Buyers Are Still Wary Of Purchasing Homes In New York

The housing market on Long Island did not improve in the month of January 2012. According to Multiple Listing Service on Long Island the median sales price of a home in Nassau County  fell 6.1% between January 2011 and January 2012.  This brought the median home price down from $410,000 to $385,000.  During the same period of time homes in Suffolk County fell 5.2%.  With the median price going from $313,000 to $296,800.  The volume of homes that were sold also was reduced.

James Retz, a Vice President at Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty in Cold Spring Harbor, stated with regard to the real estate market on Long Island it is “showing a lot of life, but there’s still a lot of caution.”

High Foreclosure Rates

The high foreclosure rates on Long Island continue to have a negative impact on the sales price of homes.  There are simply too many homes on the market in Long Island.  When you have a lack of equilibrium between the amount homes listed to be sold and the number of purchasers interested in buying homes the market will continue to go down.

Conclusion

It is still a difficult time to sell a house and buyers who are in the market today can obtain substantial bargains.

Real Estate Lawyers

The Real Estate Lawyers at the Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo can help you if your home is in foreclosure or if your home is heading toward foreclosure.  We can represent you at foreclosure court conferences.  We can submit foreclosure defenses in litigation brought by financial institutions against you.  A commonly utilized pleading involves defenses such as defective foreclosures, predatory lending, foreclosure fraud, and other real estate related defenses.  We can also help you with regard to a forensic audit with regard to your mortgage.  Call us and we will discuss your foreclosure options with you.
An additional option when faced with foreclosure is filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Our attorneys are available to discuss foreclosures related to bankruptcy with you.  Feel free to call us.

Twenty Five Million Dollar Mortgage Settlement

The Federal Government has recently settled for 25 million dollars with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Ally Financial with regard to pending litigation concerning their improper activities regarding mortgages.

The cases were initially started in 2010.  Banks were initially found of guilty of signing off on foreclosures without appropriately reviewing them.  The scandal uncovered what has been referred to as robosigning.  Robosigning is where bank officials sign documents without reading them.  Sometimes as many as hundreds of these documents within a day.

Banks Broke The Law

The banks involved in the robosigning scandal broke the law.  As a result of their improper activity thousand of homeowners were evicted from their homes for invalid or nonexistent documentation.

Who Receives the 25 Million?

The exact details with regard to the settlement have not been worked out. However, it is anticipated the money will be allocated as follows:

1.         1.5 billion dollars in cash payments will go to approximately 750,000 qualified homeowners who lost their homes in foreclosure between 2008 and 2011.  This works out to about $2000 per homeowner.

2.         Banks will agree to 17 billion dollars in principle reductions concerning homeowners who have homes that are underwater and are either at risk of default or currently in default on their mortgages.

3.         3 billion dollars will be allocated to homeowners who are currently paying high mortgage raters or have adjustable mortgages.  The adjustable mortgages can be reset to very low interest rates.

4.         The balance of the settlement funds will be utilized for consumer protection programs and to establish reforms with regard to the bank servicing agency.

It is estimated that it will take between eight and ten months to set up a methodology of distributing the funds and establishing who the homeowners are that would have to be compensated.  The settlement will be thereafter put into effect for a period of 36 months.

Federal officials have suggested that the total amount of funds paid by the financial institutions will end up being as high as 39 billion dollars.

This Is Not Enough

Paul Dales, a housing economist recently stated “you are hardly skimming the surface.  It could help some people a lot, individually. But in terms of the big picture, overall economy and housing market, it is really just a drop in the ocean of the problem.  Only the five banks mentioned have agreed to this settlement, while mortgages funded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are exempt.  This cuts more than half of the homeowners from eligibility right off the bat.”

Punishment for Banks

Experts feel that the 25 billion dollars being paid by the financial institutions will not have a significant impact on dealing with the housing crisis in the United States.  While the plan may be flawed, it is a start in the right direction!

Stopping Foreclosure By Filing Bankruptcy

Foreclosure related bankruptcy filing is one of the possible options in dealing with foreclosure problems.  Individuals and spouses can file either Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 bankruptcies.  The filing of the bankruptcy immediately stops foreclosures from moving forward, stops debt collection practices and stops creditor harassment.  In some circumstances the filing of bankruptcy can eliminate second mortgages.  Call us and we can discuss the types of bankruptcy that are available to you and why filing bankruptcy may be in your interest and other foreclosure defense related options.

Attorneys Who Defend Foreclosures In New York

The Long Island foreclosure defense lawyers at The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo have for more than two decades been representing the families in the courts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.  The firm helps clients obtain mortgage modifications.  The firm also prepares forensic audits on behalf of clients.  If a foreclosure action is started, the firm submits written answers alleging defenses such as predatory lending, defective foreclosure lawsuits and defective mortgages.  The firm’s attorneys appear in court for settlement conferenceand pressure the financial institutions to give their clients mortgage modifications.

Foreclosure related bankruptcies are another option to deal with foreclosure lawsuits.  Either the filing of a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will bring a foreclosure proceeding to a halt.  Either of these bankruptcies can be utilized to stop foreclosures, stop debt collection, and stop creditor harassment.  Contact the firm for a free consultation.

Mortgage Services Agree to 25 Billion Dollar Settlement For Their Improper Activities Regarding Mortgages

Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Americans who lost their homes in foreclosures between 2008 and 2011 will be able to qualify for up to $2000 in reimbursement from a settlement worked out with large financial institutions.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman played a key role in working out the settlement with the large financial institutions. However this settlement doesn’t excuse criminal activity on behalf of the mortgage services. Schneiderman has stated that he will keep pursuing his investigation with regard to mortgage abuses.

Schneiderman said “there are huge tax fraud implications to some of the stuff involving mortgages that we went on.” The large financial institutions involved in the settlement are Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial Services.

Too Little Too Late

The $2000 dollars being paid to people who lost their homes is much too little and it is being paid much too late. Schneiderman stated that the settlement is just a down payment. He intends on pursuing interest and further penalties on the financial servicing companies.

Long Island Foreclosure Lawyers

The Long Island foreclosure defense lawyers at The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo have for more than two decades been representing the families in the courts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The firm helps clients obtainmortgage modifications. The firm also prepares forensic audits on behalf of clients. If a foreclosure action is started, the firm submits written answers alleging defenses such as predatory lending, defective foreclosure lawsuits and defective mortgages. The firm’s attorneys appear in court for settlement conferenceand pressure the financial institutions to give their clients mortgage modifications.

Foreclosure related bankruptcies are another option to deal with foreclosure lawsuits. Either the filing of a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will bring a foreclosure proceeding to a halt. Either of these bankruptcies can be utilized to stop foreclosures, stop debt collection, and stop creditor harassment. Contact the firm for a free consultation.

Robo-signers Indicted In Nevada

The State Attorney General in Nevada has recently indicted two individuals in a “massive” robo-signing foreclosure scam. The scammers were indicted with regard to falsification of foreclosure related documents. The State Attorney General’s office in Nevada believes that these two individuals were responsible for thousands of homes being wrongfully foreclosed on.

The individuals involved were California residents. Their names were Gary Trafford and Gerri Sheppard. They are facing numerous charges related to the falsifying of thousands of foreclosure documents in Nevada between the years of 2005 and 2008. They had been working during this period for Lender Processing Services, a mortgage servicing company. According to Nevada Deputy Attorney General, John Kellher, the “Grand Jury found probable cause that there was a robo-siging scheme which resulted in the filing of thousands of fraudulent documents.” It is estimated that Lending Processing Services is responsible for more than half of all mortgage processing in the United States. The company, which has more than eight thousand employees, has acknowledged that there have been flawed procedures with regard to the preparation and signing of mortgage related documents.

Foreclosure Defense Lawyers

The attorneys of the Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo blend a wealth of legal experience and legal know how concerning issues involving foreclosure defense, mortgage modifications, forensic audits, defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits and predatory lending issues.

In the appropriate situations, we advise our clients with regard to foreclosure related bankruptcies. These bankruptcies can be either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. The filing of a bankruptcy can eliminate second mortgages, stop foreclosures, stop debt collection practices and stop creditor harassment.

Call us for a free initial consultation where we will discuss your foreclosure options as well as bankruptcy options.

United States Government Sues Deutsche Bank Over Improper Loan Practices

In May of 2011 the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank. They asked for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from Deutsche Bank. The lawsuit alleges that Deutsche Bank improperly charged it’s customers for bad loans issued by the bank. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in New York.

U.S. attorney Preet Bharara stated upon filing the lawsuit, Deutsche Bank “ignored every type of red flag and breached every duty of due diligence before underwriting thousands of federally insured mortgages.” “While the homes the defendant’s issued loans for may have been build on solid ground, the defendant’s lending practices were built on quick sand. Ultimately prudence was trumped by profit, and good faith took a back seat to good fees.”

A representative from Deutsche Bank stated the charges against them were “unreasonable and unfair”.  The governments complaint stated that more than forty thousand loans were issued by Deutsche Bank during a ten year period from 1999 to 2009. These loans have a face value of more than five billion dollars.  The government alleges that as a result of Deutsche Banks loan program, there was numerous defaulted loans which have cost the United States taxpayers more than one billion dollars.

New York Foreclosure Defense and Bankruptcy Attorneys

There are a variety of ways to fight foreclosures. They can be litigated in the State Court where the lawsuit is brought. Defenses such as predatory lending, defective foreclosure lawsuits, defective mortgages, violation of federal laws related to foreclosure and other real estate defenses can be raised in the state courts. Applications can also be made for mortgage modifications to entice the financial institution to back off on the foreclosure proceedings.

In addition to the state based actions, families whose homes are in foreclosure can file foreclosure related bankruptcies. The bankruptcies filed are either a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. These are two types of bankruptcy that apply to consumers. Filing the bankruptcy stops foreclosures from moving forward, ends debt collection and sometimes eliminates second mortgages. At the end of the bankruptcy the individuals filing can re-establish their credit.

Should you have questions as to the best route for you to take to save your home, call us, we’ll provide you with a free consultation and discuss your foreclosure defense options. You are on the Elliot Schlissel foreclosure blog and we thank you for visiting with us.

Illegal Foreclosures on Homes Owned By Military Personnel

Banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions have been illegally foreclosing on homes owned by men and women actively serving in the military  of our country. Men and women in the Armed Services of the United States are supposed to be protected by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. This is a law designed to protect members of the Armed Services who have financial difficulties. This federal statute prevents foreclosure on properties owned by men and women on active duty in the military of the United States. Foreclosures in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act are punished by the justice department’s civil division.

Fifty Illegal Foreclosures of Property Owned By Members of the Military

In a recent report the General Accountability Office of the United States government has disclosed that they have found more than fifty wrongful foreclosures of homes owned by members of the military. These foreclosures have been undertaken by 14 of the largest banks in the United States. Al Franken, the democratic senator from Minnesota, stated “the idea of wrongfully forcing service members families from their homes while their loved ones are risking their lives to protect our country, is not only unconscionable, it’s illegal.”

In February of 2011, JP Morgan Chase disclosed it had improperly foreclosed on 18 homes owned by military members. The bank has recently either rescinded the foreclosure sales or reached a financial settlement with a dozen of these military borrowers. JP Morgan Chase’s chairman, Jamie Dimon, referred to these foreclosures as “a painful apparition.” Recently JP Morgan Chase has found another 30 situations where they may have illegally foreclosed on service members homes.

Protect Your Country and Lose Your Home

Men and women who are risking their lives in the armed services of the United States should be protected from having their loved ones thrown out of their homes and the home sold in foreclosure!

Lawyers Helping Victims of Foreclosure

We help families whose homes are being foreclosed. We assist our clients with mortgage modifications and dealing with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet their needs. We litigate violations of federal laws regarding foreclosure,  predatory lending issues, defective foreclosure lawsuits, real estate related issues and defective mortgages. We attend foreclosure court conferences for our clients.

We file foreclosure related bankruptcies, such as Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies for our clients. At our initial consultation we discuss the types of bankruptcy that are available and why the situation may require the filing of a bankruptcy petition. At the end of the bankruptcy case we explain to our clients how to re-establish their credit. It should be noted that bankruptcies stop foreclosures and also stop debt collection activity. Feel free to call us for a consultation. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure defense blog.

Fixing Up Your Home for Sale

Do you want to sell your house? If the answer is yes, you may want to consider fixing it up to make it more sale worthy. It may be necessary to modernize or improve certain aspects of your home or to upgrade your property to make it more marketable in the over crowded real estate market.

How Much Should You Spend

The rule of thumb with regard to spending to make your home more marketable is to spend no more than one or two percent of your home’s value. There are various things you can do to make your home more marketable.

Kitchen Appliances

Your kitchen appliances should match each other (hopefully, this is not the first time you have heard this suggestion!). Attractive, stainless steel kitchen appliances or color coordinated kitchen appliances make the kitchen more presentable.

Landscaping

Real estate brokers talk about the concept of curb appeal. When a purchaser walks towards your home, do they like what they see? Your gardening should be neat and attractive. Shrubs should not be overgrown. Weeds should be removed from your lawn. Flowering shrubs, flowers and attractive pots also add to the curb appeal of your home. You may have to hire a gardener to obtain this look.

Painting

Homes with fresh coats of paint in their rooms have a cleaner, more attractive look. Stick to neutral colors, such as off whites or baige. Take a look at your moldings. Are they scratched or beaten up? Replacing or repairing and painting moldings adds a finishing touch to a room.

Storage Space

Perspective purchasers like to see organized storage areas. Make sure your closets and storage areas are neat and organized. Buyers will be looking into them! Closet systems can be an inexpensive upgrade.

Bathrooms

The grout around your toilets and your bathroom tiles should not be discolored, cracked, uneven, and there should be no missing grout. Beat up toilets and black grout have a negative impact on prospective purchasers. You don’t have to remodel your entire bathroom. Just fix it up and make it more attractive! If the shower head is dirty or rusty, replace it! Take a look at the light fixtures in your bathroom. Are they out of date, dirty or damaged? If so, upgrade and replace them with new, attractive light fixtures.

Selling Price

The minor upgrades, enhancements and fixing-up suggestions in this article may help you sell your home. However, in today’s market, one should be realistic as to what a home is worth. Your home is worth only what someone else will pay for it. Real estate values are based on numerous factors, including supply and demand. If you want more money than the market values your home at, you’re making a mistake. If you want to sell your home now, take the best reasonable offer! Do not be greedy!

Foreclosure Help in New York

Our office assists clients with mortgage modifications. We deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients needs. We litigate defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending issues, defective mortgages and bad faith by financial institutions. Our office has been involved in handling real estate matters for more than three decades. We also maintain a foreclosure blog. We advise our clients whether filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is necessary to stop their foreclosure proceedings from moving forward. We assist our clients in stopping foreclosure and sometimes we can help eliminate second mortgages. If a bankruptcy is filed at the end of the bankruptcy, we can help our clients reestablish credit. Feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

Underwater Mortgages Keep Rising

The high level of unemployment in the United States, coupled with the increasing foreclosure rate, is leading to a reduction in the value of homes. The percentage of Americans who owe more on their mortgages than the value of their homes continues to rise. This is causing more and more homes to be underwater. “Underwater” refers to a home having a greater mortgage indebtedness on it then its actual value.

There are 11 million families, which represent 23% of all foreclosures in the United States, that have mortgages that were underwater during the last quarter of 2010. That was an increase from the previous quarter, in which 22.5% of the homes in foreclosure in the United States were underwater. This is the third quarter in a row where the number of homes underwater have increased.

Underwater Mortgages Leave Homeowners with Few Options

When the mortgage on a home is underwater, a homeowner has few options. The homeowner won’t be able to qualify for mortgage refinancing. They simply must continue making the payments on their property and hope that it will eventually start appreciating in value and be worth more than the indebtedness on it.

Experts expect that home prices will continue to fall throughout the 2011 calendar year. The greater the percentage of homes in a given area that are underwater, the more significant impact they have on the valuation of homes in general for that area. As homes in a locality fall into the category of being underwater, they tend to bring down the values of the neighboring homes too.

Purchasing a Home in Today’s Market

To obtain a conventional mortgage, most financial institutions require the perspective homeowner to put down 20% of the purchase price of the home. In today’s economic situation in the United States, with falling salaries, high unemployment and high foreclosure rates, few perspective homeowners fall into this category. The down payment requirements for prospective new home buyers is having a negative effect on the housing market. President Obama’s administration seeks to have all perspective homeowners provide a minimum of a 10% down payment before they can obtain a conventional mortgage that is guaranteed by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

The amount of negative equity in the United States in the last quarter of 2010 increased from $744 billion nationwide to $751 billion nationwide. This is a major step in the wrong direction! Families, at one time, measured their wealth by the equity in their home. Today, home ownership means you have an asset that is decreasing in value!

Foreclosure Defense Attorneys on Long Island

The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo handles foreclosure defense litigation. We submit detailed answers to summonses and complaints filed by financial institutions. We litigate defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, defective mortgages and bad faith by financial institutions. Our office in experienced in handling real estate litigation. If a case is in litigation, our attorneys will attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients. We also maintain a foreclosure blog that contains articles concerning foreclosures, mortgage modification issues and other issues effecting homeowners. We also file Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies which stop foreclosures and can have an impact on eliminating second mortgages. We can also assist our clients in re- establishing credit.

Feel free to call us if you are having difficulties with your financial institution, paying your mortgage or in dealing with a foreclosure issue.

The Real Cost of Home Ownership

Individuals and families purchasing their first home usually ponder over how large a mortgage they can afford to pay. There are a variety of other costs that should be taken into consideration when purchasing a home. Homes require maintenance. Appliances break, roofs leak and there are numerous other types of maintenance problems homeowners must anticipate. These include landscaping, pest control, plumbing problems and the maintaining of the heating and air conditioning systems. These costs must be taken into consideration when purchasing a home.

Utilities

Homes must be heated and in the summer they may need air conditioning. The price of fuel oil and gas have been going up for the past few years. You should obtain the expense records from the previous owner for the utilities including heating, gas, oil and electric before purchasing a new home. These costs should be built into your monthly budget.

Homeowners Insurance

It is necessary to maintain casualty insurance on your home. This would repay either you or the bank should your home be damaged in a fire or through other circumstances. Sometimes this expense is built right into the mortgage payment. If you’re paying this expense directly, you should take this into account when budgeting for a new home.

Home Improvements

When a car gets old, you either fix it or you purchase a new car. When you own a home, besides from maintaining it, sometimes it becomes necessary to make improvements to maintain your quality of life. Home improvements involve planning, time and money.

Emergency Fund

One never knows when an emergency will take place. In these situations, it’s important to have a nest egg to bide you over during an emergency.

New York Foreclosure Defense

If your home is in foreclosure, you need a foreclosure defense lawyer. Call us. This is what we do! We litigate numerous foreclosure defense issues including, but not limited to, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, bad faith, defective mortgages, and other real estate related issues. We attend court conferences on behalf of our clients and we keep them up to date concerning the status of the foreclosure. We handle mortgage modifications for our clients and we deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients needs. When appropriate, we also file Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcies on behalf of our clients. If you have a mortgage related problem call us at 516-561-6645, 1-800-344-6431 or 718-350-2802.

Cities With High Foreclosure Rates

Cities With High Foreclosure RatesLas Vegas, Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona are running neck and neck for the title of having the highest foreclosure rates in the United States of America. Although it has been widely written about these two cities enormous foreclosure rates, there are numerous other small cities in America that have similar problems.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque is a city of approximately 500,000 people. They have a foreclosure rate of one in every forty-six homes. During 2010, their foreclosure rate increased by over 60%. Albuquerque was one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the continental United States. It has a warm climate and, for many years, it had a very favorable job market. Albuquerque has been devastated in recent years due to the falling economy.

Albuquerque is suffering from a high unemployment rate. More than 13% of all of construction jobs were lost in Albuquerque during 2010, pursuant to the Associated General Contractors of America. High lay-offs in the construction industry contributed to Albuquerque having a high foreclosure rate.

Savanna, Georgia

Savanna is a beautiful city. It is known for its beautiful old south architecture. The city has a population of approximately 350,000 people. Unfortunately, one in every forty homes is in foreclosure. This amounts to a home being in foreclosure on every three blocks in the city of Savanna. In 2010, Savanna’s foreclosure rate increased by 37%. Some homes in Savanna are now selling for less then $50,000. The cost of the raw materials to build these homes would be more then double this amount!

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa has a population of about a million people. One out of every fifty homes in Tulsa is in foreclosure. This amounted to a 37% increase during the 2010 calendar year. Although the unemployment rate in Tulsa has been below the national average for the past few years, the foreclosure rate has been increasingly high. Job losses in Tulsa increased by 38% in 2010.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is dependent on vacation home buyers. It is a vacation destination for the majority of the families who spend time there. In 2009, the unemployment rate was over 12% for this city. The unemployment rate dipped to 11.8% in 2010.

During 2010, there was an increase of approximately 45% in the amount of homes going into foreclosure. This is a small increase compared with the increase of 446% for foreclosures in 2009. The huge foreclosure increases in 2009 and 2010 is indicative of the fact that Myrtle Beach is a tourism dependent community. When Americans have financial difficulties, they have less discretionary funds to spend on vacation homes and tourism.

Foreclosure rates throughout the United States are causing pain in many communities. This will delay the economic recovery in the United States.

Stop Foreclosure In Its Tracks

There are legal defenses to foreclosure lawsuits. We litigate foreclosure lawsuits. We assist our clients with mortgage modifications. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients. We litigate defective mortgages, predatory lending issues and defective foreclosure lawsuits. We advise our clients as to whether Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcies are the appropriate means to deal with their financial situations.

Read our foreclosure blog. It will help you understand the nature of the foreclosure crisis in the United States and the fact that there are things that can be done to keep you and your family in your home. Feel free to call our foreclosure defense and real estate attorneys at 516-561-6645, 1-800-344-6431 and 718-350-2802 for a free consultation. Call us now, our phones are answered 24/7.

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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The information you obtain at this website is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your particular legal issue. This is attorney advertising.

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