“I love LA!” Well, at least their new policies in regards to tenant rights of recently foreclosed homes.
However, let me disclose that I am not from Los Angeles, I am from the IE (Inland Empire,CA.) and my city of Corona and County of Riverside has done so little to address the foreclosure crisis that it is ridiculous.
Last count, I think we had a total of 8 housing counselors for the whole Inland Empire, which is ground zero here in Southern California. Please keep in mind that Riverside and San Bernardino Counties are two of the largest counties in the U.S. and the number of home builder/speculators and investors concentrated here is HUGE!
In addition to the first disclosure, let me also disclose that I am a “renter” and my investor/landlord is being foreclosed on and yes, she is collecting my rental monies and NOT paying Washington Mutual (AKA the FDIC). Oh, and she is an ex-Realtor who takes my $2,550 every month and lives off of it.
How F’N convenient for her and how screwed for my family and I. (Wife and 3 boys) And you know what? There is nothing I can do about it, but rant here on my blog and bring this to media light.
Welcome to what I have dubbed, “predatory renting” and have been writing about for the last year (first blog post in Nov. 2007). Hopefully, main stream media will catch on soon? Hell, it took them a year and a half to catch on to the loan modification craze…
This foreclosure scam that is being perpetuated by investors is an epidemic because I see this happen daily. I have personally witnessed this several times (I MEAN SEVERAL!) and have seen investors with 10-20-30 plus properties, collecting $30,000-$100,000 a month in rental monies and they certainly ARE NOT PAYING THE BANK, but stashing the cash in off shore bank accounts and living fat as they make their escape routes.
I have even seen around the world trips funded from these deceptive landlords. (true story)
This is not a crime, but it should be. Personally, I believe this should fall under state statutes like the Unfair and Deceptive Business Practices Act because renting homes is a business and what these investors are doing is incredibly deceptive!
The ironic thing is that my business is working with attorneys performing back end loan modification, loan workout administrative services and predatory lending investigations. I also operate the most popular and free foreclosure prevention/loan workout websites on the internet. Yet, I am not immune to the crisis or scams.
Only in America!
Landlords love to hate the city’s tough rules governing evictions. Those rules are so strict that even if a landlord loses his house to foreclosure — his or her tenants still may have the right to stay. City Council President Eric Garcetti will stage a press conference today in front of a foreclosed Echo Park triplex to call on Countrywide Financial to “cease and desist illegal eviction practices.”
Garcetti’s office said Countrywide foreclosed on the landlord, and then tried to illegally pressure the tenants into leaving, offering them $2,000 to go — which might sound nice but is peanuts compared to the minimum $7,000 fee required by city law.
It’s the second time, Garcetti’s office said, that they have busted Countrywide for trying to get away with not paying the city’s full relocation fee. In July, tenants in South Los Angeles were offered $1,000 to move.
Garcetti’s office also said anyone who thinks they are being illegally pushed out should call the city’s housing department at 1-888-557-RENT.
Mayor-elect, Jason Scott of my city, Corona needs to get off his duff because the last mayor (Jeff Miller) didn’t do jack about the city’s foreclosure crisis as well as hundreds of mayors across the country. This is theft by deception and these crimes should be punished and the perpetrators convicted. They are not properly protecting their cities citizens has they have pledged.
Maybe LA can show you how to get gorilla with these lenders and maybe you all will be able to retain your taxpaying citizens as opposed to having vacant properties with brown lawns, no water and no dollars for your city. This is as easy as following LA’s footsteps and getting off your arses to fight back against lenders and rogue investors everywhere.
Even if your city has no specific legal protections in place, understand that the State of California has a law, signed by Gov. Schwarzennegger last July, which requires the foreclosing lender to provide at least 60-days notice to move to the tenants in occupation, BEFORE they are allowed to start a legal eviction.
The courts and sheriff/marshall departments are also beginning to resist even court-ordered tenant evictions, with the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois flatly ordering all his deputies to refuse to carry out court-ordered evictions, IF the parties being evicted are NOT the defaulting borrowers in the foreclosure.
I learned 3 months ago, that my landlord had allowed the property to go into foreclosure. We were being inundated with mail solicitations, addressed to the landlord, all offering some form of assistance to resolve foreclosure. When I confronted the landlord, at first she flat-out denied there was a foreclosure, but when I showed her the copy of the Notice of Default recorded September 19, 2008, she changed her tune, then telling me that they were working on a refi, that we had nothing to worry about, that the new loan would pay off the old loan within 30 days. Well, it’s been nearly 90 days since we had that conversation, and I guess I don’t need to tell you that NOTHING has happened.
I told the landlord that I didn’t believe what she was telling me, since I knew that they had an unpaid balance of about $535,000 owing on a property with a current-day market value of no more than $420,000. It’s a fact that these days, lenders will NOT exceed 80% of appraised current value in making a new or a refinance loan. Further, on a non-owner occupied property, the borrower must have a FICO score of at least 700, just to meet the minimum standards.
I told my landlord that I was going to start paying the rent into a neutral rent “escrow” account, and the moment they could provide me official documentation showing the foreclosure had been terminated, I would turn over immediately, all funds accumulated in that escrow account. The landlord went ballistic, creating a very embarrassing public scene in my driveway, and a few days after October 1, they served a 3-day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit. Subsequently, they filed an Unlawful Detainer Action against us, in the L.A. Superior Court. We filed an Answer, and a trial date was set for December 4, 2008.
We were in court, ready to argue our defenses, but much to our pleasant surprise, the landlord’s attorney withdrew the case, resulting in the Judge dismissing the case without prejudice.
I costs money to prosecute an eviction case in court. As it was explained to me, no eviction order would have been effective prior to January 10, under current State and Municipal law. The foreclosure would already be in the period in which the lender’s trustee publishes a Notice of Auction Sale, which will probably occur in mid-February to early-March 2009.
Had the landlord pursued the case and paid additional court-appearance fees to their attorney, they would have regained possession of the property, for, at best, about 6 weeks, hardly enough time to clean and prep the property, to show it to prospective new tenants, let alone, collect any rent.
If your property is in foreclosure, you need to find out when the action started, and determine about how much time remains before the foreclosure concludes. You might consider doing as we did, and refusing to turn the rent money over to the landlord’s greedy, grasping hands, rather accumulate a move-out fund by depositing the rent into a rent escrow account that you can open in 15 minutes at your favorite bank.
With the economy and housing market in the horrendous shape they’re in, there’s more than enough pain and misery to go around. By taking proactive steps to protect your family’s ability to maintain a roof over your heads, you should be able to remain in the property for another couple or three months, and in that time, hopefully, locate and pay for more secure new housing.
Mr.
Get a grip. The owner of the property you are renting is an investor. The money you pay as rent belongs to the homeowner/investor who is on the fence for the value of the mortgage. You need a place to live and the homeowner is providing you and your family a place to live for a certain amount of rent. Pay the rent to the owner or just move out with the proper notice. Let’s not get this twisted. The homeowner & the mortgage company have a legal loan. You have nothing to do with the default on the loan. If the homeowner is not paying the mortgage payment I believe that is his business. He is not putting you the family out into the streets. The service of a place to live needs to be paid as RENT by YOU..In due time you will be notified to move as the proceedings of foreclosure unfold. Either you pay the rent even though the homeowner is in foreclosure or just move. The house is a debt of the homeowner so that will become his credit matter. You are not going to live in the house for FREE.. So pay up or move out…
Do you know the rules in Texas?
To La La: If the investor is NOT using he rent he/she collects to pay the mortgage, they might be guilty of rent skimming (getting a mortgage on a house, renting it out and then not paying the note within 6 months of buying the property). Even if they aren’t guilty of that, it’s not the renters fault that they are not using the paid rent to pay the bills. Who should then be blamed? Certainly not the renter.
So, the landlords that post here think the rent should be paid. And all the homeowners who aren’t paying their mortgages and aren’t living for ‘free’? Mortgages have a clause that says all rents collected on the property must be paid to the lender in case of default. Who is breaking thier contract?? So, who is breaking the law?? And if they aren’t paying the lender, you bet they aren’t paying taxes on the income either! Come on, the scam is up, please dont say you are providing a service….now if the roof needs to be replaced you are going to fix it? New furnace?? I’m sure you are happily maintaining your foreclosing property. And if renters really wanted to put themselves in the middle of your financial drama, you bet they would have negoitated a better rental amount than the amount fot an unencumbered property. Landlords like this are a big part of the mortgage mess. A huge part of the foreclosure mess is rental property. Why should anyone feel sorry for these crooks?
MY LANDLORD DAUGHTER HAS ASK ME TO MOVE OUT I HAVE EXPLAIN TO HER I AM A DISABLE PERSON I AM NOT WORKIG MY FRIEND IS HELPING ME WITH GETTING BACK & FORWARD WITH THINGS i CAN NOT DO. SO SHE ONLY GIVE ME UNTIL MARCH 9,2011 TO MOVE OUT I DON’T HAVE THE MONEY OR ANYWHERE TO GO IT IS SO HARD TO FINE A PLACE WITH NO MONEY IT IS SO MUCH MONEY FOR EVERYTHING. SO CAN U PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM HERE THAT I AM IN PLEASE TRY TO HELP ME THANK YOU SO MUCH THERESA
I am sorry to hear about your situation. Maybe your daughter cannot afford to support you rent free and that is why she has asked you to move out. This would seem like common sense.
You need to look in your local area for shelters or for housing aid. Please study the link below and start making some calls so you have a place to stay on March 9th.
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/homelessness
Good luck!