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Federal Program Helps Homeowners with Utility Expenses

June 3, 2011 by

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.

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Banks Delaying Foreclosure Proceedings

June 2, 2011 by

Banks Delaying Foreclosure ProceedingsThe number of foreclosures in the Metropolitan New York area has been going down for approximately six months. This has been caused by massive delays in financial institutions processing foreclosure proceedings. Banks and other financial institutions have been hurt by the negative publicity concerning robo signers and improper and illegal foreclosure practices. They are now carefully reviewing each and every case before they send it out to their attorneys to initiate foreclosure proceedings. They are reviewing all of the mortgage related documents in each file to make sure that they have been handled in an appropriate manner before initiating a foreclosure litigation. There were 9% less foreclosures in April of 2011 than in March of 2011. In the United States, there were 219,258 foreclosures initiated during April of 2011. In addition, banks seized 70,000 homes in April. A representative of Reality Trac stated, “the slow down continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures, rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure.”

Foreclosure Proceedings Taking Longer

Each foreclosure proceeding in New York initiated during the first quarter of 2010 took more than 400 days from inception to completion. This is an increase of 60 days from the 340 days this process had taken in 2009. In 2007, it took approximately 150 days to move forward, from start to finish, with a foreclosure proceeding. As the number of foreclosure proceedings has dramatically increased in New York, the time for these proceedings to make their way through the courts has been increasing. It is estimated that new foreclosure proceedings could take as long as 2 ½ years to be concluded.

Home Prices Falling

Home prices are still falling through most of the country. In April of 2011, home prices fell below the March 2009 levels. This is the lowest point home prices have been in the past two years. Unfortunately, real estate experts do not feel the downward trend in home values will be ending in the near future.

Conclusion

The real estate market in the United States is in a sad state of affairs. Unless the real estate market comes back, the economy in the United States will continue to suffer.

fore1Foreclosure Help

The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo provides foreclosure defense for clients in the Metropolitan New York area. We attend foreclosure court conferences for our clients. We litigate defective mortgages, predatory lending and defective foreclosure lawsuits. We deal with all types of foreclosure and estate problems. We educate our clients concerning foreclosure related bankruptcy proceedings, including Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings.

We advise and assist our clients concerning mortgage modifications and how to deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet the needs of the public. We can provide you with a free initial interview and we will discuss all of your foreclosure options and how to stop foreclosures from moving forward. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure blog.

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Foreclosure Crisis Continues

June 1, 2011 by

Foreclosure Crisis ContinuesForeclosure rates are going down. April of 2011 was the seventh month in a row that the number of homes that banks and other financial institutions initiated foreclosures against declined. There were 34% less foreclosure proceedings brought in April of 2011 than in April of 2010. Although this seems like good news, it is not! Rick Sharga of Reality Trek recently stated that, even with the decline in the foreclosure rates, there were still 225,000 foreclosures initiated during the month of April. There are more than 3.7 million families that are more than 90 days behind on their mortgage payments. In the past, almost all of these homes would have been put into foreclosure. However, the large majority of these homes are still not in foreclosure. Banks are under a microscope by regulatory agencies concerning their foreclosure procedures. They are now making sure that they “dot their i’s” and “cross their t’s” on all new foreclosure proceedings they initiate.

Saturated Real Estate Markets

The current level of foreclosures have saturated most of the real estate markets in the United States. The banks are slowing down their foreclosure procedures to avoid having a further negative impact on the homes that are already on the market waiting to be sold.

Mortgage Modification

Due to the concern by many large financial institutions about further flooding of the real estate market, they have liberalized some of their programs on mortgage modifications. In March of this year, more than 75,000 mortgage modifications were granted by financial institutions. This represented a 26% increase in the number of new mortgage modifications approved by banks since February of 2011.

Declining Home Prices

As home prices continue to decline, more and more homes become under water (worth less then the amount of their mortgages). This unfortunately creates an incentive for mortgage holders to default on their loans and walk away from their homes. It is estimated that approximately 30% of all single family homes in the United States are currently under water. If banks put more homes into foreclosure, the number of homes that are worth less than the amount of the mortgages on them will increase and continue to accelerate the downward spiral in home values. Some experts are predicting that home values will decrease in 2011 by 7% to 9%.

Conclusion: The Housing Crisis is Far From Over

It is estimated that the market for single family homes will not return to a normal housing market until 2014!

Foreclosure Defense

The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo is considered by many to be the premier foreclosure defense law firm in the Metropolitan New York area. We represent our clients concerning mortgage modifications and we deal with mortgage modification programs that fail. We litigate all aspects of foreclosure defense including, but not limited to, defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending and other real estate related defenses. We attend foreclosure court conferences for our clients. At the time of the initial consultation, we provide our clients with all foreclosure options, which also includes discussion of filing Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies, which stop foreclosures upon the filing. Feel free to call for a free consultation. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure blog.

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Bad Neighbors Hurt the Value of Your Home

May 31, 2011 by

Bad Neighbors Hurt The Value Of Your HomeIf your neighbor is a slob, a sex offender or he maintains his property poorly, it can have a negative impact on the value of your home. Bad neighbors are individuals who lack the common courtesy, consideration and social values that are considered normal by the rest of the community. Business or governmental entities can also fall under the category of bad neighbors.

Neighbors Whose Homes are Foreclosed Upon

The largest single negative factor that drives down the value of single family homes is the foreclosure of other homes on the street. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has concluded that if neighbors homes are foreclosed on, it can bring the value of any home in the area down by as much as 27%. Federal Reserve Governor Joseph Tracy recently stated, “the growing inventory of the defaulted mortgages continues to weigh down any recovery in the housing market… problems in the housing market can impact on economic growth.”

Although homeowners don’t intentionally allow their homes to go into foreclosure, the fact that their homes are being taken back by the bank impacts on everyone in their locality. It is unfortunate that a family’s single largest investment can be negatively effected by other families in their area.

Conclusion

The foreclosure crisis hurts everyone in a community. It has a general impact on the home values of all homeowners in the surrounding area. It slows down economic growth, destroys equity and for the unfortunate families whose homes are foreclosed upon, it causes them to end up without a place to live.

Foreclosure Help

The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo can help you with foreclosure issues. We can prepare mortgage modification applications and assist you with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet your needs. We litigate defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending and all other foreclosure and real estate related issues. We attend foreclosure court conferences for our clients. We draft and file foreclosure related bankruptcies. These bankruptcies can either be a Chapter 13 bankruptcy or Chapter 7 bankruptcy. At the end of the bankruptcies we assist our clients in re-establishing credit.

Our job is to stop foreclosures in their tracks. We have dozen of cases throughout the Metropolitan New York area pending and numerous satisfied clients. If you call us for a free consultation, we will meet with you at no charge and discuss your foreclosure options. Feel free to call us. We can help you! We look forward to seeing you again on our foreclosure blog.

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Leo Nordine, the Foreclosure King

May 27, 2011 by

Leo Nordine, The Foreclosure KingLeo Nordine of California has been referred to “the king of foreclosures.” Leo was a real estate agent in California. He has allegedly closed more than 4,000 real estate transactions. It is claimed that he is involved in over 300 real estate transactions a year. All of these transactions involve foreclosures!

Recent Interview of Leo Nordine

In a recent interview, foreclosure king Leo Nordine was asked about when the real estate market will bottom out. In his response, he stated that he felt the market had already hit a soft bottom. He talked about the slowdown by the Federal Government of the real estate foreclosure process. He claimed the government was slowing down the process to avoid putting the country into a depression.

He was asked if it was a good time for individuals to buy homes. He suggested that, instead of buying a home, individuals should save up their cash for a rainy day. He stated that he felt real estate prices will stay flat for approximately ten years. He suggested only buying a house if you plan on living in it and enjoying it. He suggested it would not be a good investment. He felt that for the real estate market to recover, the economy as a whole must first recovery.

Nation of Renters

Leo suggested that in the future a greater portion of the population of the United States will be renters, and not owners, of real estate. He claimed that the government had encouraged the American dream of the ownership of a single family home. He suggested that families should dream of renting in the future.

How To Sell a House Today

When Leo was questioned as to how to sell a home in the current real estate market, he suggested to make it as empty as possible. The house should be clean, bright and, most importantly, priced realistically! He stated that if the house isn’t priced to sell, no one will buy it!

New York Foreclosure Lawyer

If your home is in foreclosure in the Metropolitan New York area, we can help you. Our law office has been providing foreclosure defense for our clients for more than 45 years. We litigate defective mortgages, predatory lending and defective foreclosure lawsuits. We make court appearances for our clients and attend foreclosure court conferences. We assist our clients with mortgage modifications and mortgage modification programs that fail to meet consumers needs.

We discuss foreclosure related bankruptcy filings. This filing can either be a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Upon filing either of these bankruptcies, the Federal Bankruptcy Court issues an automatic stay that stops foreclosure proceedings in their tracks.

Call us for a free consultation. We will discuss all of your foreclosure options. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure blog.

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure Defense, Mortgage Modification Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Home Ownership Now at 1998 Rates

May 24, 2011 by

Home Ownership Now At 1998 RatesThe percentage of Americans who own their own home has been slipping for many years. The percentage of Americans who live in their own home is now receded back to the rates that existed in 1998, according to recent census data. In the first quarter of 2011, home ownership in the United States slipped to 66.4%. This is on top of a reduction in the number of families who own homes in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 66.5%.

2005 Was The Apex of Home Ownership In the United States

In 2005, 69.1% of Americans owned their own home. The rate of home ownership in the United States has been steadily declining since 2005.

The American Dream

Owning a single family home has been the American dream during the 20th century. The Bush Administration and the Clinton Administration had policies to foster home ownership. Unfortunately, these policies were too generous and the American public manipulated these programs to create a real estate bubble in the United States. For the past three years, this real estate bubble has had a negative effect on the economy in the United States. The trend is starting to change in 2011 and hopefully in 2012, an election year, America will come out of it’s recession and real estate values will increase.

Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

We help clients whose homes are in foreclosure. We assist our clients with mortgage modification applications, as well as dealing with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients needs. We have extensive experience in litigating all aspects of foreclosure proceedings, including, but not limited to, defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, bad faith issues and foreclosure related real estate proceedings.

We attend foreclosure court conferences for our clients. We also provide clients with a list of foreclosure options. These options include foreclosure related bankruptcies such as Chapter 13 bankruptcy and Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Both of these bankruptcies immediately stop foreclosures from moving forward. If we file bankruptcy for our clients, we also can help them in re-establishing their credit at the end of the bankruptcy. Feel free to call us for a free consultation. We appreciate you spending time on our foreclosure blog.

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Proposed Law Protects Homeowners Who Have Mortgages

May 23, 2011 by

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.

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Long Island’s Economic Problems

May 18, 2011 by

In 2010, Long Island’s economy grew slower then virtually all other areas in the state of New York. Buying power decreased in the year 2010.

Economic Growth In New York State is Uneven

The economic recovery is slowly affecting New York. Unfortunately, Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island have the slowest rate of economic recovery of any region in New York.

Controller Thomas DiNapoli recently stated, “our economic recovery is headed in the right direction, but the road out of the recession is still winding and potentially periless.” The Gross Metropolitan Product on Long Island shrank 4.5% last year. This is the largest level of shrinkage in New York state. The second largest level of shrinkage took place in New York City, which was a 4.4% drop.

Wall Street Affects Long Island

The economic impact of the financial difficulties on Wall Street had a greater impact in Nassau and Suffolk Counties than other areas of the state. Erick Sumberg, an aid to New York State Controller Thomas DeNapoli, stated, “the economic recovery of many communities on Long Island is heavily dependent on the strength of Wall Street.”

Long Island Real Estate

For there to be a complete economic recovery on Long Island, there must be an upward trend in the value of real estate. The ownership of a single family home is the most significant asset for most families. When a family’s largest asset is under water (worth less the amount of the mortgage), it has a chilling effect on the prosperity of the region. Hopefully, as we move into the summer of 2011, the value of homes on Long Island will start to increase!

Long Island's Economic ProblemsForeclosure Defense

My law office has been handling foreclosure defense for Long Islanders and families within the Metropolitan New York area for more than 45 years. We litigate issues involving defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending and real estate related issues. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients and we seek to put pressure for the foreclosing banks to enter into mortgage modifications with our clients.

We represent our clients in filing Chapter 7 bankruptcies and Chapter 13 bankruptcies with regard to stopping their homes from being sold in foreclosure. We meet with our clients during the initial consultation and discuss the foreclosure options available, whether they need mortgage modifications, litigating the foreclosure lawsuits and foreclosure related bankruptcy proceedings. Feel free to contact us for a free consultation. Thank you for visiting my foreclosure blog.

Filed Under: Foreclosure Defense, Mortgage Modification, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Thinking of Walking Away From Your Foreclosed Home? It May Not be a Good Idea!

May 16, 2011 by

Thinking Of Walking Away From Your Foreclosed HomeOne of the options facing families whose homes are in foreclosure is to simply pack up and leave. This is what Willard and Holly Brown did with regard to their foreclosed home in Clarkston, Washington. However, things did not work out well for them. It cost them $116,000!

Home Secured Small Business Administration Loan

Willard and Holly Brown took out a $200,000 Small Business Administration loan. The loan was processed by Wells Fargo Bank and it was secured by a mortgage on their home.

Homestead Exemptions

Most states have homestead exemptions with regard to a homeowner’s principal place of residence. However, it usually only applies to a family’s principal place of residence. When the Browns moved away from their home, they cut off the utility services. They advised the water company to “permanently shut off the water to the home.” They rented an apartment in Florida. The apartment had a one year lease on it. They also changed their car registrations to Florida and obtained Florida driver’s licenses.

Surplus Funds from the Sale of Their Home

At the foreclosure sale of the Brown’s home, there was $116,377 received in excess of the amount of the mortgage. Under the homestead exemption in the state of Washington, these funds would have gone to the Browns.

Waiver of Homestead Exemption

Wells Fargo Bank claimed that the Browns abandoned their home and therefore forfeited their homestead exemption. The Browns litigated this issue. The Court of Appeals in Washington State held that a homeowner is presumed to have abandoned his or her homestead when they have vacated the property for a period of six months or longer. The Browns claimed they were on an extended vacation in Florida and that Wells Fargo, their bank, was wrong in claiming they had abandoned their home. Unfortunately for the Browns, the Court of Appeals didn’t buy their argument. The Browns lost $116,377. The moral of this story is, before abandoning your home, you should look into your rights under your state’s homestead exemption.

New York Foreclosure Lawyer

The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo represents individuals throughout the Metropolitan New York area concerning foreclosure defense issues. We help our clients obtain mortgage modifications and we deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients needs. We also litigate defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending issues and foreclosure related bankruptcy issues. We meet with our clients at the time of the initial consultation and advise them all of their foreclosure options. These options include litigating the foreclosure and pressuring the banks to enter into a mortgage modification, as well as Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies. Call us for a free consultation. Thank you for visiting our foreclosure blog.

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure Defense, Mortgage Modification Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Military Divorces Being Investigated by the Justice Department

May 10, 2011 by

Justice DepartmentThe Service Members Civil Relief Act prevents financial institutions from bringing foreclosure proceedings against individuals in the United States Armed Forces. The Justice Department is currently investigating allegations that a division of Morgan Stanley that handles mortgages improperly foreclosed on more than twenty-four military families between 2006 and 2008, in violation of the Service Members Civil Relief Act.

Service Members Civil Relief Act

Pursuant to the Service Members Civil Relief Act, a court must be convened and a Judge must hold a hearing before a foreclosure can be initiated. At the hearing, the member of the Armed Services can be represented by an attorney. The lender must obtain a court order to move forward with foreclosure proceedings.

Sargeant James B. Hurley

Sargeant Hurly was stationed in Iraq. In December of 2005, he returned to his home in Hartford, Michigan. What he found shocked him. His home had been foreclosed and sold to someone else. He brought a lawsuit against Sackson Mortgage Service, which is a sub-division of Morgan Stanley. He claimed that his home had been foreclosed and sold at auction in violation of the Civil Relief Act. Sackson eventually settled the case with him by paying him monetary damages in an undisclosed amount. There are currently approximately twenty-two other cases pending against Sackson. It is claimed in each of those cases that they improperly foreclosed on homes of individuals in active duty in the military service of the United States.

service1Foreclosure Help

Our law office helps individual whose homes are being foreclosed. We litigate foreclosure proceedings involving defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending and other real estate related issues. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients. We also represent clients in the preparation of mortgage modifications and we deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients needs. We litigation foreclosure bankruptcy issues. We file either Chapter 7 bankruptcies or Chapter 13 bankruptcies on behalf of our clients when we feel this is an effective strategy to deal with their financial situation. We provide our clients with a thorough education as to what their foreclosure options are. Feel free to call us at your earliest convenience for a consultation. Thank you for reading our foreclosure blog.

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure Defense, Mortgage Modification Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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Attorney Elliot S. Schlissel

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Disclaimer: 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.