July 7^th is your chance to get answers to your real estate questions as Roy Oppenheim hosts his free monthly Foreclosure Workshop LIVE ONLINE and in Weston, FL.

Join Oppenheim, recently profiled in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, tomorrow night as he explains why homeowners on the verge of Shay’s Rebellion 2.0 hold the power and means to fashion their own financial bailout.

What: Strategic Defaults + Foreclosure Explained: Free Workshop

When: Wednesday, July 7, 2010 – 6:00 to 7:00 PM

Who: Homeowners facing foreclosure or underwater mortgages, real estate professionals, buyers and sellers

Where: Oppenheim Law Online Stream

Or come in person: 2500 Weston Road, Suite 404, Weston, FL 33331

Cost: Free with advanced registration

RSVP: To register email roy@oplaw.net or call 954.384.6114

Unable to make it to Weston or want to watch from home? Simply visit www.oppenheimlaw.payperlive.com at 6 PM tomorrow night to participate in the commercial-free high quality broadcast. Ask questions and get answers just like you were in the live audience.

Check out the video below for a preview of the Foreclosure Workshop and Oppenheim Law looks forward to seeing you tomorrow night!

Foreclosure defense attorney and legal blogger Roy Oppenheim shared his thoughts on the Florida Supreme Court’s mandated mediation process with Miami Herald writer Harris Meyer in an article published on Sunday about Florida foreclosures.

“I enjoy mediations and find them very effective,” Oppenheim said. “But I won’t mediate unless the bank has done its homework.”

Oppenheim went on to explain mediation can be successful for homeowners and the banks only if the mediator is skilled, the lender has read the documentation and also knows the value of the property and the holding costs.

Oppenheim’s comments follow the news that foreclosure filings in Broward have fallen from 51,670 in 2009 to 17,565 in the first five months of 2010. However, as Oppenheim Law explained on the South Florida Law Blog in May, this decrease in Florida foreclosure filings can probably be attributed to the new rules promulgated by the Florida Supreme Court requiring every residential mortgage foreclosure complaint must be verified and prove that the plaintiff is the actual owner and holder of the promissory note.

Oppenheim Law wrote, “Until now, banks have been abusing a Florida statute allowing them to file a foreclosure based on a “lost note.” The problem: the notes aren’t lost; the banks are just too lazy to look for them. This new rule is halting foreclosure filings in their tracks, as banks scramble to find the notes so they can foreclose.”

Also less encouraging is the fact that commercial foreclosures are increasing, and concerns of increased residential foreclosures due to the re-setting of rates under adjustable-rate mortgages may accelerate, according to the Herald.

Want to learn more about mediation and foreclosure? Join Oppenheim Law for our free monthly foreclosure defense workshop next Wednesday, July 7 @ 6 pm and check out the entire Miami Herald foreclosure story in the Oppenheim Law Newsroom.

Is strategic default nearing its peak? Oppenheim Law doesn’t think so.

Pointing to recent positive indicators in the economy and real estate market, today’s Daily Business Review poses this question to foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim in today’s Economic Outlook.

Signals of stabilization in South Florida real estate include:

• The Florida Association of Realtors reported May data showing year-over-year increases in the median prices of single-family home sales.

• Default Research of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, reported that initial foreclosure filings in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties fell 51 percent in May, compared with April.

A turnaround in home prices could eliminate the incentive to voluntarily enter foreclosure through strategic defaults. “If prices start going up, they wouldn’t be upside-down anymore,” Oppenheim said in the Daily Business Review. “But I don’t see that happening for awhile.”

Check out the entire Daily Business Review article in the Oppenheim Law Newsroom.

Florida real estate attorney and legal blogger Roy Oppenheim contributed to the report, which explains how a tenfold increase in foreclosure cases over the past five years is crippling the South Florida court system.

According to Oppenheim Law, South Florida courts have turned to mediation, a process prior to foreclosure proceedings that gives homeowners and banks an opportunity to avoid a battle in court if an agreement on the future of the property and debt can be reached. The problem, though, is most homeowners are not aware they now have a right to mediation.

“Mediation makes all the difference in the world,” Oppenheim says. “There are so many opportunities to resolve matters in mediation, a lot of creative ways.”

Check out the entire Foreclosure Tsunami article in Oppenheim Law’s Newsroom to find out the state’s plan to eliminate half of the foreclosure backlog by the end of the year.

Aside from acting as counsel on short sales, foreclosure defense and strategic defaults, Weston real estate attorney Roy Oppenheim is bestowing a sense relief to South Florida’s underwater homeowners.

As Oppenheim Law mentioned in our Shay’s Rebellion 2.0 Workshop Recap, Sun-Sentinel real estate writer Paul Owers was on hand, working on a feature article of Oppenheim and the firm’s foreclosure defense strategies.

The article highlights Oppenheim Law’s monthly foreclosure defense workshops, explains the firm’s entry into foreclosure defense practice and describes the positive effects Oppenheim Law’s services are providing for homeowners struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments.

Check out the entire Sun-Sentinel article in Oppenheim Law’s Newsroom and be sure to leave your comments below!

Examples are Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti and Chilean earthquakes and, of course, the devastating Gulf Oil catastrophe. Who could have imagined an underground oil well would explode and the government would not have a logistical safety plan in place. Now we watch each day helplessly as the oil destroys our beaches, marine ecosystem — and our way of life.

It is always events that just come out of nowhere that shock our senses.  This oil deluge is no different except it is happening in slow motion over weeks and months instead of minutes or seconds.  Each day tens of thousands of gallons of oil are fowling our shorelines and animal life. Fisherman and those in the marine industry are feeling the effects first, but so are the folks in the hospitality business.

Many small businesses will be put out of business, and there will be a new round of mortgage defaults by those that have lost their livelihoods due to this crisis.  Individuals generally involved in tourism in the bordering Gulf States will be most affected.

Economists are suggesting that along the Florida Panhandle alone 195,000 people may lose their livelihoods. Not just their jobs! Those fishermen who only know how to fish as a livelihood face a huge problem since the fishing industry as a whole is at risk. Estimates suggest the losses to the Florida Panhandle alone could top $10 Billion!

So just when we thought maybe we had hit rock bottom in the real estate market, one can only imagine the number of new foreclosures we will see crashing ashore in the coming months courtesy of BP, its contractors, subcontractors and the latest Black Swan.

From the Trenches,

Roy Oppenheim

“I honestly felt like Bank of America was trying to steal my property”, said Nancy Willmes, who had paid cash for her home from Fannie Mae, who had foreclosed on the previous owner.

This growing problem is caused by the massive increase in foreclosure proceedings lenders have seen in the past few years. The numbers are startling, and there has been over a 400% increase in foreclosure filings in Florida since 2007.

This enormous increase has not only affected the already bogged down “Big Banks” but has also put a serious strain on our legal system, that at times appears to have been transformed into a private collections agency.  In fact, several months ago the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court’s Office erred in a foreclosure action and had a woman and her family literally thrown into the street by police officers after they auctioned off her $260,000 home for $87,000.  A Judge quickly reversed the sale, but the family was left homeless for 24 hours.

As frustrated homeowners tuned in online through the OPLaw Foreclosure Defense UStream Channel, Oppenheim Law marked its 18^th Legal Real Estate Workshop amidst a live audience and Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reporters.

For one week only, you can view the workshop on the South Florida Law Blog. This is your chance to hear Oppenheim explain strategic default, short sales, foreclosure defense and the real estate revolution he has dubbed “Shay’s Rebellion 2.0.”

We’ll be answering some of our Foreclosure Workshops’ frequently asked questions next week so be on the look out for that post. Feel free to add your own questions as comments on the blog!

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

Be sure to tune in next month on July 7 for the next Strategic Foreclosure Workshop hosted by Roy Oppenheim and for all the Foursquare users out there, start Checking In with Oppenheim Law and watch for Tips if you’re in the area!

Until now, banks have been abusing a Florida statute allowing them to file a foreclosure based on a “lost note.” The problem: the notes aren’t lost; the banks are just too lazy to look for them. This new rule is halting foreclosure filings in their tracks, as banks scramble to find the notes so they can foreclose.

Before, foreclosure mills were simply filing a complaint and claiming a ‘”lost note,” without actually ever looking for it. Now, the courts are requiring attorneys to prove the banks have at least attempted to find the note. Prior to this rule, banks would file the complaint, and the note would always mysteriously appear four months later IN ALMOST EVERY CASE.

An article published today in The Sun-Sentinel found foreclosure filings have dropped 36% since last month in South Florida. Local attorneys and judges are attributing this to the colossal mess at the banks, as they scramble to find the notes.

Before, they had plenty of time to look for it. Now, they can’t do anything without it. While this might seem like good news for the overwhelmed court system, in reality it is simply delaying the inevitable. Like the receding waters before a tsunami, we can expect a substantial increase in filings once the banks begin finding these “lost notes,” and then the entire system could drown.

Anthony DiMarco of the Florida Bankers Association sees it a bit differently, claiming the decrease in filings is due to the banks’ increased number of loan modifications, and an increased willingness to approve short sales.

GIVE ME A BREAK!

Based on raw numbers, DiMarco is dead wrong! Although Obama’s Making Home Affordable plan had promised over 3 million loan modifications by now, in reality the banks have accepted only 300,000. Furthermore, of these 300,000, only 13,059 were in South Florida. Thus, it is ridiculous to say the banks are being more cooperative.

Maybe DiMarco has never tried to call a bank to discuss a short sale or loan modification. If he had, he would likely find that being on hold for hours at a time, having the bank tell you they have lost your sensitive financial documents, and being constantly hung up upon, is not exactly “cooperation.” If DiMarco actually believes what he is saying, he should stand by the receding waters until he is swept out to sea by the forthcoming foreclosure tsunami.

From the Trenches,

Roy Oppenheim

Homeowners have reached a tipping point of sorts: 7 million homeowners are currently underwater. They are defaulting on their mortgages. One by one they are part of Shay’s Rebellion 2.0, a rebellion being fought on the frontlines of foreclosure through strategic default.

This time however, it’s not just western Massachusetts, but a silent battalion of millions of underwater homeowners across every state that have declared a consumer rebellion.  These new warriors are no longer worried about a bad credit score; instead they are concerned with their family’s economic future. They no longer trust a Congress they believe has been hijacked by a few large financial institutions. They also instinctively know their collective actions can quickly have devastating consequences to these oligarchic financial institutions.

This time, the Rebellion is a boycott caused by the banks’ own audacity, by thinking that they could take over the polity of this nation by growing too large for any President, Federal Reserve, or Congress.

Most experts suggest families are making a rational economic decision in walking away. Businesses decide to walk away from investments all the time. Oppenheim Law recognizes that families have an obligation to themselves and may feel compelled to break contracts just like any commercial real estate owner.

In fact, Time Equities, the owner of Tudor City in Manhattan, did exactly that when they walked away from billions in the largest strategic default in the history of the United States. Did we hear anyone say such conduct by these owners was immoral or unethical?

I find it fascinating that things are now coming to a head in the form of this strategic foreclosure rebellion. 60 Minutes just did a piece on strategic foreclosure, and J.P Morgan Chase just reported that strategic defaults could have devastating consequences to its bottom line.

David Stevens, Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration, is chiding homeowners for walking away.  Fannie Mae is also pleading with homeowners to stay in their homes if they can afford to pay.  Even the President of the Mortgage Banker’s Association, who arranged for a short-sale of the organization’s headquarters, is warning of the dire consequences to the banking industry and the economy if strategic foreclosures continue.

However, it should come as no surprise that the Banks’ own conduct is now simply coming home to roost. The banks and investment banks, along with auto makers and even foreign countries, sought billions or as much as a trillion in extortionary taxpayer bailouts based on the rubric that because of their size, their failure would take down the economy, and the American people with it.

So Congress, conceding to the threat along with the Federal Reserve, blinked. They opened the cash spigot, convincing the public and maybe themselves the funds would be used to help bailout the millions of folks underwater. That, as we now know, never happened.

Instead, funds given to the banks were used to shore up balance sheets, pay multi-million dollar bonuses, acquire regional banks and lobby Congress against further regulation.  In addition, banks were free to continue lending practices that under ordinary circumstances would be deemed usurious. Banks are still permitted to charge consumers on average 29.5% per year and sometimes as much as 70% per year on outstanding credit card charges when most banks pay account holders less than 1% a year.

In addition, unbeknownst to most, the banks lobbied Congress to prevent legislation that would have given homeowners in bankruptcy the same rights as businesses to renegotiate their underwater principal on a loan.

The Banks convinced Congress there is an illusory distinction; that homeowners had a greater moral obligation than banks and businesses to keep their word.

Of course the news during the past two weeks that Goldman Sachs as well as other banks actually created toxic financial instruments, orchestrated by placing home loans deemed to fail into vast portfolios, might also have been the last straw for revolt.  In most cases, these homebuyers were duped into borrowing money from banks that knew those loans would go into default. The banks, in fact, were betting big the loans would fail.

Sixteen months ago, I warned this rebellion could happen if the banks did not start to participate in meaningful negotiations with homeowners when it came to mortgage modifications and short sales.  Instead, they have given most homeowners mere lip service.

The banks routinely lose modification papers submitted by homeowners, keep the homeowners on hold whenever they call, place the homeowners in “trial modifications,” and then proceed to foreclose. Banks tell homeowners not to worry about foreclosure proceedings while the bank attempts to modify the loans. Yet without the homeowner’s knowledge the foreclosure continues.

Thomas Jefferson once stated:

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…”

While Shay’s Rebellion may be a footnote to most in American History, Shay may well have left an enduring mark on history. His legacy could be far from over.

Congress and the President must act and use the powers of anti-trust to break up these oligarchs so the public will once again place its confidence in our banking institutions. The American people must be convinced they will not be held hostage by any financial institution. No one institution will subordinate or subjugate the will of the American people.

Banks should dust off their history books if they think otherwise.

From the trenches,

Roy Oppenheim