Archive for December, 2010

Top 2010 Foreclosure Headlines from South Florida Law Blog

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

As we approach the close of one of the most historical years in Florida real estate, the South Florida Law Blog wants to thank all of you for supporting our efforts throughout the year. In case you missed some posts, we are highlighting some of the interesting twists and turns the past year has delivered from “what to tell your kids about foreclosure” to the breaking of the foreclosure fraud crisis. If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover in 2011, or ways we can improve the blog, please let us know.

Top 2010 Foreclosure Headlines from South Florida Law Blog

In the meantime, here are the top 2010 headlines from South Florida Law blog:

1. What to Tell Our Kids About Foreclosure: From the Heart

2. Roy Oppenheim on “Asset Protection” Discusses Deficiency Judgments and Homeowner Negotiating Power

3. Even More Embarrassment for Banks: Foreclosure Fraud

4. Roy Oppenheim on Strategic Foreclosure: Shay’s Rebellion 2.0

5. Back To School: Learn the ABC’s and D for Deflation?

6. How the Banks Aren’t Playing Fair: CBS News, Roy Oppenheim Talks with Investigative Reporter Stephen Stock

7. Roy Oppenheim to the Wall Street Journal: “Your editorial will make future investors think twice about entire system”

8. Cracked! Humpty Dumpty, Chase, and GMAC: The Bank Mortgage Foreclosure Fraud Crisis Continues to Fall by Roy Oppenheim

9. The F Words: Fraud and Foreclosure – Watch Roy Oppenheim’s Workshop Replay on Bank Fraud and Mortgage Foreclosure
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Roy Oppenheim on Volcanoes and the Economy from Costa Rica

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

Foreclosure Defense Attorney Discusses Global Economic Recovery – Part 3

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

If you are a Florida homeowner facing foreclosure, you may not be thinking about the long-term economy. But Roy Oppenheim, a Florida foreclosure defense attorney, sees the big picture and how it relates to the foreclosure crisis.

Oppenheim offered Florida homeowners his insights on the economy in a recent interview on the talk show “Mind of Money” with Asset Protection Attorney Douglass Lodmell.

As Oppenheim sees it, Florida homeowners—whether they are in a foreclosure crisis or not—have to recognize that the current state of the economy is the new norm. There isn’t going to a rapid change in today’s economy.

“We need to look at what happened in Japan with the lost decade. This could be a lost generation,” Oppenheim says. “I’m not trying to scare people, but you need to understand that the Federal Reserve throwing $600 billion into the economy to prevent it from deflating further suggests that there are real serious problems with this economy.”

What is the way out? Oppenheim offered three possible paths Florida homeowners should be aware of as they make decisions about foreclosure defense strategies. The U.S. could opt for any of these three strategies:

1. The Third World Approach: Inflating the U.S. dollar so that Florida homeowners have more money, debt is worth less and easier to pay off, but real estate is worth more. Oppenheim says this is the current direction the government is taking.

2. Open the Borders: Allowing immigrants who can invest $250,000 or more into the economy to settle here. If upper middle class people from around the world come to America, it will create a demand for products and services.
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Roy Oppenheim Discusses Foreclosure Crisis Defense Strategies – Part 2

Monday, December 20th, 2010

What do you do if your house is in foreclosure? Do you put your head in the sand and enter into the financial crisis? Or do you launch a foreclosure defense?

Roy Oppenheim, a respected Florida real estate and foreclosure defense attorney, offered strategic advice for Florida homeowners in a recent interview on the talk show “Mind of Money” with Asset Protection Attorney Douglass Lodmell.

“The bank crisis is a wonderful opportunity to literally engage the bank in hand to hand combat. There’s an old expression that says to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. You need to bring the bank to you,” Oppenheim says.

Engage the bank like you would engage the enemy.

“Once you’ve engaged the bank, you can then attack them on their fraudulent documentation, if there is any. And more importantly you can engage them to do a short sale, a loan modification or a deed in lieu of foreclosure, or maybe a restructured foreclosure. There are many options.”

Of course, Oppenheim says, before you engage the bank you need to assemble a foreclosure defense team. The good news is the bank is usually willing to negotiate. Oppenheim says banks understand it could take 18 to 20 months—at a price tag of about $1,000 a month—to carry a piece of property that’s in foreclosure. The bank also risks sanctions for any illegal activity with the mortgage. Oppenheim says it’s in the bank’s best interest to find some sort of workout.

What if? The dreaded deficiency judgment.

“At the end of the day, our end game is to make sure that at all costs there is not a deficiency judgment against our clients.” None of our clients that we have defended from the beginning have had a deficiency judgment entered against them. “That may change. If we exhaust all options, we would consider bankruptcy.”
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USA Today: Roy Oppenheim on Foreclosure Filings Nose Dive

Friday, December 17th, 2010

In today’s USA Today article titled “Foreclosures take biggest dive in years in November,” Roy Oppenheim comments that in light of recent events, foreclosure judges have begun processing foreclosure cases more slowly.

Roy Oppenheim on USA Today

Julie Schmit reports that U.S. foreclosure filings fell more last month than in the last five years after several large banks halted foreclosures amidst widespread allegations of robo-signers and improperly prepared or missing documents.

Data released by RealtyTrac today indicates that national foreclosure filings in November dropped 21 percent from the month before. According to a related story running in today’s South Florida Sun-Sentinel, foreclosure filings in Florida fell a staggering 42 percent in November. Florida remains the state with the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country.

Read this article in its entirety in the Oppenheim Law Media Room.

Roy Oppenheim Sizes up Foreclosure Crisis with Asset Protection Attorney – Part 1

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

The tides turned from mortgage crisis to foreclosure financial crisis in October 2010. Florida Attorney Roy Oppenheim made the call three days before the bank fraud story broke in the Wall Street Journal. He reflected on that day with leading Asset Protection Attorney Douglass Lodmell in a recent interview on the talk show “Mind of Money.

On September 28th at a Florida Assets Protection seminar, Oppenheim predicted: “In the next 72 hours the news you are about to hear, not about the mortgage crisis, but what will be called the foreclosure crisis will make most attorneys in this country question what they learned in law school and why they became lawyers.”

“It’s the tip of a very ugly iceberg,” Oppenheim says about the foreclosure crisis

“The crisis has moved from the debtors to the banks. It’s the repercussions of the banks not playing fair–basically cheating with sloppy and fraudulent paperwork including backdated affidavits, forgeries, and notary fraud.”

While yes, banks did this to try to cut corners, what the banks actually did was cut the corners of the Constitution. Banks were missing essential documentation and denying homeowners of their fundamental constitutional rights.

Like Humpty Dumpty, the mortgage note is broken up and cannot be put back together again,” Oppenheim points out.

Is 2012 the bottom of the market? Not yet. Most economics are saying in 2019 the homeowners will still owe more than what their homes are worth, considering the banks currently have 107 months worth of inventory in foreclosure.

Millions of people have been illegally foreclosed or are in the process of being foreclosed. The bottom line: banks did not have the right to bring these foreclosures and homeowners now have the ability to push back.
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Oppenheim Law Shares Robo-Signer Story with Sun Sentinel Real Estate Writer

Monday, December 13th, 2010

Homeowners and lawyers including Roy Oppenheim say overwhelmed lenders and judges are rubber-stamping foreclosures, overlooking major problems and compromising the defendants’ rights to due process.

Sun Sentinel Roy Oppenheim and Geoff Sherman Share Story of Improper Foreclosure

In a recent interview with Sun Sentinel’s Real Estate Writer Paul Owers, Roy Oppenheim and Geoff Sherman shared a recent case of improper foreclosure.

“This case is a symbol of the crisis,” said Oppenheim, whose Weston, Florida law firm is representing the Kachkos. “It’s a system that’s run amok. All the rules of civil procedure are being flushed down the toilet.”

Read more about how Oppenheim and Geoff Sherman crafted a basic foreclosure defense for a client outlined in this story


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