foreclosure litigation

Foreclosure and Unemployment

July 29, 2011 by Elliot Schlissel

Recent news reports have indicated that it will take approximately 24 months for the New York City and Long Island area to recover from the current high levels of unemployment. It is estimated that the metropolitan New York are will not return to it’s pre – recession levels of employment until April of 2013. Metropolitan New York is doing better at recovering from the recession then other parts of the country. It is estimated that the majority of the country will take 3 years to reduce the unemployment rates to pre – recession levels.

New York Real Estate

Although property values have not recovered from the real estate crisis, in the State of New York, real estate experts are proclaiming that we are doing better than California, Arizona and the majority of the sun belt. Although the pundits are claiming things will get better, I don’t see this happening. Foreclosure rates in the Metropolitan New York area continue to climb. Banks are refusing to provide feasible mortgage modifications to homeowners. Unemployment rates are remaining steady or climbing. The business areas in local communities have been devastated. There are empty stores everywhere.

2012 is an election year. President Obama is going to have to take further action to simulate our economy and revitalize our housing markets if he wants to get re – elected.

Litigating Foreclosures In New York State Courts and In Federal Courts

There are two different routes to dealing with homes that are in foreclosure. The cases can be defended in the New York State Courts. Defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending and other real estate related defenses can be submitted in a response to the service of the summons and complaint in a foreclosure proceeding. Mortgage modification applications can also be submitted to the financial institutions.

Filing Bankruptcy to Stop Foreclosure

The second route is filing foreclosure related bankruptcies. Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies will stop foreclosures from moving forward. The filing of bankruptcies will also eliminate unsecured debts, stop debt collection, harassment and in some cases, eliminate second mortgage liens. Call us for a consultation and we will discuss why filing bankruptcy may be in your interest, the types of bankruptcy available to you and how to re-establish credit after filing bankruptcy.

Mortgage Company Attorney Sanctioned Over False Statements

April 27, 2011 by Elliot S. Schlissel

Judge Fairgrieve, sitting in the District Court located in Nassau County, fined a foreclosure attorney named Steven J. Baum P.C. Mr. Baum was sanctioned $14,000 in attorneys fees and and additional $5,000 payable to the Lawyers Fund for Civil Protection with regard to the case of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. vs. Raia, which was decided on November 23, 2010.

Attorney Criticized by the Court

Steven J. Baum, P.C., is one of the largest foreclosure law firms in the state of New York. Mr. Baum’s law office litigates foreclosure matters throughout New York.

The court noted in this case that many of the sworn allegations in the foreclosure proceeding were found to be false. The Judge ordered a hearing to determine appropriate sanctions, due to the fact that the mortgage company lacked a possessory interest in the premises. The attorneys for Steven J. Baum, P.C., argued that the allegations in the petition, although they were incorrect, were not material and that sanctioning the foreclosure law firm would not be appropriate. Judge Fairgrieve, in his decision, stated that the false statements dealt with the issue of standing to bring the foreclosure proceeding. He went on to state that a lawyer is guilty of professional misconduct if he makes false statements to a court under the rules of professional conduct that lawyers must abide by.

Judge Fairgrieve found that Steven J. Baum, P.C., was professionally irresponsible and impeded the proper administration of justice. He noted in his decision that this was not the first time that this law office had acted inappropriately. The judge indicated in his decision that in a similar case three years ago, Steven J. Baum’s law office was to be sanctioned.

Foreclosure Defense Lawyers

The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo provides foreclosure defense regarding cases in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, the five boroughs of the City of New York and Westchester County. Our office has numerous cases pending where we are defending homeowners from foreclosure. In these cases, we help our clients stay in their homes. We litigate defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending and other real estate related issues. We also assist our clients in the preparation of mortgage modification applications and we deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our client’s needs. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients and seek to put pressure on the mortgage companies and banks to provide our clients with mortgage modifications. Call us for a free consultation at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802 or 1-800-344-6431.

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure Defense, Mortgage Modification Tagged With: foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure litigation, foreclosure litigation attorney, foreclosure proceeding, Lawyers Fund for Civil Protection, mortgage, Mortgage Company, Nassau County mortgage, New York foreclosure attorney, New York foreclosure defense lawyers

The Fantasy of Pre-approval of Mortgages

April 6, 2011 by Elliot S. Schlissel

Pre-approval for mortgages is a fantasy. At our law office, our clients have been coming to us for years and advising us that they’ve spoken to their mortgage broker and they’ve been pre-approved. Pre-approval is a marketing device for mortgage brokers and financial institutions. It does not mean that you will receive a mortgage!Pre-approval is usually subject to underwriting, credit checks, validation of financial information and all types of other prerequisites. The following is an example of how pre-approval really works:

The prospective homeowner goes into the financial institution. A salesperson tells the perspective homeowner that he or she has been pre-approved for a mortgage. Based on this information, the prospective homeowner finds a house to buy and enters into a real estate contract. The financial institution does credit checks, checks employment, and thereafter underwrites the loan.

In the end, the financial institution can turn down the mortgage for numerous reasons, including not fulfilling the obligations of the underwriting process or by simply stating that the pre-approval was for only a limited period of time and that the prospective purchaser has exceeded that period of time in going from contract to closing on the transaction. This leaves the homeowner high and dry. You don’t have your mortgage until you are sitting at the closing table and the check from your financial institution is given to the seller.

Nassau County Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

Our law firm deals with the following issues: mortgage modification programs, foreclosure, court conferences, foreclosure litigation, defective mortgage foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending issues, bad faith by financial institutions, defective mortgages and real estate issues in general. We also deal with the filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Chapter 13 bankruptcy, re-establishing credit and stopping foreclosures. Should you have any of these problems, call us! We can help you.

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure Defense, Mortgage Modification Tagged With: defective mortgage foreclosure lawsuits, defective mortgages, denied loan mortgage, denied mortgage, foreclosure, foreclosure litigation, mortgage modification programs, mortgages, Nassau County Foreclosure Defense Lawyer, New York foreclosure, New York foreclosure defense, pre-approval, Pre-approval Mortgages

Federal Government Getting Out of the Mortgage Business

April 5, 2011 by Elliot S. Schlissel

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created by the Federal Government to assist homeowners in obtaining mortgages to purchase single family and/or multiple family homes. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are not doing well. They are both bankrupt. These organizations are currently being bailed out by the Federal Government.

President Obama and his administration would like to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both the White House and Congress are in agreement that the long term future of the mortgage market should be determined by private enterprise and not by federally backed agencies.

Today, tax payers are shelling out billions of dollars to keep Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae financially solvent. These organizations are involved in almost 90% of all mortgages in the United States. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae buy mortgage loans from primary lenders (banks). They put them together in investment products and sell them with guarantees in the event the borrower defaults. The initial purpose of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae was to facilitate the purchase of homes by middle class Americans. The underlying reason for their creation was to allow more Americans to obtain the American dream, the ownership of a single family home at an affordable mortgage rate.

Three Proposals for the replacement of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

Proposal 1: The Federal Government would not be involved in the underwriting of home mortgages. The Federal Housing Administration would simply police mortgage activities.

Proposal 2: The Government would act as an insurer of mortgages.

Proposal 3: The Government would act as an insurer of only targeted mortgages. Under this proposal, the government would be involved more as a reinsurer of mortgages.

Congress and the Obama Administration are now discussing these proposals.

New York Foreclosure Defense Lawyers

Our law office can help you with mortgage modifications. We are familiar with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet consumers’ needs. We represent New Yorkers in foreclosure litigation. We defend them from these proceedings. We litigate defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, bad faith and defective mortgages. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients. We have decades of experience regarding real estate transactions involving mortgages. We maintain a foreclosure blog to educate New Yorkers concerning relevant issues involving mortgages, foreclosures and real estate matters.

We file Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies on behalf of our clients. We explain to our clients why they should or should not file bankruptcy. We utilize bankruptcies to stop foreclosures in their tracks. When the bankruptcy is completed, we are available to assist our clients in re-establishing their credit.

Should you have a foreclosure or mortgage modification problem, feel free to call us a 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure Defense, Mortgage Modification Tagged With: bad faith and defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, Fannie Mae, Federal Government, Federal Government Mortgage, Federal Housing Administration, foreclosure, foreclosure litigation, Freddie Mac, mortgage market, mortgage modification problem, mortgage modifications, New York foreclosure defense lawyers, predatory lending, private enterprise, targeted mortgages, tax payers

Foreclosure and Unemployment

Mortgage Company Attorney Sanctioned Over False Statements

The Fantasy of Pre-approval of Mortgages

Federal Government Getting Out of the Mortgage Business

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