Topics: Foreclosure - 1591 results

A Florida man was recently sentenced to 26 years in prison for foreclosure and short sale fraud. John Lebron, 33, was convicted last week of setting up a complex scheme to buy and sell foreclosed houses, make money on each part of the deal, and default on the loans. He is hardly alone among foreclosure offenders. Florida is known as the nation’s capital in foreclosure fraud. The state was among the hardest hit by the collapse of the housing bubble …

The residential foreclosure crisis has claimed nearly 4 million U.S. homes since 2008. At the start of 2013, it looks like the worst is over. The number of homes in the foreclosure process has reached its lowest level since the crisis began.   Dodd-Frank Overhauls Mortgage Laws During the housing bubble, many mortgage lenders operated with extremely lax underwriting standards. Often, banks failed to check documentation, to require minimum credit scores and to determine whether borrowers had enough income to …

A Texas couple whose personal property was mistakenly scooped up in a foreclosure happening next door have yet to get their things back and were told by police that it doesn’t count as theft.   No Fence Can Hold Them Back When workers from ironically-named Safeguard Properties, an Ohio company, showed up in Taylor, Texas, to ready the house next to Mike Moors’ property for foreclosure, they mistakenly also broke into his barn and took his boat, trailers and backhoe, …

For struggling homeowners behind on their mortgages, the prospect of foreclosure can be a very real and very scary proposition. One potential way out of the mess is by a short sale, when the house is sold for less than the value of the mortgage and the bank agrees to write off the balance. However, it is critical in such stressful times to make clear decisions and not get ripped off by scammers who would take advantage of vulnerable homeowners. …

The Department of Justice on Feb. 15 announced a $35 million settlement with Lender Processing Services (LPS) subsidiary DocX, stemming from the so-called “robosigning” scandal of 2010. DocX was in the business of helping mortgage servicers file the legal documents required for foreclosures.   Second Settlement, Same Song The settlement follows the government’s allegations that DocX ran a scheme for six years to forge and file more than one million mortgage documents with property recorders around the country. It follows …