The government is underwater, just like so many homeowners. As the political negotiations on raising the debt ceiling draw closer to the August 2^nd deadline, several visionaries in the House of Representatives have suggested that the Federal Government get on board with the rising trend and strategically default.

While such a move is unthinkable for some in Washington and Wall Street, several others must have seen Oppenheim Law’s strategic default seminars and decided that the strategy should be applied to the government’s debt problem.

Just like many homeowners underwater on their mortgages, Rep. Austin Scott (GA-R) is willing to put up with some “short-term volatility” in order to right the ship and get the government’s finances in order. Such an attitude to strategic default goes to show that it can be a viable and acceptable option to many different people and even counties in financial trouble.

There shouldn’t be any stigma attached to default; after all, even some in the government are considering it. In fact, such action should likely make the government more sympathetic to individual homeowners now that the United States is in the same boat.

Oppenheim Law hopes that if the U.S. decides to go down the strategic default path, it keeps in mind that we are the experts when it comes to strategic defaults.

For years, we have been telling homeowners that the government is not going to bail them out in the way that they propped up the banks, Wall Street and investment bankers. We’ve been advising homeowners that if they want to save their home and achieve financial stability they will have to craft their own bailout.

Thousands of homeowners have heeded our warnings and taken steps to save their homes. Maybe it’s time our politicians listen to this advice as well.

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%.

Ironically, the first key to success in dealing with a Florida loan modification on a second mortgage is to stop making your monthly payments.

The bottom line is that while a second mortgage is a strong indicator of negative housing equity and can complicate the process of completing a Florida loan modification or short sale, Oppenheim Law is having continued success negotiating principal reduction of second mortgages for South Florida homeowners.

For more information on second mortgages and Florida loan modifications visit oppenheimlaw.com.

Why isn’t Wall Street in Jail? Is our government a giant Ponzi scheme?

These are the questions Roy Oppenheim asked during Wednesday night’s Short Sale and Foreclosure Defense seminar.

During the webcast, Oppenheim discusses how with the departure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also goes the traditional 30-year mortgage, paving the way for a new 20-year mortgage, higher interest rates and larger down payments. In other words, buying a house just got harder.

Roy also touched on recent news headlines, including the 60 Minutes piece titled Homeless Children: The Hard Times Generation, New York Magazine’s jailhouse interview with master manipulator Bernie Madoff, and scathing commentary by Rolling Stone Magazine’s Matt Taibbi on Wall Street’s modus operandi.

If you missed this hour of economic insight from a leading industry expert, the replay will be available on Oppenheim Law TV and the Oppenheim Law YouTube channel for the next 30 days! We want to remind you that as the short sale market heats up, Oppenheimlaw and Weston Title are here to service all your legal and title insurance related needs.

Is the whole government a Ponzi scheme? Bernie Madoff thinks so and who would know better than the master manipulator himself?

When the greatest financial criminal in history calls collect, you listen. The result? A fascinating feature by New York Magazine writer Steve Fishman exploring Bernie Madoff’s brazen plan, subsequent panic and tumultuous downfall.

Perhaps most interesting is Madoff’s assertion that some of Wall Street’s most prestigious firms, including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney were never blind to the scheme he was orchestrating.

“Look,” he said, “these banks and these funds had to know there were problems.” Madoff told them absolutely nothing about how he made those returns. “I wouldn’t give them any facts, like how much volume I was doing. I was not willing to have them come up and do the due diligence that they wanted. I absolutely refused to do it. I said, ‘You don’t like it, take your money out,’ which of course they never did.”

Madoff continues, “It’s unbelievable. Goldman … no one has any criminal convictions—the whole new regulatory reform is a joke. The whole government is a Ponzi scheme.”

As the housing market continues to waffle and the government rolls out plan after plan to no avail, it’s hard to argue with him.

According to the latest numbers from CoreLogic, the national average of state mortgage holders who are underwater is 22.5%. Florida sits at an astonishing level above 60%.

Homeowners, however, are not powerless in today’s market. Join Oppenheim Law next Wednesday, March 9, for the next free Real Estate Workshop where Roy Oppenheim will share how rising oil prices, continued unemployment and the possibility of an American double-dip recession is impacting the South Florida real estate market.

What: Global Impact on Florida Short Sales and Foreclosures Workshop

Where: Oppenheim Law TV

Or come in person: 95 NW 11th St., Boca Raton, FL 33432

Cost: Free with advanced registration

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

Join Florida Foreclosure Defense and Short Sale Attorney Roy Oppenheim March 9th at 6 PM.

“Not a single financial executive has gone to jail”…that is how Producer Charles Ferguson rocked the Oscars by starting his acceptance speech for winning best feature documentary for “Inside Job,” a film about the 2008 financial system meltdown. How appropriate.

Meanwhile, Florida real estate is no red carpet winner when it comes to the housing market. Oppenheim Law announces its real estate webinar streaming live Wednesday March 9th at 6 pm, designed to help Florida homeowners use today’s economic conditions to their advantage and fashion their own bailouts.

In this timely workshop, Oppenheim shares fresh insights, including:

• How the rising price of oil will affect the American job market, and in turn affect the housing market.
• What these trends mean for Florida foreclosure defense and how homeowners can use these events to their advantage to engineer and structure a short sale.
• The impact that a sluggish start to the national “selling season” will have on a local level.
• Why home prices will continue to drop in the months ahead.
• And how a double dip recession could impact homeowners in the coming months.

Florida real estate is not immune to the financial system melt down or the recent world events, according to Florida Foreclosure Defense Attorney and Legal Blogger Roy Oppenheim.

As revolutionary tremors continue to spread through the Middle East and actual tremors rocked New Zealand with a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, Oppenheim Law offers insight on how these international events could impact Florida’s real estate market as well as sharing the latest legal trends in foreclosure defense and short sales strategies.

What: Global Impact on Florida Short Sales and Foreclosures Workshop

Where: Oppenheim Law TV

Or come in person:

95 NW 11th St., Boca Raton, FL 33432

Cost: Free with advanced registration

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

Today has been deemed “Blue Monday,” the most depressing day of the year. Psychologist Cliff Arnall came up with an actual formula to show that the third Monday in January can be a real downer for many people.

The formula is weather plus debt minus salary multiplied by the time since Christmas to the time since failure to fulfill New Year’s resolutions. During this trying time of the year, people start to deal with post-holiday bills coming in, cold temperatures, and shorter days.

This past weekend, while visiting the Sundance Film Festival, I was surrounded by some of the most talented and creative people in the film industry (not to mention a gorgeous backdrop). There I realized that passion is contagious and also inspirational.

First, find a game plan to find out how to get out of your situation, and take control of your life. In a market where so many of us are upside down due to the many factors of the economy including the menacing real estate market, there is still opportunity.

Check out my video message below from Sundance Film Festival and let’s all figure out the game plan for 2011 and beat the Blue Monday formula. Join me at my next Real Estate Workshop on February 9^th when we will focus on using the market to “get out of dodge”.

It’s still a buyer’s market. That’s the conclusion of consumers in a new Gallup poll that reveals 67 percent of Americans feel now is a “good time” to buy a house. That hasn’t changed much since April 2009.

So despite harder-to-come-by financing and the possibility of a housing double-dip, it seems historically low interest rates and bargain basement home prices are winning over public opinion. Interest rates may or may not rise, but the bargain basement prices are likely to continue as home foreclosures are reaching record highs.

Foreclosure headlines are telling. South Florida filings dropped 41 percent in 2010 due to the foreclosure freeze. And some are asking if foreclosure lawyers’ misdeeds are being ignored in Florida. Despite the freeze and other legal questions, though, Florida still ranks second in the number of foreclosures in 2010.

And the worst may be yet to come. News reports are citing studies that show real estate short sales are set to increase in 2011 as banks attempt to dispose of defaulting loans without foreclosing. And many may get caught flat-footed in the South Florida foreclosure wave.

As you read all of these headlines, keep in mind that if it’s a buyer’s market, that also means it’s a seller’s market. And with all the foreclosures hitting the market, it’s a good time for a buyer to seek a short sale purchase. Oppenheim Law’s sister company Weston Title & Escrow has been very successful closing short sale deals and guiding clients through the process of both buying and selling short sales.

Wondering what this means for Florida homeowners? Is 2011 the year of the short sale or the strategic default? Catch the replay of Oppenheim Law’s monthly Foreclosure Defense workshop on Oppenheim Law TV for the next 4 days!

By Roy Oppenheim

We’re just half way through the first month of 2011 and foreclosure fraud continues to make headline news. Tonight Oppenheim Law will be in Boca Raton hosting our monthly foreclosure defense workshop “The Future of Foreclosures”.

Will this be the year of the short sale?

How will the Feds help (or not help)?

What is the best foreclosure bailout for you?

This week I spoke to Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, Florida’s Sun Sentinel and DebtWire, a global financial news service, about my perspective on foreclosure defense in 2011.

Tonight we will answer your questions live online or in person.

Tune in to the webcast via Oppenheim Law TV for
The Future of Foreclosures Workshop
Tonight at 6 p.m.,
or come in person to the Boca Raton studio located at
95 NW 11th St., Boca Raton, FL 33432.

Our monthly workshop is designed to walk homeowners through various foreclosure defense strategies such as short sales, strategic default, loan modifications, deed in lieu and deficiency judgments, taking into account today’s law and the homeowner’s legal rights.

If we digress for one moment and go back to the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008 here is the story I will share with you all. I was attending a hearing on behalf of one of our earlier foreclosure clients in the area of foreclosure defense before a prominent Broward County Circuit judge. I witnessed the judge was signing hundreds of summary judgments where people were not being defended. In the case that I was defending there was clearly a mistake in who the bank was and a standing issue concerning the court’s and judge’s jurisdiction along with the authority to rule on this case.

The full Power point is available by clicking here

It was at that time that I indicated to the judge that even though he was dismissing my case he was continuing to sign the summary judgments against individual borrowers/homeowners who probably had the same meritorious defenses.

The judge looked me in the eye and said, “Do you represent those individuals?”

I looked back and quietly said, “No.” So he told me to “shut up and mind my own business.”

We then engaged in a subsequent conversation where I questioned whether or not he had any obligation whatsoever under the Constitution of Florida and under his oath of office to evaluate the documentation that was being submitted as truthful to him upon which he was signing summary judgments.

He initially engaged me in a conversation and then in the middle and in open court said, “Counselor, if you continue to proceed with this discussion I will hold you in contempt.”

He further indicated that if I was right, I should get together with my other colleagues and form a foreclosure defense bar and collectively begin to bring these arguments to the court on a more organized fashion.

Fast forward January 2011, we now find the aggregation of many of these arguments in the presentation that the Florida Attorney General is now using to educate the courts themselves. Oh, how things change!

So, if you want to understand the implications and what this means to you and your family, your upside-down house, your mortgage that may be in default or if you are contemplating a strategic default, please be my guest and attend the monthly Oppenheim Law seminar Wednesday, January 12th at 6:00 p.m. in person at 95 NW 11th St., Boca Raton, FL 33432 or live online at http://www.oppenheimlaw.tv/.

“Unfair, Deceptive and Unconscionable Acts in Foreclosure Cases”, that’s the name of the presentation made to the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Controllers by the Attorney General’s office of the State of Florida.

The title speaks for itself. The presentation is truly fascinating and intriguing but in some ways very disappointing. It is a poor reflection of our own society.

The full Power point is available by clicking here

The Report is summarized by Kimberly Miller of the Palm Beach Post both in the Palm Beach Post and in the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel.

“What we got from this is the state has had the opportunity to see where the laws have been broken, and frankly, it is in large part thanks to the work of the defense attorneys. They’ve been bringing these defenses up in foreclosure cases for years now,” the Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock said to the media.

Well Ms. Bock, on behalf of the foreclosure defense bar, we appreciate the recognition and the tipping of the hat.

In addition, I want to thank a few people in particular in the foreclosure defense bar who have been a prominent voice and continue to provide information to the public about this mortgage foreclosure fraud crisis.

Most notably, April Charney from the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, has been championing this cause for probably close to two decades. Peter Ticktin has taken probably more depositions of bank officers and robo-signers than any other lawyer in the country. Matt Weidner has a wonderful blog that many people visit on a regular basis. Prince Donnahoe keeps his fellow colleagues always in the know. Dawn Rappaport has prepared a handbook for consumers on how to deal with the foreclosure crisis. Margery Golant continues to provide good media relations to the public and the press concerning this crisis. Thomas Ice and his associates at Ice Legal have taken some brilliant depositions and have gone up against the judges and in many cases have challenged, appealed and won these cases. Of course there are many other attorneys who fall into this special class and I thank all of my peers who have contributed to this cause.

In our next post, I will take a step into the past and share some run-ins I’ve had with judges and fast-forward to the progress we have made.