

Unwitting Investors Duped Into Buying Crappy Mortgage Paper Make Gains In Effort To Obtain Documents Proving Bankster Fraud & Enforce Buyback Demands

Posted on March 17, 2011
Reuters reports:U.S. banks may be turning on one another in the legal battle over losses on mortgage-backed bonds. Big pension funds and other investors are demanding compensation from banks that sold them supposedly low-risk mortgage-backed bonds that disintegrated in the housing crisis, a fight that ultimately could cost Wall Street $100 billion or more...

Homestead Protection From Forced Sale Gets Boost For Some Bay State Homeowners; Will Ease Pressure From Bill Collector Threats Against Home Equity

Posted on March 16, 2011
The Boston Globe reports:Credit card debt got you down? Revisions to the state?s Homestead Act that take effect Wednesday offer greater protection to [Massachusetts homeowners] from losing their homes to debt collectors.Though the law won?t protect someone who doesn?t pay a mortgage from losing a home to foreclosure, it could protect a homeowner from being evicted because of claims from an

"Legitimacy Of Our Justice System" At Stake, Says NY Chief Judge As He Refuses To Back Down On Call For $25M Funding Boost For Civil Legal Services

Posted on March 16, 2011
From a recent editorial in The New York Times:Acknowledging New York?s deep fiscal crisis, Judge Jonathan Lippman, the state?s chief judge, has reluctantly agreed to make cuts in his $2.7 billion budget request, including a reduction in the number of people working for the court system...

Attorney Who Advised Clients To Break Into Their Foreclosed Homes Targeted By State Bar For Immediate Removal From Active Practice

Posted on March 16, 2011
The ABA Journal reports:A California lawyer who advised clients to break into their foreclosed homes while he argued in state court that the foreclosures were illegal faces from the State Bar of California discipline for his remarks, the attorney regulatory agency announced []...

Secured Lender's Negligent Screw-Up When Failing To Pay Off All Existing Real Estate Liens Gives Unpaid Lienholder Priority Over New Mortgage In Ohio

Posted on March 15, 2011
Lexology reports:A recent Ohio appellate holding reinforces last year?s Ohio Supreme Court decision on the negligence exception to the doctrine of equitable subrogation. In Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. v. Boswell, 2011-Ohio-673, 2011 Ohio App. LEXIS 589 (Ohio App...

No Boot For Pro Se Homeowner In Convoluted Foreclosure Eviction Case; Woman Claiming BofA Refused To Talk To Her About Payments Granted Jury Trial

Posted on March 15, 2011
In Centreville, Michigan, WOOD-TV Channel 8 reports:The first jury trial in 30 years in an eviction case in St. Joseph County has left home owner Robin Roberts "thrilled." Trials are rare in eviction cases, which usually take a few minutes in front of a judge...

Cops: Father-Son Duo Suspected Of Using Forged Deeds To Take Title To Homes In Foreclosure, Then Renting Them Out To Unwitting Tenants

Posted on March 15, 2011
In Peoria, Arizona, KPHO-TV Channel 5 reports:Peoria police arrested a father and son on suspicion of renting out homes that did not belong to them. Officers arrested 75-year-old Earl R. Koskella and booked him on fraud schemes and aggravated identification theft...

State AGs Playing Into The Hand Of The Banksters???

Posted on March 14, 2011
The New York Times reports:ONE crucial reason the nation?s mortgage industry ran itself ? and the entire nation ? off the rails was its obsession with speed. Mortgages had to be approved chop-chop, loans pooled instantly. When it came to foreclosure, well, the quicker the better...

Feds Start Probe Into Saxon For Possible SCRA Violations As Mortgage Servicer Settles With Screwed Over, Foreclosed Sevicemember During Damages Trial

Posted on March 14, 2011
The New York Times reports:The Justice Department is investigating allegations that a mortgage subsidiary of Morgan Stanley foreclosed on almost two dozen military families from 2006 to 2008 in violation of a longstanding law aimed at preventing such action...

Media Report Triggers Calls From F'closed Ex-Homeowners About Surplus Money From Public Sales, Forcing County Officials To Begin Cutting Refund Checks

Posted on March 14, 2011
In Denver, Colorado, The Denver Post reports:Dozens of former homeowners who lost their houses to foreclosure have been calling public trustee offices across Colorado to see whether they have any money coming to them. "We had no idea until we saw it in the newspaper," said Anthony Michaels of Denver, whose mother, 92-year-old Fayetta Curry, and his younger sister, Sharon Parker, were among a list

Bronx Tenants Sue Lender To Cough Up Cash For Urgent Repairs To Building Abandoned By Landlord As Bank Scrambles To Unload Unwanted Promissory Note

Posted on March 14, 2011
In The Bronx, New York, Crain's New York Business reports:A group of Bronx tenants filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to force New York Community Bank to hand over money to repair eight foreclosed buildings riddled with code violations.The suit is similar to one filed last year by tenants in foreclosed buildings that had been bought by Los Angeles-based Milbank Real Estate...

Clueless Out-Of-Town Landlord Abandons Mismanaged Units After Overpaying For 19 Buildings; Leaves Living Hell For Poor, Displacement-Fearing Renters

Posted on March 14, 2011
In Cincinnati, Ohio, The Enquirer reports:In Avondale, Tawana Riley battles daily with roaches, bed bugs and faulty electrical outlets. In Over-the-Rhine, residents at The Senate Apartments on 12th Street have been plagued by a rat infestation and broken plumbing that backs up sewage...

BofA's Force-Placed Insurance Unit Hid Foreclosure Information, Say E-Mails Released By Hacker Group

Posted on March 14, 2011
The New York Times reports:A hacker organization known as Anonymous released a series of e-mails on Monday provided by a former Bank of America employee who claims they show how a division of the bank sought to hide information on foreclosures.The bank unit, Balboa Insurance, was acquired by Bank of America when it bought the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial in 2008...

Loan Servicers' Force-Placed Insurance Racket Targeted By State AG Settlement Offer

Posted on March 13, 2011
Insurance Networking News reports:Few of the restrictions in the proposed attorneys generals' settlement of mortgage servicing practices are as absolute as the prohibition of profiting from force-placed insurance.Under the settlement's terms, banks and other mortgage servicers are forbidden from placing policies with an affiliate or accepting "commissions," "referral fees," "kickbacks" or "

Non Profit Law Firm Teams w/ Private Attorneys To Chase Long Island Outfit Allegedly Targeting Homeowners In Foreclosure w/ Loan Modification Ripoffs

Posted on March 13, 2011
In Nassau County, New York, The Wall Street Journal reports:Lawyers working pro bono for borrowers facing foreclosures say loan-modification "specialists" are pretending they can convince banks to accept lower monthly mortgage payments in return for fees from the borrowers...

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