Michigan Attorney

Author Archives: Kurt O'Keefe

MERS On Way Out

  No mas! MERS is folding up its tent as far as foreclosing in its own name, or filing pleadings in bankruptcy court in its own name, as it told is clients they have to get an assignment from MERS, and then file stuff in their own name. Our Michigan court of appeals probably influenced…

Short Sale, What Is It?

Short sale = sale of your home for less than what you owe on it, so, short of the amount necessary to pay the mortgage or mortgages and any other liens, like property taxes. Over half the homes with mortgages are worth less than what is owed.  I am sure that more that is worse…

Can You Re-Finance Your Mortgage Without An Attorney?

Instead of “Guest Host”, we have a Guest Post. Those of my generation will remember Jay Leno got his Tonite Show start as a guest host for Johnny Carson. Today, I welcome Paris Mitchell as guest poster. Let me know what you think? If you are frantically looking for a way to trim down your…

Breaking Foreclosure News In Michigan

  First Michigan law firm implicated in fraudulent foreclosure affidavits. Michigan attorney general involved in chasing mortgage servicers for robo-signing. I have written about robo-signing before; I can’t tell you how great it is to see a politician do something about it. We all know the drill:  massive over-lending, subsidized by the government, predatory mortgages,…

Foreclosure Crisis In Michigan – Update

  Greed, one of those seven deadly sins, and the driving force behind our economic collapse, manifested in a desire of the big  mortgage companies to avoid paying recording fees and other local government charges. Oakland County Michigan is striking back. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, bad guys whose misdeeds are admirably chronicled in “Reckless…

Reckles$ Endangerment

Read this Book!   In 1965, home ownership in the US stood at 63%. Over the next 15 years, that moved slightly upward to 65.5%, then down to 64% in 1995. Goosed by government policies, that rate peaked at 69.1% in 2004. Currently, the rate is down to 66.4%. In 2004, the unemployment rate was…

More On HAMP Mortgage Modification Failure

Hard to believe a government mortgage program failing, but, even the Treasury Department finally noticed the HAMP program is failing. And, of all things, the government found that the mortgage companies were overstating the income of the homeowners trying to save their houses. Their excuse?  Well, at first, HAMP did not require that applicants document…

Who Else Wants To Repeat Disaster?

quicken 125% LTV Just what foreclosure ridden America needs, a return to 125% loan-to-value mortgages. Just what I am looking for, how did Quicken loans know? I am flabbergasted. One of the most toxic products ever, most of these loans proved disastrous when the real estate bubble popped and home prices collapsed. And the real…

Michigan Foreclosure and MERS News

Another Michigan court has weighed in against MERS foreclosing by publication. And, Ingham county has voted to fund the fight against fraudulent foreclosure practices. Michigan MERS trouble has become an ongoing story. The latest decision is from a Washtenaw county circuit court, which did allow judicial foreclosure by a party other than MERS. I will…

Man Bites Dog

Homeowner forecloses on Bank of  (everything in) America. I write so much negative stuff, because, well, that is what’s out there. So here is a happy foreclosure story. Bank of (everything in) America bought Countrywide, the prime villain in the foreclosure piece. So, they have a lot of messed up paperwork for the messed up…