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…]
Well, the 2014 tax lien sales in Arizona are complete. I attended the Pima County tax lien sale where over $10 million dollars of tax liens were sold over the course of two days. What was readily apparent from the beginning is that investors looking to fetch high interest rates on tax liens were going … [Read more…]
The Arizona Court of Appeals (Division 2) recently issued an opinion regarding the extent to which parties must be noticed in a tax lien foreclosure action. In this case, the subject real property (the "Property") was owned by Robert and Carri Anderson. The Property had a first position Deed of Trust, securing the Promissory Note. The … [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…]
The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 has survived the "fiscal cliff," which will invariably lead to a continued increase in the number of short sales nationwide. The "fiscal cliff" deal will extend the Act for another year, meaning that homeowners who receive debt forgiveness resulting from a foreclosure, deed in lieu, or short sale … [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…]
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…]
Pima County just finished up its 2012 tax lien sale. Pima County offered up nearly 14,000 tax liens over the two day live auction. One thing was readily apparent this year – the competition for these liens was stiff. The influx of private equity money into the Pima County sale was obvious. Competition for $500 … [Read more…]