Archives for June 2011

Buying a Home in a Distressed Market

Adam Letman Bailey is the author of “Finding the Uncommon Deal.” It is his belief that this is the best time to buy a home. Adam believes that the key to finding a good deal regarding the purchase of a home is to have the right information. In his book, “Finding the Uncommon Deal”, he talks about becoming an expert regarding the circumstances involved in your local real estate market.

He makes three specific recommendations: 1) Limit the geographic area in which you’re looking to buy a home; 2) For a short period of time, look intensely at that local market place; and 3) Look at as many properties as humanly possible.

Developing Your Own Expertise

Adam, in his book, suggests you develop your own expertise as to what is a good value in your local market place. For you to spot a bargain, you need to know what constitutes a bargain. He strongly suggests you limit your foray into the real estate market in to one or two local areas.

Distressed Properties

Adam suggests that if you’re considering buying a distressed property, contact the bank directly. See if they will talk to you and provide you with financing to buy a home they took back in foreclosure.

Credit Scores

Before even looking for a home, Adam suggests that you research your credit score. If you’re credit score is not up to par, it is important that you rehabilitate your credit score before applying for a mortgage.

Adam’s book suggests that the real estate market of foreclosed homes represents a unique buying opportunity for prospective homeowners. He believes you can buy homes for speculation and make huge profits or simply buy the home of your dreams at an extremely reasonable price.

Adam makes it clear that he does not believe the real estate market will come back for a long time. He advises in his book that if you buy a home, plan on living there for a minimum of seven years. He believes that real estate prices may continue to drop for several more years before they recover.

Foreclosure Defense

We are foreclosure defense lawyers. We help homeowners stay in their homes, even when they’re in foreclosure. We assist homeowners with mortgage modifications and mortgage modification programs that fail to meet their needs.

We litigate predatory lending issues, defective foreclosure lawsuits, defective mortgages and issues involving federal laws and foreclosure. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients. We discuss foreclosure related bankruptcy issues.

In the appropriate circumstances, we file Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies on behalf of our clients. We discuss with our clients why bankruptcy filings will be helpful to them and the types of bankruptcies available to them. Filing bankruptcy can stop foreclosures from moving forward and stop debt collection from collection agencies and collection lawyers. At the end of the bankruptcies, we can help our client in re-establishing credit. We appreciate your spending time on our foreclosure blog.

What Factors Can Positively Impact The Value of Your Home?

Impact The Value Of Your HomeFamilies with children look for good school districts. Most families want their children to be educated in the district that has the best reputation. Issues concerning the safety of the school district, college attendance of the school district, the quality of the internal structure of the schools, the reputation of the teachers in the schools and the overall feeling the family gets from speaking to real estate professionals and other individuals in the community concerning the schools plays a significant part in what families with children look for in a new home.

Commuting Distance

Men and women in Metropolitan areas, moving out of the inter-city, want to live in a suburban environment, but they do not want to travel too far to work. The time and distance involved in driving to and from a home to the prospective purchaser’s place of business has a major impact on where they will look to buy a home.

Price

The most important factor perspective purchasers will look at when buying a home is obviously its price! If the home is reasonably priced for the area, it is more likely to sell. Purchasers are looking for bargains. They’re aware of the glut of homes in the real estate market and if they buy in today’s market, they want to get what they want at bargain prices.

Local Relatives

In many families today, both the father and the mother work outside of the household. It therefore is important that they have a support system in their community. Having relatives or close friends in their local community gives them a support system, which makes it easier for the man and woman to work during the day.

Parks

Parks create green havens in a community. These green havens provide public space for families to utilize for recreation and social purposes. New home purchasers often drive around their community and are affirmatively impacted by attractive parks.

Bodies of Water

Many prospective homeowners would like to live on or near bodies of water. The body of water can be a river, lake or pond. Blue water in the distance creates a scenic look and recreational activities related to swimming, boating and water sports.

Americans want value when they purchase a new home. What is considered value in their local community is in the eye of the beholder.

Stop Foreclosure Now

The attorneys at the Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo handle foreclosure defense and other real estate related legal matters. They litigate defective foreclosure lawsuits and predatory lending issues, as well as defective mortgages. They are knowledgeable concerning the federal laws that deal with foreclosure. They attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of their clients. The also assist their clients with mortgage modification applications.

Bankruptcy and Foreclosure

Filing either a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy stops foreclosure in its tracks. These bankruptcies award the homeowners with an automatic stay that not only stops foreclosure litigation, but also stops all other types of debt collection activity. At the end of the foreclosure proceeding, credit can be re-established and, in some situations, second mortgages can be eliminated by filing bankruptcy.

Call for a free consultation. At our initial meeting, with you we will discuss all foreclosure options. This is the Elliot Schlissel, Esq. foreclosure defense blog.

A Generation of Renters

rentShould you buy a house or rent an apartment? As long as home values continue to decline, owning a home is a bad investment. If you rent, you have no responsibility for the apartment other than paying your monthly rental bill.

Home Ownership Declines in the United States

Home ownership has been declining the Unites States for the past few years. Home ownership is currently at its lowest rate since 1978. Approximately 38 million households in the United States are renters. While the building of new single family homes has dried up, apartment construction in the United States is now up 115% from its low in October of 2009.

Permits for new apartments hit a two year high in March of 2011. Compared to the number of permits applied for by construction companies for single family homes, there is a drastic difference. Permits for single family homes in 2011 are at their lowest point since 1960.

Rents Going Up

Since more and more families are seeking to rent, it has had an impact on the cost of renting. Rental rates are going up throughout the United States. There was over a 4% increase in rents between 2009 and 2010. Increasing rents is the result of the change in American attitudes. The American dream of owning a home is no longer held in such high esteem by young adults.

Many young Americans are concerned about the risk of home ownership. They see how home values have been going down for the past five years. They are concerned about making an investment of their valuable assets in a declining real estate market.

Harder To Buy A Home

Although homes have come down in value for the past five years, it is still difficult for young people to purchase a home. Banks now require larger down payments. Credit applications are underwritten more carefully and credit has become tighter. Many young Americans look at home ownership not as an investment, but as a financial burden.

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Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

If you own a home that is in foreclosure, we can keep you in your home! The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo is one of the premier foreclosure defense law firms in the country. We litigate all aspects of foreclosure proceedings, including defective mortgages, predatory lending, defective foreclosure lawsuits, issues involving robo signers, and other real estate related issues. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients and we seek to motivate financial institutions to give our clients mortgage modifications. We are adept at dealing with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients’ needs.

In certain situations, foreclosure related bankruptcies may be the answer to the foreclosure proceeding. In those situations, we discuss various types of bankruptcies that are available to our clients. These usually involve either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcies. The filing of the bankruptcy in a Federal Bankruptcy Court automatically stops the foreclosure proceeding from moving forward. In some situations, the filing of the bankruptcy can also be used to eliminate a second mortgage on a home. At the end of the bankruptcy, we can assist our clients in re-establishing their credit.

Call us! At your initial free consultation, we will discuss all of your foreclosure options. We appreciate you visiting our foreclosure blog.

Making Timely Mortgage Payments

Making Timely Mortgage PaymentsMany homeowners are making late payments on their mortgages. The percentage of mortgage holders who make late mortgage payments is high compared to the normal delinquency rate on mortgages.Las Vegas and Nevada are the states with the two highest mortgage delinquency rates in the country. The delinquency rate in Florida is 14.3%, and the delinquency rate in Nevada is 15.9%. Although the delinquency rate concerning homeowners making timely payments on mortgages has gone down from last year, it is still very high in these two states. Arizona was the state with the next highest mortgage delinquency rate. Its delinquency rate is 9.14%. The lowest delinquency rates in the country are in North Dakota and South Dakota, with rates of 1.54% and 2.53, respectively.

Pre-Recession Delinquency Rates

The normal pre-recession delinquency rate in the United States is 2.5%. One of the reasons why delinquency rates and mortgages are so high is because the foreclosure process in most states takes a long time. There are currently almost four million homeowners that are behind in paying their mortgages in the United States. As more and more homes go into foreclosure, the time it takes for the foreclosures to work their way through the courts, to get the home on the market to be sold, continues to grow. New York State has a slow foreclosure system. Foreclosures in some counties in New York can take up to two years before the home is sold.

Unemployment and Mortgage Delinquency Rates

There is a direct correlation between unemployment rates in the United States and the number of homeowners who are behind on their mortgages. The value of homes continues to fall in the United States. This acts as a negative factor in motivating homeowners with no equity in their property to continue to make their mortgage payments.

For the housing crisis to be stabilized, more Americans need to be employed so they will have sufficient funds to make the payments on their mortgages.

Foreclosure

If your home is in foreclosure, we can help you! For more than two decades the Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo has been one of the premier law firms in the Metropolitan New York area helping homeowners keep their homes. We provide foreclosure defense legal services. We litigate defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, bad faith by financial institutions and all types of real estate related proceedings. We assist our clients with mortgage modifications and we deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients’ needs. We attend foreclosure court conferences for our clients and we try to motivate the lenders to enter into mortgage modifications, which reduce our clients’ mortgage payments.

Bankruptcy and Foreclosure

We explain foreclosure related bankruptcy proceedings to our clients. If the situation calls for it, we file either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcies for our clients. These bankruptcies stop foreclosures and, in some situations, eliminate second mortgages. We also assist our clients in re-establishing credit after they file bankruptcy. Feel free to call us for a free consultation. Thank you for visiting this foreclosure blog.

Contact Us For a Free Consultation: We Can Save Your Home!

appraisalLow Appraisals

The real estate crisis in America has caused Financial Institutions to become very conservative with regard to approving mortgages for prospective homeowners. Bankers have put pressure on the appraisers they use to be very conservative in the valuation of homes. Restrictive loan underwriting requirements are causing many homes to be valued at 15 to 20% less than the actual market value. This has resulted in prospective home purchasers backing out of real estate deals due to a lower than anticipated appraisals.

Real Estate Appraisal Problems

During the days of the real estate boom, financial institutions accepted appraisers’ inflated home values so the prospective purchasers could obtain larger mortgages. Since the time the real estate bubble burst, new home purchasers have found that the appraisers working for financial institutions are now under valuing homes. In April of 2011, the medium national home price in the United States was $163,700. This was a 5% reduction from the median value of a single family home since April, 2010.

lawForeclosure Lawyers

Our law office can help you save your home. We fight foreclosure proceedings!!! We help our clients obtain mortgage modifications. We litigate defective mortgages, predatory lending, bad faith, defective foreclosure lawsuits and real estate issues. We are familiar with the State and Federal laws the banks must comply with in foreclosure proceedings. We attend court conferences for our clients and we try to motivate the financial institutions to enter into mortgage modification programs with our clients. Sometimes we advise our clients to file either a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which immediately stops foreclosures from moving forward. We also can assist our clients in re-establishing their credit after filing for bankruptcy. Contact us for a free consultation. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure blog.

The Economy is Slowly Improving, but the Housing Sector is Lacking

But The Housing Sector Is LackingIn recent months, consumer spending in the United States has been increasing. For the seventh month in a row, consumers have been purchasing more goods and services from retailers. Companies have reported higher sales than in 2010.

Housing is Dragging the Economy Down

The real estate sector in the United States is having a negative effect on the United States pulling out of a recession. Although consumer spending has increased, real estate spending is decreasing.

Home builders are still very pessimistic with regard to housing starts in 2011. This year is the worst in nearly fifty years with regard to the amount of new homes being built in the United States.

The National Association of Home Builders recently stated that its index of home builder sentiment remains unchanged as of February, 2011. For the fourth straight month, the sentiment of home builders has been extremely negative.

The American Dream

At one time, the ownership of a single family home was the American dream. For many Americans, this dream has turned into a nightmare. They owe more on their homes than their homes are worth. They are falling behind on their mortgages. They have lost their jobs or are underemployed and are no longer capable of making their mortgage payments. Their children attend schools in their neighborhood and they don’t want to move. This is a dilemma.

The key to an improvement on the real estate market is a reduction in unemployment. If Americans earn more money, they will spend this money on their mortgages. They will buy new homes and modernize their homes. This will give a boost to the housing industry and increase employment in this sector. Unfortunately, this is not happening right now in the United States.

Best Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

If you have a foreclosure problem, we can help you. Our foreclosure defense lawyers litigate defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending and all other types of real estate related matters. We can explain the federal laws on foreclosure and how they affect you. We attend foreclosure court conferences for our clients.

In the appropriate situation, we will discuss foreclosure related bankruptcy issues, such as filing a Chapter 7 and a Chapter 13 bankruptcy with you. In bankruptcy situations, there is an automatic stay that goes into effect, ordered by the court, that stops foreclosure from moving forward. In some bankruptcy situations, we can eliminate second mortgages. At the end of the bankruptcy, we can assist you in re- establishing your credit.

Feel free to set up a free consultation with us. We will discuss your foreclosure options with you. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure blog.

Foreclosure Notice Rules Must be Complied With

Foreclosure Notice Rules Must Be Complied WithJudge Angiolillo, sitting in the Appellate Division of the Second Department, has ruled that lenders must strictly comply with foreclosure notice rules. In 2008, foreclosure notice rules were enacted to protect homeowners confronted with foreclosure. Judge Angiolillo’s recent ruling requires that these rules be strictly complied with.

Foreclosure Proceeding

Aurora Loan Services sued Mr. Weisblum in a foreclosure proceeding. Justice Angiolillo found that the notice that was provided by Aurora Loan Services to Mr. Weisblum did not “substantially comply” with the requirements of the 2008 statute. The notice required that a minimum of five counseling agencies regarding foreclosure issues had to be provided to homeowners whose mortgages were past due. Justice Angiolillo further stated that the 2008 law, which was modified and expanded in 2010, was to “preserve and guard the precious asset of home equity.” In this case, Justice Angiolillo wrote that the mortgage company had neglected to submit an appropriate affidavit, which showed there was proper service of documents on Mr. Weisblum. Justice Angiolillo wrote for a unanimous panel of the Appellate Division.

Foreclosure Defense In New York

If your house is in foreclosure, we can help you. We’ve been fighting foreclosures for more than two decades. We litigate defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, violations of federal laws and other real estate issues. We can help you obtain mortgage modifications and we can counsel you concerning mortgage modification programs that fail to meet your needs.

We also assist our clients with foreclosure related bankruptcies. These bankruptcies can either be a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. We will explain to you why filing bankruptcy may be the best route to deal with your foreclosure issues and the types of bankruptcies that are available to you. Filing the bankruptcy stops foreclosure proceedings from moving forward. It also stops other debt collection activities involving credit cards and other debts.

Feel free to schedule a free consultation. We will explain your foreclosure options to you. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure blog.

Failure to Apply For Mortgage Causes a Loss of Down Payment

Mortgage Causes A Loss Of Down PaymentA husband and wife entered into a contract to purchase a home. They deposited $35,000 as a down payment. When they didn’t close on the real estate transaction, the seller sued them for breach of contract.

Applying for a Mortgage

The issue in the lawsuit was whether the purchasers diligently applied for a $280,000 mortgage. When the mortgage application was turned down by the financial institution, the purchasers demanded that the sellers return their $35,000 deposit.

Purchasers Not Entitled to Refund of Down Payment

Justice Tom Feinman, sitting in a the Supreme Court located in Nassau County, found that the defendants “failed to properly, diligently pursue a mortgage loan as required by the contingency provision of the contract.” Justice Feinman found that the defendant, Edwin Silvey, did not apply for a mortgage. Only his wife, co- defendant Barbary Silvey, applied for the mortgage. The mortgage was turned down because she did not have sufficient income to obtain a $230,000 mortgage loan. The court held that both the husband and the wife, pursuant to the terms of the real estate contract, needed to apply for the mortgage. Since they both didn’t apply, they failed to make the diligent and good faith effort required under the real estate contract to obtain a mortgage. Since they failed to fulfill their obligations under the contract, they were not entitled to their $35,000 deposit back.

Foreclosure Defense Attorney

Is your home in foreclosure? If so, we can help you save it! We are a foreclosure defense law firm. We help our clients in obtaining mortgage modifications and dealing with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet their needs. We represent our clients in foreclosure defense litigation. We litigate issues involving defective mortgage, predatory lending, defective foreclosure lawsuits and other types of real estate issues. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients.

At the time of our initial consultation, we provide all foreclosure options to our clients. In situations when foreclosure related bankruptcies make sense, we discuss either filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy immediately stops the foreclosure from moving forward. Sometimes the bankruptcy can also eliminate second mortgages. We discuss with our clients how to re-establish credit at the end of the bankruptcy. Feel free to call us for a free consultation. We appreciate you reading our foreclosure blog.

The Public’s Outlook on Real Estate on Long Island

Outlook On Real Estate On Long IslandProspective homeowners on Long Island have shown more interest about real estate ownership this spring then they have shown in the past few years. A new poll showed that consumers felt the real estate market was moving in the correct direction.

Buyers’ Market

Prospective homeowners on Long Island take the position that they are in control of the market place. It is a “buyers’ market.” Although the sentiment is favorable, this has not translated into an increase in the number of homes that have been purchased on Long Island. Don Levy, the director of Ciena Research Institute, recently stated, “the current view toward buying is extremely positive on Long Island. Right now the seller is losing and the buyer is winning and that tension is more acute on Long Island than it is in any other area of the state we measure.”

Sellers are at a Disadvantage

Liz English is the president of the Long Island Board of Realtors. She is also an associate broker at Netter Real Estate, located in West Islip, Long Island. She recently stated that some may view sellers at a disadvantage, but she does not. “With interest rates where they are now the buyers are there” English said. She believes it is an opportunistic market for both buyers and sellers. Houses are being sold for reasonable rates and buyers can obtain low interest mortgages. She feels this is a “win-win” situation for all involved.

English stated that she sees a trend concerning increases in the amount of purchases of homes on Long Island. She hopes this will continue into the near future.

Foreclosure Defense Attorneys

Filing a bankruptcy is one avenue to take to stop foreclosures from moving forward. Individuals can file Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies. These bankruptcies are usually filed by individuals and not by corporations. After filing bankruptcy you can re-establish credit and, in some circumstances, eliminate second mortgages.

Individuals and families whose homes are in foreclosure can also fight the foreclosures in the New York State courts. Foreclosure defense in the New York State courts can involve litigating issues concerning predatory lending, defective mortgages and defective foreclosure lawsuits. There are mandatory foreclosure court conferences in the state courts of New York. The Judges at these conferences try to motivate banks to work out mortgage modifications with individuals whose homes are in foreclosure. The courts can put pressure on the banks concerning mortgage modification programs that fail to meet the consumers needs. Feel free to call our office for a free consultation. At our initial meeting, we will provide you with an explanation of all of your foreclosure options. If you are reading this article, you are on our foreclosure defense blog.

Slowdown in Foreclosures on Long Island

In April of 2011, there were 540 foreclosure filings in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long IslanSlowdown In Foreclosures On Long Islandd. This represented the lowest number of foreclosure lawsuits initiated during a month since December of 2008. It represented a drop of 21.5% from the level of foreclosure activity in March of 2011.

Foreclosures Moving Slowly Through the Courts

The courts in the State of New York have been inundated with foreclosure filings for the past few years. Governor Andrew Cuomo has recently stripped the budget of the court system of 174 million dollars. This has caused massive layoffs and cutbacks within the court system. At a time when there are huge back logs in foreclosure activities, there are less and less resources within the court system to deal with these foreclosures. It is estimated that it could take as long as three years to complete the foreclosure process for foreclosures initiated in the second half of 2011.

Lenders Reluctant to Foreclosure

Lenders have stated that it is an expensive procedure to litigate a long foreclosure matter. In the end, they can end up with a property that needs to be repaired and maintained. It can also take the lender a substantial period of time to sell the property.

Delays take place in the foreclosure process because lenders are allowing more time during the period between delinquency and foreclosure. They are waiting to see if loan modifications go through. They are waiting for short sales. There are judicial delays caused by the courts inability to process the huge amount of cases that are in foreclosure.

Do Delays Help or Hurt The Real Estate Market

The question is do delays help or hurt the market place. There is a considerable body of thought that now holds that the faster we move the foreclosures through the legal system, the faster we can eliminate the pain. They compare this to pulling off a band-aid one hair at a time or ripping the band-aid off all at once. Unfortunately, ripping the band-aid off all at once destroys many peoples’ lives and forces them out of their homes with no place else to go!

Aggressive Foreclosure Defense Lawyers

We can fight your foreclosure. We litigate predatory lending issues, defective foreclosure lawsuits, and defective mortgages. We attend foreclosure court conferences for our clients. We draft mortgage modifications and deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients needs. We litigate foreclosure related bankruptcies, whether they’re a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. We also assist our clients in re-establishing credit after filing a bankruptcy. We can help stop your foreclosure from moving forward! Call us and we will provide you with a free consultation. We will discuss all of your foreclosure options. Feel free to come back to our foreclosure blog on a regular basis to read about real estate and foreclosure related issues.

Foreclosure Defense in Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Baldwin, Malverne, Freeport, Oceanside, Long Beach, Elmont, Lakeview, West Hempstead, Hempstead, Merrick and Bellmore, New York

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