Just Listed! 2127 Ave M 1/2 Galveston, TX 77550

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Revenge is Sweet

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Revenge is Sweet

State of the Island – Real Estate Sales on Galveston Island, Near Texas

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Just Listed! 1820 Ave O Galveston, TX 77550

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Just Listed! 8923 Doak Lane Houston, TX 77075

December 23rd, 2009 9:16 PM

7 Ways to Use a Home Inspection Report

November 1st, 2009 2:00 PM

Seven Ways to Use a Home Inspection Report (edit/delete)

Via Jim Bushart (Home Inspection Services of Missouri):

In random order, I present to you seven different ways in which a home inspection report can be used by parties to a real estate transaction for advantage and benefit.

1.  Buyers can consider the reported conditions of the home's systems to determine their ability to afford to maintain the property.  A home with a 12 year old water heater, an 18 year old furnace and a 25 year old composite shingled roof is going to need some costly investments in the near future.

2.  Buyers can sometimes use information regarding undisclosed defects to negotiate the seller's action to repair the defect(s) or adjust the asking price for the home.

3.  Sellers can obtain a home inspection and use the report to disclose known defects to potential buyers.

4.  Sellers can obtain a home inspection and use the report to identify and correct significant defects that could interfere with a buyer's desire to submit a contract to buy the property.

5.  Buyers can use the inspection report as a "punch list" or "to do list" for maintaining the property after purchase.

6.  Buyers/Sellers can use the report to communicate to contractors the nature of the defect(s) to obtain estimates for repair or to arrange for repairs or replacements.

7.  Buyers can sometimes use the inspection report as a means to withdraw from the contracted agreement to purchase the home when certain types of undisclosed defects are reported.

Buyers and sellers should consider obtaining inspection reports only from professional full-time home inspectors.  Inspection reports generated by builders or contractors are often used by them as marketing tools and a means to generate business for maintenance and repairs and do not always represent the actual conditions of the property.

Just Listed! 2303 Victory Galveston, TX 77551

October 25th, 2009 10:25 PM

New Housing Bill Will Force Banks to Do Loan Modifications

October 7th, 2009 12:06 PM

Via Claudette Millette - Metrowest Mass Exclusive Buyer Broker (The Buyers' Counsel):

Four senators are putting their muscle behind a new housing bill intended to prohibit lenders operating in the U.S. from foreclosing on home owners without first having discussed reasonable modification options with the borrowers. 

The bill, called the Preserving Homes and Communities Act is being sponsored by Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.   

Under this bill, lenders will be forced to the negotiating table under the threat of stiff fines and other legal penalties.   

All lenders will be required to perform what the bill terms as a "net present value" test for all seriously delinquent borrowers.  The test would be a financial analysis weighing the benefits of a modification of loan terms against the benefits of foreclosure. 

For borrowers who do not fit into this program, the bill would create a multi-billion national fund for states to make loans or grants in order to prevent foreclosures. 

The senators' rationale behind the creation of this bill is that they are frustrated with the slow pace of current loan modification programs and feel that they are not keeping up with the record numbers of foreclosures this year. 

"Voluntary efforts to keep families in their homes have failed," said Durbin. "This bill will force lenders to modify qualified mortgages rather than letting them move quickly to foreclosure, which destroys households and neighborhoods." 

The act will also set up a mortgage payment assistance program to provide money to state housing agencies to assist people who have lost income and face the prospect of foreclosure. 

The most significant aspect of this bill would be to create "mandatory mediation" requirements forcing lenders to allow some mediation efforts between them and their borrowers before being able to file foreclosures against home owners. 

This proposal will, no doubt, be met with opposition by banking and mortgage lending groups.  It is, however, currently favored to be supported in the House. 

Hitting Your Goal - A Funny Story to Make a Point

August 20th, 2009 5:06 PM

Are You Facing Foreclosure or Short Sale? - Please Read This!

August 18th, 2009 8:32 AM

What happens when a lender can’t produce the original note?

Via Rick Misitano (Law Offices of James M. Bosco & Associates):

A growing number of homeowners around the country are using a foreclosure defense that may help them retain their homes. It’s called “Produce the Note” and we want you to know this is not a mere technicality that should be treated lightly by the lender or by the Court.

Everyone needs to understand the importance of this issue. When a lender can’t produce the original note, allowing a foreclosure to proceed puts the homeowner at risk of owing that debt again to another party in the future. Therefore, great caution must be taken before a judge can allow someone who can’t produce the original note to cash in on your home.

What if Your Lender CAN’T Produce the Note?

So, what happens when the lender tells the Court it can’t produce the original note, because it is lost? Let’s start with the basics. If a lender wants to foreclose on a property, it has to be able to show that it is, in fact, the appropriate person to whom the money is owed. That right to foreclose belongs ONLY to the person who has legitimate POSSESSION OF THE ORIGINAL NOTE - not a copy, not an electronic entry, but the original note itself with the original signature of the person(s) who allegedly owes the money along with appropriate raised notary seal and signature. So, if you are faced with a foreclosure, you have every right to demand that the person or entity trying to take your property, first prove to the Court that they have the legal right do to so in the first place by proving they have legal possession of the original promissory note.

In my opinion, an original mortgage note is much like legal tender and should be guarded and protected as such by the person holding such an asset. Loosing an original mortgage note is like loosing a $100 bill or a gift card or a lottery ticket. What if I scratched that million dollar ticket and just stuck it somewhere and misplaced it? Do you think I could just show up at lottery headquarters and claim my prize without having the winning ticket? The same principle applies to the person or entity claiming to be the legal holder of an original mortgage note. He who holds the note holds the key.

What the Lender Must Do

What often happens, however, is that the lender claims it doesn’t have the original note, because that note has been lost or destroyed. If the lender is making such a claim, the law requires the lender to prove all of the following under the “Uniform Commercial Code”, which is a set of laws governing commercial transactions that many states have adopted. It contains a specific provision on this subject (Section 3-309) which states that a person can enforce a promissory note without having the original, BUT only under certain limited circumstances.

1. The person or entity has to swear and attest that it no longer has the original note;
2. The person or entity has to prove that it was properly in possession of the note and was entitled to enforce it WHEN it lost possession of the note;
3. The person or entity has to prove it didn’t “lose” possession simply because it transferred the note to someone else (i.e., it’s not really lost); and
4. The person or entity has to prove that it cannot produce the original note because the instrument was destroyed or its whereabouts cannot be determined or it was stolen by someone who had no right to it.

All of these matters have to be definitively proven by the person or entity trying to foreclose on the property. It is not the obligation of the borrower to prove or disprove any of this. The borrower can challenge the right of the person or entity trying to foreclose and demand proof.

The Court’s Important Role

It is up to the Court to determine whether the lender has satisfactorily proven why it no longer can produce the original note. The Court also has to be satisfied that when the original note was lost, the person trying to foreclose on the property had possession of the note at the time it was lost. Until the Court has been satisfied of all of this, the foreclosure cannot proceed.

It is also important for the Court itself to understand that this issue is not merely a “technicality” and the judge should not be satisfied with anything less than full proof of this issue. The Court itself needs to appreciate the fact that if it should agree that an original note has been legitimately lost (and allows the foreclosure to proceed) it is the borrower who is still at risk.

Why? Because incredibly, even if a Court has found that the original note is lost and the foreclosure sale is finalized, if someone later turns up with the original note and proves that it is the proper holder of the note, and not the person who foreclosed on the property, the original borrower is STILL LIABLE.

That’s right. Someone took your home and the Court allowed it because it believed that the lender proved that the note was lost and it was the proper party. Then someone legitimate shows up in the future with the actual note and you still owe that person the money even though your property was taken with the blessing of the Court. Trust me, this is a very serious issue regarding post foreclosures and post pre-foreclosure short-sales. It has happened to three of our own clients! These homeowners had the need to sell their property by means of a negotiated short-sale (so they could avoid a foreclosure) only to find out that the entity claiming to have the legal right and authority to enter into such negotiations and accept such settlements sold their note to another entity and weren’t even aware of it. Several months later, the newly assigned lenders (now claiming to be the rightful owners of our client’s original notes) have since come forward and have also filed suite seeking to recover their entire outstanding principle balances owed to them (prior to the homeowners closing their short-sale transactions with the wrong note holders).

How fair is that?!?! It’s not! And that’s why homeowners need to start fighting back when someone is trying to take their home by foreclosure, especially since an overwhelming percentage of mortgages granted over the last 3 to 5 years have been packaged into securities and re-sold and re-assigned numerous times since the inception of the borrower's original note and mortgage. In some states, homeowners have better than a 50/50 chance of being successful in defending themselves against a completed foreclosure. Why wouldn’t anyone who owns a home do everything in their power to protect and defend it?

All the Best,

Rick D. Misitano, Senior Paralegal
Law Offices of James M. Bosco & Associates
Methuen Executive Park
240 Pleasant Street
Methuen, Massachusetts 01844
Phone: (978) 687-8804
Fax: (978) 687-8872
boscolaw@comcast.net

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