I know that the first line of thieves and con artists are viewed by many as the banks and the “servicers” and the “trustees.” But the second wave are those who prey on the emotional turmoil of homeowners and get them to deed their homes into some sort of convoluted entity that will (1) shred the homeowners credibility in court and (2) essentially allow the new thief to get into your living room before the old thief has a chance to do so. In all events none of these schemes will ever do anything substantive to save a home, although some of the schemes may delay the judgment and sale for a short period of time.
THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
With the single exception of recording a notice of rescission I don’t see any plan by which a homeowner can preserve their rights in a foreclosure that is allowed by a judge to proceed. In nonjudicial states there MIGHT be one more: filing a corrective substitution of trustee returning the original trustee to the deed of trust. Anything in the chain of title on public records that is properly filed may well give homeowners a leg up and preserve rights when the issue of title finally comes front and center. The banks are proceeding under cover of title insurance. But in my opinion that cannot last and the title companies will file for bankruptcy protection in many cases.
It will be interesting to see what happens later when courts are faced with the consequences of their own decisions — creating and augmenting a title nightmare. Ultimately I think the rescission will have the effect that Federal law requires. Until then homeowners must seek to preserve their rights. They might find out years later that they still own the home they thought was long gone. This specific strategy requires very little money and certainly does not require deeding your home to another person leaving them to claim the asset and leaving you with the same apparent “debt” you had before.
People facing foreclosures are generally in severe emotional distress. Their home and their lifestyle are being threatened and the likelihood they will lose is in the statistics. As a result their judgment is impaired. In their desperation they will grasp at straws potentially destroying any hope of saving their home.
Although far more homeowners are winning their cases than a few years ago, it is nonetheless true that the deck is stacked against them. Some people, meaning well, have attempted to reverse the schemes from the banks by doing the same crazy documentation tactics that the banks.
Those schemes have failed because of the assumption by the judges that when the banks do it, which might include fabrication and forgery, they are merely patching up the paperwork on a valid debt. When homeowners do it, as Judges see it, it is to escape a legitimate debt. Both assumptions are wrong. Those judges are wrong but it seems counterintuitive.
This underscores the need for a lawyer: just because you found a statute or case that shows you are right and the bank, servicer or trustee is wrong doesn’t mean you will win. Trial court orders and judgments are final even if they are wrong. If you fail to appeal or preserve your rights in some other way, they stay final. Going to a smooth talking nonlawyer is likely the first step in jumping off of a legal cliff. BUT if the nonlawyer is attached to an actual lawyer, the outcome changes.
The problem with some of the schemes is that they are not per se illegal. But they lead to one result — the homeowner pays money and then loses the house. The moral of the story is don’t go with someone who is offering a nonexistent magic bullet. If it is so crispy clear and it works you would have heard about it already. Use a lawyer. Get references. Choose wisely.
Filed under: foreclosure | Tagged: homeowner emotions, magic bullet, non-lawyer schemes, recording, rescission, trial court orders and judgments |
We complained to a Federal agency that assignment of mortgage to BONY is invalid and void. Now, B of A which had requested and done the assignment to BONY implying that they could be the mortgagee when they realized that the assignment is fraudulent. What B of A doesn’t seem to understand is that when they assigned the mortgage to BONY they must have received money for that transaction and it cannot be considered as not happened. No one sells anything in the business world for nothing unless they have no right to sell them.
Besides, what about the false Mortgage Backed Security created using our property if the assignment to the trust is void?
Neil, you always say the magic words. I just won a summary judgement. We took foreclosure to eviction because it was only way two years ago to make bank prove right to foreclose. Like you mention we had the law on our side, no substitution recorded giving trustee auth to foreclose. Bank defense we didnt prove they didnt, and we didnt tender. We lost! We appealed, we won! Reverse and remand with specific direction to vacate the 8/12/2014 UD appellants. Get costs and atty fees. The remittiter comes in feb 2016, in march aintiff bank submits 74 pages including the substitution of trustee that clear everything up that appellate court ruled against. MSJ REJECTED REFILED MAY 2016, after 4 hearings And evidentiary hearing with a clerk from recorder office, trial judge grants MSJ to bank, with no reason whatsoever. Just got word last week, So how do we win when the lawwrong? I was just doing exactly what you pointed out in your post, seeking options to appeal. Im on my own this time around as my legal aid atty unable to do another appeal. I am so frustrated by the injustice system and obnoxious bank atty whom intentionally manipulated the situation and cost me my entire savings, 20000 going toward monthly payments to stay pending appeal, that apparently are not refundable after winning appeal, and bank has nerve to say they waive any monetary damages, and because the MSJ ON REMAND, we were barred from bringing up any issues other than related to substitution of trustee, that even investigator and verified by clerk could not be found without document number, and well my big win, codified law, case law, court rules, legal authorities, won an eviction! A quick one at that!
Connecticut tried a different tack to recover these alleged “lost” fees: it amended the state’s land records statute to impose higher fees on mortgages for loans registered with MERS. MERS filed suit to challenge the constitutionality of the statue, but in a February 2016 decision captioned MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. v. Malloy, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s ruling and the validity of the higher fees.
MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. v. Malloy, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s ruling and the validity of the higher fees.
Most of the lawyers will offer you a modification, LOL You could negotiate that yourself! And remember that modification surely will come back to bite you. Things are “never” as they appear with these people and most of them are NOT banks. They are debt collectors…collecting for something they either were assigned, with no lien or something they bought at a fire sale for pennies on the dollar…Non-lawyer here
It seems this idea of undoing the Substitution of Trustee(s) must be built on the incorrect PRESUMPTION that the INITIAL Trustee was a valid neutral party. On many America’s Wholesale Lender Corp documents, ReconTrust was named as the Trustee. ReconTrust is or was a part of the Bank of America corporate structure.
What should be done in that case with an improper initial Trustee on the false loan documents?
Neil,
I think you should mention there are plenty of attorneys who are ALSO scam artists, looking to do nothing more than take your money and “buy time”. In the end, they let the other side have the house, you are out your home, the money you paid this “attorney”, and usually are in a horrible predicament because the courts assumed you had competent counsel when nothing could be further from the truth.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/108002066/Robinson
Neil it’s time to find an army of pro bono attorneys to stop the economic Sdom and Gemora
Or non profit
NEVER AGAIN
Neil,
What about those of us who already lost our homes to foreclosure, should they also file a corrective substitution of trustee?
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