Reverse Mortgages For Co-ops

Reverse Mortgages For Co-opsOn May 20, 2022 a new law went into effect in New York State which allows owners of co-ops to apply for reverse mortgages. Up until the time this statute went into effect, seniors who wanted to obtain a reverse mortgage on their co-op apartments, were unable to do so. The reason for this is that co-ops are not real property under the law in New York State. The owners of a co-op have a personal property interest in the shares of the cooperative apartment corporation.

Co-Op Mortgages and How They Work

In a regular mortgage the borrower receives a loan and immediately starts making scheduled monthly payments. In a usual reverse mortgage on a home, the borrower, ages 62 or older, resides in the home and if it is their primary residence, they can and apply for a reverse mortgage.

The borrower receives loan proceeds, but the repayment on the loan is deferred until the borrower’s death, sale of the of the property or when the borrower permanently relocates out of the property, or defaults on other terms of the loan. The reverse mortgage loan is secured by the home occupied by the borrower as their primary residence.

A Reverse Cooperative Apartment Loan

A reverse mortgage for a Co-op is called a reverse cooperative apartment loan. In this case, the borrower age 62 or older can apply for the reverse mortgage. The apartment must be the primary residence of the borrower. Every year on the anniversary date of the loan the borrower must recertify that he or she is still living in

this apartment. In any situation where the homeowner is out of the apartment for a period of 12 months or more due to physical ailment or illness, it no longer qualifies as his or her primary residence.

The Loan Proceeds

There are several ways the borrower on a reverse mortgage can receive the proceeds of the reverse mortgage. He or she can receive it in equal monthly payments. They can receive it in a fixed number of payments. They can have a line of credit option where they can remove the proceeds up to the amount of the loan.

In Co-op reverse mortgage cases, the Co-op board of Directors must approve the reverse cooperative apartment unit loan. It is unknown how boards of directors of co-ops will respond to applications to allow homeowners withdraw the equity from their homes.

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

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The “Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act” Levels Playing Field For Homeowners

Foreclosure Abuse Prevention ActOn February 20, 2023 the new Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act was signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Here are some significant aspects of this new law;

  1. A motion to discontinue a foreclosure lawsuit will no longer be able to reset the six year statute of limitations to bring a new foreclosure lawsuit. Under this new statute, legal action by the holder of the note. (e.g., the bank) to discontinue the lawsuit does not extend the statute of limitations for bring a foreclosure lawsuit. The holder of the loan is time barred from foreclosing the mortgage after six years from the date the loan was initially accelerated. The new law changes “the election of remedies” law in the State of New York. It now states, once the foreclosure action is barred by the statute of limitations, a loan owner or servicer is prohibited from bringing any other lawsuit to recover the same part of the mortgage debt. This includes preventing the financial institution from bringing another foreclosure lawsuit and/or an action to recover a personal judgment against the borrower on the promissory note.
  2. In cases where the homeowner brings a quiet title action or in response to a homeowner’s or borrower’s statute of limitations defense in a foreclosure law suit, the statute of limitations still expires even when the lender did not validly accelerate the loan. Under this new law in New York, the loan owner or servicer would be permitted to assert that the acceleration was invalid only if a prior foreclosure action was dismissed based on a court ruling which ruled that the original acceleration of the mortgage is not valid for statute of limitation purposes.
  3. This new law applies RETROACTIVELY to any foreclosure lawsuit action filed before December 30, 2022, for which a final judgment and order of sale has not been enforced.

Changing Foreclosure Rules

Financial institutions and their attorneys have been getting away with starting foreclosure lawsuits, withdrawing the foreclosure lawsuits, and then starting them all over again and continually renewing the six year statute limitations. Now homeowners have a sword to fight foreclosure lawsuits which they didn’t have in the past!

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

SHOULD YOU HIRE A FORECLOSURE DEFENSE LAWYER?

SHOULD YOU HIRE A FORECLOSURE DEFENSE LAWYER?If you’re successful in modifying your mortgage on your own, you may not need a foreclosure defense lawyer. But if you’re unsuccessful obtaining a mortgage modification or if a process server shows up at your house and serves you with legal papers, it’s important you hire an experienced foreclosure defense lawyer as soon as possible.

INTERVIEW THE LAWYER

When you arrive at a foreclosure defense lawyer’s office, you should interview the attorney. You should find out his or her experience level. You should find out if they’ve published articles on foreclosure defense. You should speak to the attorney about how many cases they’ve handled and their success rate. You should look into whether they have appropriate staffing. Some attorneys’ offices are outgunned by the type of law firms hired by the financial institutions to bring foreclosure lawsuits. If you cannot afford to hire a private attorney, you may qualify for legal aid if available to help you defend you and your family in the foreclosure lawsuit.

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

LEGAL PROCESS IN STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS INVOLVING FORECLOSURE

LEGAL PROCESS IN STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS INVOLVING FORECLOSURELegal action can be taken by homeowners in either state courts or federal courts to save their homes. Unfortunately, these procedures are sophisticated. Most general practice lawyers are not familiar with the complicated process of fighting foreclosure lawsuits. Should you find yourself facing a foreclosure situation, do yourself a favor and hire an experienced foreclosure attorney.

WHAT CAN OF FORECLOSURE ATTORNEY DO TO HELP ME?

An experienced foreclose defense lawyer will be in a position to examine all of the documents connected with the obtaining of the mortgage on for your home. He or she can identify possible legal defenses or counter lawsuits which can be brought against the financial institution. A foreclosure defense lawyer can review your financial information and evaluate if there are mitigating circumstances which have caused your default. The mitigating circumstance can be brought to the attention of the financial institution to avoid your home from going into foreclosure. Your attorney could also be utilized to help you regarding a forbearance plan or a mortgage modification. There are a number of viable alternatives to losing one’s home in a foreclosure. Among them is having the attorney negotiate with your financial institution to work out a plan which meets your needs and saves your home.

LITIGATION

Should you end up in a foreclosure lawsuit, a qualified foreclosure defense lawyer can vigorously defend you and your family in court. Foreclosure defense attorneys who take an aggressive position with the financial institution can help in the negotiations with regard to obtaining a forbearance agreement, or a mortgage modification.

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

CAN I FIGHT A FORECLOSURE?

CAN I FIGHT A FORECLOSURE?Mortgage loans generally are made for a period of 15 or 30 years. When homeowners take out the loan, they usually have good jobs, are healthy and have no problems making the payments. But during the term of the mortgage, sometimes homeowners run into financial difficulties. Their financial situations change. They experience all types of anxiety regarding losing their home.

THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ATTORNEY

Financial institutions have in house lawyers. They have outside counsel who bring lawsuits against homeowners that helps the financial institutions maintain their profitability. Foreclosure lawsuits can be fought. New York now has a mandatory modification mediation requirement before a foreclosure lawsuit is initiated. This puts pressure on the financial institution to come up with a program which is affordable by the homeowner and stops the foreclosure litigation from moving forward.

NOTICE REQUIREMENTS

There are all types of notice requirements and provisions which must be given to homeowners by financial institutions and the assignees of their mortgages before a foreclosure lawsuit can be started. In cases where the financial institutions do not specifically comply with all the terms and conditions of the statutes and consumer protection laws the homeowners may challenge the foreclosure lawsuit successfully and have it dismissed.

FRAUDULENT ACTIONS

In cases where there are fraudulent actions or misleading documents related to the loan application process or the foreclosure lawsuit, homeowners can fight these lawsuits in court and have the foreclosure lawsuits dismissed. In addition, there are procedural defenses in the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules and the rules of Court a foreclosing financial institution must very specifically comply with or the foreclosure lawsuit can be dismissed.

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

A Primer On The Foreclosure Process

PRE-FORECLOSURE

A Primer On The Foreclosure ProcessWhen a home owner falls three months behind on their mortgage payments the property is considered to be in a pre-foreclosure status. This will cause the financial institution to send demand letters. The letters will talk about mortgage modifications, forbearance plans, and possible other means of avoiding foreclosure. If the homeowner takes no action, the financial institution will usually initiate the foreclosure process.

NOTICE OF THE DEFAULT

Before the financial institution actually serves the summons and complaint in foreclosure case, a 90 day notice will be given to the homeowner. This 90 day notice advises the homeowner unless arrangements are made with regard to dealing with their late mortgage payments, a foreclosure lawsuit will be initiated.

FORECLOSURE LITIGATION

The litigation process in New York usually moves slowly. It was made slower by Governor Andrew Cuomo and Governor Hochul shutting down the foreclosure process during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic for approximately two years. A qualified foreclosure defense attorney can often tie a foreclosure up in the courts in New York for three to five years or even much longer than that.

THE END GAME IN A FORECLOSURE

At the end of a foreclosure litigation a public foreclosure auction takes place on the courthouse steps. The home is sold at the auction to the highest bidder. The financial institution will bid the entire amount of their mortgage and then speculators can bid over that amount if they seek to buy the home.

AFTER THE FORECLOSURE

When the foreclosure lawsuit has ended and a new owner has taken title to the home the new homeowner must provide notice they are the new homeowner to the ones who have lost their home. The notice statute in New York State requires they provide the former homeowners a copy of the new deed. Thereafter, the former homeowners will have to make arrangements to move from the premises or face an eviction proceeding which can result in their being put out of their home by the Sheriff or in the city of New York by a Marshall.

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

LAWYERS AND FORECLOSURE DEFENSE

LAWYERS AND FORECLOSURE DEFENSEBefore you represent yourself or hire an attorney, carefully look into who are the best foreclosure defense lawyers. Attorneys are expensive. To become a lawyer in the state of New York, you need a four year undergraduate degree. Thereafter apply to law school, be accepted and attend three more years of education in the law in an approved law school. Then, after graduating from law school, the individual must take the bar exam, pass it, go through an ethics process and then be admitted to the bar. The process between applying to college, graduating, going through law school and get admitted to the bar takes approximately eight years. When that individual gets out of law school, it then takes many years until they develop the expertise necessary to litigate effectively in the courts of New York.

TYING THE CASE UP IN COURT

Even if a homeowner does not have a provable defense to the foreclosure lawsuit, a skilled foreclosure defense lawyer can tie up the case up in court from anywhere from three to five years. During this time the homeowners are living in their home without making any mortgage payments.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A FORECLOSURE DEFENSE LAWYER

What to look for in a foreclosure lawyer is how much experience the attorney has representing homeowners. The second thing to look for is how many foreclosure cases the law firm has handled? Have they obtained loan modifications for homeowners?

Have they published articles on issues facing homeowners whose homes have been foreclosed? Do they have a staff to back them up? Finally, what will hiring that foreclosure defense attorney cost you and what legal services are being provided?

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

Missing Mortgage Payments

MISSING MORTGAGE PAYMENTSHomeowners who miss making mortgage payments may be facing the risk of being placed into foreclosure. A foreclosure, is a legal proceeding designed to effectuate the bank taking the house back from the homeowner and thereafter evicting the homeowner from their homes.

AVOIDING FORECLOSURE

The best way to deal with the foreclosure is to avoid it. Homeowners who are falling behind on their mortgage payments, should look into a forbearance agreement which involves delaying their mortgage payments. In addition, they can look into modifying their mortgage to make it less expensive in the short run to keep up with their mortgage payments.

LATE MORTGAGE PAYMENTS

In New York, home mortgage loans have a 15 day grace period regarding making mortgage payments. After the 15 day grace period, the homeowner may incur a late fee on the missed mortgage payment. In addition, missing mortgage payments late or making mortgage payments can have a negative impact on the homeowner’s credit rating.

MORTGAGE MODIFICATIONS

A mortgage modification is a means of restructuring the mortgage payments to avoid default and make the mortgage more affordable for the homeowners. If this is done, it has a minimal impact on any potential damage to the homeowner’s credit score. There are a number of different ways to modify a mortgage. Here’s a list of some of them:

  • You can seek to reduce the interest rate on your mortgage payment. ∙ You can temporarily pause making mortgage payments and have them made-up at a later point in time.
  • You can ask the bank to reduce the amount of your mortgage.
  • In cases where the homeowner has an adjustable rate mortgage, the homeowners can request the mortgage be changed into a fixed rate mortgage.

HOMEOWNERS BEING SERVED WITH A FORECLOSURE LAWSUIT

If the homeowner falls three months or more behind on their mortgage, the financial institution has the ability to accelerate the mortgage, which means call the entire mortgage due and owning and thereafter start a foreclosure lawsuit. A foreclosure lawsuit is usually started by a process server showing up at the homeowner’s home and serving them with the foreclosure lawsuit documents. If served with the foreclosure lawsuit set of documents, the homeowner will be shocked to find out how complicated and long the paperwork is. Foreclosure lawsuit legal documents can be anywhere from 100 to 500 pages long, including exhibits attached to the summons and complaint. What do you do if you get served with the foreclosure lawsuit? It is strongly suggested you immediately hire a foreclosure defense attorney.

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

REVERSE MORTGAGES: ARE THEY A GOOD IDEA?

REVERSE MORTGAGES: ARE THEY A GOOD IDEA? Many Americans, as they reach their retirement years, find they have not saved enough money to pay all of their bills. One of the ways seniors can deal with their expenditures is to obtain a reverse mortgage. Reverse mortgages can make up for the fact that seniors do not have sufficient assets to cover their expenses during their period of retirement.

THE REVERSE MORTGAGE

A reverse mortgage is available to individuals who are 62 years of age and older. The way the reverse mortgage works is no repayments need to be made until the homeowners die or the home is sold. When the homeowners die, their beneficiaries have up to a year to refinance the home, buy it or sell the house. If the home is sold and the proceeds from the sale are greater than what is owed on the mortgage, the heirs of the decedent keep the balance of the proceeds in excess of what is owed.

HOW REVERSE MORTGAGES WORK

Seniors who take out reverse mortgage do not have to make mortgage loan payments during the rest of their lives. However, they have to pay for real estate taxes on the house, insurance on the house and they must maintain the premises in a good condition.

TYPES OF REVERSE MORTGAGES

There are three different ways a homeowner can receive funds from the reverse mortgage. The first is in a lump sum payment. The second is a line of credit which they can draw on whenever they need money to pay bills. The third is called the stream of income. Set amount of payments on a monthly basis are sent to the homeowner. When a reverse mortgage is taken out, if there is an existing mortgage on the property, the funds from the reverse mortgage must first be used to pay off the existing mortgage, and then the balance of the funds becomes usable money for the homeowners as part of the reverse mortgage.

USES FOR REVERSE MORTGAGES

Families who have homes with significant equity in them can take out a reverse mortgage and use the equity to subsidize their lifestyle or to provide a cushion which can help them deal with unexpected expenses.

REVERSE MORTAGE FORECLOSURE

A reverse mortgage foreclosure can be brought by the financial institution if the homeowner doesn’t pay the taxes on the house, maintain the premises or pay the insurance on the house. In addition, the financial institution, if they are not paid off within a year of the homeowner’s death, can initiate a foreclosure lawsuit.

schlissel-headshotThe law office of Schlissel DeCorpo have been defending homeowners regarding mortgage issues for more than three decades. They can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, 631-319-8262 and 914-998-0080 or emailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

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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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