Foreclosure Archives

January 24, 2024April 25, 2024

Guilty Pleas in Long Island: Heirs Recover Their Stolen Deeds

Two New Yorkers — and one is a former lawyer and a licensed notary — have pleaded guilty to deed fraud charges in New York. The charges involve first-degree scheming to defraud, and additional counts related to forging and filing false documents to take deceased people’s titles in Nassau and Queens.

A company run by one of the pair pleaded guilty, too — to possession of stolen property and multiple forgery charges. The implicated real estate business will have to pay a $100,000 fine, and repay rents on the stolen properties. The other member of the pair, a landscaper, could be sentenced to a prison term of up to three years on January 30, 2024.

One of the would-be victims blew the whistle. As reported in the New York Daily News, she got a bad feeling about one of the pair. He walked into a coffee shop to meet her wearing a crumpled suit.

An investigation began. The outcome? The D.A. in Queens, Melinda Katz, announced that the Queens Supreme Court has voided the faked deeds. The ripped-off families are now able to recover their assets.

December 22, 2023April 25, 2024

Who Owns Your Home—You, or the Bank? Check for a “Defeasance Clause”

Defeasance? What’s that?

Some home loans contain a defeasance clause. It means you’re giving up collateral. Do your home loan documents have defeasance language? If so, your lending institution holds your home’s title for as long as you owe the lender money.

Although the legal owner is your lender, you are still called the homeowner. Yet your title isn’t at home with your loan documents. Your lender will hold onto your title until after that final payoff.

Once you meet all of your loan obligations, including a full and final pay-off, you trigger the defeasance clause. That, in turn, unlocks the final phase of your agreement. That’s the conveyance of title from the lender to the successful owner of a paid-off home. The title will then be yours — free and clear.

October 18, 2023April 25, 2024

Mortgage Company Paying Your Property Taxes Out of Escrow? Check.

Most home buyers get a mortgage loan to finance the purchase. And for most people, the mortgage servicing company holds some of the owner’s payment in escrow, and pays property taxes out of that account on behalf of the borrower as long as the mortgage exists.

But what if the mortgage servicer lets a tax payment slip through the cracks?

September 6, 2023April 25, 2024

The Big Tease: Look Out for Rising Interest on a Home Equity Line of Credit

Once you get a deed to your own home, you have special wealth-building powers. Pay off the mortgage faithfully month by month, and you own increasing home equity. This is how your home turns into value you can tap when you need or want it.

A home equity line of credit (HELOC) gives you an account to tap for ongoing or surprise expenses —costs like tuition, medical or accessibility needs, starting a new business, or anything else you’d like to pay for without putting debt on a credit card. You use your home equity as collateral. This means banks offer interest rates as low as 9%. That’s a lot lower than credit card rates.

While HELOC rates might start off seemingly low, they can turn into trouble.