As it turns out, the crew that was showing up to vandalize the property mentioned in our previous post were all arrested on the spot! It seems they also had keys to the house, and to several others also listed by that brokerage. So, for all their gall, they will pay… perhaps so will whomever it was that got them the keys???
Category Archives: For Home Sellers
Agent brings buyer to show foreclosed property, crew shows up to remove copper pipes etc.
Today, one of our agents showed up with her buyer to show another broker’s listing, and as they pull up, a van with a bunch of guys gets there, and enters the house, talking about pulling out all the metal in the place, including the copper pipes, furnace liners, hot water boilers, etc. The crew ignored our agent and her buyer as if they were not even there.
Our agent called the listing broker and told them what was going on, then called the police. The police, as well as several agents from the listing brokerage then showed up. As we speak, the police are there, interviewing our agent, the listing agents, and of course detaining the culprits.
We have seen many houses where the copper and other valuable assets have been removed, making the house far more costly to buy. But this time, we got the culprits… !!!!
Just goes to show that attentive agents with some sense of justice are still out there, and still trying to protect property from vandalism… way to go!!!
A Lender With Their Collective Heads Up Their A**es
An amazing development has just transpired with a client for whom we are working to reinstate his mortgage after it went delinquent for 15 MONTHS… After faxing authorizations for the lender to discuss the loan with us 5 Times, after spending 2 hours on the phone with the lender last week, ordering a reinstatement quote, we followed up today. The client has sent a check for the amount requested by the lender… some $30,000… they have received the check, but not allocated it to his account. On our follow up call, it seems that the authorizations we sent 5 times, was never received, and there is no record of our previous 2 hour discussion with them… How can that be?
They have not yet ordered the reinstatement quote.
They have no record of our previous conversations.
The do not have the authorizations we faxed repeatedly.
They have a record of receiving the $30K check, and, it seems, a record of receiving a regular payment in an amount not ever previously required or invoiced.
The client has not received a statement on the account for more than a year and the lender refused to provide any.
The law firm dealing with the foreclosure process swears by the almighty that they ordered the reinstatement quote, and of course has the authorizations we sent to them as well as to the bank.
So, as of today, after money has been sent, faxes and phone conversations have taken place, we are back at ground zero.
Can you guess which major lender we are talking about here?
I give you a hint: They purchased the previous loan holder, back when that firm was going under… and since that purchase, the client has never received a statement.
Drum role please… 5 letters…
It amazes me that this bank could remain in business doing business the way they are.
HUD Redefines “Foreclosed” to Include 60-Day Delinquencies
HUD has announced that it’s changing how it defines foreclosed to include properties in default and abandoned with lingering code violations. Effective immediately, HUD is classifying any property that is at least 60 days behind on the mortgage or the property owner is 90 days or more delinquent on tax payments as a “foreclosed” home.
In addition, HUD is expanding the definition of an “abandoned” property to include homes where no mortgage or tax payments have been made by the property owner for at least 90 days or a code enforcement inspection has determined that the property is not habitable and the owner has taken no corrective actions within 90 days of notification of the deficiencies.
HUD officials say the new definitions will help communities acquire, rehabilitate, and re-sell foreclosed and abandoned properties more quickly under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) and help prevent further decline in hard-hit neighborhoods.
Also, the FHA has a moratorium in RI for three months on foreclosures due to the flooding.
FHA, Mortgages, Attorneys, and Title Abstracts
This strikes me as so unreasonably funny, that I had to share this TRUE story with you all… I am never as amazed as when dealing with lawyers and government bureaucrats… but here goes… enjoy!!!
Part of rebuilding New Orleans (after Katrina) often caused residents to be challenged with the task of tracing titles to their homes… back potentially hundreds of years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish ownership. Here’s a great letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client:
You have to love this lawyer ……..
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client.. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove a satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. It took the lawyer three months to track down the full title to the property which dated back to 1803. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.
(Actual reply from FHA):
“Upon review of your letter adjoining your client’s loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin.”
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:
(Actual response):
“Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France , in 1803 the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France , which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain . The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus ‘s expedition…Now the Pope, as I’m sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana . God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God’s original claim to be satisfactory.
Now, may we have our damn loan?”
The loan was immediately approved.