Three Reasons Why Upside Down Homeowners Should Consider Bankruptcy http://bit.ly/9fXgln 

Another good blog that ties in with a recent blog I wrote on this very issue.

Three Personal Finance Mistakes That Lead To Bankruptcy http://bit.ly/9u2fAC  

Great post from Reed Allmand in Texas.  Bankruptcy “Alternatives” Could Cause More Financial Pain http://bit.ly/9xfmlM

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Central Florida Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney Richard R. Baker www.legalquestion.com

You have options and you have rights so...KNOW your options!

The new reality of the housing market; too upside down!  South Florida is no different from Central Florida.  Nobody wants to surrender their house in a bankruptcy but if you cannot modify through Chapter 13, it may be the last option.  http://fb.me/zxFeURmA 

I don't agree with the news anchor at the end.  It will not take four years to buy another home.  That is where his ignorance on the power of a bankruptcy discharge is obvious.  The Attorney paints a much more accurate picture. Richard R. Baker, Esq. www.legalquestion.com

Good video on why you cannot ignore Foreclosure in Florida. Roy Oppenheim discusses Florida Deficiency...http://fb.me/BXBEYf8I

In a recent report issued by the Treasury Department under the Making Home Affordable mortgage modification program, it is clear that too many mortgage modifications fail, are denied or re-default later.  After reviewing the data, I believe that the main reason this happens is because Debt to Income Ratio is too high.

In other words, because most people have other debt issues in addition to their mortgage problem, that "other debt" makes the mortgage modification almost impossible to sustain...unless

You modify you mortgage as part of a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case.  

A few of us Orlando Bankruptcy Attorneys are working with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Orlando, Florida to refine the Court's new mediation program.  You see, without addressing the other debts too, it is hard to make a HAMP modification work.  But when you can have court supervision, can adjust other debts and take many of those debts out of the equation, you get a clear picture of what income is really available to pay on the mortgage.

Consider this:  if you can lien strip off your second mortgage, adjust car loans, pay very little to unsecured credit card debt, modifying your mortgage as part of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case will give the overwhelmed homeowner the best chance at keeping their home.  

For more information on how this Bankruptcy Court Mortgage Mediation Program will work in Orlando, contact Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney Richard R. Baker at www.legalquestion.com or call 888-841-3588 or 407-647-8833.

http://ezinearticles.com/?New-Federal-Loan-Modification-Rules-To-Now-Work-With-Chapter-13-Bankruptcy-Laws-&id=4353662

Florida Judges are fed up with foreclosure law firms abusing the Courts

By: Orlando Bankruptcy Attorney Richard R. Baker, Esq.  www.legalquestion.com

In a recent foreclosure case in Miami, Florida, State Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey cancelled a Note for $207,000 on Orlando Eslava’s Home and Ordered title be transferred back to him as a sanction against his mortgage company (HSBC v. Orlando Eslava, Case No.1-2008-CA-055313, 11^th Circuit Court, Miami-Dade County).  The Bank, HSBC, was Ordered to post a bond and did not comply with the Court’s Order, a business decision on their part.

Their attorneys, Florida Default Law Group, tried to apologize and explain the file was on hold for loss mitigation but refused to stop the foreclosure sale anyway.  It didn’t fly.  Florida Default Law Group were taken to task by a Judge who has had enough of its judicial resources being wasted on conflicting positions about loss mitigation and pushing for the foreclosure sale to go as scheduled and ignoring Court Orders. 

The story on the newswire focused on man getting his home back and his mortgage cancelled; however, I think the real story is what the Judge said to the foreclosure attorneys, Florida Default Law Group.  The Judge apparently has had enough of these foreclosure mills having no idea of what is happening in their own files and wasting the Court’s time on shifting positions on the case. 

We Consumer Attorneys know this to be the truth about foreclosure in Florida and much of the country, yet foreclosure attorneys and mortgage companies think the Courts are required to do whatever they want.  Judge Bailey thinks otherwise and the sentiment is growing.  Is it incompetence?  Is it arrogance?

The following are some excerpts from the certified transcript of that hearing:

This line of questioning by the Judge was to the Foreclosure Attorney from Florida Default Law Group:

THE COURT:  How many files are you responsible for?

ATTY: I don’t have that number. I’m not sure.

THE COURT: How many cases can you tell me where you know anything in detail about the loss mitigation status of the file?

ATTY: Well, the way it’s set up, the bank handles the loss mitigation separately.

THE COURT: So the answer is zero.  You’re filing pleadings everyday in court and you don’t even know what is going on with the case.  And see, the really interesting thing to me as a Judge is that in no other species or kind of law would that be remotely acceptable or, frankly, anything short of malpractice. But somehow in Foreclosure World everybody thinks that that’s just fine, that you all can know absolutely nothing about your files and walk in here and ask Judges for things left and right without even knowing what’s going on.

The Judge went on to lambast the Florida Default Law Group further:

THE COURT: What I’m trying to give is, to lawyers who handle these cases, a wake-up call that this is your life, your career on the hook and you guys better wake up and smell the coffee.

My fellow Floridians, we need more Judges like Judge Bailey.  I agree with her that if the mortgage is in loss mitigation why push the case and clog the Court’s docket, only to shift positions after the Court has expended its resources on needless hearings.  With 60,000 foreclosures in Miami-Dade alone in 2009, I can appreciate the Judge refusing to tolerate these mortgage company and lawyer shenanigans.  For more information or a copy of the transcript, contact Orlando Bankruptcy Attorney Richard R. Baker at www.legalquestion.com

STRIPPING OFF SECOND MORTGAGE LIENS IN CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY

Thanks to our friend Doug Neway, Esquire, now the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee in the Jacksonville Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy, who about ten years ago took his case, In re: Tanner, to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.  The ruling he won allowed for the stripping off of second mortgage liens on real property in the 11^th Circuit (Florida, Georgia & Alabama) in Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. 

This is allowed in a Chapter 13 case where the current market value of the real property is less than the amount owed on the first mortgage.  In today's real estate market it is fair to say that anyone who financed their home several years ago with 80/20 financing (80% 1st and 20% 2nd mortgage) has an unsecured second mortgage.  Many Floridians do not realize that stripping off these second mortgages and HELOC loans is permissible in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case.  This type of debt adjustment is exactly why Chapter 13 can provide tremendous relief to homeowners in distress.

In my bankruptcy law practice, I meet many homeowners who can overcome problems with their first mortgage if they didn’t have to pay the second mortgage or their credit card debt.  That is what Chapter 13 is all about; adjusting certain debts so other debts can be paid and homeowners can keep their homes.  

To find out more about the benefits of lien stripping, stopping foreclosure and obtaining a loan modification and other relief available under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy code, contact Orlando Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney Richard Baker at www.legalquestion.com