Robo-signing still haunts borrowers

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.  Call us for a title insurance quote.

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Borrowers, Beware: The Robo-Signers Aren’t Finished Yet



The New York Times' Gretchen Morgenstern writes about the lingering effects of the foreclosure mess created by robo-signing.

Remember the robo-signers, those mortgage loan automatons who authenticated thousands of foreclosure documents over the years without verifying the information they were swearing to?

Well, they’re back, in a manner of speaking, at least in Florida. Their dubious documents are being used to hound former borrowers years after their homes went into foreclosure.

 It seems the lenders are now pursuing deficiency judgments for amounts being the difference between the debt foreclosed and the amount realized after foreclosure sale.

“Sending these cases to debt collectors when the underlying foreclosures involved unlawful robo-signing is unfair and potentially even deceptive,” said Kathleen C. Engel, a research professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. “Fannie Mae is not entitled to collect on those debts when the foreclosure was unlawful.”

It's a story worth reading.  Which you can do here.

 

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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I am refinancing my mortgage. Do I need a new title insurance policy?

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you. Call us for a title insurance rate quote or check our website, www.vested.com.

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Why do I have to buy title insurance again when I refinance my mortgage?  After all, I bought a policy when I bought my home and  there is no change in ownership?

The new lender gets a new loan policy to insure the validity of your new mortgage.

For as long as you own the property, your Owner's policy is valid, but it doesn't insure the new mortgage created when you refinance, and it doesn't provide protection against events that may have transpired between the time you purchased the property and when it is refinanced.

For example, you may have taken out a second mortgage on the home that could threaten the priority of the new lender's mortgage. Or, there could be money  judgments against you or a construction lien claim against the property.

In New Jersey, mortgage refinances are insured at a steeply discounted premium.  If you would like a title insurance premium quote for your refinance mortgage or home equity mortgage, call us, or go to our website, www.vested.com.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Why do I need title insurance when refinancing a mortgage loan?

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

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A question we are often asked: 

Why do I need title insurance when I refinance my mortgage?

When you refinance your home your old loan is paid off and the lender's title policy expires. Therefore, when you refinance, your lender will require a new loan policy on its mortgage to protect its interest in the property. You do not need a new owner's policy.

 

Have a question?  We'll be glad to answer.

 

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Adjustable rate mortgage, is it right for you?

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. Even if you just want a title insurance rate quote. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

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Ziggy cartoon pokes fun at adjustable rate mortgages (ARM.)

 

 

As the cartoon implies, an ARM customarily has payments that change with changes in the interest rate.

 

When first introduced about 30 years ago, no one knew quite what to make of them.  Even the Federal government was confused and had to come up with an entirely different formula for calculating the annual percentage rate, APR, on such loans.

 

ARMS were touted as cost savers because the initial interest rate was often a teaser rate, below what fixed-rate mortgages were being offered.  That aspect became the biggest target for fixed-rate lenders to aim at, introducing the concept of "rate shock" into the mix by frightening borrowers with the prospect of massive jumps in payments when the ARM mortgage interest rate adjusted.

 

Point of fact, ARMS have never been the bogeyman they were touted to be. There have been abuses in the ARM loan process, namely, writing loans with negative amortization, fixed payments, and the like, but the basic ARM remains a good way for a first-time homebuyer to get her foot in the door.

 

If you would like to know more about ARMS, read this booklet from the Consumer Finance Protection Board.

 



For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Buying a “trailer home” could cost you more.

We used to call them “trailer homes” or “mobile homes” but the more accurate phrase, one used in the NY Times is “manufactured homes.”  Simply defined they are factory-built structures that are transported to a leased or buyer-owned lot.  Unfortunately, as the Times reports, they

offer a realistic possibility of homeownership for many lower-income buyers. But financing options are limited and expensive, which has sparked calls for reform.

These homes cost less than half as much as the estimated $94-per-square-foot national average for new site-built housing, the report found. A new, single-section manufactured home sold for an average of $43,000 in the first half of 2014, excluding transport and siting costs.

According to the Times’ coverage of a report issued by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau,

most owners of manufactured homes pay much higher loan rates. Loans for the purchase of these homes are concentrated among a handful of lenders, the largest of which are 21st Mortgage Corporation and Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, both subsidiaries of Clayton Homes, a manufactured-housing provider and a division of Berkshire Hathaway.

Part of the difficulty financing a manufactured home arises from the fact that it located on a leased lot.  Think of obtaining a loan on a car.  That’s exactly the same with a manufactured home.  These loans are more expensive because the lender has a lien on something movable.  As the Times points out,

If they own the lot under the house, the property may be titled as real property, making it eligible for a mortgage.

Want to know more? the full article is here.

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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