DIVORCE DEALS

Instructor: Andrew M. Lieb, Esq., MPH
Watch out! Here comes a headache, exposure to liability and impossible commissions. Ever work with divorcing spouses before? Then you know. Good luck getting them to agree on anything from sales price to showing dates while selling their homes or commercial properties? What happens when they start asking you to write letters about how their spouse is not cooperating on the deal? Ever get a call from their lawyers? How about when you get subpoenaed to appear and testify in their Contempt Hearing? What do you do? Where do your duties lie? What can you say and which documents can you provide?

Check out 88.3 WPPB Peconic Public Broadcasting tonight and tomorrow night (9/20 and 9/21) at 5:30pm. 

Realife is hosted by John Christopher from Brown Harris Stevens. John will be interviewing Andrew Lieb concerning a multitude of issues facing Hamptonites in the real estate market. 

QUESTION: Does Lieb School report my completed credits to the Department of State (DOS)? Am I responsible for sending my course certificates to the DOS?

ANSWER: Credits received from Lieb School count towards the 22.5 required from the DOS for license renewal. Certificates provided at each class serve as proof of credit hours (think of them as a receipt). After each class, Lieb School submits to the Department of State, Bureau of Educational Standards, all licensee information for successful completion of each course. Upon license renewal, the DOS will require the original signed certificates if you are selected for an audit. Make sure that you keep your certificates in a safe place. In the event of an audit, the DOS will cross reference the certificates with the student completion records received by each school. You are responsible for completing all 22.5 credits by your license renewal deadline date.

To learn more about license renewal click here.

Incident to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) new mortgage rules, the Ability-to-Repay Rules, the CFPB also has created rules for delinquency notices, follow-up information for loss-mitigation, and forbearance plans. Its imperative that foreclosure defense counsel familiarize themselves with these rules prior to their effective in 2014.

The full final rule is available here.

Most interestingly is the "general ban on proceeding to foreclosure before a borrower is 120 days delinquent".

Also, important for mitigation specialists is the clear requirement that servicers provide notice of deficient document submissions incident to a modification application and an opportunity to cure. This should hopefully put an end to the days of we closed your file because we didn't get all of your documents - the fax shredder will be broken.

To access the new Handbook for MHA, inclusive of HAMP and HAFA, click here. 
This Handbook is the rules for banks / servicers to modify mortgages, so pay careful attention to detail and make sure that they comply.