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Mortgage Fraud Prosecutions

Two bills designed to address some of the problems resulting from the economic crisis have been signed by President Obama. The first deals with mortgage fraud and the other with helping families who are involved in a foreclosure situation save their homes.

Look out rip-off artists, enforcers of the new mortgage fraud bill means serious business. Almost half a billion federal dollars has been authorized to spend on targeting charges of mortgage fraud. Agencies the likes of the Secret Service, U.S. Postal Service and HUD are all getting additional funding to increase their security measures.

The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act now sanctions the government to go after companies or individuals currently out of reach. Currently, an incidence of mortgage fraud can result in investigation, prosecution, civil penalties and prison time at a federal level, opposed to the prior gentler state penalties previously enforced. This new Act applies to all types of mortgage fraud, no matter how minor the offence.

In the past, these schemes defrauded home owners, realtors, lenders and builders out of billions of dollars each year. The FBI intends to send a message that mortgage fraud will not be tolerated and it is expected that offenders will receive stiff penalties in order to set an example to others.

The second bill, simply entitled, "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act," is intended to simplify the process for homeowners to receive foreclosure financing and modifications to existing loans. It also makes it easier for the lender to offer these types of options and hopefully prevent an impending foreclosure.

The new law also offers protection for renters who find themselves living in a home whose owners are facing foreclosure. Under the old rules, tenants would have to move immediately following foreclosure, now they have the option to continue renting for a term negotiated with the lender. This makes sense on so many levels. Now hundreds of families who otherwise would have found themselves on the street, still have homes. Lenders no longer have to deal with the problems associated with the upkeep of an empty home. Hopefully this will reduce occurrences of complete neighborhoods of foreclosed houses sitting vacant and facing ill repair and vandalism. In many cases, reliable tenants are happy to stay on and maintain the property.

The law provides additional homeless relief, makes better use of local organizations in this role, and allows them more latitude when allocating federal funds for assistance.

Part of the reason that mortgage fraud became so widespread was attributed to the lack of a single watchdog affiliation to oversee the the sketchy subprime loan offerings, underwriting and lending schemes. Instead there were a number of small agencies, each only seeing part of the problem, but no single unit had the power to actually deal with the issue as a whole. Currently, the Obama administration has a plan in the works to establish a single federal agency designed to watch over everyone involved; from the small brokers to the major lenders.

About the Author:

Search Sandy Springs GA condos at TinaFountain.com, the home of Sandy Springs real estate experts.

Source - Mortgage Fraud Bill Signed, Sealed & Delivered

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Mortgage Default Canada

Question: What access to CDN assets does a US mortgage company have when a Canadian citizen defaults on a US mortgage?

We own a property in Florida that unfortunately does not make financial sense to try to keep. We will likely walk away from the house and default on the mortgage. What access will the mortgage company have to my assets here in Canada, and what are the possible repercussions?
Thanks very much.

Answer: I would ask an attorney this question. Typically, most states have laws that require a mortgage company to only one solution for the mortgage. If they opt to foreclose on the home, then any other option may not be viable. For example, here in California that is what happens. A home can either be foreclosed on as the only remedy or the mortgage company can release the lien on the home and go after the owners other assets, but not both options together.

Again, contact an attorney about this. I would not give advise on this and certainly would not accept any with the person holding a valid law degree, specifically in real estate and foreclosure laws and preferably in both American and Canadian Law.

Good luck

Chris Newell's 'Your First Home' Liz Sanchez Clip 2

Mortgage Default Modelling

In a sweeping change of opinion, more than 1 out of 3 homeowners say that if housing prices continue to slide they'll walk away from their mortgages, according to a new Housing Predictor survey. The poll demonstrates major changes in the way Americans feel about the U.S. banking system and their own financial well being.

Americans have historically felt responsible to fulfill financial commitments made to banks and mortgage lenders. Business models tracking foreclosures have figured that defaults would be limited to less than 6% of all home mortgages. The foreclosure epidemic has grown to become the nation's worst financial disaster coupled with the credit crunch since the Great Depression damaging the entire economy.

Respondents to the survey are demonstrating they are fed-up with the way the economic downturn is affecting their lives. Some 36% surveyed said they would walk away from their homes if housing prices fall for a number of years.

The credit crisis on Wall Street quickly spread to Main Street as more than 4-million homeowners from every corner of the economy had homes foreclosed.

Wall Street traders developed a series of new financial instruments to trade mortgage backed securities to fill a record supply of home mortgages, many of which were to subprime borrowers at first and then to conventional mortgage borrowers.

A year after the crisis began a new national record high number of homeowners had shrunk to a record low.

Growing unemployment and worsening consumer confidence have led to an increasing number of foreclosures, despite efforts by the new Obama Administration in Washington and Congress to slow the epidemic of foreclosures.

Housing Predictor forecasts more than 250 housing markets and surveys visitors on real estate related topics. Check your market forecast, real estate news and get the latest on the foreclosure epidemic at http://www.housingpredictor.com

About the Author:

Mike Colpitts is the Editor of Housing Predictor, which provides housing market forecasts in all 50 U.S. states. Check on your market at http://www.HousingPredictor.com

Source - Survey Shows Homeowners Will Dump Mortgages

Developing New Models for Forecasting Mortgages in Mathematica