Miami Real Estate Attorney Blog

When mentioning the foreclosure crisis it's hard to think of any positive news. However, recent news reports have provided South Floridians with at least a few reasons to have a sliver of hope. First, its cheaper to buy than rent a home in Miami. Second, at least one economist believes that Miami's recovery has been better than most people thought.

According to a report released by Trulia.com, Miami tops the list of places in the US where it's cheaper to own than rent a home. The website noted that the foreclosure crisis forced many homeowners to become renters. The increased demand for rentals caused the cost of rentals to rise. Trulia.com also found that in 72 percent of America's 50 largest cities , it is more affordable to buy than rent a two bedroom home.

The median sales price for homes in Miami was $185,000, which denotes a 38.3 percent price decrease since the prior year. Perhaps this is good news for those who are seeking to invest in a property they would like to rent.

Mark Vitner, a Wells Fargo economist, may agree that now is the time to invest in Miami. On Friday, Vitner spoke to an audience at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino about the state of South Florida's economy.

Despite ranking near the bottom when it comes to underwater homes, employment rates, and foreclosures, he said Miami has been recovering well. Miami-Dade has posted some of the state's strongest gains in taxable sales and job creation. Vitner believes that South Florida's popularity with international tourists, especially those from booming South American economies, has helped Miami through this recession.

The economist stated that international tourism provided a huge boost to travel and retail in Miami. Orlando has also been helped by international tourism. Another reason for the boost in retail sales?
One real estate consultant credits delinquent homeowners who are no longer making mortgage payments, but are spending the money.

Continue reading "Miami's Real Estate Market is Attracting Many Real Estate Investors" »

Our Miami foreclosure defense lawyers have assisted many homeowners in buying enough time to reach the solution that is right for them. There are many alternatives to foreclosure, and often times it just takes proper planning to properly navigate against the potential pitfalls. Help is often available to those who seek it.

Today's current real estate market, and ongoing foreclosure crises, presents all sorts of issues that must be properly navigated. There are many factors contributing to Florida's nation leading delinquency rates. They include a weak job market, weak economic recovery, and a major drop in home prices. Consequently, Florida's housing market remains unsettled in large part due to the continued foreclosure crises.

However, Florida homeowners who are struggling to make their mortgage payments may be able to get money from a billion-dollar fund run by the State. According to the Palm Beach Post, thousands of delinquent homeowners may be eligible to receive up to a year and a half worth of mortgage payments. Applications for this program called Hardest Hit will be available next month.

This will be the first time the billion dollar fund will be available statewide. Lee County homeowners were able to apply for the program while the State tested it.

The highest amount a person can receive is $35,000. Hardest Hit is aimed at unemployed homeowners or those who are working but don't make enough money to pay their mortgage. The money can be used to make loan payments for up to 18 months and to bring delinquent loans current.

The State of Florida believes the program can help about 20,000 people. This is certainly a modest amount of help considering that about 19 percent of Florida borrowers are either in foreclosure or 90 days past due.

In the event a homeowner who accepts funds from this program sells his home within five years or falls back into foreclosure, they will have to return the money to Florida. However, paying back the State takes second place to paying off the bank and other liens on the property.

Since Florida started testing back in October, most major lenders have cooperated. This includes major banks such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, and Citimortgage. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have also provided directions to servicers regarding the State's program.

Those who didn't qualify for funding during the pilot program were denied because many had more than one property or owed more than $400,000 on their loan.

Continue reading "Miami's Foreclosure Defense Attorneys Continue to Push for Alternatives to Foreclosure to Help the Many Struggling South Florida Homeowners Facing Foreclosure" »

South Florida bank repossessions significantly increased in 2010 with an almost 80 percent increase over 2009. In total, banks took back 54,000 properties in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

Miami-Dade County had the most activity with 23,000 repossessions taking place. However, this should not be too surprising since Miami-Dade County also has the largest population amongst the three counties.

Broward County follows in second with a total of 20,400 repossessions. Palm Beach ranked third with 11,000 repossessions.

As a result, 2010 takes the prize and wins the distinction of producing the most repossessions since the real estate crash started in 2007. It was nearly double that of 2009 when lenders repossessed 30,400 homes. 2008 had 26,650 repossessions, and in 2007 there were 10,100. This figures certainly show us how the real estate market has progressively worsened.

The high 2010 figures are the result of a lengthy foreclosure process that began back in 2008. It is possible that the strong absorption of new condos may be laying down a foundation for a stronger rental market going forward.

Its expected that the annual rise in repossessions will not hold in 2011. Foreclosure filings, the first step to repossessing a home, were down in 41 percent in 2010. The drop, however, may be in light of all the "robo signing" allegations, and on going investigation launched by Florida's Attorney General regarding certain law firms and other issues pertaining to process servers and service of process.

Today's current real estate market, and ongoing foreclosure crises, presents all sorts of issues that must be properly navigated. There are many factors contributing to Florida's nation leading delinquency rates. They include a weak job market, weak economic recovery, and a major drop in home prices. Consequently, Florida's housing market remains unsettled in large part due to the continued foreclosure crises.

Our Miami foreclosure defense lawyers have assisted many homeowners in buying enough time to reach the solution that is right for them. There are many alternatives to foreclosure, and often times it just takes proper planning to properly navigate against the potential pitfalls. Help is often available to those who seek it.

Continue reading "Homes Being Repossessed in South Florida due to Foreclosures Spiked Up in 2010" »

In recent weeks many banks have dismissed hundreds of foreclosure lawsuits in Southwest Florida. They are doing this instead of facing lenders at trial.

However, what should we understand this to mean? Does it meant banks are just taking a break before refiling with stronger evidence? Or, does it mean that they are giving up for good?

The foreclosure defense bar has long accused foreclosure firms of never actually reading lawsuits that were filed. Also, many mortgages which ended up being securitized were never actually legally transferred by entities such as MERS leading to significant problems in proving ownership.

The Clerk of Court for Lee County believes that the banks will come back and refile. However, this will certainly be costly because of the large filing fees incurred in these cases. For example, in order to file suit against a homeowner living in a $250,000 home, a bank would have to pay $1,900.00 in filing fees. The Clerk of Court is currently unable to estimate how many cases have actually been dismissed.

This past Tuesday alone, banks filed eight voluntary dismissals. An attorney based in Southwest Florida has reported that he saw 50 consecutive foreclosure suits voluntarily dismissed.

The banks may not be able to re-litigate many of these files because a lot of mortgages were bundled in mortgage-backed securities. Many mistakes were made in this process, which makes it extremely difficult for a bank to prove ownership of a mortgage. Nonetheless, there are still a small amount of cases where the bank is still the original holder of the mortgage.

The Jacksonville area is also seeing the same activity. Its believed the dismissals may be caused by a significant Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling which invalidated two foreclosures because a bank couldn't prove ownership of a mortgage after it had been improperly placed into a mortgage-backed trust.

This creates opportunities for many struggling homeowners to potentially get back on their feet, or otherwise chart a course of action that is best for them. Our Miami foreclosure defense lawyers have assisted many homeowners in buying enough time to reach the solution that is right for them. There are many alternatives to foreclosure, and often times it just takes proper planning to properly navigate against the potential pitfalls. Help is often available to those who seek it.

Continue reading "Banks are Giving Up and Dropping Many Foreclosures in Southwest Florida" »

Here is a small glimpse on how foreclosures are impacting South Florida:

265,000 -- Total foreclosures in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties since 2007.
23,348 -- Total permanent South Florida mortgage modifications under the federal government's Home Affordable Modification Program, HAMP.
48 -- Percentage of homes worth less than the amount of the mortgage in Miami-Dade County.
10,000 -- Mortgage counselors hired by Bank of America in 2010.
600 -- Average number of days it takes to complete a foreclosure in Florida.
174,000 -- Property tax appeals filed by South Florida homeowners in 2009.
109,496 -- Pending foreclosure cases stuck somewhere in South Florida's court system.
10,000 -- Foreclosure affidavits signed each month by GMAC employee Jeffrey Stephan, the first bank employee exposed as a so-called robo-signer.
$9.6 million -- Amount granted by the Florida Legislature last year to help close out 347,000 foreclosure cases from its backlog in 12 months.
200 -- Foreclosure cases Miami-Dade courts would need to dispose of per day to meet the Legislature's goal.

Everyone has been left scrambling to find solutions to the real estate collapse. Major lenders, local governments and county courts have spent the last three years trying to deal with the fallout from the housing crisis. Each institution quickly found out it was unprepared and undermanned to handle the crisis, and most have been trying to play catchup ever since.

In this difficult climate, it is imperative that you assess your rights and options. The current real estate market, and ongoing foreclosure crises, presents all sorts of issues that must be properly navigated. Our Miami foreclosure defense lawyers have assisted many parties in buying enough time to reach the solution that is right for them.

There are many alternatives to foreclosure, and often times it just takes proper planning to properly navigate against the potential pitfalls. Help is often available to those who seek it.

Continue reading "Foreclosures Continue to Plague South Florida" »

The New York Times published an article on how the State of Florida is dealing with the record amount of foreclosure actions. More importantly though, the article points a few reasons why its important to hire an experienced foreclosure defense attorney when facing a foreclosure.

Florida set aside nearly $10 million to organize foreclosure-only courts across the state. These courts are run by retired judges. While these courts have certainly helped speed up the foreclosure process and freed up dockets for other types of civil cases, foreclosure defense lawyers have expressed some concerns about how these judges run their court rooms.

Foreclosure defense attorneys, including the attorneys at our firm, argue that many of these judges are so intent on cutting down the foreclosure caseload that they may be unfairly siding with lenders at the expense of homeowners. Many of these judges simply ignore contradictory evidence and allow lenders to foreclose on properties that they have yet to prove they own.

We have commented on our own labors in many "foreclosure dockets" in the past. Often times, however, the foreclosure process simply favors the banks to the dismay of many distressed homeowners. For instance, if a homeowner is representing himself/herself, and fails to appear for court, the Judge often issues the foreclosure in the bank's favor. However, if the bank's lawyer shows up unprepared, then often times the Judge just lets the bank re-schedule the hearing to the homeowner's detriment.

This video also discussed Florida's "rocket dockets."

Continue reading "Florida's Foreclosure "Rocket Dockets" Continue to be Scrutinized" »

The Massachusetts' Supreme Court ruled that the bank could not foreclose on two properties because the bank could not produce the appropriate paperwork to demonstrate who actually owned the loan.

This is a powerful ruling, and it may be a harbinger of things to come. If you are facing foreclosure, the time may be now to contact our office. Many homeowners who stand up for their rights are often able to find an alternative to foreclosure. Plus, the growing list of scandals facing the banks only highlight the need to assess your rights. Those growing scandals include the robo-signing scandal, as well as issues surrounding service of process.

What makes the Massachusetts case interesting, however, is the fact that the State's highest court found that the bank could not prove who owned the mortgage at issue. It turns out that it appears as though the system created by the banks to help streamline, and document, their own mortgage system, MERS, is likely what failed them in this case.

That is the case because mortgage loans are like real property and can only be transferred by physically signing over the paperwork -- like someone endorsing a check or the title to a car -- and delivering it to the next holder. Without that, the holder of record doesn't change.

As you can imagine, the amount of paperwork required to maintain all those files during the "go go" days of the real estate boom would have been overwhelming. Consequently, systems and procedures were created to help alleviate the banks' requirement to keep those records. Those systems are known as MERS.

MERS also enabled Wall Street to trade mortgage backed securities with greater ease. Under mortgage securitization, loans got transferred many times after origination before landing in pools of mortgages that are sold to investors. But often times, the banks simply didn't endorse the paperwork between steps.

And that was apparently the problem in the Massachusetts case. The loan at issue went through five different owners before winding up in a pool of mortgages that U.S. Bank was the trustee for. During that trip down the chain, however, the parties failed to legally assign the mortgage.

The bank produced documents that showed that the loan was one of the mortgages put into a pool, but that failed to satisfy the court, which cited "the utter carelessness with which the plaintiff banks documented the titles to their assets."

Continue reading "Massachusetts' Supreme Court Provides a Powerful Victory for Many Struggling Homeowners Facing Foreclosure" »

Borrowers that are falling behind on their mortgage, but that have not yet been sued by their lender, may now be able to participate in a mediation prior to litigation. This new pre-file/pre-suit mediation program will be available to certain homeowners with delinquent and defaulted mortgages that are approaching the foreclosure filing stage.

Our Miami foreclosure defense lawyers have assisted many homeowners in buying enough time to reach the solution that is right for them. There are many alternatives to foreclosure, and often times it just takes proper planning to properly navigate against the potential pitfalls. Help is often available to those who seek it.

Conceptually, bringing together homeowners and mortgage lenders before a foreclosure filing potentially saves homeowners, lenders and our overburdened state courts time and money. Fannie Mae has mandated that its servicers participate in pre-file mediations on Florida loans that are eligible for the program.

The pre-file/pre-suit mediation is only eligible to properties that are homesteaded in Miami-Dade County. The pre-filing mortgage mediation program will be initiated by the lender upon the 65th day of delinquency, at which point a determination of the loan's eligibility for the pre-file program will be undertaken. If eligible, financial counseling for the homeowner will be arranged and mediation appointment with the homeowner and the lender's representative will be scheduled.

Continue reading "Miami Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Applaud Miami-Dade County's Foreclosure Mediation Program's Expansion to Include Pre-Foreclosure Cases" »

Now that the holidays are over, the temporary freeze on foreclosures is over as well. Industry experts expect thousands of foreclosed properties to enter the market in the coming weeks and months. The slowdown at the end of last year was mostly due to regular holiday foreclosure freezes and the robo-signing scandal. However, those events are behind us now. Accordingly, the pace of foreclosures is about to pick up.

Many are predicting a record first quarter for 2011. They expect lenders to repossess about 100,000 homes. The expected record is attributed to the usual seasonal uptick in the first quarter coupled with the necessary acceleration required because of the delays caused by the robo-signing scandal.

The National Association of Realtors says it is not surprised by reports documenting the expected up-tick in foreclosures. Its believed that lenders are not going to dump repossessed parties all at once. They expect the process to be gradual. However, uncertainty lies on whether the already weak market will be able to handle the newly-unloaded housing inventory.

What would help the real estate market? Basically, an improved economy and job creation. These factors would increase housing demand and swallow the shadow inventory that is soon to hit the market. However, most economists believe that unemployment will remain near 9 percent throughout 2011. Plus, those who feel insecure in their employment or are unemployed are not going to buy a home. Also, considering how lenders have tightened their credit standards, its possible that even those with good credit scores may be unable to secure a loan.

Today's current real estate market, and ongoing foreclosure crises, presents all sorts of issues that must be properly navigated. There are many factors contributing to Florida's nation leading delinquency rates. They include a weak job market, weak economic recovery, and a major drop in home prices. Consequently, Florida's housing market remains unsettled in large part due to the continued foreclosure crises.

Our Miami foreclosure defense lawyers have assisted many homeowners in buying enough time to reach the solution that is right for them. There are many alternatives to foreclosure, and often times it just takes proper planning to properly navigate against the potential pitfalls. Help is often available to those who seek it.

Continue reading "Experts are Predicting Record Foreclosures in the First Quarter of 2011" »

How the mighty have fallen! Better known as the "foreclosure king", David J. Stern was once doing well enough to buy employees cars and houses, while purchasing a few multi-million dollar homes himself. Currently, his company's stock trades for pennies and may even face de-listing. His firm is facing multiple lawsuits and is still under investigation by the Florida attorney general's office. His businesses have lost powerful clients. Consequently, he's had to let go of hundreds of employees.

Stern's fall is newsworthy because it will greatly impact pending foreclosures in Florida. The firm's conduct which led to its demise will set the tone for the state's real estate market. The downsizing at his firm has led to thousands of cases which are basically not being worked on whatsoever. Because Stern lawyers are no longer showing up for hearings, foreclosure defense lawyers are having trouble setting hearings or even finding someone to speak with on the other side.

This creates opportunities for many struggling homeowners to potentially get back on their feet, or otherwise chart a course of action that is best for them. Our Miami foreclosure defense lawyers have assisted many homeowners in buying enough time to reach the solution that is right for them. There are many alternatives to foreclosure, and often times it just takes proper planning to properly navigate against the potential pitfalls. Help is often available to those who seek it.

Another consequence of Stern's fall: banks are not bidding on their properties at foreclosure sales leading to properties being temporarily sold for as little as $200. These sales have only been temporary because Stern's failure to represent the bank's means notice of the sales have been legally deficient.

This is certainly not the end of the foreclosure ordeal. Other foreclosure mills are also being investigated, so its possible other firms will be slammed. Saving money was certainly one of the driving forces behind the fraudulent measures used by many of the foreclosure mills. However, its also certain that doing things right the first time around will have proven to be the cheaper approach and better approach for both the banks and many struggling homeowners alike.

Continue reading "Miami Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Agree that David J. Stern's Departure Creates Opportunities for Many Struggling Homeowners" »

The Palm Beach Post is reporting that Florida's required foreclosure mediation program is not having much success. Only a mere 6 percent of foreclosure matters are being resolved at the negotiation table.

Seven of the state's 20 circuit courts are included the report, but lawyers state there is enough evidence to show the program is struggling. Between March and June, 13, 417 cases were referred to mediation. However, only 768 ended with the borrower and banking coming to an agreement. An "agreement" included the homeowner walking away from the property, deed in lieu of foreclosure, short sale or a loan modification.

Our Miami foreclosure defense lawyers have assisted many homeowners in buying enough time to reach the solution that is right for them. There are many alternatives to foreclosure, and often times it just takes proper planning to properly navigate against the potential pitfalls. Help is often available to those who seek it.

As for the mediation program, a major hurdle for theprogram is the fact that many homeowners are difficult to contact. 44 percent of homeowners were reached in cases referred to mediation, and 38 percent attended a session. Of those who actually attended mediation, 34 percent walked away with some sort of resolution.

A big question regarding the program is how success should be measured. If it is measured in terms of providing financial relief to borrowers, then it may be considered a failure. On the other hand, it may be considered a partial success if it is measured in terms of how it has helped cases move forward.

Some state its too early to judge whether the program has been a success and the more time is needed to properly evaluate it. Even though the numbers show few have been able come to an agreement, to date, the requirement that all parties attend mediation is important because it affords the homeowner with an opportunity to sit down and have a "face to face" meeting with the bank and tell their story. If it doesn't work out, at least they know they got their shot.

Continue reading "Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Are Seeing Minimal Progress at Mediation" »