The Dig reports organizers of a recent foreclosed-house takeover in Dorchester are talking to the Federal Housing Finance Agency about a pilot program that would aim to help people rather than force them into homelessness.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports a law firm that grew fat and sassy helping banks foreclose on Massachusetts homeowners is being evicted from its Woburn offices:
Now the well-known foreclosure firm is facing eviction following several tumultuous months that saw forensic accountants investigating its books and the firm bouncing checks, failing to pay employee insurance premiums, and laying off the majority of its lawyers, paralegals and other staff en masse. Meanwhile, a Florida whistleblower lawsuit against the firm is scheduled to go to trial later this year.
Rapper and City Life/La Vida Urbana activist Antonio "Twice Thou" Ennis takes on BoA:
Malia loaded into wagon for trip to E-13. Photo by Brandon German.
Boston Police arrested six people protesting the planned eviction of a Jamaica Plain resident this afternoon, including state Rep. Liz Malia (D-Jamaica Plain). They were among several dozen people who spent 3 1/2 hours at 3 Mendell Way, as part of a protest organized by City Life/La Vida Urbana and the Bank Tenants Association.
Heather Gordon, who says she bought the house when it was a crack house in 1992 and cleaned it up, has been fighting eviction in Land Court, where she charges Huntington National Bank and Deutsche Bank failed to prepare the paperwork correctly. The Supreme Judicial Court has ruled foreclosures based on shoddy paperwork illegal.
Settlement with large national banks; Attorney General Martha Coakley said she will continue to purse a separate lawsuit against lenders.
Attorney General Martha Coakley today announced a lawsuit against five large banks and mortgage companies, alleging they falsified documents, seized property they had not right to, lied to borrowers about refinancing programs and attempted to circumvent state property registration laws by using a private clearinghouse - which is also named in the complaint.
The suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, names Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, GMAC and the Mortgage Electronic Registration System.
Malden Patch reports foreclosure protesters gathered up trash from a foreclosed Malden house they say Bank of America has let go to hell, then took it over to the Beacon Hill home of the president of the bank's Massachusetts division and dumped it there.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that a 2010 law aimed at protecting tenants of foreclosed apartments against evictions "without just cause" also applies to tenants who were in the process of being evicted before the law went into effect, but who never left their units.
Taylor: Photo from We Shall Not Be Moved
The loan officer told Paula Taylor she could qualify for a $259,000 mortgage despite her $20,000 yearly salary. Eager to own a home, she signed up and bought a condo in Roxbury. Despite having her sister move in to help with expenses, she couldn't keep up with the mortgage payments and lost the house in just seven months - later finding out the loan company - Countrywide Financial had listed her salary at nearly $90,000 so she could get the mortgage, and it could get the fees.
The Taylor story is one of many being tracked by We Shall Not Be Moved, an on-going media project to tell the story of the grassroots movement that is working to keep Boston-area families in their homes after foreclosure. We Shall Not Be Moved holds an opening reception on Saturday, Feb. 19, from 4-7 p.m., at the Great Hall in Codman Square.
But not because there are fewer foreclosures. In fact, City Councilor Rob Consalvo said today, foreclosures are up 5% over last year. Consalvo (Hyde Park, Roslindale) has proposed letting the city force banks and mortgage companies to use indoor framing and locks to secure their foreclosed houses.
The Globe reports on a woman who moved into a foreclosed house without permission as a statement. And it worked. Rather than evicting her, the bank agreed to sell the property to a local non-profit.
The city council president is proposing legsilation that would let people who live in foreclosed properties continue to stay there as long as they pay "full market value rent" each month - until the property is sold.
... Foreclosures and evictions lead to abandoned properties. Banks have left over 1,000 properties abandoned in Boston, having catastrophic impacts on neighborhoods. These abandoned homes provide easy opportunities for crime. They become homes for squatters and drug dealers, and lead to crashing property values and skyrocketing crime rates.
The foreclosure crisis also tears apart the fabric of our communities. In March, I took a tour of the Four Corners area of Dorchester with people who'd been affected by foreclosure. The stories I heard that day were not of irresponsible homeowners, but of predatory lending practices that made it impossible for these hardworking individuals and families to keep their property. ...
The state Attorney General's office has gotten a temporary restraining order against a New York firm that allegedly used ads in the Metro to drum up business among homeowners facing foreclosure by promising legal services it couldn't deliver. Among other things, the company demanded $1,500 up front from prospective clients, which is illegal in Massachusetts and also, despite calling itself Loan Mods by Lawyers, it, in fact, employed no lawyers, the Attorney General's office reports, adding the Metro cooperated fully with state investigators.
The Dorchester Reporter takes a tour of foreclosed properties in Fields Corner that are becoming neighborhood trash dumps - including 225 Westville St., from which an entire family of squatters was evicted this week. Most of the properties are owned by out-of-town banks, which don't seem to much care about cleanliness, but the Reporter also says neighbors had been complaining about 225 Westville for two months before the city finally did something. With a photo of the property and some details of just how gross the building had become.
Julia Spitz posts a photo of an electronic signboard outside a Marlborough real-estate office that, instead of telling you the time and temperature, tells you how many foreclosed properties they have available.
Channel 4 reports:
An abandoned foreclosed home in Dorchester was condemned after it was learned people were illegally living in the trash-covered home.
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.
Thoughts: I'm not surprised to hear about this happening. Just like people investing at the top of the residential market, some investors are bound to be burnt. What I still don't understand is why some companies still pay the $60-100/sq. ft. to be in a building in the middle of a city. If your company has no need to be near a city, why pay those prices? I think after this downturn you will see a lot more office construction outside of cities.
follow more of the breaking developments here.
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