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California Homeowner Bill of Rights blocks BofA foreclosure - (www.housingwire.com) A California man successfully halted a foreclosure sale on his property using the newly minted California Homeowner Bill of Rights to obtain a court injunction against two foreclosing parties: Bank of America and its ReconTrust Co. subsidiary. For simply obtaining the HBOR injunction, the homeowner’s attorney is requesting $20,255 in legal fees and costs – a compensation request that is permissible under HBOR since the legislation allots borrowers reasonable attorneys fees and expenses for successfully obtaining an injunction. Attorney Robert Jackson with Jackson and Associates out of California says the injunction alone may cost BofA/Recontrust upwards of $60,000 when calculating in attorneys fees and expenses from both sides. "The biggest problem with the HBOR from the investor standpoint is the litigation risk of having to pay legal fees," Jackson said. "The way the thing breaks down is when you get an injunction, the prevailing borrower gets all of their legal fees paid by the servicer and the investor."
The
IRS Has More Data About You Than Ever Before - (www.businessinsider.com) The Internal Revenue Service
is collecting a lot more than taxes this year—it's also acquiring a huge volume
of personal information on taxpayers' digital activities, from eBay auctions
to Facebook posts and, for the first time
ever, credit card and e-payment transaction records, as it expands its search
for tax cheats to places it's never gone before. The IRS, under heavy pressure
to help Washington out of its budget quagmire by chasing down an estimated $300
billion in revenue lost to evasions and errors each year, will start using
"robo-audits" of tax forms and third-party data the IRS hopes will
help close this so-called "tax gap." But the agency reveals little
about how it will employ its vast, new network scanning powers.
IRS scrutiny of Tea Party causing furor - (www.sfgate.com) Senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew agents were singling out Tea Party groups as early as 2011, according to a draft of an inspector general's report obtained by the Associated Press that seemingly contradicts public statements by the IRS commissioner. The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. The agency blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware. But on June 29, 2011, Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that groups were being singled out, according to the watchdog's report. At the meeting, she was told that groups with "Tea Party," "Patriot" or "9/12 Project" in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says. The 9/12 Project is a group started by conservative TV personality Glenn Beck. Lerner instructed agents to change the criteria for flagging groups "immediately," the report says.
Obamas
underwater rescue - (www.nydailynews.com)
President Obama has finally moved to
replace a little-known but powerful Washington bureaucrat who has stood in the
way of important efforts to end America’s foreclosure crisis. The President’s
decision is welcome — but further action is needed, right away, to provide the
swift and fair relief homeowners need. Since 2009, Edward DeMarco has served as
acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac. He should have been a critical figure in setting policy to get
us out of the foreclosure crisis. Instead, DeMarco’s most notable achievement
has been blocking programs to help struggling homeowners. It has been more than
five years since the housing bubble burst, but millions of Americans are still
fighting to keep their homes. In the fourth quarter of 2012, 10.4 million
properties — 21.5% of all homes with mortgages — had “negative equity,” owing
more on their mortgages than their properties were worth. Right now, these
homeowners are trapped under a $628 billion mountain of negative equity. Banks
move to foreclose on 250,000 properties each quarter. That’s 2,700 families
each day moving one step closer to losing their homes. Of course, foreclosure
is a terrible event in the life of a family. But it isn’t so great for the
folks who own the loans, either. It often takes long, expensive legal
proceedings to reach resolution, with the prize being a property worth much
less than the bank is owed.
Oregon
Realtor Jailed for Fraud - Thousands of Realtors Still At Large - (www.ktvz.com) Former Bend Realtor Tami Sawyer and her husband
Kevin, a former Bend police captain, are in jail, on their way to federal
prison after being sentenced last week for fraud and money-laundering. But now
renters who live in their homes are worried about their own future. The Sawyers
own three homes in Bend that are being rented out. Renters were given a letter
Monday saying the rent still must be paid to Genesis Futures, regardless of the
fact the owners, the Sawyers, are in prison. "My first reaction was this
is, probably another scam from the Sawyers," said one renter from the
couple, who didn't want to show his face or share his name publicly. He, along
with two other renters from the Sawyers, were handed those letters. "It is
a shock to me that they would have any amount of authority from prison,
especially after a conviction," the renter said.
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