THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013

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HOMEOWNERS NEWS

ForeclosureGate.org Is A Public Service Homeowner Coalition and Cooperative, Created To Exchange News And Information And To Advance Justice For American Homeowners

Bank of America Foreclosure Reviews: Why the Cover-Up Happened (Part IIIB) A third reviewer described how these information gaps undermined his work: This created major problems in determining timelines. If a foreclosure started in 2008 I could not determine if procedures were followed at all. If modifications started prior to 2009 I was just out of luck to know if documents were received, signed, how and what modifications were offered. I had one case in which my notes actually started at the rescission of the sale and ended with the sale. I couldnt determine anything about what had happened. Eventually that file was removed from my queue, because I had requested all notes from customer service, all notes on mods, all documents prior to the foreclosure sales deed and so on. The request became overwhelming.

Neighbors help 76-year-old woman fight to keep home that's been in her family for generations Mary Bonelli hardly knew anyone among the 40 or so people clustered in front of her two-story brick home in Belmont-Cragin. "They're all strangers," she said. "It means a lot knowing that I am not alone." The "strangers" were from Chicago's Communities United Against Foreclosure and Eviction.

What Can Go Bad Will Go Bad in Uncontested Foreclosure What can go bad WILL go bad on your foreclosure case if it is unopposed. The ridiculous amount of leading questions, hearsay, and a mailbag of errors make up some of the things that go on with an uncontested foreclosure. The problems go unchecked if there is no one to oppose the bank or loan servicer with a legal foreclosure defense.

In California Prospective Tenants Will Have To Be Told If The Property Is In Foreclosure A new California law will require landlords to provide disclosure to prospective tenants, prior to execution of a lease, if a notice of default (NOD) has been recorded against the property. This requirement will only apply to rentals of singlefamily homes and apartments in buildings of no more than four units.

California Homeowner Bill of Rights: Does It Have Teeth? The much heralded California Homeowner Bill of Rights went into effect on January 1, 2013. It expands urgency legislation, enacted four years ago, that amended the trustee sale foreclosure processes to reduce foreclosures and increase workouts, loan modifications, and short sales. See Stats 2012, chs 8687 (AB 278 and SB 900). Its well intended, but is it actually going to reduce the foreclosure rate in the long run?

Michigan Supreme Court Issues Opinion on States Foreclosure Statute Shortly before the end of 2012, the Michigan Supreme Court issued its first opinion in a calendar case on Michigan's foreclosure statute in nearly 20 years. In Kim v JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., --- Mich ----; --- NW2d ---- (Mich Dec 21, 2012) (No 144690), the Court was unanimous in upholding long-standing Michigan case law stating that deficiencies in the foreclosure process make a foreclosure sale voidable, not void ab initio. The difference is subtle, but significant. Voidable sales may be set aside, but only if the mortgagor can show it.

Florida foreclosure law firm faces closure after bar investigation A Florida foreclosure law firm will have to shut its doors if the state's highest court approves a disciplinary action handed down by the Florida Bar Association. The Law Office of Marshall Watson, P.A.is the subject of a conditional guilty plea that attorney Marshall Craig Watson entered into voluntarily with the Florida Bar Association. Watson entered the plea after the bar investigated him for his staff's mishandling of foreclosure documents and for failing to properly oversee staff members who handled default-related records.

Treasury Continues Approving Excessive Pay for Top Executives at Bailed-Out Companies Even though OSM set guidelines aimed at curbing excessive pay, SIGTARP previously warned that Treasury lacked robust criteria, policies, and procedures to ensure those guidelines are met. Treasury made no meaningful reform to its processes. Absent robust criteria, policies, and procedures to ensure its guidelines were met, OSMs decisions were largely driven by the pay proposals of the same companies that historically, and again in 2012, proposed excessive pay.