Distressed Properties Sale Articles

Mortgage Help Services Inc., an REO property prevention firm, has been ordered by Superior Court Judge Howard Manning to stop operating in North Carolina. Attorney General Roy Cooper requested Manning to order Mortgage Help and Nathaniel Livingston, its chief executive officer, to stop operating in the state.

Mortgage Help has been advertising itself and its REO property prevention scheme over a gospel radio in Raleigh. It claims that it could help distressed homeowners avoid losing their properties to foreclosures.

In its ruling, Manning ordered Mortgage and Livingston to stop advertising, operating, taking or accepting payments for foreclosure assistance services and loan modification.

Additionally, Cooper is also requesting the Superior Court to permanently prohibit Mortgage Help from operating in the state and to order to it to refund the money it took from consumers and to pay civil penalties.

In a statement, Cooper said that contrary to its goal of helping troubled homeowners save their homes, REO property prevention schemes only worsen the situation of distressed families. He added that the state is intensifying its efforts to stop fraudulent foreclosure prevention schemes that victimize homeowner.

Instead, the state is encouraging distressed homeowners to seek eligible counseling and help in saving their properties from foreclosures.

In their advertisement, Livingston and his company claimed to be experts in mortgage loan modifications and saving properties from foreclosure. In a lawsuit filed by the office of the Attorney General against Mortgage Help, it alleges that troubled homeowners who paid the company upfront fees of $500 to $1,500 have gotten little or no help in altering their mortgage loans to reduce monthly payments or interest rates to make them affordable.

Meanwhile, Copper is supporting and lobbying for a law that will make it illegal in North Carolina for companies offering REO property prevention services to charge upfront fees for mortgage loan modification and foreclosure assistance.

Cooper pointed out that Mortgage Help has been encouraging distressed homeowners to cease paying their monthly mortgages and stop communicating with their lenders. Homeowners who stopped paying their mortgages and communicating with their lenders found themselves deep in debt and in the brink of foreclosure.

The office of the Attorney General has filed lawsuits to seven REO property prevention firms since January of last year.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants to have a hand on regulating companies that offer repossession houses rescue and loan modification services. The agency has started drafting tougher rules as more and more companies emerge to offer foreclosure prevention and loan modification services.

The agency’s desire to regulate the foreclosure prevention industry comes at a time when an increasing number of distressed homeowners have fallen victims to con artists who pretended to help them negotiate their loans with lenders to avoid repossession houses.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said that distressed homeowners who are in danger of losing their properties to foreclosures or struggling to pay their monthly mortgages should not have the added problem of being defrauded by unscrupulous people who promised them help that never materialized.

Leibowitz praised the efforts of Senator Byron Dorgan and Chairman Jay Rockefeller to give the agency the authority to develop standard and efficient rules to start regulating the foreclosure prevention process.

Meanwhile, the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services is studying the growth of the foreclosure prevention and loan modification services in the country. The FTC is seeking public comment to help it determine whether rules will be useful in protecting distressed homeowners from fraudulent foreclosure prevention services.

On the other hand, the FTC also wants to receive comments on the benefits and costs of restricting or prohibiting the payment of upfront fees for repossession house rescue and loan modification services. The public has until July 15, 2009 to submit their comments about the issue to the FTC.

Furthermore, the FTC also wants the public to comment on the Mortgage Acts and Practices law which deals with mortgage loan-related activities, including origination, marketing and advertising, loan terms, underwriting, appraisals, disclosures and servicing. Deadline for public comment for this issue is set on July 30.

Meanwhile, in California, Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued a policy requiring foreclosure prevention consultants to register with the state and post a bond of $100,000 on or before July 1.

Under Brown’s directive, failure to comply is a state law violation which is subject to fines of as much as $25,000 per violation and criminal penalties of a maximum of one year in prison.

Brown explained that by mandating that foreclosure prevention consultants submit pertinent information to his office and post a bond, he hoped to give transparency to the business and protect distressed homeowners from repossession houses fraud.

The continued rise in foreclosed properties in Florida clouded the speech of Governor Charlie Crist last week at the signing of Florida’s budget of $66.5 billion.

Foreclosure has spread rapidly across California making it number 3 among the states with highest foreclosure rate in the first quarter of 2009. The growing number of distressed homeowners has encouraged some unscrupulous people to take advantage of their desperation to avoid foreclosure.

Bank foreclosure list rescue firms sprouted across the country as foreclosures continue to spread unabated.

The apparent successes of the Obama administration with its bank stress tests and stimulus programs will not carry the nation to economic recovery if the government foreclosures programs are not radically enhanced to stop the impending foreclosure of more and more homes.

The rising number of houses purchased through online foreclosure listing services is prompting concerns about the job security of real estate agents. More and more prospective home buyers are using foreclosure listing services for their home search because of the thousands they expect to save on sales commission.

Debris from houses and construction work sites on bank foreclosure list littered Southwest Florida’s landscape and may cause danger to everyone, especially during hurricane season. Southwest Florida officials and residents are concerned that debris from these properties on bank foreclosure list could fly during a hurricane and cause great damage.

One of the largest mortgage providers in the United States, Chase Bank is planning to hire nearly 200 employees to deal with the increasing number of loan modification requests from troubled homeowners who want to prevent distressed properties.

The end to the repossessed home crisis is being awaited by everyone hoping that it will bring with it the much-hoped economic recovery. Billionaire Warren Buffet and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan claimed that the foreclosure crisis is nearing its bottom.