January 2011

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Source: NBC4I) — A husband and wife are sentenced to prison after their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme. Scott M. Gaib, 38, of Lancaster was sentenced to 18 months in prison and his wife, Erica S. Gaib, [...]

(Source: by Karen Weise ProPublica) – ProPublica has been covering the government’s foreclosure relief effort [1] since the Obama administration launched the program in the spring of 2009. This week, ProPublica is checking back with some of the homeowners we’ve [...]

(Source: By Steve Brown, The Dallas Morning News) – Predictions of a foreclosure flood in the Dallas-Fort Worth commercial property market fell flat in 2010. While commercial real estate defaults totaled more than $1 billion in North Texas last year, [...]

(Source: The Atlantic) – Although the housing market looked like it might have been on the road to stabilization in early 2010, the second half of the year dashed those hopes. Ultimately, housing prices ended the year down 4.1%, according [...]

(Source: By Earl Kelly, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.) – Federal officials have given the Annapolis Housing Authority a passing score for the first time in a decade, local officials said yesterday. In December, Housing and Urban Development Department inspectors gave [...]

(Source: Housing Wire) – From 2000 to 2008, commercial mortgage modifications were relatively unheard of. It was a different story in 2009 and 2010. Of all loan modifications in the commercial mortgage industry over the past decade, 96% occurred in [...]

(Source: Mail Tribune) – The principal owner of defunct Home Rescue Financial Services in Ashland, which was fined for violating Oregon loan modification laws in December, says he wants to make amends with the Texas woman whose complaint triggered a [...]

(Source: Seattle PI) – A former Bellevue attorney was sentenced to two months in prison and four months home confinement Tuesday for his connection to the state’s largest mortgage fraud scheme, in which seven other real estate professionals falsified $47 [...]

(Source: North County Times) VISTA —- Working as a real estate agent, insurance dealer, income tax preparer and credit repair specialist, Miguel Romero has helped Latinos buy 122 homes since 2004, becoming one of his firm’s best salesmen. But his [...]

(Source: By Greg StilesMail Tribune) -At least twice last year, David Lies, the principal of Home Rescue Financial Services in Ashland, which was recently fined by the state for violating several laws regarding loan modifications, was a featured expert on [...]

(Source: By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) – Even for those who aren’t facing foreclosure, a new interactive video produced by mortgage giant Fannie Mae could provide an eye-opening look into the troubled lives and agonizing choices that confront families and [...]

(Source: By Fred Hiers, Ocala Star-Banner, Fla.) – There’s a recurring theme in the story of Florida’s home foreclosures, says foreclosure lawyer David Hicks: that homeowners have no rights, are at the whim of their banks, and that people in [...]

(Source: By Nels Johnson, The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif.) – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, saying a review indicated Marin County “failed to meet its fair housing obligations” in allocating block grant and related housing funds, [...]

OREM, Utah (ABC 4 News) – Before closing the doors of Modify Utah, the head of the company, Alain Templeman asked Dave Larsen of Local Mod LLC of Orem to help his clients. Larsen told ABC 4 he declined to [...]

(Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J. By JAMES AHEARN) – ANYONE who has bought a house is familiar with the mechanics of the process, the multiple forms to be signed by buyer and attorneys for seller and bank, with all [...]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah (ABC 4 News) – The Parkin family had been clients of Modify Utah. They’d paid the company to negotiate a loan modification with their lender. Just before Christmas, they were told that everything was on track. They [...]

(Source: Firedlakeledge) – The Federal Reserve is trying to roll up a key law that allows borrowers to challenge predatory lending. Under “rescission” rules, if a borrower can prove that a mortgage loan was created in a predatory way, they [...]