Rusty Law

Ever After

Divorce and foreclosure are often together as the winter and foul weather.  Regrettably, suicide sometimes figures in also.  While financial ruin and marital dissolution are biologically survivable, death is not.  Suicide may negate the need and expense of divorce, but it is really not the happiest state in the union.  

Suicide rates traditionally increase in correlation to economic down-ticks; however, they usually lag a little.  Records from the Great Depression show 15.3 suicides per 100,000 people in 1929, rising to 17 in 1930 and 18.6 in 1932.  Also the rate is related to unemployment, with a rise of 1.3% increase in suicides for every 1% increase in a state’s unemployment.  In Florida last year suicides were up 6% with unemployment near 10%.  The highest suicide rate ever was reported in 1933 when unemployment was almost at 25%.  

These are not happy figures.  They are something to watch out for.  Please note that the government funds the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.  

Tiger Woods is not in financial ruin, but he is in a bad lie.  His ad former campaign for Accenture is hopeful, though:  “It’s what you do next that counts.”  In golf and life, in divorce and foreclosure—this is an appropriate slogan.  No one should go through foreclosure alone.  

Home for the Holidays

Fiscal fitness is a matter of life and debt.  The holidays are a horrible time to contemplate foreclosure on your home, but they are a great time to make resolutions to shape up your finances.  Set goals that will help you achieve the financial picture you would like to present this time next year.  

One size fits all does not apply to home financing.  A mortgage payment that is too big is not flattering.  It takes over the identity of who you truly are.  And cinching in your belt on a balloon mortgage just does not work.  

If the mortgage crisis has hit home, go shopping—find out what programs are available and which one would best suit you.  There are a number of solutions, and a foreclosure defense attorney can help you review the options so you can make an informed decision.  Take control of your life and where you want to be.  

No one should be alone during the holidays, and no one should go through foreclosure alone.  

Are We Alone?

Of the alien planets capable of sustaining real estate, Gilese 581e makes the short list.  It is relatively Earth-like and right next door to planet 581d, which may host liquid water.  Gilese 581e is a comfortable 20 light-year commute from the nearest foreclosure sale on our home planet.  

Foreclosure can seem like a demoralizing situation, but it is not the apocalypse.  It is not the creation of a new heaven and a new earth; it is just business.  

Ninety-five percent of Floridians losing their homes in foreclosure do not have legal representation, most of them because they feel they cannot afford it.  No one should go through foreclosure alone.  Contact the St. Johns County Legal Aid office at (904) 827-9921, or you are welcome to contact my office at (904) 829-6600 to learn more about your financial options in foreclosure legal defense.  

Bank of America Emerges from TARP

It is not April 15, but Bank of America is ready to pay Uncle Sam.  These are not taxes, though; this is the $45 billion loan Bank of America received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP.  

Prior to mergers and acquisitions, Bank of America was the Bank of Italy (country of the cradle of banking) and was founded in San Francisco in 1904 by A. P. Giannini.  It dominated banking in the United States and has gone through many changes to be nearly unrecognizable except by its namesake.  Regardless, when it recently became too big to fail, the Federal Reserve bailed it out first with $25 billion in October 2008, then an additional $20 billion in January when Bank of America took over the Merill Lynch mob.    

Bank of America will be the first of seven companies owing big money to the Fed to peek out from underneath the TARP.  The bank’s action should prompt the other six to repay the government with a debt of gratitude and at a good rate of return.  

Once the debt is repaid, Bank of America executives can enjoy their lunch out from underneath the bailout stigma.  Without compensation restrictions, they anticipate an easier time recruiting and retaining key personnel.  

Not everyone is ready to repay his or her loan.  If you are seeking shelter in a foreclosure case, and you are not a billion-dollar bank, you may wish to consider a legal defense or other legal options to help you get back on firm financial footing.  Put a foundation in place which you can stand on, and rebuild your assets.  I encourage you to seek your options.  No one should go through foreclosure alone.  

Home Owners' Association Dues

The only way to defeat a home owners' association claim is to outsue.  That costs a lot of money and takes a lot of tenacity.  Do not withhold association dues though, because that gives them an incentive to put a lien on your property.  

With a home owners’ association, there are two contracts in play which are not connected.  The first contract is an acceptance of the property along with the responsibility to pay the association dues.  The second contract is that the home owners’ association will do certain things.  With a home owners' association dispute, you are dealing with a debt situation versus an action situation, and you have to consider whether the debt attaches to the person or the property, depending on the contract.  

Keep your maintenance fees current.  Even in a foreclosure situation, keep the home owners’ association fees current because if they are not current, the judge might rule against you.  Also, if you withhold fees, really you are affecting your neighbors.  Things can get very emotional, which is why attorneys are needed to keep emotions out of it.  

To dispute a home owners’ association, you have to outsue and outlast, but in the meantime, pay the dues.  

Foreclosure Fear Factor

What is scarier than Halloween?  Answer:  Facing the holidays without a house.  

The people I meet with are just scared.  They are worried that someone is going to kick them out of their house without warning.  I explain to them what the process is, and what options they have within it.  I help them plan a course for a better financial future, then take the legal steps to set them on that course.  

The first thing I ask people is, “Do you have family who can help you through this time?”  If they say no, then that is scary, especially for people with kids.  If they do have a strong family, then I encourage them to draw on the strength of that family.  Asking for help may be easier than having Christmas in your car.  

A recent study reports that homeowners with higher credit scores are more likely to walk away from a mortgage than borrowers with lower credit scores.  A strategic default or voluntary foreclosure can cost 100 points off their credit score.  Those folks are less afraid of foreclosure than they are to defend their house.  

If you do not have family to help you, look to the community.  The St. Augustine Record did a recent cover story on Joy Bryant of the St. Johns Housing Partnership, which assists borrowers with mortgage modifications.   I also work closely with Megan Wall of St. Johns County Legal Aid.  Fear of the unknown is a bad thing; find out what you can do to deal with your situation and make a plan for the future.  

Passacaglia

A passacaglia is a musical form with a bass line at a walking pace, allowing for a creative line to dance above.  The bass line is written in a slow repetition, while the upper line is light, playful, with an improvised air.  A passacaglia sounds like a grandparent walking, while a child dances down the street.  Similarly, foreclosure defense is a pedestrian approach; it slows the pace, giving room for solutions to be explored and implemented.  

The purpose of the foreclosure defense is not to defer the inevitable.  In hearings, most of the defenses I present are technicalities, they are correct, but they are technicalities.  Often I use the procedural rules to give the client the time needed to accomplish a loan modification.  The defense slows the foreclosure action to a walking pace, allowing the client time to review options and to execute a solution.  

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a family working through Saint Johns Housing Partnership towards a loan modification.  The family was dealing with the medical hardship of their son being born with a heart condition.  They were trying to modify their loan so they could handle their mortgage as well as their medical bills.  Thank you again to all of those who contributed to help them put that modification in place.  I brought up this family as an example.  There are others like them out there who need more time.  

There may be more than 70% of those facing foreclosure who never try to save their homes.  Listen for the music.  Find your place to dance.  

Vocal Length

Your vocal length is not very long if you refuse to say anything.  A foreclosure defense allows your case to speak up in articulate decibels and be heard by a judge.  No one should go through a foreclosure silently. 

Loan modifications and short sales take time; meanwhile, your case is being pushed forward by the bank.  While the bank may be working with you on a modification or short sale, the bank outsources its legal action, so the foreclosure is continuing without regard to your negotiation.  You may think you are speaking clearly, but there is a second conversation going that may deliver a lis pendens.  

You can answer this two-sided dialogue if you match the bank’s strategy and outsource your legal representation.  With a foreclosure defense attorney, you have two voices which can speak at once in harmony for your interest.  Keep talking with your bank, and let your lawyer handle the legal case against you.  Strengthen your vocal reach.  Let the attorney give you the time you need to negotiate a modification or to complete a short sale.  

"It Depends"

My brother asks a lot of questions.  That is what little brothers do. He wants immediate, exact answers, but I frequently reply, “It depends,” and that drives him up the wall.  

Every case is different, especially in foreclosure defense.  Every homeowner has a different set of circumstances—some are married, divorced, widowed, single; sometimes there are children trying to live at home, sometimes there are children trying to inherit the home; some who face foreclosure face it through medical hardship, or fixed income.  Each case is different because it depends on the set of circumstances from which the defendant approaches the court.  Our court system allows each set of circumstances to be examined individually. 

I enjoy playing defense, but more than that, I enjoy helping people, and I am glad to have the education and knowledge to do so.  

I do not answer my brother, “It depends,” just because it bugs him, I say that because it is the truth.  

Scholarship Sinking

Without the buoyancy of an upcoming Harry Potter debut, earnings forecasts from publisher, Scholastic, may seem more inflated than a lifeboat.  The popular series has promoted literacy and education, feeding into our higher education system a body of eager minds on the backbone of a weak economy.  

Two-thirds of kids go to college on student loans and graduate into an average debt load higher than twenty thousand dollars; whereas, just over a decade ago, only a little more than half the students borrowed money for school.  (If you add law school on top of a four-year degree, you can turn that into a six-digit number quickly.)  Nonrevolving credit, which includes student loans, is down at an annual rate of 1.5 percent, indicating that fewer high school graduates are choosing higher education.  Graduating Summa cum loaded-with-debt may be an educated choice, but not an easy one.  

In the macrocosm of economic recession, unemployment is high, and home loans are hard to come by, especially if you are already burdened with a student loan.  The long term implications of this economy are a lower rate of higher education.  

Tough times call for tough choices.  If your family is facing foreclosure and someone in your family is looking to go to college, the choices may become easier with a foreclosure defense.  A foreclosure defense can outline what the options are, and give you time to work out a deal with your lender, stabilizing the status of your home, while you look to the future.  

Do not let a home foreclosure compromise your family’s future.  

And if you need a Harry Potter fix, stop by the Saint Augustine Board of Realtors Trade Show tomorrow, October 16^th, between 11 and 2 and you will find some characters there!