Help is Here to Prevent Mortgage Modification Scams

Do you feel that you are a victim of a mortgage modification scam?

According to the Attorney General: "Thousands of New Yorkers are scammed by companies who take advantage of homeowners in distress." 

To combat these scams, the Attorney General established AGScamHelp.com, which offers "free, qualified mortgage assistance relief services from a network of trusted partners operating across the state under the New York Attorney General Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP)." 

The new site offers both English and Espanol.

The site also enables one to report a scam in a loan modification.

So, protect yourself if you need a modification. Remember, attorneys can provide valuable assistance in defending a foreclosure, but be careful of "attorneys who bring baseless lawsuits just to charge consumers a fee". Rarely, if ever, can attorney get your mortgage removed from your house. Instead, attorneys can assist in modifications, short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure incident to defending a lender's lawsuit.

Lieb at Law is Hiring an Associate Litigation Attorney

Lieb at Law, P.C., a thriving litigation firm, is expanding our team and seeking the next Associate Attorney to help raise the bar and lead our profession in a collaborative and inspiring setting. This is an exciting opportunity for someone looking to gain hands-on litigation experience inclusive of appearances and conferences, depositions, trials, negotiations, and motion practice.  The firm offers an educational environment where once you prove your competency you can set your own career benchmarks inclusive of partner track and the opportunity to get published.  You will be exposed to Complex Commercial, Corporate and Real Estate Litigation; Plaintiff Personal Injury; Outside Counsel Corporate Litigation; and Real Estate Brokerage Litigation. We are a paperless office that uses cutting edge technology.

Minimum Requirements Include:

• 6 Months to 3 Years of Experience as an Associate Attorney
• Excellent Communication Skills
• Deductive Reasoning Skills

This position is exclusively out of our Center Moriches Office which is located in Suffolk County in the Riverhead / Westhampton Area.

To apply: Submit Cover Letter and Resume to Careers@liebatlaw.com

Include Salary Requirements

Candidates will only be considered that submit a compelling cover letter inclusive of why they want to interview for a career opportunity with Lieb at Law, P.C. 

Good Faith Decisions on Short Sales - Updates Coming 12/1/2014

Effective December 1, 2014, the Courts of the State of New York will oversee negotiations between lenders and borrowers to achieve a short sale or deed-in-lieu within foreclosure settlement conferences. The Courts are empowered to sanction parties who negotiate in bad faith.

Previously, borrowers were only allowed to attend the conferences to discuss workout options, such as loan modifications and payment plans, which would allow borrowers to keep their homes. If borrowers were denied loan modifications, their cases would be released from the settlement conference part, and they would be forced to do short sales or deeds-in-lieu on their own without court intervention or oversight. Oftentimes, these exit strategies took a very long time because many borrowers with second mortgages had difficulties settling their second mortgages or were unable to keep up with the lender’s numerous and complicated document requests. Many borrowers simply gave up and allowed their properties to go to foreclosure rather than spend thousands of dollars on legal fees for help with a short sale that was never going to be approved.

Now, with court oversight, it is anticipated that lenders will now be making quicker decisions on short sale and deed-in-lieu applications within the State of New York, and there should be fewer foreclosures overall. The court referees will set deadlines for the submission and review of short sale and deed-in-lieu applications and will ensure that the borrower is complying with the lender’s document requests and that the lender is properly reviewing the applications.

Despite this new rule, it is likely that short sales will continue to decline because the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 expired at the end of 2013. Under this Act, borrowers were not required to pay income tax on cancelled mortgage debt as a result of loan modifications, short sales, or deeds-in-lieu. Now that it has expired, borrowers who choose to do short sales may be hit with large tax bills after they sell their properties for less than what is owed on the mortgage. Therefore, even though the short sale and deed-in-lieu application process will be quicker with court oversight, borrowers may still choose to not move forward with these exit strategies because they cannot afford the taxes.

Fair Housing CE Requirements for NY Real Estate Agents

Every 2 years, licensed real estate brokers and salespersons in the State of New York are required to take 22.5 continuing education credits. The ONLY mandatory class requirement is at least 3 hours of instruction pertaining to fair housing and/or discrimination in the sale or rental of real property or an interest of real property, within the 2 - year period immediately preceding a renewal.

Lieb School's free CE entitled, The Fair Housing Act satisfies this requirement. This course will be held at 230 Elm in Southampton on December 10th, 2014. Enrollment is only available online through www.liebschool.com. 

Thanks to our sponsors, this event will be fully catered. Sponsors include Behind the Hedges, DE Capital Mortgage, and Douglas Elliman. 

No Drone For You - The FAA Bans the Use of Drones in Real Estate Brokerage

Dennis Valet, Esq., an Associate Attorney at Lieb at Law, P.C. writes about the FAA banning the use of drones in real estate brokerage. This article was featured in The Suffolk Lawyer.

Click Here To Read The Article

New York Foreclosure Settlement Conferences are Tools to Help Homeowners Stay in Their Homes

New York is one of many states across the country that has implemented court-mandated settlement conferences for residential foreclosure actions.

It is important to understand how these conferences work so that homeowners can take full advantage of this opportunity to delay and avoid foreclosure. The initial conference must be scheduled within 60 days after the proof of service of the complaint has been filed with the county clerk and allows the borrower to meet with his or her Lender and a court referee or judge to discuss potential workout options, such as loan modifications or payment plans. If the borrower decides to apply for a loan modification, the Lender provides the borrower with a document request for the loan modification application, and the court referee sets deadlines for the submission and review of the application. Typically, there are numerous conferences throughout the application process in order to ensure that the borrower is complying with the Lender’s document requests and that the Lender is properly reviewing the application. If a borrower believes he was improperly denied a loan modification, his attorney may request a bad faith hearing with the judge to determine whether the Lender should be sanctioned for bad faith negotiations. These settlement conferences not only help homeowners delay the foreclosure process but also can stop the foreclosure process all together.

Not every person who has a property in foreclosure in New York State is entitled to these mandatory pre-trial foreclosure settlement conferences. The law in New York (CPLR 3408), extends the conferences only to owner-occupied residential properties, so if a homeowner has a vacant property or a rental property in foreclosure, he or she is not entitled to a CPLR 3408 conference as of right.

Further, CPLR 3408 does not apply in federal court, but settlement conferences are still available at the federal level. Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows federal courts to hold pre-trial conferences for the purpose of settlement negotiations and encourages judges to take an active part in the settlement negotiations. The procedures differ at the federal level but the purpose is still the same. These conferences are often the difference between a homeowner staying in his or her home and losing it.

10 Surprises When Inheriting Real Estate

Following the death of a loved one, you may become the recipient of an unexpected parcel of real estate. Yet, with every windfall comes great obligations, so be prepared for the surprises you may encounter when inheriting property.

Andrew Lieb's latest article featured in The Huffington Post includes the following topics:

1. Mortgage Transfer
2. Reverse Mortgage
3. Rental
4. Homeowners Insurance
5. Testamentary Substitutes
6. Estate Tax
7. Capital Gains Tax
8. Probate
9. Heirs at Law
10. Right of Election

You can view the article by clicking here. 

Short Sales Incentivized

On October 30, 2014, Supplemental Directive 14-04 was issued by Treasury.

2 major changes for those considering a short sale or deed-in-lieu are offered by this Directive.

FIRST - Relocation assistance available to the property owner, who occupies the property as a principal residence and is required to vacate as a condition of the short sale or deed-in-lieu, will be eligible for $10,000 as opposed to $3,000 for transactions that close on or after February 1, 2015.

SECOND - Perhaps most importantly, for transactions closing on or after February 1, 2015, the gross sales proceeds that may be paid to a subordinate mortgage lien holder (e.g. 2nd mortgage) used to be capped at $8,500, but now there is no cap requirement. Instead, servicers can create their own cap provided its not less than $12,000.

To explain the second change above, a first mortgagee may approve a short sale, but the second mortgagee may deny it because there is no fair market value to support a payment to the mortgagee (i.e. the house is underwater as to the second mortgage). This change permits the first mortgagee to pay the second mortgagee (out of their monies from the short sale) to approve the short sale and extends what was a cap of $8,500 in payment to a minimum new cap of $12,000 and potentially no cap at all.

Many deals die because of the second lienholder - this Supplemental Directive should save a lot of deals.

Ocwen Mortgages May Get a Reprieve from Foreclosure

On October 21, 2014 the New York State Department of Financial Services sent correspondence to Ocwen's General Counsel raising issue "with Ocwen's systems and processes".

The issue presented by NYS DFS deals squarely with Ocwen engaging in bad faith negotiations to modify mortgages. 

Borrowers in New York should be arming their applications for violations of CPLR 3408's good faith negotiation requirement as they review this correspondence and asking the Courts to sanction Ocwen should they have experienced the issues highlighted in the correspondence.

Of note are the record keeping inaccuracies attributed to Ocwen by NYS DFS, which impact RPAPL 1303 and 1304 as well as issues with standing and, in particularly, the attorney verification requirements embodied CPLR 3012-b. How can a Court trust their applications to foreclose in light of this correspondence?

The correspondence claims that "these issues remain unresolved today". This is very concerning. 

Real Estate Roundtable: Best Advice for Buyers Now

What's the single piece of advice you'd give any prospective buyer right now?

Andrew Lieb along with a select group of industry insiders on the East End share advice to prospective buyers on Dan's Papers. Click here to learn more.