Foreclosure and Loan Modification Blog

Do You Want To Take Your Foreclosure Case To Trial?

If you are in foreclosure in a judicial foreclosure state, your case can "go to trial."

Some homeowners think they want to go to trial to have their day in court, a chance to tell their story to a judge or jury and get justice. However, real life is not like an episode of a legal drama show. There will be no sensational surprise at the end, and probably not much of anything exciting. And even if you do win, you will not get a free house.

In many cases, it makes sense to avoid going to trial because it's better to come to an agreement with the lender before it gets to that point. But sometimes that's not practical, and a case does end up at trial.

Emergent Motion Saves Homeowner From Foreclosure With PHH

The stakes are very high when fighting foreclosure, and disaster is often only narrowly averted. It's a challenge to deal with the courts, the banks and their attorneys, and get the best results. But an experienced professional can help you do just that.

A recent case, for clients I'll call the Bello sisters to protect their privacy, illustrates this well.

The Bellos are immigrants from Africa who own a home together in New Jersey. They were working hard trying to realize the American dream when a loss of income caused them to default on their mortgage payments to PHH Mortgage.

Since New Jersey is a judicial foreclosure state, they were served a summons and complaint, officially putting them into foreclosure. PHH hired an attorney to handle the case and try to take the Bello's home from them.

Citi Denied a Loan Modification for Years until We Demanded Fair Treatment

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners, here is one of their stories.

In March 2014 we were hired by a homeowner in Trenton NJ, whom I'll call Ramon Delgado to protect his privacy, who needed help saving his home from foreclosure.

Mr. Delgado, like most homeowners, didn't want to default on his mortgage with Citi, but a significant loss of income forced him into a situation where he couldn't make his house payments.

He was able to recover from his hardship and regain the ability to pay his mortgage. However, after falling so far behind, Citi didn't want him to resume making regular mortgage payments. They wanted a big check for all the missed payments plus fees, which he didn't have the cash to do. So he remained in default even though he could have made payments. This is a common scenario.

Loan Modification Saves NJ Homeowner From M&T Bank Foreclosure

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners. Here is one of their stories.

In January of 2016, a homeowner I'll call Pablo Iglesias (to protect his privacy) retained Amerihope Alliance Legal Services for foreclosure defense and loan modification assistance in order to keep his Bergen County, NJ home.

His servicer and lender are Hudson City Savings Bank, and M&T Bank is the investor in his loan. Iglesias was 15 months and $79,642 past due on his $5,137 a month mortgage payment. He had an unpaid principal balance of $664,000, and an interest rate of 6.625%.

Using Your Statutory Rights to Adjourn a Sheriff's Sale in New Jersey

Homeowners in New Jersey have a right to adjourn a sheriff's sale of their home for 14 days for any or no reason by paying a small fee.

And this can be done twice.

This foreclosure avoidance tool is called a statutory right to adjourn sheriff's sale. (Adjournment means a temporary postponement of a court action.)

It's not a permanent way out of foreclosure, and it doesn't cancel the sale, but it's a great tool for homeowners to use to temporarily stop the sale of their home when no other option is available.

The 5 Stages Of Foreclosure Grief

Foreclosure is so stressful that you'll find yourself experiencing powerful emotions when you are faced with it. Your home is the most expensive, and most important purchase you will ever make, so the possibility of losing it is tough to reckon with. How do people do it?

7 Reasons Not to Hire a Foreclosure Attorney

You are an attorney or you currently work or have worked for a bank and know their guidelines. You already know how many documents will you need to submit to your bank for a loan modification. **Free Amerihope Alliance Legal Services Document Checklist**

You know the general foreclosure laws and procedures in your state. For example in Florida, foreclosures are judicial, which means the lender must file a lawsuit in state court. The lender starts the foreclosure by filing a complaint with the court and having it served to the borrower, along with a summons. If you lose the case your house will be sold to satisfy the debt.

You don't need a foreclosure attorney to prove that the foreclosing party doesn't own your loan. In other words you know that your loan was bundled and securitized. Which means that in a process called securitization, your loan and other loans (includes both the promissory notes and the mortgages) with similar qualities are pooled, and then sold in the secondary market, often to a trust. Basically, securitization takes individual mortgage loans, bundles them into a package, and turns them into marketable securities (called “mortgage-backed securities”) that can be bought and sold. With that being said you believe you have a defense based on the fact that the foreclosing party can't prove that it owns your loan.

Why Hire a Foreclosure Attorney?

If you are struggling to pay your mortgage, it's encouraged that you speak with an experienced and knowledgeable foreclosure defense attorney who can properly inform you of the best solutions for your specific situation. Not to mention that on average, a defended foreclosure usually takes anywhere from one to two years or longer.

Each foreclosure case is different and has complicated nuances that can ultimately make or break the case. For example if you have been served with a foreclosure lawsuit in Florida and New York you have 20 days to file a proper legal response in court. In Illinois, you have 30 days to reply. In New Jersey, you have 35 days. In your reply you can:

Accept the Claim -OR-
Dispute the Claim – Perhaps your loan servicer didn't follow proper foreclosure procedures or the foreclosing party can’t prove it owns your loan. Maybe your loan servicer made a serious error with your account such as misapplying funds, failing to credit payments to the account, or charging unreasonable and non-allowable fees. Or you’re in the military and as an active military service-member you have some special protections against foreclosure and have certain rights under the Service-members Civil Relief Act (SCRA). -OR-
Claim Affirmative Defenses – Which means that without denying responsibility, you may claim that the foreclosing bank had contributing negligence or perhaps there is an expiration of the Statute of Limitations.

Failure to file a legally satisfactory Answer could result in default being entered against you and not being able to fight the foreclosure.

The Attorney’s Role

Top Lawyers in Florida - 2015 Award

Right Instead of Wrong - How Important Are High Ethical Standards?

The first two definitions found on Dictionary.com are:

Pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct.
Being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice, especially the standards of a profession.

Here at Amerihope Alliance Legal Services we believe that treating our clients and others in the communities we service with the highest of ethics, professionalism, and sensitivity are very important. Which is why we are very proud to be honored with the 2015 Highest in Ethical Standards and Professional Excellence Award from The Legal Network. These awards are substantiated by the stellar reviews from thankful clients.

The awards honor attorneys who, as a representative of clients, perform various ethical and professional functions. Those functions include:

Providing clients with an informed knowledge of the their legal rights, obligations and explaination of their practical implications.

Asserting the client's position under the rules of the adversary system.

Negotiating results advantageous to the client but always within the requirements of honest dealing with others.

All listed above are fundamental, necessary, and vital characteristics that an attorney needs to practice, advocate, and live by in order to win this distinguishing award.

3 Things You Needed To Know About New Jersey Foreclosures in 2013

It's hard to believe, but 2013 is already coming to a close. This has been quite an eventful year for New Jersey homeowners- especially because the events of 2012 have started a ripple -- or better yet, a wave of effects that lasted into 2013. For example:

Do You Want To Take Your Foreclosure Case To Trial?

Emergent Motion Saves Homeowner From Foreclosure With PHH

Citi Denied a Loan Modification for Years until We Demanded Fair Treatment

Loan Modification Saves NJ Homeowner From M&T Bank Foreclosure

Using Your Statutory Rights to Adjourn a Sheriff's Sale in New Jersey

The 5 Stages Of Foreclosure Grief

7 Reasons Not to Hire a Foreclosure Attorney

Why Hire a Foreclosure Attorney?

Top Lawyers in Florida - 2015 Award

Right Instead of Wrong - How Important Are High Ethical Standards?

3 Things You Needed To Know About New Jersey Foreclosures in 2013

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