Posts Tagged ‘Harriet Johnson Brackey’

Foreclosure Fallout: Robo-Signing deal falls flat

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

President Obama is likely to talk about this in tonight’s State of The Union Address, but we’re not going to wait that long.

With details of the proposed $25 billion settlement with the nation’s largest banks over the robo-signing fiasco now out in the public eye thanks to the Associated Press, we feel a large sense of disappointment.

There’s no question that this deal will change the mortgage industry for the better. Some homeowners will even have a much better chance of being able to restructure their loans when facing foreclosure under this deal.

No One’s Getting Their Keys Back

Yet, there are many out there who are going to feel little comfort with this agreement. Here’s what the deal is NOT going to do. It’s not going to put people who’ve lost their homes (again because of deceptive foreclosure practices) back in those houses, or give them any real financial security.

According to the deal, about 750,000 Americans, which by the way is about

Cracked! Humpty Dumpty, Chase, and GMAC: The Bank Mortgage Foreclosure Fraud Crisis Continues to Fall by Roy Oppenheim

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Humpty Dumpty Foreclosure Fraud Oppenheim Law

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!
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Sun-Sentinel Business Blogs to Like, Follow and Comment

Monday, July 19th, 2010

As housing sales hit an all time low, The South Florida Law Blog and Oppenheim Law bring our readers a fresh perspective on the Florida real estate landscape and legal trends. We also serve as an expert source to local and national media outlets.

Investing, renting, buying or selling real estate in today’s market is a tricky course to follow, we know, we’re on the frontlines and in the trenches defending homeowners.

So we wanted to take note of the other excellent resources and personalities to follow in the news. House Keys, written by Sun-Sentinel real estate reporter Paul Owers, and It’s Your Money, written by Sun-Sentinel personal finance reporter Harriet Johnson Brackey.

Connected to Oppenheim Law on Twitter, @OPLaw? You can follow Paul Owers, @paulowers, and Harriet Johnson Brackey, @HarrietBrackey, as well for the latest in business news and views on personal finance, real estate and foreclosure defense.

Have a favorite source for legal advice, real estate tips or personal finance? Share it in the comments section!

Today’s Sun-Sentinel Florida Foreclosure Report , Roy Oppenheim Contributes to Story

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

A Foreclosure Tsunami is overwhelming South Florida courts, writes Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reporter Harriet Johnson Brackey.

Florida real estate attorney and legal blogger Roy Oppenheim contributed to the report, which explains how a tenfold increase in foreclosure cases over the past five years is crippling the South Florida court system.

fl-foreclosure-court-060810b

According to Oppenheim Law, South Florida courts have turned to mediation, a process prior to foreclosure proceedings that gives homeowners and banks an opportunity to avoid a battle in court if an agreement on the future of the property and debt can be reached. The problem, though, is most homeowners are not aware they now have a right to mediation.

“Mediation makes all the difference in the world,” Oppenheim says. “There are so many opportunities to resolve matters in mediation, a lot of creative ways.”

Check out the entire Foreclosure Tsunami article in Oppenheim Law’s Newsroom to find out the state’s plan to eliminate half of the foreclosure backlog by the end of the year.


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