A long time ago, I discussed the requirements in New York for a successful deed-in-lieu of foreclosure agreement, also called a mortgage release. The benefits of such an agreement are that the lender is able to resell the property and the borrower is no longer obligated to pay on an ultimately unaffordable mortgage. The question, …
Is Renting Your Underwater Home From the Bank a Good Idea? Read More »
Around 2012, bankruptcy lawyers began reporting a strange trend: their clients’ bankruptcies were hijacked by third parties, causing significant problems for the debtors’ cases. The fad didn’t reach the East Coast to a significant degree, but New York bankruptcy hijacking is possible. Debtors, especially those who’ve gone without lawyers, should learn what the signs are …
Bankruptcy Hijacking: A Scam on the Unwary Debtor Read More »
Too often, debtors see grace periods offered by lenders as free benefits. “Grace” makes it sound so innocent. However, debtors who routinely rely on grace periods when making payments will find themselves facing financial difficulties that might lead to bankruptcy. The reason is that although creditors offer grace periods to debtors, they also use them …
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York issued a press briefing along with the update to its Household Debt and Quarterly Credit Report. It highlighted new research into the relationship between student loans and homeownership. At the same time, the update provides some insight into topics relating to New York bankruptcy. Beginning with the good …
NY Fed: More Student Loans Lead to Lower Homeownership Rates Read More »
It’s an unfortunate fact of Chapter 13 that it does not allow debtors to cram down their mortgages to the market value of their properties the way they can auto loans. Specifically, debtors can’t cram down their principal homes’ mortgages, but cram-downs are possible for investment properties. One question that’s been popping up recently in …
New York Bankruptcy Court Prohibits Lien-Stripping of Debtor’s Duplex Read More »
In February, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Liberty Street Economics blog published five posts on housing and homeownership. I won’t discuss the findings from every post, nor write five in response, but I will hit on the major points that might be salient to New York bankruptcy. In its first post, the Fed’s …
NY Fed: ‘Household Sector Remains Vulnerable to Severe Price Declines’ Read More »
Many mortgage lenders probably believe that homeowners default on their mortgages because they have negative equity, i.e. they’re underwater. In other words, these homeowners can afford to repay their mortgages but simply choose not to, and there’s a surprising amount of academic literature to that effect. Why “strategic default” is a bad idea for debtors …
Study: Unemployment Bigger Cause of Mortgage Default Than Previously Thought Read More »
Now that it’s 2017, the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has expired. Maybe that’s a bad thing for struggling homeowners, but investigative reporting found that HAMP was a dismal failure. It rejected millions of applications, and only several hundred thousand made it past that stage. Thus homeowners might want to know about other …
The upfront short answer is: not a whole lot. A while ago I posed the question of what happens to homeowners or condominium fees in New York bankruptcy. This post is sort of a sequel. Many New Yorkers live in common-interest housing that charge either homeowner association (HOA) or condominium association (COA) fees. These fees …
How Does Association Foreclosure Differ From Typical Mortgage Foreclosure? Read More »
New York bankruptcy helps homeowners most when they are nearing foreclosure, not afterwards. The primary reason is that the automatic stay protects homeowners from debt collection and foreclosure efforts. Chapter 7 can buy debtors substantial time to sell their homes on their terms, like a short sale, or exempt its equity from the bankruptcy estate …
What Happens to ‘Abandoned’ Personal Property After Foreclosure? Read More »
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