Learn how to do foreclosure defense work
Learn how to do foreclosure defense work When homeowners find themselves already sunk in the quagmire of foreclosure, they need lawyers to defend them. April Charney, a Jacksonville Area Legal Aid lawyer and nationally recognized foreclosure defense expert, is on a mission to train as many lawyers as possible to help out in the crisis. So far she’s trained more than 480 lawyers in Ft. Myers, Tallahassee, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami. This month, trainings are scheduled for October 9-10 in Pensacola, October 14-15 in Ft. Myers, and Sarasota on October 13. The seminars are designed for all attorneys interested in learning how to handle defense of foreclosure cases. No prior experience is necessary. “It’s about lawyers doing important work well while doing good,” Charney said. “This applies not only for the actual homeowner who won’t become another home-loser, but the lawyers are defending their very communities against the devastation caused by the loss of homeowners. We all suffer when communities
Learn how to do foreclosure defense work
Learn how to do foreclosure defense work
When homeowners find themselves already sunk in the quagmire of foreclosure, they need lawyers to defend them.
April Charney, a Jacksonville Area Legal Aid lawyer and nationally recognized foreclosure defense expert, is on a mission to train as many lawyers as possible to help out in the crisis.
So far she’s trained more than 480 lawyers in Ft. Myers, Tallahassee, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami. This month, trainings are scheduled for October 9-10 in Pensacola, October 14-15 in Ft. Myers, and Sarasota on October 13.
The seminars are designed for all attorneys interested in learning how to handle defense of foreclosure cases. No prior experience is necessary.
“It’s about lawyers doing important work well while doing good,” Charney said.
“This applies not only for the actual homeowner who won’t become another home-loser, but the lawyers are defending their very communities against the devastation caused by the loss of homeowners. We all suffer when communities lose homeowners. It is truly a unique call to arms for all the lawyers with the skills — think Napoleon Dynamite! — whose obligation it is to use those special skills to educate the judges and to fight off the scourge of foreclosures in their own communities.”
Charney is also spreading her expertise around the country, in South Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and New York.
“I am setting up trainings as fast and as many as I can accommodate. These lawyers commit to give back 20 hours of pro bono service to their local legal aid/service programs in return for this education. I continue to mentor after the trainings, as time allows. But JALA needs help doing this. I am still just one lawyer, and one legal aid lawyer at that.”
For an in-depth understanding of the crisis, she refers to a 29-page study by Alan M. White, of Valparaiso University Law School, called “Rewriting Contracts, Wholesale: Data on Voluntary Mortgage Modifications From 2007 and 2008 Remittance Reports” (available online at ).
“Home mortgage debt in the United States mushroomed from about $4 trillion in 1998 to $10 trillion in 2007. During the same decade, the median income remained virtually unchanged in constant dollars [$48,034 in 1998 to $48,201 in 2006] and the number of homeowners rose at a relatively modest pace. Inevitably, homeownership has become progressively less affordable, and the ability of Americans to service their growing mortgage debt has reached a breaking point. The rapid growth of subprime mortgage lending was an important contributor to the mortgage debt bubble,” White wrote.
White concluded: “If things continue as they are, the losses, which have largely been recognized by the ultimate holders of the investments, will continue to be parsed out between mortgage servicers and homeowners for many years to come, and to be magnified by the senseless process of foreclosure and sale at losses of 50 percent or more in a distressed real estate market. Without bankruptcy reform, legislated debt reduction, or a similar solution, the subprime crisis will drag on for years.”
Charney commented: “This article helps to explain why no workouts are happening and why lawyers trying to gain workouts through mediation will meet with frustration.
“There are no signs in the study data of the crisis bottoming out or reaching a turning point, through June 2008. Instead, the disappearance of refinancing and the acceleration of foreclosures means that the number of homes in foreclosure and REO [real estate owned, a property that goes back to the mortgage company after an unsuccessful foreclosure action] will continue to grow, and at present rates will not be liquidated for several more years. All things being equal, the 2005 and 2006 loan pools in this study could take as many as 10 years to process the delinquent loans into foreclosures, the foreclosures into REO, and to see the REO, at present rates,” Charney said.
“Alan doesn’t discuss the reasons why servicers can’t or don’t do workouts,” Charney said.
But she offers these reasons: “remix tax shelter rules that apply to these securitized trusts prohibit more than a small fraction of the loans to be modified (5 percent of the total or less) and further limit the ability of the servicer to deem the borrower likely to default and, therefore, qualify for a workout.”
Also, Charney explained: “No forensic appraisals and many of the investors get paid more under default insurance policies when the loans go bad than they get paid just as investors in the trust if the loans are not deemed in default.”
Attend one of her trainings, and she’ll be happy to tell you more.
The topics of Charney’s trainings include:
& #x2022; How the mortgage industry operates, including securitization, trusts, and residential mortgage-backed securities;
• Defending foreclosures in Florida, including attorneys’ fees;
• Understanding loan documents, origination, and the closing process;
• Servicing problems and post origination issues;
• Common law/state law causes of action and affirmative defenses;
• Drafting discovery/motion practice;
• Federal laws that govern mortgage origination and servicing;
• Post-origination issues, including attorneys’ fees;
• Role of bankruptcy and foreclosure.
The Pensacola session, presented by the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association and Legal Services of North Florida, Inc., will be held October 9 and 10 at the M.C. Blanchard Judicial Center, Escambia County Courthouse, Jury Assembly Room, 190 Governmental Center. Sixteen continuing legal education credits, including two ethics credits, have been applied for.
Registration opens at 8 a.m. each day of the seminar that begins at 8:30 Thursday and Friday. The cost is $100 per day or $150 for both days. Preregister by October 6 to Legal Services of North Florida, Inc., Attention John J. Fenno, 2119 Delta Blvd., Tallahassee 32303.
The Sarasota training, sponsored by Legal Aid of Manasota, Inc., is October 13 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will be held at the Fruitville Public Library. Charney will present the training that will also feature Chief Judge Lee Haworth announcing the 12th Judicial Circuit Foreclosure Conciliation Plan.
For more information contact Linda Harradine at 941-366-0038 or Nina Perry at 941-747-1628. The training will be free to attorneys who agree to handle a foreclosure case pro bono. The fee for others is still to be determined.
In Ft. Myers, the Pro Bono Committee of the Lee County Bar Association and Florida Rural Legal Services is bringing nationally recognized foreclosure defense attorney, April Charney, to Fort Myers for a two day training on OCTOBER 14 and 15. The training will include a review of Federal laws that govern mortgage originating and servicing, Laws and regulations that govern mortgage lending and servicing, Understanding loan documents, origination and closing process, Servicing problems and post origination issues, Common law/ state law causes of action and affirmative defenses, Drafting discovery/motion practice, and Ethical discussions/considerations in foreclosure practice. On the second day, Ms. Charney will have a more advanced discussion of foreclosure defense and is inviting attorneys to bring their files with them for discussion.
The cost of the training is $50 + a promise to take 1 pro bono case from Florida Rural Legal Services. Lunch will be provided. CLE have been applied for.
The training will be held at the Federal Courthouse in Fort Myers. Please remember that photo ID is required to enter the Courthouse and that no cell phones are allowed to be brought into the building.
attending the training, you will also be able to join a local e-mail group for foreclosure defense issues and can be listed on the referral list for the newly formed Lee County Foreclosure Response Task Force. The task force is made up of attorneys and community businesses and organizations, including the Lee County Bar Association, Herocare, Florida Rural Legal Services, the Home Ownership Resource Center, the Lee County United Way, the Southwest Florida Professional Firefighters & Paramedics, Local 1826, IAFF, Inc., Lee Memorial Health Systems, and the Lee County School District.
Learn how to do foreclosure defense work
Learn how to do foreclosure defense work
When homeowners find themselves already sunk in the quagmire of foreclosure, they need lawyers to defend them.
April Charney, a Jacksonville Area Legal Aid lawyer and nationally recognized foreclosure defense expert, is on a mission to train as many lawyers as possible to help out in the crisis.
So far she’s trained more than 480 lawyers in Ft. Myers, Tallahassee, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami. This month, trainings are scheduled for October 9-10 in Pensacola, October 14-15 in Ft. Myers, and Sarasota on October 13.
The seminars are designed for all attorneys interested in learning how to handle defense of foreclosure cases. No prior experience is necessary.
“It’s about lawyers doing important work well while doing good,” Charney said.
“This applies not only for the actual homeowner who won’t become another home-loser, but the lawyers are defending their very communities against the devastation caused by the loss of homeowners. We all suffer when communities lose homeowners. It is truly a unique call to arms for all the lawyers with the skills — think Napoleon Dynamite! — whose obligation it is to use those special skills to educate the judges and to fight off the scourge of foreclosures in their own communities.”
Charney is also spreading her expertise around the country, in South Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and New York.
“I am setting up trainings as fast and as many as I can accommodate. These lawyers commit to give back 20 hours of pro bono service to their local legal aid/service programs in return for this education. I continue to mentor after the trainings, as time allows. But JALA needs help doing this. I am still just one lawyer, and one legal aid lawyer at that.”
For an in-depth understanding of the crisis, she refers to a 29-page study by Alan M. White, of Valparaiso University Law School, called “Rewriting Contracts, Wholesale: Data on Voluntary Mortgage Modifications From 2007 and 2008 Remittance Reports” (available online at ).
“Home mortgage debt in the United States mushroomed from about $4 trillion in 1998 to $10 trillion in 2007. During the same decade, the median income remained virtually unchanged in constant dollars [$48,034 in 1998 to $48,201 in 2006] and the number of homeowners rose at a relatively modest pace. Inevitably, homeownership has become progressively less affordable, and the ability of Americans to service their growing mortgage debt has reached a breaking point. The rapid growth of subprime mortgage lending was an important contributor to the mortgage debt bubble,” White wrote.
White concluded: “If things continue as they are, the losses, which have largely been recognized by the ultimate holders of the investments, will continue to be parsed out between mortgage servicers and homeowners for many years to come, and to be magnified by the senseless process of foreclosure and sale at losses of 50 percent or more in a distressed real estate market. Without bankruptcy reform, legislated debt reduction, or a similar solution, the subprime crisis will drag on for years.”
Charney commented: “This article helps to explain why no workouts are happening and why lawyers trying to gain workouts through mediation will meet with frustration.
“There are no signs in the study data of the crisis bottoming out or reaching a turning point, through June 2008. Instead, the disappearance of refinancing and the acceleration of foreclosures means that the number of homes in foreclosure and REO [real estate owned, a property that goes back to the mortgage company after an unsuccessful foreclosure action] will continue to grow, and at present rates will not be liquidated for several more years. All things being equal, the 2005 and 2006 loan pools in this study could take as many as 10 years to process the delinquent loans into foreclosures, the foreclosures into REO, and to see the REO, at present rates,” Charney said.
“Alan doesn’t discuss the reasons why servicers can’t or don’t do workouts,” Charney said.
But she offers these reasons: “remix tax shelter rules that apply to these securitized trusts prohibit more than a small fraction of the loans to be modified (5 percent of the total or less) and further limit the ability of the servicer to deem the borrower likely to default and, therefore, qualify for a workout.”
Also, Charney explained: “No forensic appraisals and many of the investors get paid more under default insurance policies when the loans go bad than they get paid just as investors in the trust if the loans are not deemed in default.”
Attend one of her trainings, and she’ll be happy to tell you more.
The topics of Charney’s trainings include:
& #x2022; How the mortgage industry operates, including securitization, trusts, and residential mortgage-backed securities;
• Defending foreclosures in Florida, including attorneys’ fees;
• Understanding loan documents, origination, and the closing process;
• Servicing problems and post origination issues;
• Common law/state law causes of action and affirmative defenses;
• Drafting discovery/motion practice;
• Federal laws that govern mortgage origination and servicing;
• Post-origination issues, including attorneys’ fees;
• Role of bankruptcy and foreclosure.
The Pensacola session, presented by the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association and Legal Services of North Florida, Inc., will be held October 9 and 10 at the M.C. Blanchard Judicial Center, Escambia County Courthouse, Jury Assembly Room, 190 Governmental Center. Sixteen continuing legal education credits, including two ethics credits, have been applied for.
Registration opens at 8 a.m. each day of the seminar that begins at 8:30 Thursday and Friday. The cost is $100 per day or $150 for both days. Preregister by October 6 to Legal Services of North Florida, Inc., Attention John J. Fenno, 2119 Delta Blvd., Tallahassee 32303.
The Sarasota training, sponsored by Legal Aid of Manasota, Inc., is October 13 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will be held at the Fruitville Public Library. Charney will present the training that will also feature Chief Judge Lee Haworth announcing the 12th Judicial Circuit Foreclosure Conciliation Plan.
For more information contact Linda Harradine at 941-366-0038 or Nina Perry at 941-747-1628. The training will be free to attorneys who agree to handle a foreclosure case pro bono. The fee for others is still to be determined.
In Ft. Myers, the Pro Bono Committee of the Lee County Bar Association and Florida Rural Legal Services is bringing nationally recognized foreclosure defense attorney, April Charney, to Fort Myers for a two day training on OCTOBER 14 and 15. The training will include a review of Federal laws that govern mortgage originating and servicing, Laws and regulations that govern mortgage lending and servicing, Understanding loan documents, origination and closing process, Servicing problems and post origination issues, Common law/ state law causes of action and affirmative defenses, Drafting discovery/motion practice, and Ethical discussions/considerations in foreclosure practice. On the second day, Ms. Charney will have a more advanced discussion of foreclosure defense and is inviting attorneys to bring their files with them for discussion.
The cost of the training is $50 + a promise to take 1 pro bono case from Florida Rural Legal Services. Lunch will be provided. CLE have been applied for.
The training will be held at the Federal Courthouse in Fort Myers. Please remember that photo ID is required to enter the Courthouse and that no cell phones are allowed to be brought into the building.
attending the training, you will also be able to join a local e-mail group for foreclosure defense issues and can be listed on the referral list for the newly formed Lee County Foreclosure Response Task Force. The task force is made up of attorneys and community businesses and organizations, including the Lee County Bar Association, Herocare, Florida Rural Legal Services, the Home Ownership Resource Center, the Lee County United Way, the Southwest Florida Professional Firefighters & Paramedics, Local 1826, IAFF, Inc., Lee Memorial Health Systems, and the Lee County School District.
Learn how to do foreclosure defense work When homeowners find themselves already sunk in the quagmire of foreclosure, they need lawyers to defend them. April Charney, a Jacksonville Area Legal Aid lawyer and nationally recognized foreclosure defense expert, is on a mission to train as many lawyers as possible to help out in the crisis. So far she’s trained more than 480 lawyers in Ft. Myers, Tallahassee, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami. This month, trainings are scheduled for October 9-10 in Pensacola, October 14-15 in Ft. Myers, and Sarasota on October 13. The seminars are designed for all attorneys interested in learning how to handle defense of foreclosure cases. No prior experience is necessary. “It’s about lawyers doing important work well while doing good,” Charney said. “This applies not only for the actual homeowner who won’t become another home-loser, but the lawyers are defending their very communities against the devastation caused by the loss of homeowners. We all suffer when communities
Learn how to do foreclosure defense work
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