Nationwide, home foreclosures have dropped to their lowest level since November 2005. During April 2017, there were 77,049 filings reported in the U.S. This number includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. The figures reflect the lowest number of foreclosures since the housing crisis began. While the drop is significant, at the same time there was a rise in repeat foreclosures. A repeat foreclosure is noted as any property address with the same owne

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Freddie Mac, announced last week that it’s selling off non-performing loans to private investors. Freddie Mac is a public government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) headquartered in Virginia. Freddie Mac was created in 1970 to help expand the mortgage market alongside the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). Previously, from 1938 to 1968 Fannie Mae was the only institution that bought mortgages leading to and enco

The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) was introduced in 2009 and established to help homeowners recover from the great housing bubble burst. The HAMP was part of the Making Home Affordable program (MHA) along with the Hardest Hit Fund program (HHF) that was under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). These programs were part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and put into place to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. HAMP and the entire

Hundreds of Americans are getting frightening calls from “IRS Agents” making threats including sending the sheriff over to arrest them if they don’t pay back taxes immediately. The first 8 months of this year there has been a 400% surge in these phony calls and text messages. These calls are alarming due to the fact the so-called “IRS Agent” have personal information including their correct social security number, where the person lives, where they used to live, their maiden

California is a step closer to signing a bill into law to protect families from foreclosure after the death of the primary mortgage note holder. The Bill is known as the “Survivor Bill of Rights”. Other states may soon follow in passing similar laws. When a spouse dies, often the surviving spouse can’t afford the mortgage payment. The survivor usually calls the lender to let them know the spouse has died. When the survivor tries for a loan modification due to loss of income,

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. announced last week they had reached an agreement to resolve an ongoing investigation of the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group. The agreement was attained after more than seven years after the worst financial crisis hit the U.S. in which Goldman Sachs played a role. The agreement will conclude any real or potential civil claims from the Department of Justice, New York and Illinois Attorneys General, National Credit Union Administra

Our law office continues to receive numerous calls from homeowners who were scammed by so-called ‘loan modification’ companies. Most of the ‘loan modification scammers have companies based in California, Florida, New York and New Jersey. By the time the homeowner figures out the scam, they’ve lost between $700 and $5,000 on average and/or received a notice they are in foreclosure. Some homeowners have had no idea they’ve been scammed until someone comes to their door with doc

Nationstar Mortgage will be providing up to $30 million dollars to distressed Milwaukee homeowners under a special agreement with the city. In a move worthy of Washington politics, the majority owner of Fortress Investments, which owns Nationstar, is also the co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. There have been months of negotiations, bad media press and upcoming hearings on how the city will finance a proposed $500 million Bucks arena. Analysts say the two are definitely related

There’s a collision course coming that will affect millions of homeowners creating hardships as massive as the housing market crash that began in 2006. There is approximately $265 billion tied up in home equity lines of credits called HELOCs. These HELOCs are coming due this year. Many consumers will be in shock as they see a considerable increase in their monthly mortgage payments. The HELOCs (pronounced HEE lock) are loans that lenders give to homeowners in which the borrow

In yet another settlement, JPMorgan Chase has admitted to filing tens of thousands of documents that were not reviewed by the people who had signed and authenticated to their accuracy. Many in the banking and legal community are shocked that Chase would admit to such wrongdoing in more than 50,000 fraudulent payment change notices. In court documents, it was stated that Chase “improperly signed, under penalty of perjury, by persons who had not reviewed the accuracy of the not

Ocwen Financial Corp. (OCN) subservices all the mortgage loans for Home Loan Servicing Solutions (HLSS). Mangrove Partners is an investment manager (hedge funds) and one of the largest shareholders of HLSS. HLSS is an affiliate of Ocwen. Mangrove Partners sent HLSS a letter demanding HLSS terminate its business relationship with Ocwen. Mangrove Partners sites a “dereliction of duty” and said it is “imperative” HLSS terminate its servicing relationship with Ocwen “without dela

Ocwen Financial Corp. faced major problems throughout 2014. It seems this year will be more of the same. Announced Friday, January 26th, Ocwen will hire outside accountants and pay $2.5 million to the state of California in exchange for the state to halt their bid to suspend the company’s license. California state regulators previously announced Ocwen failed to comply with providing them with loan information as requested. This latest settlement only covers Ocwen’s failure t

Excited to announce that Keith Gantenbein, of Gantenbein Law Firm, has been invited to teach at a 2-day National CLE, starting today, sponsored by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). Mr. Gantenbein will be speaking about some of his most passionate issues: the Rule 120 Foreclosure Hearing in Colorado, Dual-Tracking, and CFPB (Consumer Finanacial Protection Bureau) Rules and Regulations, as they relate to mortgages. If you have an issue with your loan modification, mortag

A couple living in New England are facing another battle after losing their home to foreclosure. Their mortgage insurance company is suing them for $136,000. The Galindo’s came to the U.S. to build a better life for themselves and their toddler daughter. They worked hard and bought a two-family house in 2005 for $410,000. They didn’t have the money saved to make a large down payment so their lender required they buy an insurance policy in order to qualify for the mortgage. T

Denver tax attorney Tyler Murray, of Gantenbein Law Firm, taught tax case law updates at Colorado Bar Association CLE. The 2014 Annual Case Law Update was sponsored by the Business, Real Estate, Tax & Estate Law Sections of the Colorado Bar Association. Mr. Murray dicussed various legislative updates that pertained to tax law, business law and real estate law- including sales and use tax, property tax, employee classification, and Denver Lodges tax. Mr. Murray is a well-estab

California is accusing Ocwen of defying requests for information by the California Department of Business Oversight, which is the licensing bureau for nonbank mortgage lenders and providers of collection and foreclosure services. The state is now seeking to suspend Ocwen’s mortgage license because Ocwen has failed to turn over documentation showing compliance with California laws protecting homeowners. There have been investigations nationwide into Ocwen and other nonbank ser

The Denver County Public Trustee is sitting on 1 million dollars in overbid funds! If you have lost your home to foreclosure to a third party investor, no matter what county, you may have overbid funds that are rightfully yours. The amounts can range from 50.00 to 250,000.00. We urge you to check the public trustee records for sale results to determine if funds are due to you. In Colorado, the foreclosing lender submits an initial bid to the public trustee two days prior to t

Colorado Attorney General adds two more law firms to his naughty list this Christmas. John Suthers has brought two lawsuits against Robert J Hopp & Associates and the Vaden Law Firm in connection with fees incurred and charged during a public trustee foreclosure process. The suit alleges that the firms charged homeowners excessive or fake fees for foreclosure costs. The firms allegedly padded fees and costs by “charging” for title insurance, from a title company owned by that

A court recently ruled in favor of a Florida couple who were in foreclosure, and awarded them over $1 Million. Bank of America, the foreclosing bank, robo-called the couple more than 700 times over a period of several years. The judge rules BOA's conduct as a pattern of "outrageous, abusive and harrassing conduct." Nelson and Joyce Coniglio fell behind on their mortgage payments in 2009. When BOA acquired the loan from now-defunct Countrywide, they started harrassing phone ca

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was passed in 2007, and allowed homeowners the protection of forgiving mortgage debt. Mortgage debt includes: principal balance forgiveness, waiver of debt in a short sale, waiver of debt in a deed-in-lieu, any deficiency waiver, as well as charged-off second mortgages. Prior to the passage of the MFDRA, homeowners would have to declare any forgiven debt as 'income', and would be taxed on that 'income.' MFDRA provided financial relief