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First of all, it’s important to recognize that each homeowner’s situation is entirely unique… like snowflakes, no two are exactly alike.  And the bottom-line is that your mortgage servicer is limited as to what the solution they can offer by the limitations placed on your loan by the investor(s).

So, the first question you’ll want to answer is: Does Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac own your loan?  You can find out by clicking here: Fannie Mae Loan Look-Up… Freddie Mac Loan Look-Up.

The reason you want to know if either Fannie or Freddie owns your loan is that both have specific rules that servicers must follow and neither has agreed to grant principal reductions to delinquent borrowers as part of the loan modifications they offer.

http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2013/06/part-two-how-to-take-your-power-back-when-at-risk-of-foreclosure/

The evidence at trial established that the defendants solicited homeowners facing foreclosure, promising them that they would help the homeowners avoid foreclosure and repair their credit. Instead, through misrepresentations, fraud and forgery, the defendants led the victims to complete transactions that substituted straw buyers for the victim homeowners on the titles of properties without the homeowners’ knowledge. These straw buyers were often friends and family members of the defendants. Once the straw buyers were on title to the homes, the defendants applied for mortgages to extract the maximum available equity from the homes. The defendants then shared the proceeds of the ill-gotten equity and the “rent” that the victim homeowners paid them. Ultimately, the victim homeowners were left with no home, no equity, and with damaged credit ratings.

http://mortgagefraudblog.com/jury-returns-guilty-verdict-in-nationwide-f...

According to court documents and statements made in court, Kinney, a New Haven-based attorney, participated in a mortgage fraud conspiracy in 2006 and 2007 by acting as the settlement agent in connection with fraudulent real estate transactions in New London County. As part of the scheme, Kinney submitted, or caused to be submitted, materially false HUD-l settlement statements to lenders. In certain cases, Kinney released a disbursement check before he had received the down payment listed on the HUD-1.

On November 5, 2007, in connection with the investigation of this matter, FBI special agents served Kinney a subpoena at his New Haven office. On that date, Kinney told agents that he had never given anyone a closing check prior to receiving the down payment money in connection with real estate closings that he handled when, in fact, he had done so on multiple occasions.

http://mortgagefraudblog.com/jail-time-for-lawyer-who-falsified-closing-...

Since the time I was a small child, my parents preached what seems to be the declaration of their generation: study hard, go to college, get a good >job, pay off your home, and live happily ever after. Having worked as a financial planner I feel that this is a common philosophy from the “depression baby” generation. Now as I look at this plan after being not only a financial planner but also an insurance agent and long time realtor/real estate investor, I can sincerely see how short sighted this theory is especially today. First of all people are living much longer, yet the retirement age has hardly increased[1]. The philosophy I mentioned above also makes no mention of investing (only working hard) and the nest egg that most of the people who believe in this ethic have is the equity in their house – and with a paid-off house this nest egg is relatively illiquid and has most likely never made a return the entire time they’ve owned it[2].

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/05/01/equity-rich-cash-poor/

According to the indictment and evidence presented to the jury during the trial, Mark was employed as a real estate agent and transaction coordinator at Distinctive Real Estate and Investments, a company owned and operated by co-conspirator Eve Mazzarella who was convicted of fraud in December 2011 and sentenced to 14 years in prison. From about March 2006 to December 2007, Mark solicited persons with good credit to act as straw buyers to purchase homes in the Las Vegas area. Mark made arrangements to purchase the homes above the sellers’ asking prices, and made arrangements for the excess funds to be redirected to business entities controlled by his coconspirators under the pretense that they would make upgrades or perform repairs to the properties.

Mark caused the straw buyers to apply for mortgage loans for the homes, knowing that the straw buyers could not afford and did not intent to make the mortgage payments.

http://mortgagefraudblog.com/jury-convicts-lawyer-of-mortgage-scam-invol...

HOMEOWNERS FACING foreclosure and eviction from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand that the Justice Department begin prosecutions against the bankers who created the foreclosure crisis.

Seniors and communities of color were targeted for predatory loans during the housing boom, yet not one banker has been jailed. Wall Street gambled with pension funds and home equity, and not one of those responsible has been brought to justice. Instead, they've been handed taxpayer money in the form of bailouts--and returned to record profitability.

So Occupy Our Homes, the Home Defenders League and others decided to give a wake-up call to the Department of Justice, saying, "Too big to fail is NOT too big to jail!"

http://socialistworker.org/2013/05/29/foreclose-on-banks-not-people

In retrospect, the real surprise is that all this did not happen sooner. Anger with banks and the mess they had caused had been boiling for three years. Recall, for example, the (thwarted) attempt by the US House of Representatives – not normally an anti-Wall Street body – to impose a 90 per cent tax rate on bonuses by bailed-out financial companies.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/91a3782a-a80f-11e2-b031-00144feabdc0.html

We seem to be having a national recovery in much of the media, but in the states themselves the numbers are refusing to cooperate.  I guess if you can have a “jobless recovery,” then you can probably have a national recovery without states being involved.

According to a wonderfully dizzying article on AL.com – All Alabama, the southern state is facing some roadblocks to the recovery of its housing market.  According to words used in the article’s headline, “foreclosures are crippling the state’s housing market, despite a national trend.”

Ready to have some fun?  Here goes…

http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2013/05/alabama-slamma-not-for-better-fa...

As the banks, credit card companies, and the debt collectors obtain judgments against Floridians, debt collection becomes an increasingly important and potentially costly battle. Unfortunately, not all of these companies play by the same rules. In its infinite wisdom, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Consumer Collections Practices Act which prohibits debt collectors from engaging in certain types of activities that are viewed as harassing by consumers.

Debt collectors routinely violate the law by engaging in activities which are intended to embarrass, humiliate, harass, and scare consumers.

http://mattweidnerlaw.com/blog/2013/04/debt-collection-the-ugly-side-of-...