December 2010

A pilot program to prevent foreclosures in Lee County will get a statewide rollout in February, pending federal approval, state officials said Wednesday.

The California Department of Real Estate has opened an investigation into George Bolanos, a Southern California man who advertises on Spanish-language radio and offers to save people from foreclosure with an upfront fee.

Christopher Marconi was in the shower when he heard a loud banging on his door. By the time he grabbed a towel and hustled to his front step, a U.S. marshal’s sedan was peeling out of his driveway. Nailed to [...]

WOAI – Charlie Riley is an attorney representing a local family who’s filed a lawsuit against the lender, Bac Home Loans Servicing L.P. a subsidiary of Bank of America. He says the homeowners wanted to pay their property taxes in [...]

SALINAS, Calif. — A Salinas woman was arrested on charges of mortgage fraud after two people reported they were swindled out of several thousand dollars while trying to modify their mortgages. Blanca Maciel Sanchez, 37, is accused of falsely representing [...]

SAN DIEGO KPBS — Things were fine until January 2009. “When I was working we were making our payments and everything was fine,” Foglio said. “Then I was laid off, a bunch of us senior secretaries got laid off. And [...]

(WSJ) – Back in August, we reported that a loan mod saved Jim and Alexis Bellino – cast members on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Orange County”-from foreclosure. Well, the saga appears to have taken a negative turn: The Bellinos had [...]

A common sight with the current housing market…homes up for sale…and some homeowners struggling to make mortgage payments. When Evansville residents Howard and Sharon Matthews faced foreclosure, they turned to California-based consultant Hope4Homes…but found themselves even more in the red. [...]

(Columbia Dispatch) – A Newark family scheduled to be evicted from their home today got a holiday reprieve from a federal judge yesterday who encouraged the owner, Fannie Mae, to resolve the matter out of court.

MSN – Scrooge seems to be taking his holiday Prozac again: Troubled homeowners are getting a temporary amnesty on foreclosure evictions between Dec. 20 and Jan. 3. That’s for mortgages insured by the government giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, [...]

For anyone thinking the worst of the foreclosure crisis is behind us, wake up and smell the coffee. Or better yet, take a look at some of the numbers Amherst Securities’ Laurie Goodman is crunching.

Steven J. Baum’s New York foreclosure law firm has attracted lawsuits and fines for its actions during the housing crisis, with one judge likening its conduct to something out of the “Twilight Zone.”

SAN DIEGO — A man who had been on probation stemming from an attack on a local television reporter in 2006, was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for failing to adequately provide the loan modification services he promised [...]

Christopher Contreras didn’t have a chance, according to his lawyer. Even though Contreras was behind on his payments and trying to modify his loan, the law firm of David J. Stern filed to foreclose, Elizabeth Boyle said.

CHARLOTTE, NC -  Jobless and facing foreclosure?  It’s a double whammy that many homeowners in North Carolina are dealing with.  The federal government is stepping in to help.

A California-based company accused of marketing purported loan modification services to homeowners facing foreclosure or having trouble paying their mortgage loans has been ordered to pay $299,663 as part of a default judgment reached with the state, Wisconsin Attorney General [...]

PITTSBURGH — A Philadelphia law firm used nonlawyers to file untold numbers of mortgage foreclosures across the state and fraudulently collected attorney’s fees that caused people to lose their homes in cases which should be legally nullified, a Pittsburgh lawyer [...]

Heather Woody is one of the people who claims to have given three-thousand dollars to the law firm without getting anything in return. The Ramsey resident says she wanted to modify her home loan to avoid possible foreclosure on her [...]

We wondered not so long ago whether Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) had come to regret its purchase of Litton Loan Servicing back in December 2007. It’s been a headache, that’s for sure. And the mortgage servicer doesn’t seem to offer [...]

LAS VEGAS — Not long after the foreclosure crisis hit Nevada, lawmakers created a special mediation court to help people stay in their homes. Now that process is changing in hopes of making sure more people take advantage of it [...]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Public service agencies are hoping to prevent more families from losing their homes to foreclosure during an event called Project Homeless Connect. Families in need of foreclosure assistance are encouraged to come to the Tennessee State [...]

On Dec. 2, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the mortgage mess. Perhaps the most disturbing testimony was the written submission from Christopher Petersen, associate dean for academic affairs and law professor at the University of Utah.

The recent report released by the President’s Deficit Reduction Commission has unfortunately targeted one of the most straightforward provisions in the federal tax code and the foundation of home ownership for change.