South Florida Law Blog

Could Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finally be willing to sign off on principal reduction as a way to keep homeowners out of foreclosure and in their homes? Edward DeMarco, the acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and de facto leader of the two GSEs has been steadfast in his opposition. President Obama has made principal reduction priority […]

Banking officials, as a general rule, are old school. They are very resistant to change, and usually refuse to think outside of the box. Over the years I’ve seen the banks hold little to no regard for the customers they serve. Their philosophy has essentially been ‘You can’t pay your mortgage, then out on your butt you go!’ Forget that […]

Over a year ago I felt compelled to call out The Wall Street Journal after a particular column really got under my skin. It’s time to call them out once more. Not for another column, but rather, a lack of one. In October 2010 their column “The Politics of Foreclosure” made light of the plight many of my clients have […]

Clerks of court warn budget cuts will delay filings Just as I had predicted (and feared) now that the Florida legislature has passed a 7% budget cut to the state’s Clerk of Courts, officials from those offices are already warning of a major slowdown at courthouses across the state. Case filings may now take weeks instead of days. Hearings may […]

Well what do you know. Earlier this week I blogged about the mortgage settlement documents and their stunning lack of detail on the frauds committed by the banks during the days of robosigning. I was frustrated because it seems like the complete recklessness of the banks was being whitewashed in order for the settlement to go through. Turns out I […]

In the weeks after the mortgage settlement was announced by the Federal Government, I waited under baited breath to the see it in its entirety. Almost every week I read a different report stating the documents to finalize the settlement were about to be filed in court. And as each reported deadline came and went, I grew more and more […]

Bank of America to Reduce Principal For 200,000 Underwater Homeowners First some good news, if you’ve got an underwater mortgage owned by Bank of America. BofA has come to a separate agreement with the US government to to help reduce some the fines it owes to the Housing and Urban Development Agency from last month’s huge settlement. Bank of America […]

Big Foreclosure Settlement Still Not Really, Truly, Finally Done And here we go again. Last month I wondered when we were going to see the documentation behind the ‘$25 billion’ mortgage settlement. Despite the massive action this settlement is now supposedly leading to, there didn’t seem to be a huge rush to get the deal finalized. The same day I […]