In a recent Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case, Christakis v. Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union, Mass. Sup. Jud. Ct. (2015), the court had before it the issue of whether or not judicial liens on real property remain after the owner of the property receives a discharge under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. The plaintiff…
In another recent real estate case from the Appeals Court of Massachusetts dealing with mortgage foreclosure, Hoyt v. BAC Home Loan Servicing, L.P., the individuals who mortgaged a property attempted to challenge a foreclosure decision reached in the lower court regarding the legality of assignment and foreclosure. The homeowners in the…
At the end of last month, the Attorney General announced that a court had reached a decision in an alleged predatory foreclosure company that had been conducting business in Massachusetts. The announcement stated that a legal and financial services company was ordered by a judge to pay in excess of $1.9 million to…
In a recent opinion entered by the Appeals Court of Massachusetts, Webster Bank v. Ragge, Mass. App. Ct. (2014), the court ruled on a situation involving the enforcement of a default judgment in a real estate foreclosure case. A default judgment is what happens when a party institutes a legal claim,…
In the recent Massachusetts Appeals Court case, The Bank of NY Mellon Corp v. Wain, 85 Mass. App. Ct. 498 (2014), the court had before it the issue of rightful ownership of a home that had been mortgaged. In the case, two individuals owned a property that was subjected to a mortgage. The plaintiffs…
The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently reached an important decision on the assignability of mortgages by mortgagees. The issue arose out of a foreclosure case in which the plaintiff was attempting to challenge the legality of the process by attacking the underlying mortgage situation. In the case, Shea v. Federal Nat’l Mortgage…
The threat of a foreclosure is scary. Whether you have lived in your home for many years, or just a few months, having to leave due to falling behind on payments is something that no one wants to have to do. However, if you receive a foreclosure notice, it is…
Massachusetts Attorney General Sues Federal Agencies In Commonwealth of Massachusetts v Federal Housing Finance Agency et al., a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in which she accused mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of violating a state law meant to prevent Massachusetts residents from losing their homes to…
Harvard University researchers state that the United States housing market has likely reached bottom and will start to recover this year. Six years ago the country’s housing market fell into a deep slide, but Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies says that the recent increase in home sales paired with…
A recently released federal report says distressed homeowners in the United States were more likely to stay in their residences after their mortgages were modified. In fact, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found nearly three-fourths of homeowners who received a loan modification in 2011 are currently in…