All Posts Tagged With: "settlement"
Morgan Stanley To Pay $102 Million For Mortgage Role In Massachusetts
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has announced that Wall Street titan Morgan Stanley will pay $102 million to settle for its role in creating a market for subprime mortgages in the state. The settlement includes $58 million to roughly 1,000 homeowners.
Should Have Known
“This has become an all-too-familiar pattern in which the deceptive practices of Wall [...]
FTC Does Mortgage Loan Audits
Yesterday I criticized the Federal Trade Commission’s view of mortgage loan audits. The idea was not to defend fraudulent loan audit practices but to say that the FTC did not provide an alternative for borrowers who face what may be unjustified and overblown mortgage claims. I said the public should use licensed and experienced attornies [...]
8Jun2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Can We Have A Paperless Real Estate Closing?
Given the widespread use of electronic devices for just about everything — and given the growing volume of ecommerce — it’s not unreasonable to ask if we can have paperless closings, events sealed with electronic signatures.
For the moment and most-likely for a long time to come the answer is no. The problem is not one [...]
What Makes A Foreclosure Settlement Different?
When you purchase a foreclosed property from a lender the transfer process is largely the same as if the purchase involved property from a typical seller. Largely the same — but not the same.
A closing, settlement or escrow is merely an accounting of who owes what to whom. Among the interests represented at the closing [...]
Is Foreclosure Flipping Legal & Legit?
If by foreclosure flipping we mean quickly buying and re-selling a foreclosed property bought from a lender then there’s no reason why such a transaction cannot be legal and legit.
Think about stock. You buy stock in the morning and sell it in the evening. You flipped the stock. Does anyone care? No.
Think about a foreclosed [...]
Who Pays Foreclosure Closing Costs?
To figure out who will pay foreclosure closing costs you first have to ask about the foreclosure discount in your area.
In basic terms the foreclosure discount is the difference between the value of a home today and the value of a similar, but foreclosed or distressed, property.
In many markets there has traditionally been no foreclosure [...]
How To Read The HUD-1
Starting January 1st, 2010, all real estate transactions will be settled using a new HUD-1. The HUD-1 is a standardized form which allows real estate buyers and sellers to clearly understand the costs of their transaction.
The original HUD-1 was developed as a by-product of the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act of 1974 — or, [...]
Do We Have To Make The Last Mortgage Payment When Refinancing?
The closing agent will check with your current lender prior to settlement to get a pay-off for the existing loan. If you have a payment due on the first of the month some will tell you it should be paid.
Others in the lender community argue that it’s okay to bring the last payment to closing [...]
Real Estate Settlements: Public Cheated Out Of $10 Billion — Per Year!
It was in 2002 when HUD Secretary Mel Martinez told the world that consumers could save as much as $10 billion a year by making the settlement process more competitive. Martinez — now a Republican senator from Florida — offered a simple proposal: Instead of buyers and sellers purchasing settlement services one transaction at a [...]
19Sep2008 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
How To Cut Closing Costs
It may well have been the most unusual stewardship seen by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in recent years. HUD Secretary Mel Martinez has both resigned and left behind an impressive record.
What’s remarkable about Martinez — now a U.S. senator from Florida — is that during his time in Washington HUD operated [...]
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