foreclosure
$318 million for Massachusetts victims of unlawful foreclosures; state to seek additional money
By adamg - 2/9/12 - 5:10 pmSettlement with large national banks; Attorney General Martha Coakley said she will continue to purse a separate lawsuit against lenders.
State charges foreclosure, lending fraud by giant lenders
By adamg - 12/1/11 - 11:19 pmAttorney 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.
They take out the trash - and leave it on bank president's front steps
By adamg - 9/22/11 - 11:15 amMalden 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.
Court extends protection of law against stupid evictions to tenants getting evicted before law was passed
By adamg - 9/6/11 - 10:26 amThe 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.
Project documents Boston's foreclosure crisis, one victim at a time
By lex.galloway - 2/17/11 - 9:25 am
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.
Boston neighborhoods could soon see fewer boarded-up foreclosed houses
By adamg - 8/25/10 - 12:26 pmBut 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.
Squatting comes to Roxbury
By adamg - 9/26/09 - 8:18 amThe 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.
Mike Ross: Let foreclosed homeowners, tenants stay in their homes
By adamg - 5/14/09 - 7:57 amThe 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. ...
Go figure: Foreclosure-help ad in the Metro may not have been legit
By adamg - 3/25/09 - 2:50 pmThe 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 encroachment of decay' in Fields Corner
By adamg - 2/26/09 - 10:50 amThe 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.
