Foreclosure rescue scheme

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A sign along the road advertising foreclosure rescue Foreclosure Rescue Ad.jpg
A sign along the road advertising foreclosure rescue

A foreclosure rescue scheme is a scam that targets those whose house is facing potential foreclosure. The scheme preys on desperate homeowners whose mortgages are in default by offering to prevent the foreclosure. [1] [2] There are various ways in which foreclosure rescue schemes work, causing different types of harm to the homeowners, but all ultimately with the likely end result of the owner being forced out of their home and losing even more money.

Contents

Foreclosure rescue schemes are typically advertised in a variety of informal settings, such as roadside signs.

Types of foreclosure rescue schemes

There are several ways foreclosure rescue schemes operate:

Lease-buyback

In a lease-buyback scheme, the owner turns the lease over with an option to buy it back later. The owner is promised to be able to rent the property back, which will be counted toward an eventual buyback. These can be legitimate; however, in a scam they may end in loss of the property or considerable additional cost: the renting prices may be made so high that the original owner cannot afford to continue paying and/or the buyback price may be set far above the fair market value of the property. [3]

Equity stripping

Equity stripping or equity skimming is a variation on lease-buyback and is one of the most common types of foreclosure rescue schemes. [4] In it, the perpetrator assumes ownership of the house while allowing the former owner to continue living there, provided that s/he pay rent to the perpetrator, who is the new owner. The perpetrator often claims this ownership is temporary, and the victim will later reassume ownership of the home once the terms of the loan are renegotiated. But after taking over the deed to the house, the perpetrator cashes out all the equity in the home. The perpetrator also collects money from the victim by charging rent to the victim for living in the house while not owning it.

The final result is eviction from the house with zero equity paired with greater financial loss to the victim. The perpetrator, who then has ownership of the home, will either sell the property or allow it to go into foreclosure. [5]

Consulting service

A firm may offer to act as an agent to renegotiate the terms of a loan with the lender, in return for a fee. [4] The firms are unlikely to have any better negotiation power so the value of the fee may be disproportionate to the service received, the firm may be unable to negotiate any better terms or in the worst cases may not contact the lender. [5] Firms may also encourage the original borrower to avoid any contact with the lender, under the guise that such contact would interfere with their efforts to secure a modification, when in fact it might reveal that the firm has not contacted the lender at all. [6]

When negotiation does take place the firm may put in place a deal to buy the property from the lender, if the equity value of the property has reduced, then this may be at a lower price than the current outstanding debt. Lenders may accept this to guarantee payment now, rather than gamble on future values, ability of the owner to pay etc. In these cases the situation can be similar to the other schemes with the original owner being offered the option to rent the property with a future buy back. As for the other schemes in a scam situation the terms of any tenancy or buy back may also be set to the gross disadvantage of the original owner.

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreclosure</span> Legal process where a lender recoups an unpaid loan by forcing the borrower to sell the collateral

Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.

A reverse mortgage is a mortgage loan, usually secured by a residential property, that enables the borrower to access the unencumbered value of the property. The loans are typically promoted to older homeowners and typically do not require monthly mortgage payments. Borrowers are still responsible for property taxes or homeowner's insurance. Reverse mortgages allow older people to immediately access the equity they have built up in their homes, and defer payment of the loan until they die, sell, or move out of the home. Because there are no required mortgage payments on a reverse mortgage, the interest is added to the loan balance each month. The rising loan balance can eventually exceed the value of the home, particularly in times of declining home values or if the borrower continues to live in the home for many years. However, the borrower is generally not required to repay any additional loan balance in excess of the value of the home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lease purchase contract</span>

A Lease-Purchase Contract, also known as a lease purchase agreement or rent-to-own agreement, allows consumers to obtain durable goods or rent-to-own real estate without entering into a standard credit contract. It is a shortened name for a lease with option to purchase contract. For real estate, a lease purchase contract combines elements of a traditional rental agreement with an exclusive right of first refusal option for later purchase of the home.

Negative equity is a deficit of owner's equity, occurring when the value of an asset used to secure a loan is less than the outstanding balance on the loan. In the United States, assets with negative equity are often referred to as being "underwater", and loans and borrowers with negative equity are said to be "upside down".

Equity sharing is another name for shared ownership or co-ownership. It takes one property, more than one owner, and blends them to maximize profit and tax deductions. Typically, the parties find a home and buy it together as co-owners, but sometimes they join to co-own a property one of them already owns. At the end of an agreed term, they buy one another out or sell the property and split the equity. In England, equity sharing and shared ownership are not the same thing.

A real-estate bubble or property bubble is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real estate markets, and it typically follows a land boom. A land boom is a rapid increase in the market price of real property such as housing until they reach unsustainable levels and then declines. This period, during the run-up to the crash, is also known as froth. The questions of whether real estate bubbles can be identified and prevented, and whether they have broader macroeconomic significance, are answered differently by schools of economic thought, as detailed below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real estate investing</span> Buying and selling real estate for profit

Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. In contrast, real estate development is building, improving or renovating real estate.

Equity stripping, also known as equity skimming, is a type of foreclosure rescue scheme. Often considered a form of predatory lending, equity stripping became increasingly widespread in the early 2000s. In an equity stripping scheme an investor buys the property from a homeowner facing foreclosure and agrees to lease the home to the homeowner who may remain in the home as a tenant. Often, these transactions take advantage of uninformed, low-income homeowners; because of the complexity of the transaction, victims are often unaware that they are giving away their property and equity. Several states have taken steps to confront the more unscrupulous practices of equity stripping. Although "foreclosure re-conveyance" schemes can be beneficial and ethically conducted in some circumstances, many times the practice relies on fraud and egregious or unmeetable terms.

Mortgage fraud refers to an intentional misstatement, misrepresentation, or omission of information relied upon by an underwriter or lender to fund, purchase, or insure a loan secured by real property.

In the United States, a mortgage note is a promissory note secured by a specified mortgage loan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real estate owned</span>

Real estate owned, or REO, is a term used in the United States to describe a class of property owned by a lender—typically a bank, government agency, or government loan insurer—after an unsuccessful sale at a foreclosure auction. A foreclosing beneficiary will typically set the opening bid at such an auction for at least the outstanding loan amount. If there are no interested bidders, then the beneficiary will legally repossess the property. This is commonly the case when the amount owed on the home is higher than the current market value of the foreclosure property, such as with a mortgage loan made at a high loan-to-value during a real estate bubble. As soon as the beneficiary repossesses the property it is listed on their books as REO and categorized as an asset..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mortgage</span> Loan secured using real estate

A mortgage loan or simply mortgage, in civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any purpose while putting a lien on the property being mortgaged. The loan is "secured" on the borrower's property through a process known as mortgage origination. This means that a legal mechanism is put into place which allows the lender to take possession and sell the secured property to pay off the loan in the event the borrower defaults on the loan or otherwise fails to abide by its terms. The word mortgage is derived from a Law French term used in Britain in the Middle Ages meaning "death pledge" and refers to the pledge ending (dying) when either the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure. A mortgage can also be described as "a borrower giving consideration in the form of a collateral for a benefit (loan)".

In real estate, creative financing is non-traditional or uncommon means of buying land or property. The goal of creative financing is generally to purchase, or finance a property, with the buyer/investor using as little of his own money as possible, otherwise known as leveraging. Using these techniques an investor may be able to purchase multiple properties using little, or none, of his "own money".

Seller financing is a loan provided by the seller of a property or business to the purchaser. When used in the context of residential real estate, it is also called "bond-for-title" or "owner financing." Usually, the purchaser will make some sort of down payment to the seller, and then make installment payments over a specified time, at an agreed-upon interest rate, until the loan is fully repaid. In layman's terms, this is when the seller in a transaction offers the buyer a loan rather than the buyer obtaining one from a bank. To a seller, this is an investment in which the return is guaranteed only by the buyer's credit-worthiness or ability and motivation to pay the mortgage. For a buyer it is often beneficial, because he/she may not be able to obtain a loan from a bank. In general, the loan is secured by the property being sold. In the event that the buyer defaults, the property is repossessed or foreclosed on exactly as it would be by a bank.

Loss mitigation is used to describe a third party helping a homeowner, a division within a bank that mitigates the loss of the bank, or a firm that handles the process of negotiation between a homeowner and the homeowner's lender. Loss mitigation works to negotiate mortgage terms for the homeowner that will prevent foreclosure. These new terms are typically obtained through loan modification, short sale negotiation, short refinance negotiation, deed in lieu of foreclosure, cash-for-keys negotiation, a partial claim loan, repayment plan, forbearance, or other loan work-out. All of the options serve the same purpose, to stabilize the risk of loss the lender (investor) is in danger of realizing.

Loan modification is the systematic alteration of mortgage loan agreements that help those having problems making the payments by reducing interest rates, monthly payments or principal balances. Lending institutions could make one or more of these changes to relieve financial pressure on borrowers to prevent the condition of foreclosure. Loan modifications have been practiced in the United States since the 1930s. During the Great Depression, loan modification programs took place at the state level in an effort to reduce levels of loan foreclosures.

Foreclosure rescue in the United States is where a mortgage that is in arrears and where the lender is at the stage of foreclosing on the loan agrees to stop the foreclosure in exchange for funds received through loan modification or from a government grant. It may also refer to funds that allow the homeowner to repurchase the property at or after foreclosure.

James Odell Barnes Jr. has earned the nickname "Foreclosure King." His firm, Odell Barnes REO, is a bulk-buyer of foreclosed homes in the United States. For decades, Barnes has been buying foreclosed homes in bulk from banks and other mortgage-lenders and selling them to a network of private investors and directly to homeowners. Barnes and his investors sell the homes below current market value, typically with low down payments and higher-than-normal interest rates.

References

  1. "The Foreclosure "Rescue" Racket". Businessweek. Archived from the original on June 17, 2007.
  2. Mullins, Luke (August 7, 2008). "How to Avoid 'Foreclosure Rescue Scams'". U.S. News & World Report .
  3. "Homeowners warned about foreclosure 'rescue' scams". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. September 21, 2006.
  4. 1 2 Noelle Knox (November 8, 2007). "Con artists circle over homeowners on the edge. 'Foreclosure rescue' scams can rob victims of house and hope". USA Today . p. 1B. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Home Foreclosure in Georgia: A Comprehensive Guide". May 15, 2023.
  6. "Best RRSP Canada". August 19, 2020.