Southern Oregon Attorneys - Lawyers in Rogue Valley

<body style="margin-left: 1px; margin-right: 1px; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 1px"> <h1 align="left" class="auto-style8">Southern Oregon Foreclosure Defense Help; Lawyers; Litigation Support</h1> <p align="left"><strong><font class="auto-style7"><br> <span style="LETTER-SPACING: 1pt"> <a href="http://charlescox.hersid.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=3"> Join the National Homeowners Cooperative, it is free</a></span></font></strong><br> <br><strong><a href="http://www.forensicloananalyst.com">NOW AVAILABLE - FORENSIC LOAN ANALYSES/REVIEWS/AUDITS</a></strong><br>(For attorneys only)<br> <br><a href="http://www.bayliving.com/REST/images/sample-rest-report.pdf"> <strong>ALSO AVAILABLE, REST-REPORTS - LOAN MODIFICATION/HAMP ANALYSIS </strong></a><br>(See sample here...will post a narrative on the use and application later but if you have an attorney looking into a loan modification for you, have him or her take a look...this might help with negotiations.<br> <strong><br>FORENISC LOAN DOCUMENT, SECURITIZATION AND CHAIN OF TITLE REPORTS<br> </strong>(Available to attorneys in various formats)<div class="style27"> <strong><a href="http://www.bayliving.com/awl.htm">If You Have America's Wholesale Lender as Your "Lender" Click Here</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://www.bayliving.com/california-loan-modification/index.htm">Loan Modifications</a> </strong>Are your payments more than you can handle?  Do you want to keep your house and have someone help you negotiate a lower payment? Do loan modifications really help you keep your home? (See REST Reports above) <strong><a href="http://www.bayliving.com/california-short-sale/index.htm">Short-Sales</a> </strong>Do you need to sell your house for less than you owe to avoid foreclosure? Has a change in circumstances put you in a position of needing to re-evaluate your home ownership position? <a href="http://www.bayliving.com/foreclosure/index.htm"><strong>Foreclosure/Foreclosure Defenses</strong></a> - Have you considered foreclosure?  What about foreclosure defense?  Are there defects in your loan?  Does the "lender" have standing to collect from you?  Do you actually owe the money?  Is your "lender" actually a "lender", "servicer" or even a party to the transaction? What other remedies are there? <font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b><a href="http://www.bayliving.com/freedocuments.htm">Real Estate Self-Help and Other Links</a> </b> <span style="LETTER-SPACING: 1pt">- </span>We have self-help books in stock for sale and available onlline</font> <font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b><a href="http://www.bayliving.com/freedocuments.htm">Real Estate Forms forms</a> </b>we have our own forms for clients' utilizing our services for free as well as these for sale</font> <font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b><a href="http://www.bayliving.com/bankruptcy/index.htm">Bankruptcy Information</a> - </b>including self help books in stock or you can order online (or we can order for you)</font></div> forensic analyst and analysis for California and Oregon<br>forensic audit<br> securitization<br>Southern Oregon Foreclosure Help<br>Medford foreclosure attorneys<br>Trustee Sale<br>Notice of Default<br>Assignment of Deed of Trust<br>Deed of Trust<br>Mortgage<br>Note<br>Where's the note<br>allonge<br> transfer of note<br>assignment of note<br>endorsement of note<br>indorsement<br> non judicial foreclosure<br>unlawful detainer<br>eviction<br>bankruptcy<br> chapter 7<br>chapter 13<br>chapter 11<br>land trust<br>lien stripping<br> abandonment of real estate<br>proof of claim<br>motion for relief from stay<br> temporary restraining order<br>preliminary injunction<br>motion to dismiss<br> removal to federal court<br>Max Gardner<br>Neil Garfield<br>April Charney<br> pooling and servicing agreement<br>MERS<br>In re McCoy<br>In re Monk<br> Foreclosure Defense Outline<br>Perfection of note<br>Hooker v Northwest Trustee Services<br>Gomes<br>Salazar<br>Split of note from deed of trust</p> <p align="left"> <a href="santa-cruz-foreclosures.htm">securitization</a></p> <p class="style48">In certain cases, mortgage foreclosure defense can be so effective that the Plaintiff prosecuting the foreclosure is unable to successfully foreclose.  This has been known to happen in cases involving “lost promissory notes” where the foreclosing Plaintiff is unable to prove standing sufficient to enforce the mortgage.<o:p></o:p></p> <p>So what happens to the borrower’s status with regard to the home when the lender’s (or entities purporting to be the lender) foreclosure efforts prove unfruitful?  This is a difficult question to answer by reference to traditionally applicable legal authorities to which lawyers are accustomed to referring, like common law precedent, rules of procedure, as well as statutory law like the Uniform Commercial Code.  This is likely due to the fact that such authorities have generally not kept pace with developments in finance like securitization and “MERS originated mortgages”.<o:p></o:p></p> <p>What is clear in the law is that even if the borrower in default escapes the foreclosure proceedings to live another day, there is, at minimum, a cloud on the title to the home which will prevent the borrower from being able to successfully sell, refinance or bequeath the home, and the law has no clear answer about what the borrower should do to resolve the issue.   Some real estate practicioners have suggested “Quiet Title” actions in which the homeowner would file a lawsuit that names all purported lienholders defendants and seeks to “quiet” the title, i.e., extinguish all claims of the named defendants to the property.<o:p></o:p></p> <p> </p> <p>Your goal is to make certain the institution suing you is, in fact, the owner of the note (see steps to follow below). There is only one original note for your mortgage that has your signature on it. This is the document that proves you owe the debt.</p> <p>During the lending boom, most mortgages were flipped and sold to another lender or servicer or sliced up and sold to investors as securitized packages on Wall Street. In the rush to turn these over as fast as possible to make the most money, many of the new lenders did not get the proper paperwork to show they own the note and mortgage. This is the key to the produce the note strategy. Now, many lenders are moving to foreclose on homeowners, resulting in part from problems they created, and don’t have the proper paperwork to prove they have a right to foreclose.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>THE HARM</strong></p> <p>If you don’t challenge your lender, the court will simply allow the foreclosure to proceed. It’s important to hold lenders accountable for their carelessness. This is the biggest asset in your life. It’s just a piece of paper to them, and one they likely either lost or destroyed.</p> <p>When you get a copy of the foreclosure suit, many lenders now automatically include a <a href="http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/re-establishment-of-note.pdf" title="Re-establishment of Note Count"> count to re-establish the note</a>. It often reads like this: “…the Mortgage note has either been lost or destroyed and the Plaintiff is unable to state the manner in which this occurred.” In other words, they are admitting they don’t have the note that proves they have a right to foreclose.</p> <p>If the lender is allowed to proceed without that proof, there is a possibility another institution, which may have bought your note along the way, will also try to collect the same debt from you again.</p> <p>A Tennessee borrower recently had precisely that happen to her. Her lender, Ameriquest, foreclosed on her in July of 2007. About three months later, another bank sent her a default notice for the mortgage on the house she just lost. She called to find out what was going on. After being transferred from place to place and left on hold for lengthy periods of time, no one could explain what happened. They said they would get back to her, but never did. Now, she faces the risk of having her credit continually damaged for a debt she no longer owes.</p> <p><strong>FIGHT FOR FAIRNESS</strong></p> <p>This process is not intended to help you get your house for free. The primary goal is to delay the foreclosure and put pressure on the lender to negotiate. Despite all the hype about lenders wanting to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, most borrowers know that’s not the reality.</p> <p>Too many homeowners have experienced lender resistance to their efforts to work out a payment structure to keep them in their homes. Many lenders bear responsibility for these defaults, because they put borrowers into unfair loans using deceptive, hard-sell practices and then made the problem worse with predatory servicing.</p> <p>Most homeowners just want these lenders to give them reasonable terms on their mortgages, many of which were predatory to begin with. With the help of judges who see through these predatory practices, lenders will feel the pressure to work with borrowers to keep them in their homes. Don’t forget lenders made incredible amounts of money by using irresponsible practices to issue and service these loans. That greed led to the foreclosure crisis we’re in today. Allowing lenders to continue foreclosing on home after home, destroying our neighborhoods and our economy hurts us all. So, make it hard for your lender to take your home. Make ‘em produce the note!</p> <p><strong>STEPS TO FOLLOW </strong></p> <p><strong>A. If your lender has already filed suit to foreclose on your home:</strong></p> <ol> <li>Use the first form. It’s a fill-in-the-blank <a href="http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/legal-request-template.doc" title="legal request"> legal request </a>to your lender asking that the original note be produced, before it can proceed with the foreclosure. In some jurisdictions, the courts require the original request to be filed with the clerk of court and a copy of the request to be sent to the attorney representing the lender. To find out the rules where you live, call the Clerk of Court in your jurisdiction. </li> <li>If the lender’s attorney does not respond within 30 days, file a <a href="http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/motion-to-compel-template.doc" title="motion to compel"> motion to compel</a> with the court and request that the court set a hearing on your motion. That, in effect, asks the judge to order the lender to produce the documents. </li> <li>The judge will issue a ruling at your hearing. Many judges around the country are becoming more sympathetic to homeowners, because of the prevalence of predatory lending and servicing. In the past, many lenders have relied upon using lost note affidavits, but in many cases, that’s no longer enough to satisfy the judge. They are holding the lender to the letter of the law, requiring them to produce evidence that they are the true owners of the note. For example: </li> </ol> <ul> <li>In October 2007, Ohio Federal Court Judge Christopher Boyko <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/business/15lend.html" title="NY Times - Foreclosures Hit a Snag for Lenders"> dismissed 14 foreclosure cases </a>brought by investors, <a href="http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/judge-boyko-ruling1.pdf" title="Judge Boyko Ruling"> ruling</a> they failed to prove they owned the properties they were trying to seize. </li> </ul> <p><strong>B. If you are in default, but your lender has not yet filed suit against you:</strong></p> <ol> <li>Use the second form. It’s a fill-in-the-blank <a href="http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/letter-to-lender-template.doc" title="letter to lender"> letter to your lender</a> which also requests they produce the original note, before taking foreclosure action against you. </li> <li>If the lender does not respond and files suit against you to foreclose, follow the steps above. </li> </ol> <p> </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine" itxtvisited="1"></span> JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Talking about what she sees as one of America’s darkest hours, attorney April Charney uses some pretty colorful language.</p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"> </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine0" itxtvisited="1"> </span>“You ever look into a place where snakes hang out?” she asks in the middle of a conversation about the loan officers, appraisers, investment bankers, attorneys and others that she believes are responsible for the nation’s worsening financial crisis. “That’s what I see here. They’re writhing and oozing and morphing into creepy stuff with slime all over it.” </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><br>Then in her quiet, gentle drawl — the kind of voice that could get you invited to afternoon drinks on the finest porches in South Florida, where she grew up — she leans forward and says quite earnestly, “Not to discredit snakes or anything.”</p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine2" itxtvisited="1"> </span>Charney, a lawyer with the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid agency, is quickly developing a national reputation as a champion of homeowners facing foreclosure and a serious adversary for those attempting to take possession of those homes. Her encyclopedic knowledge of contract law, debt-collection practice, securitized mortgages, the trusts that hold them and the agreements that govern the trusts have put her at the forefront of the rapidly expanding specialty of foreclosure defense. </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine3" itxtvisited="1"><br> </span>While carrying her own load of 70 to 100 foreclosure cases as a legal aid attorney, Charney, 51, also has become one of the nation’s top trainers of other lawyers eager to learn how to serve the growing clientele spawned by America’s mortgage meltdown. </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine4" itxtvisited="1"><br> </span>About 1,500 lawyers have attended her daylong classes on foreclosure law so far, 80 to 200 at a time. She has taught in Ohio, California, Minnesota, South Carolina, Missouri and throughout Florida. She offers the classes at cost with the help of local bar associations and aid groups and requires that all students perform 20 hours of pro bono legal work in their communities. </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine5" itxtvisited="1"> </span><b itxtvisited="1"><strong itxtvisited="1"><br>A trail of trouble</strong></b><br itxtvisited="1"> Charney said her crusade was born out of experience. Over and over again, she said, in her cases and those of other attorneys she met, she found sloppiness, fraud and outright criminality in the nation’s mortgage lending industry. Regardless of why her clients have been unable to pay their mortgages, she maintains that nobody deserves to lose a home to the unethical and illegal foreclosure procedures that she claims are now being used by many banks and <a class="style60" href="#" itxtdid="8255670" target="_blank">loan</a> servicers. </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine6" itxtvisited="1"><br> </span>Her work has earned her the enmity of many a lender and high praise from consumer advocates. “She is definitely a woman who walks the talk and carries a big stick that will crush those who defy consumer laws,” wrote Moe Bedard, president of Loan Safe Solutions, a company that tries to help homeowners prevent foreclosure. </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><br>The Mortgage Bankers Association, the trade group that represents 2,400 companies from all sectors of real estate <a class="style60" href="#" itxtdid="8708871" target="_blank">finance</a>, did not respond to msnbc.com’s invitation to comment about Charney and her sweeping indictment of the industry and its business practices. <br><br>And the American Bankers Association, unfamiliar with her work, had no comment.</p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine9" itxtvisited="1"><br> </span>But clients like Vickie Lewis of Jacksonville, for whom Charney has staved off foreclosure for more than four years, adore her. “She’s an angel,” said Lewis. “Without Miss Charney, I would have been out a long time ago.” </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine10" itxtvisited="1"> </span><b itxtvisited="1"><strong itxtvisited="1"><br>Long days, even on 'vacation'<br itxtvisited="1"></strong></b>Charney pursues her calling with energy and enthusiasm. On a recent “vacation day,” she met for hours with a reporter, then saw clients until 8:30 p.m. in her downtown Jacksonville office, which is so crammed with case files, law books and other materials she hasn’t been able to shut the door or hold a meeting there for quite some time. </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine11" itxtvisited="1"><br> </span>She has no sacred cows, and is currently taking on the Jacksonville area Habitat for Humanity, a darling of many liberal social activists, over construction quality and other issues. </p> <p class="style56" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine12" itxtvisited="1"> </span><br>Charney, separated from her husband, is often at her desk preparing briefs after midnight but manages to maintain close contact with a daughter, 25, a third-year law student, and a son, 23, who received a degree in anthropology last year and is now interning with the U.S. Park Service. She prefers sweaters and jeans to suits, and dreams about being able to spend more time running rivers and hiking wilderness trails. </p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine13" itxtvisited="1"> </span>A University of Miami law school graduate who spent years in private practice in Arkansas and worked in other legal aid offices before coming to Jacksonville four years ago, Charney said she became an expert on lending law when her caseload of foreclosures increased and she began to notice a number of disturbing trends that have yielded her key defense strategies. </p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine14" itxtvisited="1"> </span>First, because of the way mortgages have been securitized, it’s often unclear who actually owns the debt, she said. “What we see is that systematically, the originating lenders only pledged these loans and didn’t actually transfer them” to the trusts that are supposed to hold them and issue the securities, she explained. </p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine15" itxtvisited="1"> </span>But only the true debt owner has the legal standing to be a plaintiff in a foreclosure, she continued. “That’s first-year law school stuff. If you’re Joe and the debt doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to Marjorie, then Marjorie better be in court, not Joe. Don’t come in as Joe and tell me you have the right to be there when you know full well you don’t.” </p> <p class="textBodyBlack" itxtvisited="1"> <span id="byLine16" itxtvisited="1"></span><span class="style62"> <b itxtvisited="1"><strong itxtvisited="1"><span class="style45">Sketchy documentation</span></strong></b><span class="style45"><br itxtvisited="1"> Yet, time and again, loan servicers and others have sought plaintiff status, often by using affidavits stating that the actual notes had been lost, she said. “I’ve seen paperwork filed by lawyers saying, ‘We anticipate assignment’” of the debt, she said with a scoff.</span></span></p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine17" itxtvisited="1"> </span>And the loan originators can’t appear in court and claim the right to foreclose because they would be in violation of securities laws for not transferring the loan to the trust when they were supposed to, she said. </p> <p class="style61" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine18" itxtvisited="1"> </span><span class="style45">Making an issue out of the actual ownership of the securitized title might strike some as a shameless stalling tactic aimed at abetting a debtor who, after all, owes the </span>money<span class="style45">. But Charney said that if such basic legalities aren’t adhered to, a homeowner could pay his or her way out of a foreclosure jam only to wind up in another when a new plaintiff emerges claiming to own the debt. She described cases in which homeowners have been sued for foreclosure by two different trusts, each claiming they owned their house, and cases where trusts have been sent documents on the same case by two different servicers. </span></p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1">Charney has a number of other defenses that focus on other sloppy and illegal practices by lenders and mortgage servicers. Some homeowners in foreclosure, such as those with FHA-insured loans like her client Vickie Lewis, were “entitled to very special default case management, and they didn’t get it,” she said. These people might not be in foreclosure if they had, she said. </p> <p class="textBodyBlack" itxtvisited="1"> <span id="byLine19" itxtvisited="1"></span><span class="style62"> <b itxtvisited="1"><strong itxtvisited="1"><span class="style45">Trouble is in the stock</span></strong></b><span class="style45"><br itxtvisited="1"> The FHA loan program exists to enable low- and moderate-income Americans, including many with poor credit, to buy homes. FHA anticipates that borrowers in its programs will have more difficulty staying current on their loans than so-called prime borrowers, and therefore requires lenders to offer a range of options to troubled clients. </span></span></p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine20" itxtvisited="1"> </span>“I think that they are entitled to relief" because they didn't get the help they were supposed to, Charney said.</p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine21" itxtvisited="1"> </span>Still other clients wind up in foreclosure because they were the victims of predatory lending practices and outright fraud when they got their loans, Charney said. If that can be shown in court, the foreclosure may be tossed out. </p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine22" itxtvisited="1"> </span>Charney prefers to settle cases, often using the flaws she exposes in debt ownership and loan servicing to gain reworked, more manageable mortgages for her clients. </p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine23" itxtvisited="1"> </span>“Where we were settling cases at 7 percent interest, I’m now wanting to settle them at 4 percent interest or 3 percent interest,” she said. “I’m now settling for tenants where the lender, in lieu of rent, has them maintain the property. You have to adjust to the circumstances.” </p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine24" itxtvisited="1"> </span>Charney said that in a number of her cases, once there is no longer an ability for the loan servicer to profit, the foreclosure “just goes to sleep, and unless I’m going to pursue it, nobody’s setting hearings, nobody’s pursuing anything to get it to trial.” </p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine25" itxtvisited="1"> </span>After five years, which is the statute of limitations to enforce a contract in Florida, she can try to help her clients own their homes mortgage-free, Charney said. The first opportunity for her to help clients do that may arise next year. </p> <p class="textBodyBlack" itxtvisited="1"> <span id="byLine26" itxtvisited="1"></span><span class="style62"> <b itxtvisited="1"><strong itxtvisited="1"><span class="style45">Most cases remain in limbo</span></strong></b><span class="style45"><br itxtvisited="1"> And that legal limbo is where the lion’s share of her cases stand now, Charney said. So far this year, she has achieved two “workouts” and lost two cases. “Many, many, many” of the rest are in sleep mode or getting a single filing each year by plaintiffs’ attorneys just to keep them alive. </span> </span></p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine27" itxtvisited="1"> </span>Bert Ely, a longtime analyst of the financial services industry and a scholar at the conservative Cato Institute who was among the first to predict the S&L scandal of the 1980s, said lenders may detest tactics like the ones Charney employs, but “this is well-established in bankruptcy practice, that you have to properly perfect the security interest, and if you haven’t, you’re screwed. … Debtors’ lawyers immediately start looking for flaws in how the debt is protected. Creditor attorneys always worry about this.” </p> <p class="style63" itxtvisited="1"><span id="byLine28" itxtvisited="1"> </span>“It kind of boggles my mind that this is even an issue” in the nation’s current mortgage mess, he said. “I don’t understand how lawyers let this happen in the first place.” Mortgage-lending and servicing is “a matter of dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s. … That’s what puts the discipline in the process.” </p> <p> </p> </body>