Epicentre Contractors Turn to Bankruptcy

Contracting has always been a tough business. Subcontractors often make payroll and provide supplies and labor to a project months before they are paid by the general contractor or owner.
In the case of Charlotte’s Epicentre, a stop work order strangled cash flow for both the developer and the contractors. We’re still seeing clients whose financial [...]

Foreclosure Prevention Resources

To supplement our series for Distressed Homeowners, I found some resources to help preserve home ownership, avoid foreclosure, and protect against foreclosure and debt elimination scams.
Before you work with a firm that claims it can help you “rescue” you from foreclosure be sure to familiarize yourself with:

Foreclosure “rescue” and refinance fraud
Fake “government” modification program
Leaseback/rent-to-buy schemes
Bankruptcy [...]

Mortgage Modification Mixups

My law partner, Rick Mitchell, and I are disgusted by the false promises and abysmal performance of the nation’s mortgage lenders who claim to be participating in the “Making Homes Affordable” program.  Homeowners were lured into this program with the expectation that they would get an answer within the “modification period” (usually 3-6 months) and [...]

Primer for Distressed Homeowners: Part 3 of 3

In our first post of this series we covered the foreclosure process and defined some basic real estate terms related to distressed sales.
In the second post, we answered questions on preventing foreclosure, negotiating with a mortgage company, and what to do about an adjustable rate mortgage that will soon reset.
This post addresses questions on short [...]

Reverse Mortgage Fraud

Last week’s Wall Street Journal carried an article about real estate scams targeting older Americans .  It said, “Reverse-mortgage fraud, typically committed by homeowners’ relatives, caretakers or financial advisers, has also been cropping up recently in schemes to unload distressed real estate. Regulators cite cases in which real-estate speculators bought properties on the cheap and [...]

Foreclosures and Short Sales: What to do?

Our clients tend to feel guilty about defaulting on their mortgages, or the prospect of imminent default. They feel bad for the consequences to the bank, and feel embarrassed about the prospect of a foreclosure. Short sales are one
alternative, fraught with traps for the unwary; income taxes arising from debt forgiveness, difficulties in getting junior lienholders to agree to a short sale, inability to convey good title at closing if all lienholders are not covered by the short sale, etc.

Moving Through the Python, Bankruptcy Cycles

Today’s economy is force-feeding the bankruptcy python: developers who can’t pay their subcontractors force the subs into bankruptcy. Most small contractors and subcontractors are owned by individuals who guaranteed the business’s debts and will eventually seek personal bankruptcy protection. Bankruptcies always come in waves.

Bankruptcy and Families

In a study published in the Harvard Law and Policy Review the global financial crisis and the specific effect on real estate, is putting different stresses on families in bankruptcy than in times past.
Broken inter-generational safety nets
“Specifically, when young adults experience financial struggles, they often rely on their parents for help because parents usually have [...]

Asset Protection Basics

Many people want to come in and talk about asset protection are surprised to learn that they have no assets to protect. “How can this be? “I own a car and a house!”
Asset protection comes in to play if you own non-exempt property — property that creditors can reach; or if you anticipate that you [...]