Federal Program Helps Homeowners with Utility Expenses

Federal Program Helps Homeowners

There is a new pilot federal program which is designed to assist homeowners obtain low interest loans to make energy efficient improvements to their homes. This will be especially helpful for New York City and Long Island homeowners who pay some of the highest energy expense bills for utilities in the country.

The Federal Loan Program is designed to loan money to homeowners to make their home more efficient, which in the long run will reduce the United States overall dependency on costly foreign oil.

Renovations

The loans under this new program can be used for new heating systems, installing energy efficient windows and adding insulation to walls and attics by homeowners. Homeowners who qualify for this program can borrow up to $25,000 at interest rates between 5-7%. There are 18 institutions throughout the United States who will process these home loans. It is anticipated that more than 30,000 loans will be made in the next three to four years under this program.

New York Program

In addition to this federal program, there is a program called the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Program. This offers low interest loans of up to $13,000 for renovations by homeowners.

Energy independence is worthwhile goal. Every time I pull up to the gas pumps, I think about how much better America would be if we had alternate means of heating our homes and powering our cars.

Long Island Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

We provide foreclosure defense legal services for our clients. We help them with mortgage modifications. We deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients’ needs. We litigate defective mortgages, predatory lending, defective foreclosure lawsuits and other real estate related problems. We make court appearances at foreclosure court conferences for our clients. We file foreclosure related bankruptcies, either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcies on behalf of our clients. We discuss with our clients re-establishing their credit and which is the best route to stop their pending foreclosure proceedings from moving forward.

At the time of our initial consultation, we discuss all foreclose defense options with our clients. We hope we see you visiting our foreclosure blog again. Call for a free consultation.

Proposed Law Protects Homeowners Who Have Mortgages

Homeowners Who Have MortgagesThere is currently a bill in the New York State Legislature to protect homeowner. The statute states that a bank or other financial institution cannot commence a foreclosure proceeding unless they have an original mortgage document. This means that a prerequisite for the financial institution to commence a foreclosure proceeding will be that it must allege and prove ownership of the note and the mortgage. These documents also must be filed by the bank, with the Summons and Complaint, when the foreclosure action is initiated.

Illegal Foreclosure Proceedings

There has been a series of cases in the past few years where banks who are not the mortgage holders have illegally foreclosed on homes and sold them at auction. This new law will codify the rulings of court cases that have held that institutions must have standing to initiate mortgage foreclosure proceedings.

When a homeowner receives the Summons and Complaint in foreclosure, they are usually frightened. Since homeowners are not lawyers and are generally not familiar with this area of the law, they do not know what their rights are. If a homeowner is sued by a bank that doesn’t own his or her mortgage, they have a right to claim that the bank doesn’t have standing to sue them. Unfortunately, if the homeowner doesn’t submit a written answer alleging lack of standing, this defense to the lawsuit is waived.

This new statute helps homeowners by making the homeowner’s defense that the bank has lack of standing to bring the foreclosure lawsuit non-waivable. This gives the homeowner a complete defense to the lawsuit. It also allows counsel for the homeowner to use this defense as a tactic in defending the foreclosure lawsuit.

Stopping Foreclosure

Foreclosures can be stopped in a number of ways. The filing of an Answer on behalf of the homeowner stops the foreclosure case from going forward. There are specific defenses that can be alleged in the answers, such as predatory lending, the mortgage was defective, the foreclosure lawsuit is defective, and other real estate related defenses. Another foreclosure defense option is to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The filing of either of these bankruptcies gives the homeowner an automatic stay that immediately stops the foreclosure lawsuit from going forward.

Many homeowners are under the false belief that filing for a mortgage modification stops a foreclosure from going forward. This is incorrect! The mortgage modification process has nothing to do with the litigation in the courts of foreclosures. Most mortgage modification programs fail to provide the homeowners with the relief they are seeking. The large majority of homeowners are denied mortgage modifications! Feel free to call us for a free consultation regarding foreclosure defense and bankruptcy matters. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure blog.

Foreclosures Effect Home Prices

The foreclosure mess in the United States is reeking havoc regarding the prices of single family homes. The uncertainty of the status of litigated foreclosure proceedings is depressing the market for single family homes in the United States. The problem with the foreclosure crisis in the United States is getting more and more coverage from the written press, T.V. , radio and internet outlets.

There have been numerous articles, T.V. investigative reports and disclosures concerning short cuts in paperwork and so called “robo signers of affidavits”. The state and federal investigators are now hounding the banks with regard to these procedures.

Coldwell, chief of the home ownership preservation office of the treasury,  has stated “together the two factors many excerpt downward pressure on over all housing prices both in the short and long run”.

States with the greatest concentration of foreclosures are having the most problems with home values. These states include Nevada, Florida, Arizona and California.

Banks Halts Foreclosure Proceedings

Many banks have halted all foreclosure proceedings. What is obvious in this situation is even if the foreclosure proceedings are based on faulty paperwork, the homeowners are not making their mortgage payments. Unless  mortgage modifications or
other actions are taken sooner or later the homeowners will lose their homes.

Bank Mistakes

Many homeowners claim that they have been the victims of bank mistakes, predatory lending and mortgage scams.  Numerous stories have been written about homeowners that have been taken advantage of. However the large majority of homeowners involved in buying homes and obtaining mortgages clearly  understood what they were getting into.  Unfortunately the economy went south, jobs were lost, incomes were reduced and  homeowners found themselves unable to make mortgage payments.

Hopefully banks will cooperate with mortgage modifications and the real estate market in the United States will recover.

About Our Firm

For more than 45 years our law firm has assisted individuals with mortgage modifications, foreclosure defense and lawsuits involving creditors. We have expertise in defending homeowners in foreclosure lawsuits.  We have litigated cases involving predatory lending practices. We are also familiar with the issues involving failed mortgage modification programs.  Should you, a friend or family member be involved in a foreclosure.  You need a foreclosure defense attorney to represent you. Our experience in representing  individuals in all aspects of  foreclosure defense including but not limited to foreclosure defenses and litigating foreclosure issues makes us one of the foremost foreclosure defense law firms in the metropolitan New York area. Feel free to call us for a free consultation at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802 or 1-800-344-6431. We are available 7 days a week.

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

We represent individuals throughout the New York Metropolitan area with divorce and child custody, personal injury, car accident, wrongful death, estate administration, nursing home and medicaid issues

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.

This is attorney advertising. This website is designed for general information purposes only. The information presented on this website shall not be construed to be legal advice. If you have a legal problem you should consult with an attorney.

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