As very few probably know, including myself until recently, the House of Representatives has passed an early holiday gift for taxpayers concerning real estate. It is also expected that the Senate and President will follow suit in the near future. Ironically; however, it is too little, too late.
The following article was written in Yahoo! Homes by Roy Oppenheim, real estate and foreclosure defense attorney and republished in the The South Florida Law Blog.
EMINENT DOMAIN: AN UNLIKELY HERO FOR UNDERWATER HOUSING COMMUNITIES
Cities are turning to the concept of eminent domain to battle sinking property values and assist homeowners in distress.
The desperate fight against the long foreclosure crisis plaguing working-class neighborhoods across the country may have found its “White Knight” in the concept of “Eminent Domain.” This knight’s armor is far from shining and is filled with chinks, but nevertheless may function as a champion for underwater homeowners. Eminent Domain is the legal doctrine that gives governments the right to take private property for public use to exercise functions of public character. Further, the U.S. Constitution requires that when the government uses such power the people are fairly compensated.
Cities Desperate
Perturbed by the slow pace of the recovery, cities are taking matters into their own hands. They are using Eminent Domain to buy mortgages and reduce homeowner debt. In effect, a city would first offer to purchase underwater loans at an estimated fair market value. Once purchased, the city would then reduce the debt and allow the homeowner to refinance the loan, possibly pumping equity into a once underwater home. In the event that a city’s purchase offer is declined, they would then turn to eminent domain to condemn and buy the loan.
Cities from New Jersey to Las Vegas are in the process of passing resolutions built around eminent domain. Recently, Richmond, California gained notability as the first city to attempt to seize homes using eminent domain. Areas such as Newark, Seattle, and numerous cities across the west coast are contemplating using eminent domain as a solution for their drowning housing markets. What is unusual is that the property is not actually being taken, but rather the mortgage on the property is.
Wall Street’s Angst
The trend of using eminent domain to raise housing markets from the depths of underwater disaster is not without heavy opposition. Wall Street is viciously opposed to the idea. Big banks have declared themselves ready for an epic legal battle and have threatened to pinch-off all lines of mortgage lending to any area using eminent domain as a tool to override mortgages.
It remains to be seen whether the White Knight of Eminent Domain will raise underwater housing communities or drown beneath their depths. Regardless of the outcome, the battle is an intriguing one to keep an eye on.
Real Estate and Foreclosure Defense Attorney, Roy Oppenheim
Roy Oppenheim is Florida’s leading real estate and foreclosure defense attorney. He left Wall Street for Main Street and, in 1989, founded Oppenheim Law , Weston Title and the South Florida Law Blog with his partner and wife, Ellen. His entrepreneurial spirit and passion for helping to defend homeowners’ led Roy to start “In the Trenches” where he speaks out for the people and their constitutional rights. Prominently known as a legal blogger and often quoted in the media, Roy can be found in the newsroom on Twitter at @OpLaw and on Facebook.
Stand your ground and stay in your home! Get professional advice and fight for your property rights.
This story was originally written by Kimberly Miller – Palm Beach Post – Staff Writer and has been republished in the South Florida Law Blog featuring Roy Oppenheim, Oppenheim Law.
Gov. Rick Scott signed the controversial fast-track foreclosure bill into law Friday, surprising opponents of the plan who thought he would quietly let it become law without his support.
The bill is the first substantial change to Florida foreclosure laws since the state’s epic real estate crash pushed hundreds of thousands of homeowners into default and overwhelmed the court system.
Scott said he supports the bill, one of 34 he signed Friday, because he believes it will add to Florida’s economic recovery by “placing abandoned homes, caught up in the foreclosure backlog, back onto the market.”
“This bill expedites an existing and voluntary alternative court process for defaulted home loans in uncontested cases when the borrower and the bank both seek a more speedy finality,” he wrote in his transmittal letter to the Department of State.
Homeowner advocates and foreclosure defense attorneys waged a high-profile battle against the bill, which even ignited a rare public brawl within the Florida Bar between lawyers opposed to the proposal and the Bar’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section. Both sides hired powerful lobbyists to push their interests and hurled accusations about ulterior motives for their positions.
Roy Oppenheim, a South Florida real estate and foreclosure defense attorney and member of an opposition group called Florida Consumer Justice Advocates, said he’s already had discussions about challenging the law as unconstitutional and asking the courts to delay its implementation until it receives judicial review.
Seeing as how Oppenheim Law is based in South Florida, we obviously have many spanish-speaking clients, and more than a few spanish-speaking employees.
In fact it was one of those employees, Natalia, who brought it to my attention that we are doing them a disservice by not directly speaking to them here. We already offer translation services for our clients, and it’s only fair we do the same for our readers.
So from here on out we will be translating selected blogs into Spanish. To the right of this post you will now see, under the heading “En Espanol”, a link to Blog Legal Del Sur De La Florida (literal translation: Legal Blog of South Florida).
In this newly-created section we will post translated versions of blogs that I have already published in English. Natalia has been kind enough to translate my last two blogs “An Open Letter to President Obama” and “Shaun Donovan, Refinancing and the 900 lb. Gorilla” into Espanol.
I do speak a few languages beyond English, but I couldn’t do this without my spanish-speaking staff’s help, so please tell them “Gracias” the next time you step in the office.
If you’re interested in receiving our Spanish blogs by email, we have created a Spanish-only newsletter, which you can subscribe to by clicking here.
As always, we are “En Las Trincheras” (In The Trenches), fighting for our clients.
Sincerely,
Roy Oppenheim
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