Back when it debuted last April, we were somewhat skeptical that Florida’s Hardest Hit program could provide real benefits for the people it sought to help.

We called it a band-aid, and at least for some South Florida homeowners, it’s proving to be just that. The Palm Beach Post profiled several homeowners who were among the first to receive benefits from the program. Sheryl Stuart, a Jupiter homeowner whose business went under, applied for help through the mortgage relief program, and is about to see her payments end next month. Hardest Hit only entitles qualified homeowners up to six months of mortgage assistance.

Stuart told the Palm Beach Post that even though she’s found a new job, her salary won’t be able to cover her mortgage payment once she stops receiving aid from Hardest Hit. She’s frustrated that she’s about to be right back where she started when she applied for aid in the first place.

“In this economy, to think you can turn your life around in six months is totally ludicrous,” Stuart said in the article, “The working class is quickly slipping into a black hole.”

The truth is this program, however well-intentioned it might have been, is just not enough. What Hardest Hit is essentially doing is giving homeowners a nice seafood dinner, when they really need to learn how to fish.

It scratches the surface but for people like Stuart it might just delay the inevitable. Unless you’re giving homeowners a solid two years of payment relief, you’re not giving these people time to go back to school, improve their financial standing, and really turn their lives around.

Hardest Hit is throwing good money after bad, and really, what’s the point of spending all this money if it won’t provide permanent relief?

Not to mention that many homeowners have been rejected by the program, nearly 10,000 according to the Post, for reasons including being over 180 days past due on their mortgage. So if many aren’t getting the help they need, and those who are getting the relief aren’t feeling a lasting impact, what’s the point?

Spokeswoman Cecka Green told the Post the state is going through uncharted waters with Hardest Hit, and it looks to us like the state wasn’t truly prepared to handle the demand.

“We never really anticipated where we would be at this point since we had not ever before administered a program like this,” Green said.

Helping people make their payments isn’t the answer. We were elated when the Federal Reserve started talking about principal reduction, that’s a much better solution that ultimately has a chance of keeping people in their homes.

If we allowed homeowners facing foreclosure to lease back their properties, that too would have a higher success rate, in our opinion. If we’ve learned nothing else, it’s that banks make the worst neighbors.

Florida’s Hardest Hit was doomed from the get-go, so it’s time to focus on systematic long-term solutions.

Really just a band-aid, Florida’s Hardest Hit Program comes at a time of desperate resuscitation. With Florida’s $1 billion foreclosure prevention program just getting underway, South Florida counties lead the state in the amount of applications received, according to numbers released this week by Florida Housing officials.

In the program’s first week, 9,439 homeowners across the state applied for funds from the “Hardest Hit” program, with Broward County well ahead with 1.638, well ahead of all other counties. Miami-Dade was 2nd with just over 1,000 and Palm Beach County came in 4th with 939. Orange County was the only non-South Florida county among the top 4, and after those 4 the amount of applications drops off considerably.

Foreclosure attorney Roy Oppenheim told the South-Florida Sun-Sentinel in a cover story this week he was not shocked by those numbers.

It’s not surprising that Broward and Miami-Dade lead in applications for aid, according to Oppenhein, because those are Florida’s most populated counties.

“I hear one story after another,” he added. “It’s heartbreaking. And I don’t have a quick fix.”

However the Florida Hardest Hit Fund, which was launched April 18th by Florida Housing Finance Corp., does help homeowners get back on the right track.

You can apply for financial assistance at their official website, Flhardesthithelp.org

So what exactly does the Florida’s Hardest Hit program do?

If you’re unemployed, or don’t make enough money to cover basic living expenses, the Unemployed Mortgage Assistance Program will give you up to $12,000 to pay your mortgage and escrowed mortgage related-costs. The plan will cover you for up to six months or until you are able to start paying your mortgage, whichever comes first.

However if you qualify it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to pay your mortgage at all. In order to receive the money, the program requires you to pay 25% of your mortgage, with a minimum payment of $70.

In addition, the Mortgage Loan Reinstatement Payment Program will provide an additional $6,000 to help you bring your delinquent mortgage current if you can prove that you can start making payments on your own. If you also receive money from the UMAP, any unused funds can also be used to help bring your mortgage current.

Both come as a 0% deferred payment loan which can be forgiven over a five year period, at a rate of 20% each year.
Tell us your thoughts or see Oppenheim Law for more answers and help.

South Florida voted, and Oppenheim Law’s South Florida Law Blog came out on top in the category of Best Business and Technology Blog in the 2nd Annual Sun-Sentinel Best of Blogs Awards.

Discussing topics like Florida foreclosure defense, homeowners’ rights, real estate tips and trends, and the economy, Oppenheim Law’s foreclosure defense attorneys interpret the latest news and translate what it all means to today’s homeowner.

Recent headlines include fresh topics like “Deficiency Judgments Haunting Return, Jason Lives Once Again,” “Budgetary Hardball Almost Forces Court Closures: Courts’ Reliance On Foreclosure Fees Exposed” and “Foreclosure Auctions are not eBay or Child’s Play. Novice Investors Beware!”

Over the past year, The South Florida Law Blog has broken down issues like South Florida home sales, national mortgage fraud, America’s job markets, and all the developments in foreclosure defense and short sales to help homeowners take advantage of these trends in areas the banks and the government clearly cannot.

“Homeowners need to be aware of how all of these trends can impact their greatest investment,” Oppenheim said. “We look forward to continuing to provide legal insight and practical analysis into these topics that greatly affect South Florida.”

Oppenheim Law is one of the leading Florida real estate and foreclosure defense law firms, founded in 1989. The firm has a 9.6 out of 10 rating from AVVO, the world’s largest legal directory, as well as the highest rating (A-V) conferred by Martindale Hubbell Law Directory, the most respected directory of lawyers and law firms in the U.S.

Like the never ending horror franchise, deficiency judgments are back. A Florida deficiency judgment occurs when a bank pursues the remaining balance on a mortgage either after a foreclosure or, in theory, after a Florida short sale. Most banks are currently too busy to process deficiency judgments because they are dealing with foreclosures and short sales. Due to the large costs associated with pursuing deficiency judgments, few homeowners who were foreclosed upon will be pursued. Those people whose mortgages were owned by trusts will probably not face a deficiency judgment because of the large costs. Unfortunately, if a community bank owns the mortgage the story might be a little different. Most community banks still have the loans on their books so they will pursue the deficiencies. Also, some community banks have started to buy deficiency judgments for pennies on the dollar for the express purpose of acting like a collection agency. This is good news to keep in mind because, in these situations, the banks will be eager to settle.

While we have addressed the deficiency judgment issue for years now, the Sun-Sentinel has now also reported on the danger of what will soon happen. In two or three years, when big banks catch up with their foreclosures, we will see a flood of such deficiency judgments. The main targets of the big banks will be strategic defaulters. Strategic defaulters are the folks who could afford their mortgages but defaulted because they are so underwater that it didn’t make any sense to pay. Not every strategic defaulter has to worry though. A deficiency judgment can only be entered in foreclosure cases. Short sales cannot lead to a judgment being entered against you unless the bank decides to file an action and litigate in court. An action would require the bank to pay attorneys and other fees with no guarantee of success and scrutiny of their documents, which might lead to sanction if fraud is uncovered.

There is still some time left before we are inundated with deficiency judgments. Nevertheless, everyone going through the foreclosure or short sale processes needs to be on their guard. We here at Oppenheim Law have seen a recent up tick in banks pursuing deficiency judgments. Steps can be taken now that will help protect people against this worst-case scenario, as we have successfully been doing in the last few years.

Weston is Number One! Zip codes with good schools, high paying jobs are topping list.

Some areas of South Florida are finally seeing the first steps of a tentative recovery. As reported by the Sun-Sentinel, ten zip codes in Broward and six in Palm Beach County are seeing higher home prices.

33327, in Weston, saw the largest price increase from February 2010 with a 9.3% increase. The areas that have had a price recovery have generally been close to good schools or high paying jobs. While only a few zip codes are showing signs of recovery, the news is nevertheless good for all of South Florida. As an area that was one of the worst hit by the real estate crisis, we are now seeing a recovery before the rest of the country. Prices are still low in other areas because foreclosures and short sales make up the majority of sales.
Every recovery has to start somewhere and it seems to be starting in our own back yard here in Weston.

There is a large backlog of these “distressed” loans and the only way property values are going to go up in the rest of South Florida is if they are cleared out. This is what is happening right now and is the first step on a long road to recovery.

This news comes on the heels of reports that traffic to real estate websites increased 27 percent during the month of February – the largest jump since the first half of 2009. This combined with news that single family home sales across South Florida also went up in February and an encouraging job market leads Oppenheim Law and Weston Title to believe that the economy here in South Florida is showing signs of life after all.

For up-to-date real estate news in South Florida, Like us on Facebook or Follow @oplaw on Twitter!

The Florida Court system, including judges, nearly faced mandatory furloughs and unpaid vacations due to an emergency shortfall in its budget. Court employees faced up to 30 days of unpaid vacation through the end of May. The reason for the short fall was the precipitous drop in foreclosure filings, which generated the fees the courts relied upon for the majority of their budget. With the huge numbers of foreclosures in years past, the estimated revenue from the foreclosure fees meant that the Florida legislature allocated less money from the general state funds to the courts. This reliance on foreclosure filings fees resulted in the courts seeming a bit too amenable to the big banks and the rushing through of foreclosures that would have benefited from more scrutiny. Knowing that the courts were not examining the documents carefully, big banks were able to forge the required paperwork on a massive scale. The forging continued until the document mill scam was uncovered.

With the major banks virtually halting all of their foreclosures due to the document mill scandals, the fees have dried up and now we can see the impact of the courts falling asleep at the switch. The tremendous irony in the matter is that the failure of the courts to properly scrutinize fraudulent foreclosures, leading to the halting of new foreclosures and the drying up of the courts’ fees, would have lead to new foreclosures. Only this time, court employees would have been processing their own foreclosures. According to the Sun-Sentinel, most of the hardship of the court furloughs would’ve been felt by low income employees who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Thankfully the state has stepped in to avoid this mess and hopefully the courts will learn not to be too reliant on foreclosure filing fees in the future. Maybe they will even make sure that foreclosures aren’t fraudulent before kicking people out of their homes and denying them their constitutional right to due process.

Investors looking for a great deal at Florida foreclosure auctions may want to think twice before clicking “Buy Now”. Records show amateur investors are falling victim to a simple mistake that’s costing them thousands. When novice real estate investors turn up at foreclosure auctions, what they don’t know is they are often bidding on second or third mortgages. These mortgages get trumped by first, or primary, mortgages when the first mortgages foreclose; leaving the investors with only the money left after the first mortgage has been paid off, which in this market usually means nothing.

The Sun-Sentinel interviewed investor, Gus Armenakis. Armenakis bought what he thought was the only mortgage on a home for $102,600. The County had appraised the home at $325,800. After the sale, Armenakis found out that Wells Fargo had a first mortgage on the home for $386,593. This means that as soon as Wells Fargo forecloses on the house, the bank will be able to recoup as much of the value of the house as they can, up to the value of their mortgage, effectively leaving Armenakis out of the entire $102,600 he spent.

This problem is getting worse now that counties offer foreclosure auctions online. Online access opens up the bidding process to more people, most of whom are inexperienced. While the counties do disclose the risks of the bidding process, marketing ploys have effectively played down the risks involved. One such tactic suggested that bidding on real estate is as easy as eBay.

Take it from the experts: it’s not! In foreclosure auctions, there are no guarantees and you can’t return the goods. The foreclosure bidding process is a treacherous one and should not be undertaken by the faint of heart.

However, investors can safeguard against some of the pitfalls by performing a title search, often for as little as $100. Weston Title and Escrow has been performing title searches and issuing title policies for foreclosure investors since 1994. Title searches allow potential investors to find out who has a lien against a particular property, which then enables them to make sure that the foreclosures that they are bidding on are the primary liens. If you are an investor or potential investor in foreclosure properties, protect yourself by getting a title search before laying down big money on a foreclosed property.

It’s that time of year again…let the voting begin for The Sun-Sentinel’s Best of Blogs Awards! For the second year in a row, Oppenheim Law is honored to be nominated. This year, our South Florida Law Blog received nominations in Business and Technology, Politics, and News. @OpLaw, our Twitter feed, is nominated for Best Business Twitter feed.

South Florida Law Blog features Ft. Lauderdale foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim’s blog. Topics include the latest opinions, views and perspective on real estate news, foreclosure defense, the economy, the foreclosure fraud crisis, and Oppenheim Law’s foreclosure defense workshop.

You can vote for your favorite blog by logging in via your Facebook, Twitter or Sun-Sentinel account. Voting ends Monday, April 11 at 10 a.m.

We look forward to continuing to bring you the latest and greatest in real estate, foreclosure defense and economic news and trends.

From everyone at Oppenheim Law, thank you for your continued support!

Broward County homeowners now face an additional hurdle when trying to complete a loan modification or short sale to avoid a Florida foreclosure.

In Sun-Sentinel reporter Paul Owers’ blog House Keys, Owers discusses the ramifications of Broward County now requiring 10 days’ notice to cancel residential foreclosure auctions according to an administrative order signed by Broward Chief Judge Victor Tobin.

Prior to the Administrative Order, Broward foreclosure auctions could be cancelled only hours before the sale. Now, homeowners looking to cancel a home foreclosure in Broward County are forced to file a motion and be scheduled for a hearing at least 10 business days before the foreclosure sale date.

Oppenheim Law Real Estate Attorney and Legal Bogger Roy Oppenheim was quoted in the article saying, “This will have unintended consequences. Clearly, the homeowner gets the short end of the stick here.”

Effectively, this order limits the time homeowners have to negotiate a short sale or loan modification before their home is put up for auction. Before the order, these deals could be completed up to the last minute.

This order appears to be an attempt to eliminate the backlog of foreclosure cases by limiting the number of homeowners who cancel their foreclosure auctions.

“Roy Oppenheim gets it, and I agree with him,” said Ronald Scott Kaniuk in a comment to the blog. “Courts throughout the state are trying to expedite foreclosures in the mistaken belief that completing foreclosures – even if the process is flawed, improper or ill-advised – is better than having cases continue to proceed on a normal track like any other litigation.”

“The fact is that these rules are ad hoc and apply only to foreclosure cases, relegating a whole class of defendants to different treatment,” Kaniuk continued. “This process doesn’t help anyone except the banks, who don’t need any more help, or bailouts for that matter.”

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!