A recent Land Court Decision Affecting Foreclosures in Massachusetts

Guest

Thanks REOMA... don't want to shoot down the messenger for sure!!!! I could have been misled or was hoping that it won't take that long... If it takes as long as you say, not good... and original owners coming back to claim it does not make it sensible to wait that long at all. I would appreciate if you could pass on any information when you have.

Guest

Wow...trickle trickle.....this is impossible.......WOW! I hope the legislature jumps on this YESTERDAY!!!

Guest

I think it wise that they are going all the way back, while the decision spoke mostly of notices in the newspaper etc...I think it WISE to go back to original docs, otherwise another lawsuit...and I think in the decision he was pretty clear that it was the bank name/ownership confusion that caused the "owners" to not be able to afford the homes.

While it stinks time wise, and the fallout is just beginning....its probably cleaner.

Still waiting to hear back from Title Ins. companies.....REOMA...have you heard anything??

Guest

I deal with about 15-20 different banks and they're almost all going back to square one. Some started to process shortly after the original decision. One interesting aside. I have 3 properties with one bank and they've foreclosed of two of them twice and the third three times already. Hard to believe, but they have to foreclose again (on each one) due to improper foreclosure. SAME law office on each case. Time to change attorneys, or has perpetual motion finially been discovered? Sloppy work all the way around.
As I hear things I'll post here.

Guest

HI REOMA,

Thank you for the very thorough explanation. It seems to difficult and that there is no solution for any of us short of 1-2 years! So unless something drastic happens, (ie new legistlature or law is passed to move things along) than my family is going to finally walk away from this mess.

Also a thanks for the explanation of how and why the previous owner somehow does have right to ownership on his property. It is totally appauling but "it is what it is" I guess!

Thank you all for your input. Hope you all success and patience. I have run out..... Sad

Guest

Hi REOMA:

How can I contact you if I am interested in purchasing bulk nonperforming notes and/or reos in MA?

I can be reached at jdl at jdldevelopment dot com.

To All:

If you are speciffically interested in a particular home you should follow the auction section carefully or google the address and public notices. The foreclosure notice should be in the first few results. Again follow up on the scheduled date as they may change at the last minute. The banks act very erractically but I have noticed that they are not bidding in the same amount as before sometimes. You may be able to buy it at a more realistic price and have this issue turn into positive at the end. Good luck.
Thanks

Guest

Just a caveat regarding buying at auction. Auctions sales GENERALLY, as is, no interior access, 30 day close, no mortgage or home inspection contingencies. It's not a sport for the weak of heart. USE CAUTION, it can eat you alive.

Guest

Just a caveat regarding buying at auction. Auctions sales are GENERALLY, as is, no interior access, 30 day close, no mortgage or home inspection contingencies. It's not a sport for the weak of heart. USE CAUTION, it can eat you alive.

Guest

REOMA,

interesting that some properties have to be re-foreclosed couple of times. Do you see each time they re-foreclose, it took as long you had mentioned? so I would assume these properties are in the market/since foreclosed for 2-3 years now?

Also, anybody has any insight into what is going on the legislature side? thanks.

Guest

The time frames were compressed since all the changes in the law as it relates to the consumer had been fulfilled. The issues were that a second lien holder hadn't been notified, paperword lost and similar stupidity.

Guest

I've followed this thread with some interest, but I'm not a frustrated potential buyer or industry insider like most here. I'm on the homeowner end. I'm quite willing to walk away from my home, just not while I legally still own it and therefore am responsible for both the home and the accumulating debt on it. I'm incredulous that some of buyers with an invalid P&S think it shouldn't matter whether the foreclosing bank is the actual holder of the mortgage. Ditto for those who want to avoid a second auction and collude with the bank to get it for the previous/invalid P&S price. Sue the bank that signed a P&S they should have known they can't honor on the incorrect sale attempt, rather than trying to circumvent the full process at the true sale.

It seems to me that if the validity of the foreclosure is in doubt for ANY reason, there is additional risk to the buyer, hence a lower price which causes the original homeowner to end up with a larger deficiency than they deserve. I am one homeowner who will make sure the bank adheres to the law, whether or not it affects my bottom line in the end. Furthermore, if the homeowner is not certain that the foreclosing entity holds the note, why should they even consider letting anyone inside to view the home? Not that most people let you in anyway, but a nice home with interior viewing allowed brings a higher price than one without, for any homeowner trying to minimize their deficiency. Would you like to let the general public into your own home based on a bank's false claim to hold your mortgage?

Anyway, I have had unbelievably inept banks...I'll call them Bank1, Bank2, Bank3, Bank4, Bank5 who have held my 1st. Bank1=original mortgage bank on note, Bank2=MainBank who I paid for years then stopped, Bank3=FDIC, Bank4=MainBank"Reborn", Bank5=GodKnowsWho

Bank6 (OK, OK, it's BoA) holds a HELOC 2nd. They are totally scrod and they know it: they offered to take 25% of the balance, all of which is way underwater. I declined, as none of the 6 banks ever seemed competent enough to get a deficiency judgment, and if they did, my ducks are in a row for a fairly painless Chapter 7 bankruptcy. So even if they're smart, it would not pay them to pursue the deficiency.

I had never heard of Bank5 until they mailed me a Soldiers/Sailors notice (11/9 answer return date) on 10/23 after filing it on 9/23. Nice honest bank/lawyers to hold it a month until the mailing deadline, in an attempt to gain some "competitive legal advantage" of surprise attack on a consumer who hasn't made a mortgage payment in 20 months, and is quite willing to dump the house and move on.

Bank4 had just mailed me another "we'd like you to apply for loan modification" letter/application right around the 9/23 date when Bank5 filed for Soldiers/Sailors. So I honestly question if/when the assignment took place. The Bank4 application gave me a deadline of around 10/23 to reply to Bank4, not to Bank5. Month after month, they had sent the same thing just dated a month later. Not once did they send me any offer of short sale, deed in lieu, cash for keys, etc. which are the only things I ever asked for, explaining that I don't currently have the income to qualify for a loan mod or refi.

Here is my history of 90-day right to cure notices: Less than a week after the 90-day notice law went into effect on 5/1/08, Bank2 sent me a 30-day delinquency/cure notice. Invalid, so I ignored it. Then they failed in a big way and the FDIC took them over. Then (while really owned/operated by the FDIC/Bank3) they must have figured out the 30-day notice had been bogus, and sent a 90-day cure notice riddled with problems: non-existent defunct bank name, didn't actually mail/postmark the notice within 90 days of the cure deadline, mortgage broker not listed, name/number of contact person not listed, etc etc etc. Eventually Bank4 sent yet another 90-day notice, with the same problems. Seems they enjoy mailing things about 4-7 days after they date them, thereby solidly failing to meet the Massachusetts notice requirement. I presume they'll provide affadavits that the mailing was done on the date of the letter, but that is a lie I can prove.

While I'd like to get out of the house and move on, I do have a lot of organizing, packing, storing/selling/disposing to do. And admittedly, living for free in one's own home at the expense of inept banks can become habit-forming. But on a most serious note, I need to be 100% sure that I correctly execute the timing of foreclosure and possible deficiency judgments, in relation to any decision to file Chapter 7 or not. It would be horrific if I filed Chapter 7 after moving away, to discharge any deficiency and any rent due the new owner during an eviction period, only to later find out that I still owned the home with new interest piling up post-bankruptcy not being discharged by the bankruptcy.

Anyway, I presume that Bank5 is assuming that the 90-day notice requirements of the 5/1/08 law were all met by Bank4, but they most surely were not.

Having just received the Soldiers/Sailors on Saturday, I guess I'll be calling attorneys today to see how to proceed to force them to start over at the 90-day cure notice step, verify the assignment date to Bank5, etc.

Anyone with experience or advice regarding taking advantage of a bad 90-day notice to delay the process? It would be appreciated, as I'm sure that even most attorneys haven't seen many cases involving notices as bad as the ones I got. Really, any 8th grader following a checklist would have written better notices and met the letter of the law which my bank(s) have not.

Guest

anyone know what is going on with this case any new news

Guest

I learned banks are advised to re-foreclose by the attorneys... I would expect to start the re-foreclosure process in the next couple weeks (being optimistic).

Guest

Dream home. You're correct. Long basically forced their hand. Some of the wiser lenderd started the reforeclosure process shortly after the initial ruling. I've started to see these coming into my office to the tune of 5-7 a week, which is the same rate they were hitting me with pre-ruling. Those lenders that waited until the appeal ruling are just starting.

Guest

REOMA, thank you as always for your valuable information. Based on how and what happened to those properties that are coming now to your office now, could you give us an idea how long did the re-foreclosure process took from start of re-foreclosure to end (back to listing)? thank you.

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