February 2010

With most if not all facets of commercial real estate investment mired in the dumps, one area is burgeoning — the market for distressed debt. Indeed, investors say the distressed debt market is more active now than it has ever [...]

The flood of home foreclosures across the country — three million expected in 2010 compared to 2.8 million last year — is creating some interesting courtroom dramas. In Florida earlier this month, a judge dismissed a move by CitiMortgage to [...]

DENVER – 70-year-old Connie Somerhalder thought she was going to stay in the home she has owned for 25 years. Instead, she just found out she got scammed out of $2500.00 and her home is in foreclosure. “I’ve been here [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 10, 2010) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 5, 2010.  The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.2 percent on [...]

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that in an interview last year, John Courson, chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA), said borrowers who were “underwater” should keep paying their mortgage if they can afford to do [...]

MUSKOGEE, OK — Two Oklahoma mortgage brokers pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in what the feds say was a mortgage scam involving 40 area homes and more than $11 million. Ayo Olaniyan, 33, of Tulsa, and [...]

Last year, there were eight similar workshops; at least five are planned this year. About 300 people are expected to attend the Central Park event. Hooker said the region is still in the thick of the foreclosure crisis. He said [...]

FBI officials said they most often see scam artists taking advantage of individuals whose homes are foreclosed upon. Aldrich said these fake companies encourage home owners on the brink of foreclosure to sign their deeds over to them.

The scams are as varied as ingenuity allows. Just when we thought we have seen every variety, we see something new,” says Richard Farrell, chief of the new Real Estate Fraud unit at the offices of Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes. [...]

On Dec. 24, Treasury said there would be no limit to the taxpayer money it was willing to deploy over the next three years to keep the two companies afloat, doing away with the previous limit of $200 billion per [...]

“It was so scary. I was just furious,” Kemp told reporters Thursday when it was announced that an unscrupulous attorney and his sidekick were responsible for “stealing” her home and using it to secure a $225,000 mortgage — two of [...]

Dear Mr. Berko: I contacted the Crowder Law Group to assist me with a loan modification. The people I talked to were very nice, and I have sent them two $600 checks and now they want another $600, but they [...]

Patricia Garcia-Duarte, CEO of NHS Phoenix, says, “Last year, in 2009, about 60 percent of people who came through our doors were able to avoid foreclosure.” NHS offers free loan counseling. Employees have special training in the loan modification process.

A ban on up-front fees, Boucek said, will enable her office’s consumer fraud division to crack down on the scam artists. And she said the problem is getting worse, as almost all of the other states in the region already [...]

MERCED — Three weeks ago, a retired telephone company worker named Ethelda Lopez watched as her dream retirement home was auctioned on the lawn outside the county courthouse in downtown Merced. “When I heard my address, it was so disheartening,” [...]

The days of simply opening up shop and starting a loan modification business have come to an end in Florida. Individuals or businesses providing loan modification services must now be licensed as a mortgage broker by the Florida Office of [...]

The state Office of Financial Regulation launched a statewide campaign Thursday against unlicensed companies that are modifying mortgages, announcing charges against three Orlando businesses. The administrative charges are the result of a new state requirement that all loan-modification services be [...]

California Company Sued for Foreclosure Rescue Fraud - Other states have sued 21st Century Legal Services, and the FBI raided several of the company’s California offices in mid-September. TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has [...]

Salt Lake City FBI and Utah Division of Real Estate Name Top Five Mortgage Scams in 2010 – Special Agents and State Investigators Warn Utahns to Beware Is someone letting you live in a home for free? Did a builder [...]