Today, Weston Title and Oppenheim Law completed one of the largest short sales with JP Morgan Chase. The original note was approximately $6 million, but the bank approved a payoff for almost half that amount. The bank agreed to the haircut in exchange for receiving the $3 million in proceeds.
Further, the bank waived the deficiency judgment demonstrating what Roy Oppenheim has been stating for the past several weeks, “The banks are eager to deal and get the economy back on track.”
In fact, rumor has it that the JP Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, had to sign-off on this deal.
As Oppenheim said two weeks ago in the Sun Sentinel, “The result will be more short sales, loan modifications and ‘meaningful mediations’ that will help stabilize housing prices that have been falling steadily since 2006.
For more on Foreclosures, catch the replay of last week’s Oppenheim Law monthly Foreclosure Defense workshop on Oppenheim Law TV for the next few days!
In case you missed it, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went on the record with 60 Minutes last night to discuss the current state of the economy. On Wednesday at 6 pm in his own 60 minutes, Foreclosure Defense Attorney and legal blogger Roy Oppenheim will discuss his thoughts on this interview as well as the latest foreclosure defense strategies at his 26th consecutive monthly Foreclosure Defense Workshop.
Oppenheim continues to coach troubled Florida homeowners via this month’s seminar, focusing on how homeowners can fashion their own bailout through strategic default.
Tune into Oppenheim Law TV or come in person to the Boca Raton studio located at 95 NW 11th St., Boca Raton, FL 33432.
Please RSVP via email jackie@oplaw.net or call 954.384.6114.
Happy Holidays and see you at 6pm on Wednesday, December 8!
Below are some questions and answers from the workshop:
How does a lawyer get the judge to do the right thing in following their responsibilities of a judge?
If a judge makes a bad decision, a judge can be appealed. If the judge is not following law or makes a bad decision, they can be appealed and the decision can be reversed
What typically happens when the bank trying to foreclose does not own the mortgage? Does it get dismissed until the proper mortgage holder is located?
It should get dismissed as a matter of law. However, judges love to give banks a lot of chances to get it right, so the judges will usually allow the case to continue to the summary judgment stage. At that point, if the bank still can’t produce an assignment then the summary judgement will be denied. This is not good law, but rather the judge made lore that has no precedence other than for appellate courts to tell the lower courts to knock it off. That happens frequently these days, but not often enough.
Around 11 million Americans owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Some economists suggest that the government should encourage banks to write down the principal of some underwater mortgages.
How can you guarantee that you are free from any deficiency judgment with a severely underwater mortgage? (more…)
You’d think we’re referring to an environmental wasteland. Instead these are the words Roy Oppenheim used to describe the state of the mortgage and foreclosure crisis in this week’s special workshop stamped: Toxic Foreclosures and Foreclosure Fraud.
This afternoon, Bloomberg News reported Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, extended a freeze on foreclosures not just to 23 states but to all 50 states as concern spread among federal and local officials that homes are being seized based on false data.
“When I was in law school my professors would say that real estate law was notorious for moving in glacier time,” said Oppenheim in his Wednesday night monthly foreclosure defense workshop. “The lightning speed of what has happened in the last few weeks could not have been predicted, it will take decades to recover from the banks’ cracked egg. Humpty Dumpty has fallen and can not be put together again.”
The real estate industry is more toxic than ever. Thanks to the banks that delivered toxic loans to homeowners, now we have toxic foreclosures!
Florida Foreclosure Attorney and Legal Blogger Roy Oppenheim hosts a workshop on this unprecedented topic: The Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis. The unfolding story is also reported on this week’s CBS 4 I-Team investigation.
This is a must attend, either via webcast or live in person, for:
Those currently in foreclosure;
Those who may have lost their homes illegally to an improper bank foreclosure by GMAC, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America or other lenders;
Those who may have purchased a home recently via an illegal foreclosure;
Those who own “clean homes”; meaning they are not delinquent and want to sell their property now;
People looking to buy a home and wondering what they must do to protect themselves; and,
Anyone connected to the Title Industry.
What: Toxic Foreclosures and Foreclosure Fraud Workshop
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men.
Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Most Americans, including some lawyers and even judges don’t understand what happened. Yes, it is complex and confusing. But at the end it’s real simple.
In the old days, a bank would lend a homeowner money to buy a house. The homeowner would sign a promissory note promising to pay the money back to the bank. The homeowner also signed a mortgage, giving the bank the right to foreclose and take the house back if the homeowner did not pay back the money.
Mortgage Follows the Note
Lawyers and judges grew up with the legal doctrine that the “mortgage follows the Note.” Simply put, if the note was transferred from one bank to another the mortgage would follow the transfer.
But that was then, this is now.
At some point, the folks who brought you this mess (i.e. overly ambitious bankers on Wall Street) had the “great idea” of slicing and dicing the interest of the Note and literally severing it from the Mortgage. Why this was done was actually for a matter of convenience, expediency, and, arguably, greed. Such motivations for now are secondary to the crisis we are experiencing.
Humpty Dumpty = Mortgage and the Note
But this is clear: If you think of Humpty Dumpty as the Mortgage and Note, and you break it apart (as what occurred on Wall Street), when the Notes were broken into pieces and the mortgages were assigned to Mortgage Electronic Recording System (MERS), the fact is that it may well be nearly impossible to bring the mortgages and their corresponding Notes all back together again. Plain and simple! (more…)
Homeowners across the country tuned in Wednesday night as Oppenheim Law hosted its monthly Foreclosure Defense Workshop and broadcast the event live online through UStream TV.
Miss out on the live show? Oppenheim Law is streaming the Short Sale and Strategic Default Workshop on the South Florida Law Blog and UStream TV Channel through Sunday night.
We’re giving homeowners a second chance to hear Roy Oppenheim explain the latest trends in Florida foreclosure defense. Check out the video below for answers to many of the common questions homeowners have when facing a foreclosure, short sale, or strategic default.
Questions or feedback? Oppenheim Law would love to hear your suggestions for next month’s free Real Estate Workshop on June 2 in the comments section below, and be sure to follow Roy Oppenheim on Twitter @oplaw for all the latest real estate news.
