Click here to read a letter from the chair of the Real Property Law Section of the New York State Bar Association to Mr. Paul Lawis of the New York State Office of Court Administration. This letter called for changes to the Affirmation Requirement in foreclosures. As can be seen from my previous post, many of the calls from the chair of the section went unanswered. More importantly, I disagree with many of the chair's statements, as do many other attorneys who question how such a letter could be written without a vote. Specifically, the chair discusses how this requirement violates the attorney-client privilege of confidentiality. Yet, if he would read the ethics rules for attorneys, click here to read, he would learn that not perpetrating a fraud on the court trumps that rule.

As I always advise to real estate experts, foreclosure defense requires being on top of the issues (they change all of the time). In less than a month after announcing an Affirmation requirement for foreclosure attorneys to hopefully weed out robosigners, the court system has already changed the affirmation requirement on November 17. The new affirmation requirement can be found by clicking here.

As has been discussed at length on this forum and others, public policy on foreclosures shifts between periods of pro-borrower and pro-lender. To predict the next move of public policy its important to follow who makes policy. Just recently it was learned that President Obama will nominate North Carolina's chief banking regulator, Joseph A. Smith Jr. to run the agency that oversees both Fannnie and Freddie. To learn more about Mr. Smith, click here. It seems that he will be pro-borrower. Hopefully this can strengthen a pro-workout / modification culture where people can stay in their homes.