January 2011

(Source: ABA Journal) – A Massachusetts lawyer who was earlier suspended from practice has been sentenced to a 12-year federal prison term for his role in a $10.6 million mortgage fraud. Eric Levine could have gotten as much as 20 years [...]

(Source: By Toni Momberger, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif. ) –Sometimes a buyer or seller changes his mind during escrow. If your feet are chilling, be sure you know what circumstances will let you out of your contract, and which [...]

(Source: OC Register) – Lydia Prado, the Santa Ana housekeeper who had fallen victim to a series of mortgage rescue scams, has lost her house, reports Will Evans of California Watch. The life and mortgage woes of Prado (right) were [...]

(Source: By The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.) – Coastal Business- The S.C. Homeownership and Employment Lending Program, or S.C. HELP, a foreclosure prevention program administered by the S.C. Housing Corp., launched statewide Thursday. The program, funded by almost $300 [...]

(Source: Las Vegas Sun) – Not everyone can or wants to. The people next to us moved out recently — short-sale, I think, not foreclosure — and soon enough a U-Haul will back into the driveway, and a happy family [...]

(Source: By Martha Brannigan, The Miami Herald) – In the latest sign of weak financial controls in Miami-Dade government, the county must pay back $3.6 million in federal grant funds received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development [...]

(Source: By Toni Momberger, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.) – Readers call me to ask if their agents are allowed to do what they’re doing. If not, what can be done? Real estate agents who are members of a board [...]

(Source: KOMO News) – Darcy in Olympia writes of her bank: “Their employees can’t even decide which department I should be in.” From Pamela in Auburn: “Every time I call I get a different person and they can’t tell me [...]

(Source: The Hartford Courant, Connecticut) –A former Webster Bank executive, accused with her husband and ex-husband of embezzling more than $6 million from Webster Bank, pleaded guilty in federal court in Bridgeport Thursday to a half-dozen fraud and tax charges. [...]

(Source: NY Times) – We have been fully conditioned by now to expect that the rich and powerful will get the biggest slice of whatever pie is being served, while those less fortunate — and less well connected — will [...]

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — In October 2009, Eyewitness News did an investigation on Littleton, Colo.-based mortgage company Aurora Loan Services. At the time, Bakersfield homeowner Linda Harness said she had lost her home to foreclosure even though she was on a [...]

(Source: Associated Press/AP Online By MARTIN CRUTSINGER) WASHINGTON – The number of people who bought previously owned homes last year fell to the lowest level in 13 years. But home sales in December jumped to fastest pace in seven months. [...]

(Source: Irish Times) – By EDEL MORGAN – With no national house price register available to help homeowners, working out how much your property is really worth can be tricky – if not impossible LIKE MANY neighbourhoods around the country, [...]