3 Little Words That Stopped Foreclosure: "Produce The Note"

For homeowners caught in the nation's housing collapse, having their homes foreclosed is like a nightmare that they can't fight ... or can they?

Chris Hoyer, a Tampa, Florida, lawyer told homeowners that there are three simple words that they can say to stop the foreclosure process, or at least delay it for a while: produce the note.

Kathy Lovelace lost her job and was about to lose her house, too. But then she made a seemingly simple request of the bank: Show me the original mortgage paperwork.

And just like that, the foreclosure proceedings came to a standstill.

Lovelace and other homeowners around the country are managing to stave off foreclosure by employing a strategy that goes to the heart of the whole nationwide mess.

During the real estate frenzy of the past decade, mortgages were sold and resold, bundled into securities and peddled to investors. In many cases, the original note signed by the homeowner was lost, stored away in a distant warehouse or destroyed.

Persuading a judge to compel production of hard-to-find or nonexistent documents can, at the very least, delay foreclosure, buying the homeowner some time and turning up the pressure on the lender to renegotiate the mortgage.

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(Photo: Chris O'Meara/AP)


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HELP!! I will try and keep this short and to the point. First, my mortgage is with Bank of America via Countrywide! They hold my first and second mortgage. The first mortgage is auto withdrawal thus has never been late. The second has been late only a couple of times in the last 8 years. Several months ago I was offered the home modification program thru BOA for the second mortgage which i opted to do. No problem! In November, I received in the mail a returned payment on my second mortgage with no explanation attached. I called and was told "congrats on paying off your mortgage". I told BOA I had not paid it off and was told "well miracles happen". Shortly after that, I received in the mail my original promissory note on my first and second mortgage along with the request for cancellation at the courthouse as well as escrow cks on both mortgages. I once again contacted BOA, three times, and was told the same thing.."your mortgage balance is zero..you own your home". I asked who paid my mortgage off and they said they didn't have that information. I got nowhere with BOA. I then called our parish courthouse, clerk of court. Once again I was told I own my property. I checked my bank account and there had not been anymore auto withdrawals on my first mortgage and since they sent me back my payment on my second mortgage and told me it was paid off, I did not send any further payments. I didn't know what else to do. BOA told me several times both mortgages were paid off, the courthouse told me the same, I checked my credit report with three different companies and they all showed both mortgages were zero balances "paid off by consumer". I checked MERS using my MIN # and it showed "inactive". Well after 2+ months, this week I received several notices to "accelerate" due to no payment. I also received a letter from BOA stating they had made a error and had reinstated my loan and requested I pay all of the past due payments on both loans, which is a large amount to pay all at once. They also said I may be contacted for my signature. Can you give me some advice on what to do so that I am not foreclosed on. Thank you.
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It's about time the Bankers and Wall Street got caught in one of their own scams. The Mortgage Electronic Registration System was designed to hide who actually owns property. It seperated the deed of trust from the promissory note. It seems to have worked fairly well as the bankers can't even find it. With around 62 million
propertites in this system who knows where this will lead. It will be interesting to see what the bond investors will have to say about all this. The courts should side with the homeowners thus ending foreclosures for the most part. One bad thing is guess who has a lot of money invested in places like GMAC and others? If you guessed the taxpayer your right. But we were promised know more taxpayer bailouts for banks. But you can bet this will cost taxpayers millions
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It makes sense investing in real estate during depression since prices are falling but you should be very attentive to know when the prices hit the bottom, you might miss the ride.. You can park the properties and sell it later for a good price and remember “millionaires are made during economy depression!”. - http://blog.dodeals.com/
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Nice post. On foreclosure: I like the produce-the-note strategy. I live in Tampa and know one person he helped, and it actually worked. They did not get the entire home paid for, but they got terms adjusted to be favorable and they were able to avoid foreclosure. It really varries by situation and probably the laws of your state on how far this goes. This site has all the videos they have done. Watch all the videos here:
http://www.tinyurl.com/producenotevideo
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