Archive for 2009

Slander of Title and Foreclosure Defense

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Various news services over the weekend reported that the number of foreclosures in Florida will increase – primarily due to the deteriorating job market. Now not only will sub-prime borrowers continue to get foreclosed, but average borrowers, who had good credit (or so-called prime borrowers) are now being foreclosed. Unfortunately, many of these homeowners are losing their income and even when jobs get replaced, the new job is usually lower-paying and will not support the mortgage payment.

So it is in that scenario that we are glad when a foreclosure mill has to pay us our legal fees in a wrongful foreclosure case such as in the situation below.

The Florida Wrongful Foreclosure Defense Case
The facts were simple. The bank sued the wrong condo unit owner. Our client had been making all his payments yet somehow the bank and their counsel sued the wrong condo-owner. They slapped a lien on the wrong unit and that is where they crossed the line. The legal name for this situation is slander of title! Well when the bank’s counsel learned of their error, we were more than gracious to settle quickly and get the lien released and, yes… get our fees paid.

It’s a small victory… but when confronted with the long odds we face each day… yes we take professional pride in these small victories. It’s like David and Goliath. We are David representing all the average folks while the billion and trillion dollar banks are Goliath… literally. We truly believe the banks caused this crisis that has affected the whole economy. They knew or should have known that paying originators to effectively lie and cheat as long as they provided a live borrower who could make one monthly mortgage payment would ultimately spell disaster.
(more…)

Statewide Solutions for Florida Foreclosures?

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Today’s Daily Business Review includes Roy Oppenheim discussing the possible Florida Supreme Court task force to regulate the process of foreclosure. Read on for the full story.


dbr_logo_print_media_events

Florida Supreme Court
Task force hopes to standardize management of excessive foreclosures

Florida Supreme Court task force on home foreclosures plans to propose uniform case management and design a model mediation program to deal with the glut of foreclosure cases tying up the state’s legal system.

In an interim report released this week, the task force said uniform statewide solutions are needed “to avoid a patchwork of independent and confusing requirements.” But the task force is short on details, making it difficult for those working on foreclosure cases to comment on the proposals.

“At this point, it’s a little uncertain how things are going to proceed other than we expect some time in August to have a final recommendation from this task force,” said Fort Lauderdale attorney Eric Schwartz, who represents licensed mortgage lenders.

The 14-page report plus attachments notes the obvious: mortgage foreclosure filings have exploded. In three years, state courts have seen filings increase by 400 percent, and Florida has the fourth highest foreclosure rate nationally.

But instead of receiving increased infrastructure or funding, the court system has suffered cutbacks as the economy plummeted, and judges are juggling a backlog.

Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente said the court must try to balance the interests of lenders and borrowers when drafting a plan, and she emphasized the need for statewide standards.

Pariente, who had not seen the report when she was interviewed, said she does not know what the answer is but knows it’s important that the process be efficient and guarantee each borrower who wants a day in court can have one.
(more…)

Loan Auditors and Foreclosure Defense: The Real Story

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

The Daily Business Review’s Terry Sheridan called Oppenheim Law to talk about how loan auditors are becoming a hot commodity in helping homeowners with today’s foreclosure maze.

Here is the full story as seen in the May 5th issue of the Daily Business Review.

logo

Loan auditors review contracts for mistakes, but critics question usefulness
A mid growing efforts to help home owners avoid foreclosure, loan auditors are elbowing for a seat at the table.

Attorneys and home owners hire the companies for $500 to $1,000 to comb through mortgage documents for questionable disclosures or improper fees that could be used to delay or prevent foreclosure. And some loan auditors say they will trace ownership of a loan note. The document is critical, because without that paper trail, a lender can’t foreclose.

“They are the latest cottage industry to spring up because of the housing and financial downturn,” said real estate and foreclosure attorney Roy Oppenheim of Oppenheim Pilelsky in Weston.

How many auditors exist isn’t certain, and the companies aren’t licensed or regulated. As for their services, no one seems able to agree on how useful audits are.

Oppenheim says at some time he may use an auditor. But for now, his clients don’t want to spend the money.

“We get hired to handle a foreclosure, not a counterclaim against a bank,” he said.

On the other hand, foreclosure defense attorney Peter Ticktin of the Ticktin Law Group in Deerfield Beach said he believes fighting the banks on behalf of his clients is exactly why auditors are essential.
(more…)

Obama’s Report Card on His First 100 Days as President

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

With about 6 million folks going to lose their homes to foreclosure this year, I have been repeatedly asked what kind of grade I give the Obama administration in addressing the foreclosure crisis during the first 100 days. I would say a B or B-. Let me explain.

On the one hand, there has been some improvement in the overall credit markets and we are seeing a lot more refinances at historically low interest rates. However, only about 2 in ten families will qualify to refinance this year. That means a whopping 80% will have to proceed on a different course.

The so called “mortgage modifications” so far have been a failure. 50% of all modifications end up in foreclosure. That is the current number. Because the servicers have little control over their obligations to their investors, it is cheaper and safer for them to foreclose.

Short sales have gone way up and it seems that the servicers are more likely to agree to a short sale than a modification where the investor takes a crew cut!

I have always described the “Obama plan” as a three legged stool:

  1. Refis;
  2. Modifications; and
  3. the threat of bankruptcy judge telling the lender that the principal amount of the loan is being reduced or “crammed down” their throats due to the decrease in the property values.

Of course, to date the third leg of the stool does not exist since it got hung up in the Senate. That will not likely change due to the lobbying done by the banking industry. Ironically, it appears that some of the very tax payer bailout money is now being used to pay expensive Washington lobbyists to keep this bill from coming to the Senate Floor. How ironic! Thus it appears that the long sort after weapon that foreclosure defense attorneys were awaiting is remaining elusive and will continue to hinder our ability to get better results in our loan modification negotiations.

(more…)

Sun Sentinel Blogs About May 7th Foreclosure Workshop

Monday, April 27th, 2009

The South Florida Sun Sentinel ‘Consumer Talk’ blogger, Daniel Vasquez, lists Oppenheim’s May real estate workshop as a top priority for homeowners troubled with foreclosure. See below for the story.

consumer-blog

Free foreclosure workshop for South Floridians

Have questions about foreclosures? Who doesn’t, considering Florida’s foreclosures rank fourth in the nation and South Florida foreclosures jumped 33 percent in the first quarter of this year?
Well, get out out your calendar and put away your checkbook.

On May 7th, Roy Oppenheim, a South Florida foreclosure attorney, defense advocate and blogger, is offering a free workshop to discuss what homeowners can do to cope during the tough times of foreclosure.

Help for Homeowners: Oppenheim will help homeowners with subjects like, short sales, loan modification and lost bank notes. He hosts a free legal real estate workshop on the first Thursday of every month with the next workshop on May 7th.

What: Help for Homeowners Workshop
Where: 2500 Weston Road, Suite 404, Weston, Florida.
When: May 7, 2009, 6:00 to 7:00 PM
Cost: Free with Advanced RSVP to roy@gate.net
Read on for the full foreclosure workshop story.

The VA, JPMorgan, and Foreclosures: Personal Responsibility and Enterprise Liability

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

Maybe its is just me, but what I am seeing over and over again during these turbulent economic times is a general sense of a lack of personal responsibility. It is truly becoming a sign of the times and until we figure out how to properly correct it, our very foundation will be continuously questioned if not threatened.

The examples are now running amuck.

AIDS at the VA

First we hear this past week about the VA literally spreading AIDS in a VA hospital in Miami and elsewhere by not properly cleaning certain “sensitive” equipment used in colonoscopies. Hello!! Are they STUPID? Would we ever hear of such an idiotic situation at a private facility where the Dr. and his partners would lose their license and be sued to the moon if this happened? No! Of course not, but at the VA no one will ever be held personally accountable.

In fact if the person who received AIDS is still on active duty he may not even be allowed to sue the VA. But even if the innocent victims do sue, who will actually be paying the damages: you and me the taxpayer. Not the manager of the facility, or the person responsible for cleaning the tubes. Certainly the President won’t ask the Secretary of the VA to step down because it wasn’t “his fault.” Well whose fault was it is the real question and how do we create a system that prevents these kinds of unbelievable mistakes? I am not sure but the list continues.

(more…)

Foreclosures Continue Rising in South Florida

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

Miami Herald

mhatcher@MiamiHerald.com

The number of foreclosures in Miami-Dade and Broward continued rising last month, as mounting job losses crippled borrowers’ ability to make monthly payments and lenders lifted previous foreclosure moratoriums and resumed legal action against delinquent accounts.

In Miami-Dade County, lenders filed 3,043 initial foreclosure actions against homeowners and reclaimed 819 homes through foreclosure. Hundreds more were scheduled for auction at the courthouse, according to a monthly foreclosure report from Irving, Calif.-based RealtyTrac.

Filings were up 15 percent over last year, but jumped 50 percent from February. In all, one in every 182 homes in the county were in some state of the foreclosure process.

In Broward, foreclosures were up 17 percent over last year but unlike in Miami-Dade, dropped 14 precent from the previous month. Lenders filed 1,175 new foreclosures and 966 homes returned to bank ownership. In all, one in every 175 homes were affected.

Many lenders suspended foreclosures in the first half of the year as they waited for the Obama administration to release details of a national foreclosure prevention initiative. In February, it launched the Making Home Affordable Plan, which is expected to help as many as 9 million borrowers avoid foreclosure by refinancing or modifying their current mortgages.

Roy Oppenheim, a Weston attorney who offers foreclosure defense and other foreclosure prevention services, said unemployment was increasingly driving the new foreclosure figures.

”One in six families are either unemployed or underemployed and people just don’t have the money to pay,” Oppenheim said.

Oppenheim said he frequently turns away homeowners seeking refinances or modifications because even with a lower monthly payment, many still don’t have the means to cover taxes, property insurance and homeowner association fees.
(more…)


PHP/MySQL Components, WordPress Plugins, and Technology Opinions at TravisWeston.com

Bad Behavior has blocked 2709 access attempts in the last 7 days.