foreclosures

Protesters demand end to bloodsucking lenders in Boston

adamg — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:18:05 +0000

Vampires out of Boston!: Photo by City Life.

City Life La Vida Urbana held a protest march around Rowes Wharf and its yacht-filled docks today to protest the presence of Fannie Mae President Charles Haldeman, speaking before the Boston College CEO Club.

The group, which has actively fought bank-led foreclosures in Dorchester and surrounding neighborhoods, says Fannie Mac needs to work to stop evictions of tenants in foreclosed properties and to help foreclosed owners buy back their properties.

City starts buying up foreclosed properties

adamg — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:10:43 +0000

The Herald reports on a Boston de-blightification program: The city will buy up foreclosed multi-family properties, then use federal funds to offer grants to vetted non-profits and developers willing to buy and fix up the buildings. Starts with seven foreclosed buildings in Mattapan, Roxbury, Dorchester and East Boston.

Where the foreclosures were

adamg — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:51:26 +0000

Map showing foreclosures in Boston in 2008.

Menino asks lenders to forestall foreclosures for six months

adamg — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:31:32 +0000

The Herald reports the mayor made the plea to help about 500 property owners immediately.

WaMu made us its bitch

adamg — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:07:27 +0000

The Boston Business Journal reports:

Massachusetts was one of Washington Mutual Inc.'s biggest markets for risky subprime mortgages, whose skyrocketing defaults contributed to the failure of the nation’s largest savings and loan. ...

Protest fails to keep Roslindale couple in triple decker

adamg — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:12:40 +0000

Rowe Street protest doesn't stop police. Couple had signed up for a mortgage worth as much as their monthly income; then they couldn't find somebody to pay as much as they'd thought they could get in rent and they fell behind.

Chained activists fail to stop eviction of Roxbury woman

adamg — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:48:47 +0000

Open Media Boston reports on an attempt to keep a resident of a foreclosed condo at 76 Perrin St. from being evicted.

Some 50 activists from City Life/Vida Urbana showed up, and six chained themselves to the front and rear entrances, but Boston Police cut the chains, arrested four of the six and then stood guard as a moving company got rid of the woman's belongings. She says she had offered to pay rent to current owner Bank of America, but the bank said no.

Dorchester triple-decker funny business

adamg — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:15:00 +0000

Chris Lovett continues his exploration of the shark-infested triple-decker/condo market in Dorchester:

... A review of more than 200 conversions over the last two years in Boston - mostly in Dorchester and Roxbury - shows more than 100 foreclosure filings against owners who bought more than one unit, sometimes in the same building. Names that appear as unit buyers with mortgage trouble sometimes turn up later as investors converting more units, or as people with power of attorney to represent other buyers.

Earlier:
Triple-decker condo flipping still going on in Dorchester.

Tenants would get to stay in foreclosed units under city-council measure

adamg — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:08:26 +0000

Councilor Mike Ross reports the council passed a home-rule petition yesterday:

... When a foreclosure occurs on a rental property, this bill gives the renter the right to stay in their home, so long as they continue to pay the rent they were paying prior to foreclosure, and assuming they remain a tenant in good standing. This situation remains until one of two things happen:

1. The lender sells the foreclosed property to a new landlord or owner, who has the right to select their own tenants if they so choose; or

2. The lender still owns the property upon arrival of the law's sunset clause, which is two years from passage (with the possibility of a third year extension if approved by the council and mayor).

The lender is required to notify the tenants of the foreclosure, so the tenant doesn't continue to pay rent to the old owner - something which we have seen happen quite frequently. ...

The proposal needs approval of the state Legislature and the governor to become law. Ross says some 2,000 apartments in Boston have been affected by foreclosure over the past year and that he expects that number to rise, with Roxbury, Mattapan, Dorchester and Hyde Park being hit hardest.

State Street's sub-prime mess

adamg — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:33:48 +0000

Stephen Rosenberg discusses lawsuits against State Street Corp. by pension funds that say the company improperly invested their money in risky real-estate funds - which could leave the company vulnerable to hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of damages if it loses:

... [I]t may well be that the administrators' fiduciary duties under those circumstances require them to then try to remedy their initial mistakes by suing to recover the losses, rather than compounding their own fiduciary breaches by simply absorbing the loss; that latter course of action would likely just make the administrators themselves targets for breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits based on their own mistakes in investing in the State Street funds. ...

Foreclosures: Another record-setting quarter

adamg — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:20:37 +0000

Mass. foreclosures up 38% in the first quarter of this year, compared to last year.

Another rally, another eviction blocked

adamg — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:27:05 +0000

Nothing like a little public outcry.

Most foreclosures ever

adamg — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:28:57 +0000

Boston Business Journal: The fourth quarter of 2007 saw the highest number of foreclosures in state history ...

Shame Them

Barbara Diamond — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:50:27 +0000

"I want to shame them," Grossack said of attorneys Mark Harmon and Jason Greenberg. "They're not doing anything illegal. But it's not halachically correct, and it's not helping the Jewish community."

Foreclosure: The gift that keeps on giving

adamg — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:50:17 +0000

Looks like all the sharks in the mortgage racket are now being joined by sharks in the foreclosure resale market:

In one instance, three friends made the winning bid of $130,000 on a house in Lee. The mortgage company delayed the closing, then sent a letter in February offering to return the deposit. Before the friends responded, the company put the house back on the market for $179,000, then quickly agreed to sell it to someone else.