With Doubt Intensifying Around Foreclosures, New Homes With Clear Titles Look Good
With Doubt Intensifying Around Foreclosures, New Homes With Clear Titles Look Good
Source: REUTERS
Everything you need to know about the foreclosure freeze...
- Lawyers poke around and question the accuracy of legal documents from mortgage lends, putting the brakes on foreclosure proceedings.
- What's a foreclosure? You have a mortgage. You can't make the payments. The bank takes your property. You've been foreclosed.
- To foreclose on a house, a lender must prove it has a valid claim. Banks used
robo-signers" to plow through thousands of foreclosures and sign affidavits.
- What's a "robo-signer"? Not an automated machine, but a mid-level bank official who signs thousands of affidavits a month.
- Many robo-signers allegedly signed affidavits without reading them or having a notary present.
- It gets worse. Some lawyers say the people hired as "foreclosure experts" had no previous training in foreclosure law.
- The allegations prod banks to halt foreclosures while they conduct internal investigations.
- The scandal adds further uncertainty to an already toxic housing market, keeping potential buyers away.
- The revelation of fraudulent practices opens up the possibility of legal challenges on foreclosed homes. Who's going to buy a foreclosed home when its legal ownership is under dispute?
- Foreclosed properties made up nearly a quarter of home sales in Q2 of this year, nagging uncertainty among home buyers threatens to delay the housing market's recovery for at least another year.
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