Archives for January 2012

New census data shows that Americans are becoming less mobile. They’re staying in their homes for longer periods of time and are moving less. A major reason for Americans’ lack of mobility relates to the downturn in the economy in the United States and problems within the housing industry.

Approximately 25% of all Americans moved into their current residence in the five year period between 2005 and 2010. In the prior five year period only one in three Americans had resided in their prior residence.

Christopher Jones, Vice President of Research for the Regional Planning Association, an advisory group on Long Island, New York, states homeowners in the Metropolitan New York area are moving less “because they can’t find a buyer for their house or don’t have another job location that they’d be interesting in moving to.”

Residential mobility rates are closely watched by governmental agencies. By reviewing these rates the government can obtain information with regard to revenues from town and state mortgage taxes.

Inability to Sell Homes

People are unable to relocate when they have complete inability to sell their home. During the housing market boom, it commonly only took three to six months from the time a house was placed on the market until it was closed on in a sale. Today, it is common for homes to stay on the market for years before they are purchased. During these long periods of time on the real estate market the value of the homes continues to go down related to the housing crisis and the economic down turn that exists in the United States.

Job Problems on Long Island

Long Island, New York has more problems regarding the real estate market and the economy than other areas of the country. Long Island has not been creating new job and businesses are not moving there. The lack of job creation on Long Island has a negative effect on the residential mobility of home owners.

Long Island Foreclosure Defense Lawyers/ Metropolitan New York Foreclosure Defense Lawyers

There is a housing crisis in the New York metropolitan area as well as the rest of the country. It is estimated approximately 40% of all homes are worth less than the amount of their mortgages, while mortgage delinquency rates continue to climb in the Metropolitan New York area.

The unemployment rate of approximately 9% contributes to the problems homeowners have in making their mortgage payments. Loss of jobs, reduction of income, and increased expenses are forcing many homes into foreclosure. Mortgage modifications are one way to avoid foreclosure proceedings.

Foreclosure Problems

The best way to deal with foreclosure problems is to hire a qualified, experienced law firm. The attorneys at the Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners in foreclosure proccedings for more than 45 years. We attend court conferences for our clients. We provide detailed defenses ranging from defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending to other real estate related defenses on behalf of our clients. Our office has experience with regard to Federal laws relating to foreclosure.

Long Island Bankruptcy Lawyers

Filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be also be the solution to foreclosure problems. This will stop the foreclosure from moving forward, stop debt collection activity, and in some situations, can eliminate second mortgages. Call our office for a free consultation. We will explain all your foreclosure options to you. You are on the Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. foreclosure blog.

Visit – Nassau County Divorce Attorney

Those individuals who rent homes can potentially become involved in foreclosure proceedings where that home goes into foreclosure. Approximately 34 million families rent homes today in the United States. A 2010 study performed by the National Low Income Housing Coalition revealed that approximately 40% of the families facing eviction due to foreclosures were tenants, and not the owners of the property. A tenant’s ability to pay rent – and pay it on time – is not a defense when the house is foreclosed upon by the financial institution.

Federal Laws Protecting Tenants

One federal law protects any tenants who reside in homes that are foreclosed on. The statute requires financial institutions to give tenants 90 days notice prior to taking action to evict tenants from foreclosed properties, and also allows tenants who are up to date on their rent to stay in the property until the end of their lease.

Very Little Protection for Tenants

Tenants are forced to confront two problems when they reside in a home that goes into foreclosure. In situations where the home is foreclosed upon by the financial institution, the landlords simply sometimes skip town, leaving the homeowner without anyone responsible for making repairs and maintaining the residence. A second issue confronted by tenants is that landlords sometimes stop making payments on the premises to the financial institutions while still collecting rent. In these situations, the tenants have no idea that the home they are renting is going to be foreclosed on. Overall, there is very little tenants can do to protect themselves from a landlord who stops making mortgage payments causing the property they reside in to end up in foreclosure.

New York Foreclosure Lawyers

The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo can help you should your home go into foreclosure. We have extensive experience in defending foreclosure lawsuits throughout the New York metropolitan area. We attend foreclosure court conferences for the clients we represent and provide our clients with all of their foreclosure options at the initial consultation. We vigorously defend foreclosure lawsuits submitting defenses involving defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, and other real estate related defenses.

Our law firm has also developed an expertise in bankruptcies that are utilized to defend foreclosure proceedings. Filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy not only can stop foreclosures from moving forward, but they can also be utilized to stop debt collection activity and eliminate second mortgages.

Call us for a free consultation. This is the Elliot Schlissel foreclosure defense in NY blog.

The real estate market in the Hamptons, in New York is doing well. The Hamptons, where the rich and famous spend their summers is recovering from the real estate crisis. The closing rate in the Hamptons rose more than 10% in the third quarter of the year. Where there has been a continued slump in other real estate markets, the Hamptons is recovering.

The medium home price for a house in the Hamptons is up more than 20%. The average house in the Hamptons can sell for nearly one million dollars. The market for luxury homes for five millions dollars or more in the Hamptons has recovered at an even faster rate than the rest of the market in the Hamptons. During the third quarter of last year, there were more than 50 sales of homes for more than 5 million dollars in the Hamptons on Long Island.

Hamptons Real Estate Tied to Wall Street Earnings

It is said that when Wall Street does well, the real estate market in the Hamptons jumps. It seems that buyers in the Hamptons have greater confidence that the real estate market in this area of New York will continue to do well.

While protestors spend freezing nights in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan protesting the unequality over financial markets controlled by Wall Street, financial institutions, and banks, the residents of the Hamptons in New York State (who are generally in that top 1% of the American economy), find that real estate is recovering in their favorite vacation area. Whoop-de-do!

Foreclosure Opportunities

If your house is in foreclosure, I can help you. I have been representing individuals with foreclosure related problems for more than 45 years. The lawyers at my law office aggressively represent individuals and families whose homes are foreclosed upon and keep them in their homes. We appear at foreclosure court conferences for our clients. We also litigate foreclosure lawsuits by submitting detailed Answers to Summons and Complaints with defenses such as defective foreclosure lawsuits, defective mortgages, predatory lending, and numerous other real estate related defenses.

In some situations, foreclosure related bankruptcies are the most ideal way to handle foreclosure problems. In these cases we can file either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcies on behalf of our clients. Filing a bankruptcy not only stops foreclosures from moving forward but it can eliminate credit card debts and other financial obligations. At the end of the bankruptcy we can help educate our clients as to re-establishing their credit.

Call us for a free consultation. At our initial meeting we will discuss all of your foreclosure options and explain how we can keep you in your home!

A lawsuit has been instituted against 13 banks and mortgage companies for overcharging American Veterans. Among the banks sued in this lawsuit are Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, PNC Bank and Wells Fargo Bank. The lawsuit alleges that the banks had hidden charges and illegal fees that were passed on to the American Military Veterans when they refinanced the mortgages on their homes.

Under the rules set forth by the Department of Veterans Affairs, lenders cannot charge certain fees. To get around these rules, financial institutions “increased another set of fees”. They did this without explaining to the Veterans what they were doing.

Veterans Overcharged In Hundreds of Thousands of Cases

The lawsuit claims that hundreds of thousands of veterans were overcharged when they refinanced their homes. Each of the veterans paid between $300.00 and $1,000.00 more than what was fair and reasonable under this program supervised by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The lawsuit claimed that these loans were fraudulent and misleading. It is estimated that approximately 30,000 cases of overcharging veterans exist. Most of these real estate transactions took place before 2007.

Wells Fargo Agrees to Ten Million Dollar In Refunds

In February of 2011, Wells Fargo Bank entered into an agreement to refund ten million dollars to veterans who were overcharged. JP Morgan Chase has acknowledged that it also overcharged thousands of military veterans and active military personnel with regard to mortgages. The company also admits to improperly foreclosing on twenty homes owned by American military personnel. The overcharging of veterans by financial institutions is just another example of improper bank practices that defraud consumers in the United States.

Long Island Foreclosure Defense Lawyers New York Foreclosure Defense Lawyers

The foreclosure defense lawyers at the Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo have been representing homeowners fighting to keep their homes for more than 45 years. Our law firm represents homeowners throughout the Metropolitan New York area with regard to foreclosure lawsuits. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients. We submit a variety of foreclosure defenses in our Answers to Complaints served on our clients. Among the defenses utilized by our office are predatory lending, defective foreclosure lawsuits, and defective mortgages. Our office has extensive experience in dealing with all types of real estate related cases.

Filing bankruptcy is another means of Long Island bankruptcy lawyers dealing with foreclosure lawsuits. Our office also files both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies on behalf of our clients. The filing of bankruptcy eliminates credit card debts, as well as all other types of debts. Filing for bankruptcy stops foreclosures from moving forward and stops all other types of debt collection activity. Call us for a free consultation. We will explain all of your foreclosure options at that time.