The Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) was created by the mortgage industry to fast-track the loan assignment process and helped bypass the burden of having to record every assignment. MERS was a perfect solution during the mortgage securitization frenzy. When the housing bubble imploded and foreclosure activity went through the roof, MERS found itself the target … [Read more…]
Joseph Smith, the monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement has reported that the five major banks have officially fulfilled the consumer relief obligations of the National Mortgage Settlement. He further reported that the banks have provided more than $50 billion of gross relief, which allegedly equates to more than $20 billion in credited relief. Smith … [Read more…]
The New York Times recently reported that when homeowners went to cash checks coming from the National Mortgage Settlement, the checks bounced – yes bounced. Ronnie Edward, whose home was sold in a foreclosure auction, apparently waited three years for his $3,000 check. When it arrived, he went to his local bank in Tennessee, only … [Read more…]
So, the election is over and the "fiscal cliff" is awaiting. Will The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 (the "Act") be extended? Given its bi-partisan support in the past, I would venture to say that it likely will be extended another year. The extension of the Act is a concern for many given … [Read more…]
‘short sale’ ‘tax lien foreclosure attorney’ ‘tax liens’ ‘Arizona tax lien foreclosure attorney’ ‘robo signing’ ‘deed in lieu of foreclosure’ ‘buy and bail’ ‘Arizona real estate attorney’ ‘Tucson real estate attorney’
The Arizona Court of Appeals in Phoenix recently ruled in Independent Mortgage Company v. Alaburda, that Arizona’s anti-deficiency law (A.R.S. Section 33-814(G)) protects a borrower who has a fractional interest in a vacation home. The Alaburdas purchased a 1/10th fractional interest in a single-family residential condo in the exclusive Villas at Seven Canyons in Sedona. … [Read more…]
The Arizona Court of Appeals (Division 1 in Maricopa County) just issued an opinion entitled Helvetica v. Pasquan, which addresses the scope of Arizona’s anti-deficiency protections in the judicial foreclosure (non-trustee’s sale) context. The first issue the Court addressed is whether refinancing a purchase money loan forfeits a borrowers’ anti-deficiency protection, to the extent that … [Read more…]
Arizona will receive $1.6 billion of the purported $25 billion joint federal-state settlement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers for their role in wide-spread servicer and foreclosure abuses. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne’s decision to join the broad settlement also means that his office has reached an agreement with Bank of America over allegations … [Read more…]
A long-vaunted settlement arising from the sixteen-month 50-state investigation into faulty bank foreclosure practices, which has perpetually been imminent, has finally concluded. The deal was struck between federal banking officials, 49 states Attorneys General, and the five largest mortgage servicers – Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase Co., Wells Fargo Co., Citigroup Inc., and Ally … [Read more…]
Democrats on the House oversight committee have apparently been pushing to subpoena the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA") to obtain an analysis looking at what effects principal reductions would have on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As HousingWire has reported, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco has long defended the agency’s policy of keeping Fannie and … [Read more…]