Monday, December 28, 2009

Foreclosure Scam Warning

Would-be homebuyers find themselves in ownership limbo | Real Estate | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California: "Recording Deeds

However, 10 deeds were recorded in Riverside County between July 24 and Oct. 8 that purport to transfer ownership of houses to 'Sovereign Solomon Brothers Archbishop Corp. Sole.' The houses were in the cities of Corona, Murrieta and Palm Springs and in the unincorporated communities of Romoland and Victoria Grove.

As of Nov. 3, RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure research firm, found that six of those houses had been repossessed by banks and the legal owner of a seventh house was an individual in default.

King Solomon II did not answer a letter asking for an interview that was sent to the mailing address of Sovereign Solomon Brothers at 160 W. Foothill Parkway, a mail box center in Corona. He also could not be reached at a house in Fallbrook that is described in court records as the home of Terry Lee Herron, also known as King Solomon II, a 42-year-old with a previous felony conviction for auto theft who was charged earlier this year for illegal possession of a firearm.

The Fallbrook house was posted with the same kind of signs saying 'spiritual sanctuary' and 'no trespass' that can be found on other houses deeded over to Sovereign Solomon Brothers.

By filing deeds that cloud title to a house, someone can get free shelter and 'hold a house ransom' by demanding cash from banks that want to avoid the delay and expense of an eviction process, which can take 60 days or longer, said Pete Nyiri, owner of Top Producers Realty & REO, which specializes in selling bank repossessed houses."

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Upside Down Homeowner stats

"Roughly one in every seven mortgages either was past due or in foreclosure by the end of the third quarter—the highest delinquency rate in the 37-year history of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Delinquency Survey. Two factors are expected to drive delinquencies even higher next year: Underwater homeowners and unemployment. Nearly one in four homeowners currently owes more on their mortgage than their home currently is worth, and additional job losses could mean more borrowers will be unable to meet their mortgage obligations."

from the California Association of Realtors weekly email

Debtor's Dilemma: Pay the Mortgage or Walk Away - WSJ.com

Walk Away warning. Banks may decide to pursue the deficiency in some states.
By the way this wall street journal article is a bit misleading. Lenders are frequently able to sue for the deficiency on second loans in CA. for more info on California anti deficiency laws and Walk Away plans.

Debtor's Dilemma: Pay the Mortgage or Walk Away - WSJ.com: "Banks warn they may get tough with strategic defaulters by pursuing legal claims on a borrower's other assets. 'We will try to reduce people's payments if they have a hardship,' says Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 'But we have a financial responsibility to get people to pay what they owe if they can afford it.'

Steven Olson, a loan officer and roof installer in Roseville, Minn., defaulted in 2007 on a plot of land in Florida he had bought as an investment. 'I thought I could move on with my life,' he says. But the lender, RBC Bank, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, sued him, seeking to make him pay more than $400,000 to the bank to cover its losses on the loan. Mr. Olson has hired a Florida lawyer, Roy Oppenheim, to resist the claim. An RBC spokesman declined to comment."