Category Archives: Foreclosure

“My house is in foreclosure, when do I go to court?”

By doug | Published: July 13, 2010

“My house is in foreclosure, when do I do to court?” A reasonable question, but also a trick question. If you live in Massachusetts your house can be sold at a foreclosure auction without you ever seeing the inside of a courthouse. Indeed, most are. Massachusetts has a fairly lengthy, complicated foreclosure process, but it […]

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Lenders are often slow to act even when you file for bankruptcy

By doug | Published: July 8, 2010

The automatic stay is the hallmark of bankruptcy, so when the judge lifts the stay to permit a lender to foreclose, we tend to think the curtain has come down on our client as homeowner.  Well, maybe not, or at least, not yet. In some cases, the road to foreclosure seems to be a wandering […]

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Loan Modifications on Underwater Homes: just delaying the inevitable?

By doug | Published: July 8, 2010

You’ve just spent months trying to get a loan modification on the mortgage for your house, and today you found out you got accepted into their program. Congratulations! Or maybe not. What if your house isn’t worth as much as the loan, even the modified loan? We call that being underwater. Blub. Blub. Blub. No […]

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Beware of phony foreclosure aid!

By doug | Published: June 8, 2010

A plethora of phony foreclosure aid and debt relief scams are everywhere it seems. And everywhere includes Massachusetts. Jenifer McKim reported in today’s Boston Globe that a watchdog group called NeighborWorks America has begun warning Massachusetts homeowners about the scams. “Loan modification scams are reaching epidemic proportions across the nation,’’ said Thomas J. Curry, a […]

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In Massachusetts, foreclosures track bankruptcies and post large increase

By doug | Published: May 20, 2010

Hard on the heels of the news that bankruptcy filings in Massachusetts soared in the period ending March 31, comes the kicker — foreclosure rates in the state swelled almost 80 percent in April. This didn’t surprise housing advocates and professionals, who are seeing more homeowners struggling to pay mortgages because they have been out […]

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Mortgage bailout looms as Massachusetts mortgage and bankruptcy crisis rolls on

By doug | Published: May 6, 2010

Today’s news includes the nugget that “Freddie Mac,” the quasi-private packager of home mortgage loans for resale to the financial markets, is begging Congress for another $10.6 billion dollar bailout. This would be on top of $50.7 billion the federal government has already pumped in to the troubled mortgage giant. Meanwhile, the average consumer is […]

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When you have fourteen kids, it’s tough to pay the bills . . .

By doug | Published: April 23, 2010

Nadya Suleman, dubbed the “Octomom” by the tabloids, is facing foreclosure on her home in California. According to Texas attorney Reed Allmand, Suleman couldn’t pony up a $450,000 balloon payment on her mortgage which was due in March. Allmand thinks a bankruptcy filing might be in the Octomom’s future, as she apparently hasn’t handled money […]

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Foreclosure rates soar in Massachusetts

By doug | Published: April 23, 2010

Monthly figures released for March 2010 show the number of foreclosure cases in Massachusetts surging, rather than abating. Foreclosure petitions, filed at the start of the process while the owners are typically still using their property, increased 21.6% in March according to data compiled by the Warren Group and publicized in the Boston Globe. Foreclosure […]

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Home equity loans are a ticking time bomb in the banking sector

By doug | Published: April 13, 2010

Thinking about filing for bankruptcy? If so, you might want to ponder who has it worse off in our current economy — the debtors or the creditors? Ridiculous question, you say? Perhaps, but in law it is always worthwhile to examine cases and situations from your adversary’s point of view. When debtors get pestered with […]

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Bank of America promises speedy mortgage response — can they do it?

By doug | Published: April 7, 2010

For thousands of years, the banking business has been built on the idea of people keeping promises. Will Bank of America be able to keep the one they made yesterday? Bank of America announced a pledge to answer consumer queries about their mortgages wihin three days. According to Bloomberg News, the pledge is in response […]

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