Archive for the ‘Roy Oppenheim’ Category
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
Nearly 40% of homeowners who took out a second mortgage are underwater on their loans, but the news surrounding second mortgages isn’t all doom and gloom for Floridians, says Florida foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim.
Second mortgages refer to any loan taken out on a property that is subordinate to the first mortgage, and include home-equity loans or lines of credit.
According to data from CoreLogic and The New York Times, homeowners with a second mortgage are two times more likely to be underwater on their property. CoreLogic’s data also shows that homeowners with second mortgages are facing deeper levels of negative equity in their homes – $83,000 compared with $52,000 – than borrowers without second mortgages.
The bright side is that Oppenheim Law is seeing massive principal reduction on second mortgages through loan modifications, according to Oppenheim. It’s becoming common for the Florida foreclosure defense law firm to negotiate up to 80% in principal reductions of second mortgages, a far greater percentage than first mortgages.
A vast majority of first mortgages were cut up, bundled and sold to investors as mortgage backed securities, the process that played such an enormous role in the Florida real estate crisis. On the other hand, nearly three-quarters of second mortgages are still held by the banks that made the original loans.
The good news for Florida homeowners is that these banks are beginning to treat second mortgages similarly to consumer credit card debt, accepting minimal “pay offs” to settle up with homeowners.
Homeowners who are willing to negotiate a “short payoff” can have tremendous success reducing their second mortgage principal by 50% to 80% and then paying off the remaining balance in cash. Banks are even starting to solicit Florida homeowners with second mortgages to make initial offers for 40% to 50% reductions, which Oppenheim Law is then able to negotiate to as much as 80%.
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Tags: CoreLogic, Florida Foreclosure Defense, Florida Foreclosure Defense Attorney, Florida short sale, Loan Modification, Oppenheim Law, Roy Oppenheim, second mortgages, short sale, south florida real estate, The New York Times, underwater homeowners
Posted in Florida foreclosures, Florida Law News, Florida real estate, Florida short sales, Foreclosure Defense, International News, Roy Oppenheim, Short Sales, strategic default, The New York Times | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
The good:
All we can say is, you never know!
When the real estate market collapsed, Miami’s downtown epitomized the worst excesses of the building boom. Glittering new towers sat mostly vacant. Today Miami’s downtown real estate is booming and bustling with life and commerce thanks to foreign investors and renters.
A report by the Miami Downtown Development Authority indicates that 85 percent of new condo units are occupied. Downtown Miami’s population now numbers about 70,000 compared to 40,000 ten years ago. In spite of Miami-Dade’s 13.2% unemployment rate, downtown bars, shops and restaurants buzz with activity at the end of the workday. Sales at the swank Icon Brickell average 47 units a month.
The bad:
Clearing the backlog of foreclosures slows again as some delinquent homeowners successfully maintain that their mortgage companies can’t prove they own the loans, therefore forfeiting their right to foreclose. After last fall’s robo-signing debacle, many homeowners are waking up and realizing their banks are guilty of sloppy practices at best and forgery at worst. Oppenheim Law continues to see banks dismiss foreclosures.
And the ugly:
Double Dip Housing is no Ameri-cone Dream
As South Florida housing prices hit a new low, the The New York Times and Wall Street Journal chime in unison with a cherry on top: Goodbye, American Dream. It seems renting is the new ‘black’ in real estate fashion as desperate sellers watch not-so-desperate buyers sit on the sidelines waiting for the bottom to hit; while they rent in Miami luxury.
The S&P/Case-Shiller National Index, released today, indicated prices nationwide fell 4.2% in the first quarter after declining 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2010, in spite of increases in 2009 after the home buyer tax credit and early 2011.
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Tags: Brickell, foreclosures stall, how to defend against foreclosure, Miami, Miami Condo Market, Oppenheim Law, Real Estate, real estate recovery, RealtyTrac, Roy Oppenheim, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Trulia
Posted in Bank Fraud, Florida foreclosures, Florida real estate, Foreclosure Defense, Foreclosure Fraud, International News, Roy Oppenheim, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
What is killing Florida real estate? Excess inventories and falling home prices.
House prices have been continuously falling for the first time in 70 years, and South Florida homeowners should expect the trend to continue.
A surplus inventory of houses caused by Florida foreclosures and short sales is the mortal enemy of home prices. Lower prices are needed to sell off excess inventories of residential properties, and in turn lower prices encourage more inventories from anxious sellers.
So how big are excess inventories and how long will it take for the real estate market to absorb them?
According to Economic Consultant Gary Shilling, we are currently facing a surplus of up to 2.5 million excess house inventories in the United States, a number that is subject to rise with further foreclosures and falling home prices.
To forecast the length of time to work off this excess inventory and have the market return to more favorable inventory and price conditions, Shilling developed projections of supply and demand for residential units.
Household formation averaged about 900,000 per year over the past decade as measured by the Census Bureau. Shilling uses this number as a reasonable estimate of yearly housing demand. However, with many college students moving back with their parents after graduation, household formation is not happening as fast as it once did.
New construction of single family homes and apartment units is running about 700,000 per year, and about 300,000 U.S. homes are torn down, converted or removed from housing stock each year. Based on these numbers, Shilling calculates new housing supply to be about 400,000.
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Tags: Census Bureau, economy, Florida foreclosures, Florida real estate, Florida short sales, Gary Shilling, housing inventory, housing inventory excess, Miami, Oppenheim Law, Real Estate, Real Estate News, Roy Oppenheim, Weston Title
Posted in Florida foreclosures, Florida Law News, Florida real estate, Foreclosure Defense, Foreclosure Fraud, Infographic, Roy Oppenheim | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
The South Florida Law Blog believes it will be at least 2016 before Florida’s housing market fully recovers, but a new study shows many Americans are far more optimistic.
The results are in, and it appears the majority of those surveyed believe 2012 will be the magic year for the housing market. Trulia and RealtyTrac recently polled 2,034 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older to find out when most Americans think the housing market will recover. A mere 10 percent thought a recovery would happen this year, while nearly a quarter of those surveyed predicted a bumpy road until 2015 and beyond.
Despite recent reports that foreclosures have slowed and sales in Broward and Miami-Dade are trending up, Florida is not out of the woods yet. As special guest and Florida real estate developer, Pat Sessions, pointed out during our talk show From The Trenches, the market has yet to bottom out here in Florida.
As always, the South Florida Law Blog continues to share and comment on the latest in real estate news.
Tags: Broward sales trending upward, foreclosures, foreclosures slowed, from the trenches, housing market, housing market recovery, Oppenheim Law, Pat Sessions, RealtyTrac, recovery, Roy Oppenheim, south florida real estate, Trulia, when will the housing market recover
Posted in Foreclosure Defense, From The Trenches, Infographic, International News, Roy Oppenheim | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
As a tribute to Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday today, his song “The Times They Are A-Changin” captures the spirit of the social and political upheaval happening in today’s Florida courts. Despite a swollen pipeline of more than half a million pending foreclosure cases, Florida’s appellate courts are starting to send a clear message that banks will not succeed in trampling the Constitutional rights of homeowners.
The times they are a-changin’. And it’s about time.
Florida District Courts of Appeal are ruling in favor of homeowners when procedural due process has been violated as well as in cases where the trial court improperly granted summary judgment in favor of a bank based on lawyers’ assertions that have no evidentiary support on the record.
Recent decisions from the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th District Courts of Appeal can provide hope to homeowners and South Florida foreclosure defense attorneys that banks will be forced to start playing by the rules, or risk having their judgments reversed on appeal.
For example, the 5th DCA reversed a summary judgment decision in favor of a bank last month for a lack of evidence on the foreclosing bank’s standing to sue. The Court of Appeal found that documents submitted at trial contradicted the bank’s mere allegations that it was the holder of the note, and therefore allowed to foreclose.
“Taken together, these decisions are powerful evidence that Florida’s appellate courts are increasingly receptive to foreclosure defendants’ complaints that some trial courts are not holding foreclosure plaintiffs to the requirements of Florida Civil Procedure – and perhaps that they are also paying attention to the widely reported improprieties in the mortgage lending industry,” said Dan Bushell, a South Florida appellate attorney, on his blog, Florida Appellate Review.
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Tags: Appellate Courts, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan 70th Birthday, court system, deficiency judgment, District Courts, Florida Foreclosure Defense, foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense, Oppenheim Law, Roy Oppenheim, South Florida foreclosure defense attorney, south florida real estate, summary judgment, The Times They Are A-Changin
Posted in Florida foreclosures, Florida Law News, Florida real estate, Foreclosure Defense, Roy Oppenheim | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
Wall Street corruption blurs the lines between good guys and bad guys as this week’s headlines bubble to the top.
Government's Long Enforcement Slumber is Over, says Roy Oppenheim
Unbelievably guilty in the court of public opinion. Now ultimately guilty in a court of law.
The conviction of Galleon hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam on all 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud is a prime example of rampant Wall Street greed and conspiracy.
It’s become clear that bankers took advantage of us all through the tricks and frauds of petty crooks. Ironically, these crooks bankers are now being brought down by the same investigatory wiretap techniques once used only in drug and mob cases. Perhaps “Bankster” is now the appropriate moniker.
Rajaratnam, formerly viewed as a skilled investor and stock market genius, should have stuck to “counting cards.” It’s one thing to make informed, intelligent investments by counting cards through legitimate research and public knowledge. It’s another matter entirely to “mark the cards” through insider secrets, privileged tips and paid informants.
Now, after a mosaic of insider trading and deception has been uncovered, the billionaire Rajaratnam is exposed as a card marker. Consequently, he faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in federal prison.
Not surprisingly, this card marking culture is closely tied to the banks and mortgage-baked securities (MBS) industry that brought down the American real estate market. Banks simply were playing a game they new they couldn’t lose.
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Tags: Deutsche Bank, Florida real estate, foreclosure mills, How to stop a foreclosure, Oppenheim Law, Raj Rajaratnam, real estate crisis, Roy Oppenheim, wall street
Posted in Bank Fraud, Bernie Madoff, Florida foreclosures, Florida real estate, Foreclosure Fraud, From The Trenches, International News, Roy Oppenheim | 4 Comments »
Monday, May 9th, 2011
It’s an understatement to say that homeowners have had it up to here with banks and the foreclosure process. Those caught up in the wake of the foreclosure crisis often see the banks as heartless and just out to make a buck.
Some feel like what the banks have done to the American homeowner is criminal. And they just might be right.
According to a investigation by CBS I-Team reporter Al Sunshine, 50 state attorney generals are investigating the foreclosure debacle. As it turns out, the bank you borrowed money from probably does not own your mortgage anymore. Many mortgages have been bundled up so they look safe for investors and then sold off, Sunshine says.
He estimates 95% of mortgages are now controlled by what’s called a servicer, which is a bank or financial company which handles your mortgage and monthly payment. They are the ones who collect fees and penalties from home owners, and according to Sunshine’s report, they are the first ones to make yet more money when a home is foreclosed.
And therein lies the problem with the mortgage system, foreclosure attorney Roy Oppenheim told Sunshine.
“It was in their interest to have the foreclosure go through the process versus a modification,” Oppenheim explained. “Typically the way the servicers were compensated, they would receive more compensation through a foreclosure than through a modification.”
So the interests of the borrower are in constant conflict with the interests of the servicer. Since they are often not the bank that lent you the money in the first place, there is little risk to them, and foreclosure is better for their bottom line.
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Tags: Al Sunshine, CBS4, florida foreclosure, Florida mortgage modification, foreclosure process, fraud-closure, How to stop a foreclosure, I-Team, Investigative Team, Miami Local CBS, mortgage, Oppenheim Law, Roy Oppenheim
Posted in Al Sunshine, CBS News, Florida foreclosures, Florida real estate, Roy Oppenheim | 2 Comments »
Nearly 40% of homeowners who took out a second mortgage are underwater on their loans, but the news surrounding second mortgages isn’t all doom and gloom for Floridians, says Florida foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim.
