Metro Atlanta foreclosure notices rise 11 percent in October
The foreclosure problem in metro Atlanta continued to mount in October.
There was an 11 percent increase in foreclosure notices compared with September and a 16 percent rise compared with October of last year, according to data released Monday by Equity Depot.
The foreclosure notices published this month — 11,070 — are for auctions on the courthouse steps scheduled for next month.
But potential flaws in foreclosure documents are threatening to throw the real estate industry into a crisis, as Bank of America on Friday became the first bank to stop sales of foreclosed homes in all 50 states, Associated Press reported.
Up until B of A’s action, flawed documents (papers signed without being read) had stopped some foreclosures in the 23 states that have procedures requiring judicial approval. But Georgia is not one of those states.
With B of A expanding its action to all states, it is unclear how will it affect foreclosures here.
“Only time will tell if they go ahead with sales and continue to advertise foreclosures next month,” Barry Bramlett, president of Alpharetta-based Equity Depot, said in a statement.
B of A’s action raises several questions, including whether more banks will follow and whether lenders will be more open to negotiating with delinquent borrowers before initiating foreclosure procedures.
Meanwhile, attorneys general for about 40 states have been talking about taking legal action against lenders because of the flawed documents. And Congress is looking into the issue, as is the Obama administration.
In the metro area, Gwinnett had the most foreclosure notices this month with 2,369. Fulton was second with 1,964, followed by DeKalb with 1,787. Cobb was next with 1,358, followed by Clayton with 911.
For the first 10 months of the year, foreclosure notices in the metro area are up 6 percent from the same period last year, Equity Depot data show. If this year’s pace continues, it will break last year’s record of 117,107 notices.
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39 comments Add your comment
TnGelding
October 11th, 2010
4:50 am
Not good news. Maybe all the government lending agencies should just buy the paper at a discount and work out affordable agreements with the home owners. The private sector doesn’t seem inclined to do so, but maybe this lastest snafu will give them incentive, as you state. The magnitude of this boggles the imagination. A lot of folks need to go to jail or be made to pay restitution. And a lot of others that can afford it need to bite the bullet and make good on their obligations. The houses will regain their value over time and they probably can’t live anywhere else any cheaper.
Joe
October 11th, 2010
5:22 am
Trillion$ $tolen and wa$ted!
Power Breakfast: Perimeter residents in heart of metro action, foreclosures, Deal taxes, Sea Island, Gwinnett, Coke bottlers | The Biz Beat
October 11th, 2010
5:35 am
[...] Metro Atlanta foreclosure notices rise 11 percent in October [...]
Normally Not Predjudice
October 11th, 2010
6:27 am
I’d really like some clarity on this whole modification program!! I’ve had 3 friends apply ad nauseum being told they made too much, too little, credit too good, needed to miss a few payments….
Who got help? Did it fall along racial & economic lines?
Auction Foreclosure Property » Metro Foreclosures Continue to Climb - News/Talk 750 WSB
October 11th, 2010
6:50 am
[...] latest listings, which post foreclosures going to auction in November, show the region …Metro Atlanta foreclosure notices rise 11 percent in OctoberAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)all 2 news [...]
Henry Unger
October 11th, 2010
7:01 am
Relatively few people got help from the federal government’s modification program, which is why foreclosures are still increasing. Of all the things the government did during the recession, this was one of the least successful efforts, regardless of what you think about the other ones.
Mad as a hornet
October 11th, 2010
7:05 am
To :Normally Not Predjudice:
I wonder the same thing. We have tried for 2 years to get a modification. We are not late and never have been on payments, but my husbands job situation has changed our house is underwater by more than $200000. I feel like we are drowning, yet our mortgage company won’t modify because we’ve never been late, my husband makes good money, has great credit…. IT IS SO FRUSTRATING!!! You do the right thing and get screwed, but become a deadbeat and the world is your oyster. (Sometimes I think we should walk away because NO ONE is willing to help us, we DO NOT want that, we just want a refinance)
Politicians don't care
October 11th, 2010
7:10 am
This foreclosure crisis has been going on since late in 2006. Early on, the vast majority of these foreclosres were on homes financed with subprime mortgages.
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/10/subprime-forecl.html
The foreclosure crisis rages on like a forest fire feed by drought-dried timber. Where’s the fire department?
Politicians have done next to nothing to address this disaster. Bush ignored it, Obama has been ineffective at mitigation.
Many of the people who’ve suffered foreclosure owned their home. They were suckered into taking out a subprime loan on their house by unscrupulous lenders. Now, they’ve lost their homes.
We were told that bailing out the big firms would save our economy. How much comfort does that give someone who has to tell their kids that the only home they’ve ever known is being reposessed by the bank.
A.S.Mathew
October 11th, 2010
7:19 am
Give more stimulus money to the banks The banks have a bag full of real estate everywhere. We will be out
of recession fast. Let everybody sleep in the roadside without any bills to pay, no income, but looking upto
heaven for the coming of the Lord. A new world order of peace and prosperity.
hoyt28
October 11th, 2010
7:26 am
I wonder how many homes sold by Johnny Isackson were forclosed on and how much there value was inflated when He sold them. Realtors and appraisers will do anything to sell property even knowing the borrower can’t make the payments and the property is not worth what they say.
profit structure
October 11th, 2010
7:52 am
The banking system loaned you money at the onset of your loan. They charged you plenty of interest as you have paid. Why can’t some of that interest be deducted from the amount of the loan instead of pointed to the profits of the bank, thus reducing the principal and allowing you to refinance at a rate you can afford. The bailout money should be used to help some people who are trying to help themselves but can’t.
Atlanta Region Pragmatist
October 11th, 2010
7:54 am
Re: Foreclosure paperwork issues. While cutting corners is not to be applauded, and those responsible should be held accountable, the real issue is: Has anyone current on their mortgage been foreclosed upon? Has anyone not delinquent been harmed? If you’re delinquent and not paying you’re mortgage, does matter how your foreclosure form was signed? In some fundamental form, caveat emptor/let the buyer beware must return to the mortgage/foreclosure equation.
responsibilityainteasy
October 11th, 2010
7:56 am
The mortgage crisis was caused by greed. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins. Greed by the banks and mortgage brokers. They wanted to make more loans and a quicky buck. BUT ALSO, greed by the consumer. Greedy consumers wanted a home bigger than they could afford that stretched them to the limit. People say “our situation changed and we can’t afford our 400K house”. That is why you put 20% down on a fixed 15 year loan. Your payment is at the MAX 25 percent of your take home pay. If people followed those simple rules that force them to buy a house they can afford (or in most cases just rent because they SHOULD NEVER buy a house) then there would not be the housing crisis.
Willis
October 11th, 2010
7:58 am
I too wonder with hoyt28 just how much money Senator Isakson has made off the real estate mess. Since his biggest campaign donors are real estate people, you can be sure that he hasn’t sat idly by while money was to be made for himself and his cronies.
His TV ads are disgusting – talking about how hard he’s worked to get jobs for Georgians. I guess that’s what he was doing when he was living high on the hog in Washington at the exclusive clubs and restaurants and golf courses.
What have he and Chambliss done to actually help Georgia?
Freedom Rider
October 11th, 2010
8:02 am
In the late 90’s and in my 30’s I made a commitment and very wise decision to become free from owing for my home to anyone and struggled to double and triple my payments so I could “own my home.” Today I Thank GOD I have NO mortgage and NEVER borrowed against it to UP the “things” or “keeping up with the Jones” lifestyle.
It sure feels great owning my own home. – Now if I could just get those taxes and insurance payments to disappear! Oh well welcome to America
Sanj
October 11th, 2010
8:20 am
For “Mad as a hornet”. There is a new program effective on Sept 7th called “FHA Short Refinance” which is for homeowners underwater with no late payments and good credit. It involves the lender reducing principal by 10% and the new refi by FHA not exceeding 97.75%. Googled and found info but not enough details to understand how it works on the FHA side to get to the “not too exceed” new mortgage amount. Am waiting for a call now from my mortgage company (48 to 72 hours). Have not qualified for anything else.
Cobb Mom
October 11th, 2010
8:42 am
Surely the homeowner (borrower) should bare some responsibility. When a borrower takes out a mortgage that they know they would be stretched to pay, the fault lies with the borrower, not with the bank or real estate company. Yes, there are mortgage companies, banks, and real estate agents who pushed mortgages on buyers, but the buyer is responsible for knowing what he/she can really afford to pay. Some of these mortgages were taken out to pay for other things, not necessarily the home. When home values were increasing every year, many homeowners took out second mortgages or refinanced first mortgages and took money out to spend on vacations, cars, credit cards, etc. Now they want the banks to forgive these loans. I know there are some legitimate claims involving job loss or reduction, but many of the claims are due to irresponsible homeowners.
Another point, if you can pay your mortgage and have not been late on any payments, then why should you qualify for mortgage reduction or modification? It sounds like the house may be worth less than what you paid for it but that alone should not qualify anyone for reduction or modification.
Lynn43
October 11th, 2010
8:54 am
Atlanta Region, Yes, I know someone current on payments that Wells Fargo tried to foreclose on. She had had her home and loan for 16 years. All of a sudden she got a foreclosure notice. She had proof that she had made her payments. They said she had not. After talking to many incompetent and “didn’t have a clue” people at Wells Fargo, she learned that the payments she had been making for the last 8 months had been applied to some other account-not her loan account. After telling her this and finding the payments, they sent her a check for over $5000, and she had no idea why. As she didn’t know what the check was for (and no one could tell her), she did not cash the check. They finally said it was a mistake (it was the payments they had accredited to the other account) and said for her to cash the check and send them a cashiers by the next day. Very threatening.
She did this, but it still took her a couple more months to get things straight–to their satisfaction. She still doesn’t know if what was done cleared things up, but she is continuing to make payments ON TIME.
Kate
October 11th, 2010
8:58 am
One set of homeowners I see overlooked are those that don’t want to stay in their home.
There’s a fair number of owners who are underwater but have to sell so they can move for all the normal reasons people ever move – job changes, divorce, health change, etc. Life happens, and eventually people can’t wait any longer to put their home on the market. All but one or two of the homes for sale in my neighborhood are in these situations.
Eventually these owners are likely to walk away (one already has). They’re not exactly strategic defaults, since they owners don’t want to default. But they can’t sell for the mortgage balance or get a short sale. So you end up with a foreclosure. And all the modification programs to keep people “in their homes” aren’t any use in this situation. I don’t believe we need some new program to handle it. Just that all the hand-wringing over why the current programs aren’t working ignores the reality that in many cases, owners aren’t interested.
porko
October 11th, 2010
8:59 am
PEOPLE WAKE UP! THE BANKS SOLD JACKED UP LOANS(INTEREST ONLY-ARMS ETC) FOR HIGHER COMMISSIONS AND BIGGER BONUSES! THE REAL ESTATE MARKET TANKS AND THE GOVERNMENT BAILS OUT THE BANKS! YOUR HOUSES ARE UPSIDE DOWN, YOU HAVE LOST YOUR JOBS,THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING IS GOING UP(FOOD GAS ETC) BUT THE BANKERS ARE STILL GETTING BILLIONS IN BONUSES! ALL THE GOVERNMENT LOAN MODIFICATIONS ARE DOING IS GIVING THE BANKS MORE BILLIONS WHICH THEY ARE NOT LOANING OUT BUT KEEPING SO THEIR BOOKS LOOK BETTER SO THEY CAN GIVE THEMSELVES MORE BONUS$ IT IS A FREAKIN BANK PONZI SCHEME! IF YOU ARE MORE THAN 20% UPSIDE DOWN ON YOUR MORTGAGE QUIT MAKING YOUR PAYMENT! IF ENOUGH PEOPLE DO THIS EVENTUALLY BANKS WILL HAVE TO COME TO THE TABLE OR THEY WILL BE OUT OF BUSINESS! PS DONT FEEL BAD BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE DONALD TRUMP AND OTHER BILLIONAIRES HAVE DONE THIS FOR YEARS WHEN ONE OF THEIR INVESTMENTS GO BAD(CASINOS IN ATLANTIC CITY HAVE BANKRUPTED 3 TIMES!) THEIR PHILISOPHY IS IF YOU OWE THE BANKS A MILLION THEY OWN YOU IF YOU OWE THEM A BILLION YOU OWE THEM! IF ENOUGH PEOPLE STOP MAKING THEIR PAYMENTS THE BANKS WILL HAVE TO LOWER THEIR MORTGAGES! THEY DONT WANT EVERY HOUSE IN THE US!
Chase Bank Sucks
October 11th, 2010
9:00 am
To Mad as a Hornet:
You will never get them to modify your loan as long as you are current on your payments. Think about it, why would you lower someone’s payments that always makes them on time and pays in full.
After 11 months of sending documents back and forth to Chase, they decided to modify our 7% loan from $5400 per month to $5087 per month, thanks for nothing. If you have a conventional conforming loan under $417,000 you can probably get your loan modified to 31% of your total income before any taxes or expenses. If you have a jumbo loan and have a total house hold income of $10,000 or more, Chase will only modify your loan to 40% of your total income before taxes. Keep in mind that they will not even begin to work on your loan until you are at least 60 days behind on your mortgage, you will not get a loan modification and keep your credit perfect. That was the hardest part for us to deal with after 25 years of perfect credit.
The only way you can get anything done is with the attitude that if they don’t do it, you are going to hand them the keys and walk.
After having our house on the market for 6 months at a price that would payoff the loan in full, we began lowering the price $50,000 per month until we got an offer, we submitted a Short Sale offer of 65% of what we owe and they accepted it without a counter offer.
To make a long story short, the banks really don’t want to deal with modifying the terms of your loan, they will make it very difficult to get anything done and if 31% of your income is still too much, you are out of luck. The banks would much rather take a short sale and get some money today vs. maybe you pay them more in the future.
If I could do this all over again, I would have come to the realization that my house was $300,000 under water and the smartest business decision is to pursue a short sale. It could take 10 years or more before the house is worth just what I owe. At the end of the day, a house is just a house and a short sale will be your best solution to a house that is underwater.
WitchHazel
October 11th, 2010
9:42 am
All ya’ll need to listen to talk radio and not for the bashing. A person in the real-estate industry clearly stated “why would a mortgage company try to deal with a homeowner when they get more money from the insurance premium(AIG) when the home goes into foreclosure then sell the home”. What happened to the PMI insurance that was suppose to cover default’s.? I pay pmi every month, what’s up with that. And if you think Isakson made $$$ during the foreclosure crisis you are drink liquor. I know plenty of agents that are now bankrupt and forceclosed on themselves.
The people that you need to be madd at are the mortgage brokers that put qualified people in ARM’s and not fix rates they qualified for. Get mad at the people that bought way too much house on speculation. Get mad at the crooked real-estate agents like a person I know that went to jail for 3 years because of mortgage fraud, fradulent documents.
The AJC reported a 2 year old girl bought a house, and her father was a illegal immigrant. Come on folks, we have been screwed by the people that made the loans and sold them to wall-street. Everybody say Goldman Sacs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lizinsarasota
October 11th, 2010
10:10 am
Dump your bank stock.
Let’s review.
Shapiro & Fishman, now-notorious foreclosure mill under investigation by the FL attorney general, may very well have filed hundreds of thousands of foreclosure lawsuits using fraudulent affidavits, which may very well mean that all of those decisions may be voidable. I do know – for a fact – that between 2003 and 2006 (maybe earlier, maybe later, this is just what I know personally) that Shapiro & Fishman was using the identical lawsuit format in Florida. One of their financial affidavit “robo-signers,” Dory Goebel, co-authored an article in 2006 in which she stated that she swore, signed, and notarized – on average – ONE THOUSAND AFFIDAVITS A DAY.
Dory was fined & sanctioned by the US Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana – twice in one case – for fraudulent affidavits.
Let’s do the math. Let’s say Dory signed off on 20,000 affidavits per month, 200,000 per year, and, forgetting the “ramp up” period predating the 2006 article, that’s 800,000 affidavits between 2006 and 2009, affidavits that are the foundation of foreclosure complaints that will be ultimately found fraudulent.
I have turned around and sued JP Morgan Chase for $423K and all such damages the court deems just and proper. I did all the legal work myself. Chase is complaining about WAMU loans and whining to the FDIC, but the fact of the matter is that they are just as bad, if not worse, than the WAMU people ever were – just as big liars, just as big do-nothings.
The banks failed in their fiduciary duty by loaning to anyone with a pulse, they brought court houses to their knees all over the country, then they get bailed out, then they stonewalled good faith efforts to modify loans, and now – now, my friends, the lawyers are realizing that there’s more money to be made by feeding off the rotting corpse of these deadbeat banks than the rotting corpses of individual homeowners. If we think things are bad now, hang on to your hat!
If you are battling foreclosure, you can handle the legal issues yourself. Much of the legal work filed against you is boilerplate; i.e., the lawyers have used the same Complaint in thousands of other cases. Read your Complaint. Go to your law library and do research. Pay attention to deadlines and timing issues. Really figure out what’s going on. See how other people have answered similar their complaints. Examine the affidavits used against you – if you are battling a big bank chances are good there’s fraud in the affidavits. Go to 4closurefraud.org and find out more.
You can file a Motion. You can file an Answer. You can go to court by yourself. You can do it.
This is America! The laws are there to protect the people. We are the people!
UWG
October 11th, 2010
10:22 am
Some members of Congress are advocating a moratorium on foreclosures. Such a halt would prevent people from being wrongly foreclosed upon, which would be good. But according to research compiled by the University of West Georgia, the foreclosure process, while painful, is necessary to resell the houses that homeowners have given up on paying the mortgage. An extended moratorium on foreclosures could add to the “shadow inventory” of homes looming in the housing market.
TakeResponsibility
October 11th, 2010
11:04 am
That is the answer. Have the government buy the loans with money they don’t have so they can take control of another sector of our country. They should also go ahead and buy all the utility companies, the grocery stores, gas stations, and banks and then they tell you exactly how to live as well. Socialism at it’s best!!!!
Get Real
October 11th, 2010
11:40 am
Just to make sure I have this correct…..Mortgage lenders foreclose on deadbeats but do not read language of every single contract even though most are boiler plate language with amendments or stipulations……Bad Bad Banks…….Congress passes bill to take over 18% of US economy without anyone reading language in bill….this is ok and a good thing…..Did I miss something here?
Ant
October 11th, 2010
11:54 am
All you holier that thou people who are ranting about deadbeat homeowners keep on ranting. This ultimately affects you. If enough houses foreclose around you, you will soon be underwater whether you’re paying on time or not. A foreclosed property just foreclosed last month 2 doors down for half of it’s 2008 purchase price and another is selling close by matching that price. What does that do to my home and value? I hate to see foreclosures as much as anyone else,but forclosures happen for different reasons and we need to find a solution to keep people in their homes paying their mortgages or we all will suffer the consequences.
Laurie
October 11th, 2010
11:55 am
Unfortunately, Georgia is one of those states that do not require judicial review for banks to foreclose on a property, which limits homeowner rights to due process before being kicked out of their homes. I’m glad to see Bank of America including all states in their moratorium. But it would be nice if our state lawmakers put their big boy pants on and changes the law to provide us homeowners a little bit of protection from the big bad banks. I suspect compaign contributions from these institutions will keep that from ever happening.
lizinsarasota
October 11th, 2010
12:48 pm
Ant, I can tell you how foreclosures affect your neighborhood.
My neighborhood, the “West of Trail” neighborhood in Sarasota, is supposed to be the gold standard of mainland Sarasota real estate. Best hospital, best grade school, close to downtown, waterfront properties, etc.
When I bought my home in ‘99 ($40K down on a $142K house, my third mortgage w/ WAMU after moving from the Mason Mill neighborhood near Emory, where I lived for 22 years) nearly 100% of the homes on this street were owner-occupied. Now there are 6 owner-occupied and 17 in foreclosure, rented, vacant, or a combination.
Wealthy “investors” rule the day. A guy in Hawaii owns a house on the other end of the street. Last year his tenants were busted by the cops for running a meth lab. The owner took 6 months to repair the front door where the cops broke through. In the 2nd nicest house (after mine) on the street, the owner is a “private wealth manager” from San Francisco. He’s had two tenants in the house in 2 years. The second group just got hoisted out, but they’d never cut the grass, they had screaming fights at all hours, their pets (cats and a dog) roamed the neighborhood at all hours, they’d leave trash all over the place – we’d call him repeatedly and his obnoxious wife would talk about their local “property manager” and then ask us to take photos, talk to their tenants, etc., etc.
The house next door to me is vacant, and I can’t get the owner to cut the grass. I started to have a rat problem last summer when he went out of the country for three months. I have cut my grass 4 times since the last time his was cut. A chicklet-toothed chiropractor/”investor” is the fourth owner of the house across the street which went into foreclosure in 2006. He has had four tenants in that house in 2 years. One group, from North Carolina, I’m sure were drug dealers; another group I’m sure were prostitutes. The group in there now are bartenders who used to have parties from 2-4 a.m. on weeknights – the cops were out there 4-6 times a month.
My point is that – basically – the rich are getting richer. Almost no mortgages are being written, despite historic lows, despite the billions loaned to the banks (did you know Suntrust is still holding $5 billion of TARP money??) so it’s a cash game. When these so-called “investors” get a hold of a house in your neighborhood they are going to stick a warm body in it and could care less about the neighborhood. Cars and trucks will overflow the yard and driveway and spill out into the street. The lawns won’t get cut. Municipal services – the cops, zoning, code enforcement, animal control – will be called out on a regular basis. You will find yourself picking up after the deadbeat tenants.
We all hear these antidotal tales of people being foreclosed on after they did extreme remodeling and bought a yacht on the proceeds of their 4th mortgage, but I think I am much more typical: a homeowner who was current on her mortgage but got snookered into foreclosure with a 15-year, 8.75 fixed loan, I’m going into my FIFTH year of foreclosure, all the affidavits filed in my case are FRAUDULENT, I’ve been begging WAMU/Chase to modify and I’ve furnished them with most documents THREE and FOUR times. How hard is it to modify a 15-year fixed loan?
The banks are incompetent. They are liars. I’ve lost my life’s savings, my marriage, 50 pounds, most of my hair (in 2008), and, hands down, these have been the worst 4 years of my life. The stress has been overwhelming at times.
There is no Mercedes in my driveway. I’m just lucky to still be drawing breath.
Sacrificing FICO Score
October 11th, 2010
12:56 pm
Since March, I’ve been caught in a loop with SunTrust, while trying to seek a modification on my slightly-above jumbo mortgage that’s the result of a rennovation job-gone-critical, because of a bad contractor and even worse subsequent guidance from the Bank, compounded by a bad attorney. I dumped money from loans and retirement savings to liberate the title from mechanics liens, only to have the bank say that my debt/income ratio is now to high and I don’t qualify for a modification (at over $100,000 underwater), so I should keep paying SunTrust more, than i can afford. Nevermind they miscalculated escrows and jacked-up my payments over $400/per month inside of one year, at the same time taxes were being lowered to reflect depreciated market values. So, I’m witholding monthly payments, essentially putting the mortgage in my-own escrow account until the bank decides whether it wants to loose its money, now that I’ve already lost all of mine. Sucks, sucks, and royally sucks, but the only way to get the bank’s attention seems to be by depriving the baby of its candy.
Chase's Beeyatch
October 11th, 2010
1:23 pm
A Profit Structure…brilliant idea!!! I agree 100%. Owning a home is not what it used to be, and the banks are insulated regardless of market conditions. I owe $173K on a home that will appraise for 82K. While I have lived here for 11 years, they have made a ton of money off of me. I am but a renter, as I will never “own” this place. Every time I cut the grass I want to send Chase an invoice for maintaining THEIR home. Banks should evaluate every loan, and do a good faith adjustment based on current values. This would also yield benefits to those who are current on their mortgages, but upside down value-wise. Any way it goes…the banks can’t lose….they will never lose.
An unhappy voter from Clarkston
October 11th, 2010
1:50 pm
To several other posters, I have read articles about people being wrongly foreclosed on. The worst case being a man in Florida who was foreclosed on by a big bank, and he did not have a mortgage with them. As a matter of fact, he paid cash for his house when he bought it, thus he never had a mortgage in the first place. Amazingly, the bank had all of the necessary paperwork. This man provided the court the bill of sale and all of his evidence, after they came and kicked him out of his home. So, yes, there are improper foreclosures going on.
Though there has been a lot of fraud by the banks, home buyers bare some responsibility also. Those that signed mortgages that they didn’t realize were bad failed to take their responsibility and study the paperwork before agreeing to it. Many others were part of the fraud by overstating their income or assets, and thereby committing fraud themselves. Then there is the governments role in all of this. Government is aware and has been, that this was going on. The FBI published a report about mortgage fraud in 2006, which was ignored by the justice department and Congress. The only reason that I can see for this blatant dismissal of criminal activity is because they are benefiting from it, thus they are involved. Now, with all of the fraudulent paperwork, and the willful destruction of mortgage and security documents, we have a huge mess in this country, which is going to take years to unravel. And yes, this is coming to light in the courts. There are too many instances of it for it to be oversights or errors. It is intentional fraud upon the people and the courts.
As to me, I am as unhappy about the situation as the rest of you. When I bought my home, the mortgage broker tried to push me into an ARM. Thankfully, I insisted on a fixed conventional mortgage. Recently, I landed a new and much better job in another state, meaning that I have to unload my house in GA. Unfortunately for me, my house has lost $120k in value over the last two years, and I have gone from $60k in equity to being $60k upside down. No one wants to buy my home and I cannot afford to support two houses for much longer. I have never been late on a payment, even when I got laid off in 2000, and still do not want to. Because I have been responsible, I am screwed. I am going to speak with an attorney about how to walk away and cut all the strings. Whenever you walk away, you need to have an attorney involved as the bank can come after you several years down the road for the lost money. Don’t think they can’t and won’t. Also, the IRS can come after you. Make sure an attorney is involved to leave cleanly. Good luck to us all…
ATL Guy
October 11th, 2010
2:14 pm
I have some serious reservations about your claim below where your knee jerk reaction is to blame the continuing foreclosures on government. I hear all of these Republicans saying that government can’t do anything and that business is the answer to all of our problems yet here we have businesses putting profit before people in the marketplace. What we are going through right now is a problem that started under Bush and was not addressed then. For 2 yrs Bush did not say anything about the country being in a recession. And he even ignored the fact that foreclosures were snowballing.
Now you guys want to blame the government for not bullying businesses to stop foreclosures yet you don’t want government to interfere with business. You guys are beyond confusing. You hated the Republicans and what they did over the last 8 years, yet in two years you’re ready to run back to them. Sounds like a battered wife syndrome to me. If you go back to them, you know what you’re getting yourself into. But in this case, facts don’t matter.
——————————————————————-
Henry Unger
October 11th, 2010
7:01 am
Relatively few people got help from the federal government’s modification program, which is why foreclosures are still increasing. Of all the things the government did during the recession, this was one of the least successful efforts, regardless of what you think about the other ones.
Sacrificing FICO Score
October 11th, 2010
2:18 pm
When is this going to show in Atlanta?
http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob
scott
October 11th, 2010
4:31 pm
folks welcome to the new detroit record.high foreclosures.high unemployment,horrible crime,poor planning..some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country,and the most dangerous neighborhoods here than any other major american city…racial division..record high bankruptcys 3rd in the country,filthy air,no1 in bank failures.49th in education,high poverty rate,corruption quality of life at a all time low…ATLANTA THE DETROIT OF THE SOUTH…BEAUTIFUL SEATTLE ,WASHINGTON I,M COMING TO JOIN YOU HONEY!!5 YRS TO RETIRE!!!
Ooh La Lah
October 11th, 2010
8:08 pm
@ scott – you are correct… even paraphrased a term i use: The Detroit of Dixie!
Don A.
October 11th, 2010
9:21 pm
Yet another article that makes no mention of consumer responsibility for their own decisions.
drahcir61
October 13th, 2010
11:30 am
Georgia is a non-judicial state so if you don’t FORCE a judicial hearing then they will sell your house on the County Courthouse steps to the highest bidder & there’s nothing you can do. This is EXTREMELY cheap for the banks & very efficient.
But if you DO file a lawsuit, the banks are forced to spend a lot of money & prove to a judge that they have all the proper paperwork, that they followed each step appropriately, that all of the numbers are valid, & that all other requirements by law were met. You should also demand in your lawsuit for them to produce the original wet ink note that you signed at closing. This is called the “produce the note” strategy & it is working very effectively all across the country to delay, stop, & in some cases null & void the entire mortgage.
Google “produce the note” to find out more info. The average cost for banks to foreclose when there is a JUDICIAL CHALLENGE is $50k to $75k. You are letting them off the hook & making it VERY easy for them if you do not file a lawsuit & challenge the foreclosure. Banks do not want to spend $50k to $75k, especially if your house is only worth $100k to $300k.
Bankruptcy can assist families struggling with foreclosure, poverty | Bankruptcy Lawyers Blogs
October 16th, 2010
2:47 pm
[...] eleven percent with 11,070 homes on the action block just for the month of October according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, possibly forcing more American families into bankruptcy. Although Bank of American has announced a [...]