MFI-Miami Blog

Mortgage Applications Plummet Causing Banks To Scramble To Lower Interest Rates Mortgage applications continue to decline according to the  Mortgage Bankers Association . Is this a sign Americans are losing faith in the lending industry? The MBA stated that mortgage applications fell another 2.9% for the week ending May 18, 2018. This is the lowest it has fallen since December of 2000. On an unadjusted basis, the index decreased 4% from the previous week. The Refinance Index also dropped. The RI fell 5% from the previous week. This is also the lowest since December 2000. The unadjusted Purchase Index also decreased. The PI fell 3% from last week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index dropped 2% from last week. However, this is still 2% higher from this time last year. The refinance share of mortgage activity also fell .5%.  Mortgage applications for refinances decreased from last week’s 35.7% to 35.3%. This is the lowest level since August 2008. Read more at MFI-Miami

Judge Recommends Foreclosure Defense Lawyer Mark Stopa Get 1-Year Suspension And Mental Health Counseling Pinellas County Judge Linda Allan has stopped short of calling for disbarment of local foreclosure defense lawyer Mark Stopa. Judge Allan recommended Stopa be suspended for a year and limited to appellate work for an additional year. In addition, she is recommending he undergo a year of mental health counseling. Judge Allan, cited  Stopa’s angry outbursts against some trial judges  that they threw him out of their courtrooms. However, Allan also heard from appellate judges who called Stopa a well-prepared, intelligent attorney. Judge Allan wrote in her report: The Florida Bar has recommended disbarment as the appropriate sanction.  The Referee understands this perspective, particularly in light of (Stopa’s) persistence in blaming others and resistance to acknowledge the wrongful nature of his belligerent and angry conduct toward judges and others. However, the Referee

Experience The Most Aggressive Detroit Foreclosure Defense Team Ever Assembled MFI-Miami has created the most aggressive Detroit foreclosure defense team Michigan has ever seen! We are the only foreclosure and mortgage experts with the strength to successfully challenge any mortgage lender in a Michigan courtroom. Our competitors show off one or two victories but they can't beat our track record. How do we know this? Because  we have the track record to prove it .  MFI-Miami has become a lender's worst nightmare. We have also become a nightmare for foreclosure mills like  Orlans Associates  and  Trott Law ! Why? MFI-Miami has successfully challenged some of the  most arrogant foreclosure mill lawyers  in Detroit. Steve Dibert has also helped keep lenders from discriminating against Hispanics and people of African and Caribbean descent. In addition, he has helped keep combat veterans in their homes.  Furthermore, MFI-Miami also has access to some of

Shaquille O’Neal Selling Shaq-apulco Outside Orlando For $28 Million And Moving To Atlanta Shaquille O’Neal has the perfect house for you. You must have deep pockets and have the urge to move to the Orlando area. The NBA superstar is saying goodbye his sprawling Shaq-apulco mansion in Windemere. He is selling the mega-mansion for $28 million. O’Neal bought the property in 1993 when he was a rookie with the Orlando Magic for $4 Million. Shaq-apulco remained O’Neal’s primary home for the next 25 years, even as he moved around the NBA. Shaquille O’Neal works as a basketball analyst for  TNT . He’s selling the supersized 12-bedroom home because he’s spending more time in  Atlanta. The house is larger than life and audacious. Built in 1990, the house and its 4 acres are located on the shores of Lake Butler inside  Isleworth.  Isleworth is a gated golf community a short drive from Orlando. Read more at MFI-Miami

Florida 2nd DCA Upholds An Argument That Incomplete Note Endorsements Are Not Valid Endorsements! MFI-Miami has been making the argument for years that incomplete note endorsements are invalid. Unfortunately, getting a Florida Circuit Court judge to agree with you is a crap shoot. Most Circuit Court judges want to maintain the status quo and stick to their prejudice that the homeowner is a deadbeat. They also know most clients don’t have the money to appeal to the DCA. The Florida DCA requires homeowners put up a bond of up to one-third of the judgment amount to appeal. So, judges see siding with a lender as a safe bet because most homeowners don’t have this kind of cash. As a result, the homeowner will have the lawyer negotiate a loan modification or a Cash-For-Keys deal. Incomplete note endorsements usually happen when the note is transferred to an MBS Trust. The endorsement contains the name of the entity acting as the Trustee for the MBS Trust but nothing else. Most of the

Pimp Daddy Minister Busted For Pimpin’ Investors For $2 Million In Fraudulent Investment Scheme  Pimp Daddy Minister Larry Holley apparently didn’t take the advice of Reverend Ellis when it came time to preaching. Ellis advertises his Detroit  church with billboards promoting,  “No Pimpin! Straight Preachin!” The pimp daddy minister from Michigan has been indicted for multiple charges of  wire and mail fraud . The federal government is accusing the pair of using a church to  swindle money from unsuspecting investors . Larry A. Holley is pastor at  Abundant Life Ministries International , Inc. in Flint, Michigan. Yes, the Flint, Michigan with the water problem. Federal prosecutors have charged Holley and Patricia Gray with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. The government has also charged the pair with four counts of mail fraud and four counts of money laundering. Holley and Gray operated a company named Treasure Enterprise. Federal prosecutors allege Holley would t

ForSaleByOwner.com Domain Bought By Quicken Loans Owner Dan Gilbert For An Estimated $3.2 million In-House Realty has purchased ForSaleByOwner.com an estimated $3.2 million. In-House Realty is owned by Rock Holdings. Rock Holdings is also the parent company of Quicken Loans and One Reverse Mortgage . Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans fame owns Rock Holdings. ForSaleByOwner.com is a real estate website that allows homeowners to market their homes without a realtor.  Rock Holdings has not disclosed a sale price. However, several domain valuation websites estimate the site's value at $3.2 million . The site's value has jumped by 10 times since February when the site was only valued at $328,000. It seems like In-House Realty CEO Doug Seabolt like throwing around Dan Gilbert's money. The only way for the value to jump that high that quickly is if In-House paid overpaid for the site. So why would In-House Realty and Rock Holdings pay 1000% more for a site than it w

The Samurai Masters Of Orlando Foreclosure Defense MFI-Miami has created the most aggressive Orlando foreclosure defense team Florida has ever seen! We are the only foreclosure and mortgage experts with the strength to successfully challenge any mortgage lender in an Orlando area courtroom. Our competitors show off one or two victories but they can’t beat our track record. How do we know this? Because  we have the track record in Florida to prove it . MFI-Miami has become a lender’s worse nightmare. Why? MFI-Miami has successfully challenged some of the most arrogant foreclosure mill lawyers and lenders in Florida. Steve Dibert has also helped keep lenders from discriminating against Hispanics and people of African and Caribbean descent. In addition, he has helped keep combat veterans in their homes.  Furthermore, MFI-Miami also has access to some of the top forensic accountants and former FBI agents available. MFI-Miami can also call on mortgage compliance experts and colla

Judges Sing The Theme To Rawhide As Foreclosure Defense Become Harder And Orlando Foreclosures Decline  As Orlando foreclosures decline so do the bottom-feeding bargain hunters. Metro Orlando foreclosures continue to decline. The Orlando area has had  8% fewer filings in April  than a month earlier. In addition, Orlando foreclosures declined 35% fewer than a year earlier. Real estate analyst  Attom Data Solutions states Orange County saw a 46% decrease in foreclosures year-over-year. The Orlando area averaged about a 1-in-2,000 occurrence according to Attom. The drop in Orlando foreclosures is also driving up purchase prices. The data shows that there are fewer opportunities for bottom-feeders and deal seekers. It has also caused a 43% decrease in inventory year-over-year. Seminole County has bucked the trend in the four-county area. The county had 125 foreclosures for the month. This is 64% higher than the previous month. However, this is still 17% fewer than a year earli

Broward County Judicial Candidate Leonore Greller Pens Nutso Rant Filled With Diarrhea Of Fonts And Colors Leonore Greller posted a nutso rant on her website filled with a diarrhea of fonts and colors. Broward County Judicial Candidate Leonore Greller just doesn’t know when to shut up. Very few people would know about her involvement with a  loan modification scam  in 2009 if she would shut up about it. But, no Greller has to keep volunteering bits of information. It seems like she’s baiting the audience and the media to ask her questions about  Mortgage Mitigation Clearing House . The sham loan modification company that ripped off hundreds of people. Instead, Greller starts out by penning a psycho rant about it on her  website  filled with a diarrhea of fonts and colors lashing out at me and veteran reporter  Buddy Nevins . You can picture Greller grinding her teeth and seething with anger when she wrote it. Greller also mentions the articles in her stump speeches on the

Foreclosures Have Increased In These 12 Markets As The Number Of Foreclosures Fall Nationwide Foreclosures have increased 112% in Detroit There has been a nationwide decline of 17% of foreclosures from April 2017. Yet, these real estate markets have bucked the trend and have seen in an increase of the number of foreclosures. Attom Data Solutions  also claims the number of foreclosure filings has increased over the previous year in 99 of the 219 metro areas last month. The nationwide rate is one filing for every 2,089 housing units. There were also 64,183 properties in foreclosure for April 2018. Yet, the total foreclosure activity increased compared with April 2017 in 24 of the markets The number of foreclosures fell nationwide in April compared with the previous year. However, even with the small decline, foreclosures have fallen 34 consecutive months with fewer foreclosure starts on a year-to-year average. Lenders also came into possession of 14,233 properties during the

Like Annoying Robocall Solicitations? The FCC Is About To Let The Financial Industry Bombard You With More The finance industry is pushing the FCC to make revisions to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act or TCPA. They want to make it easier to bombard you with robocall solicitations and collection calls. The TCPA revisions would also make it harder to sue telemarketing companies and lenders who harass consumers. There are 17 signatories to the petition. The signatories make up a who’s who of the financial industry. They include the American Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, and the Mortgage Bankers Association. Other banking, credit union, and mortgage industry groups also signed the petition. They are seeking a declaratory ruling based on an appellate court win by the financial industry. The D.C Court of Appeals vacated much of a 2015 FCC ruling on the use of autodialers to call cell phones. An earlier court ruling said any device capable of making an

Union Official Roland Bedwell Cited His Organized Crime Ties In Threats to Disrupt Construction Projects A federal judge sentenced Roland Bedwell from United Plant and Production Workers Local 175 to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. The union official pleaded guilty to extorting money from several construction business owners. United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard P. Donoghue stated: Unions exist to protect workers not to serve as vehicles for extortion.  This sentence ends Bedwell’s career of extorting business owners and sends a clear message that others who attempt do so will suffer the same fate. This Office is committed to protecting hard-working business owners and ensuring that unions are not turned into criminal organizations. Read more at MFI-Miami

Insurance Company Bookkeeper Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison and Ordered to Pay Over $3 Million in Restitution A federal judge in Florida sentenced a Florida insurance company bookkeeper to 36 months in prison.  Judge Federico Moreno  also ordered her to repay over $3 million in restitution. He also sentenced Lauren Ransom for failing to report to the IRS money she embezzled from her employers. The court also ordered Ransom to pay $2,245,402.13 in restitution to her former employers. She was also sentenced to pay $790,983 to the IRS.  Ransom previously pled guilty to three counts of making and subscribing a false tax return. The insurance company bookkeeper worked for two different Florida insurance companies for over thirty-three years. Ransom wrote unauthorized company checks payable to “Cash” and “Lauren Ransom.” She then cashed these checks or deposited them into her personal checking account.  Ransom used the money to pay for her credit cards, mortgage and auto lo

MFI-Miami Offers The Most Aggressive Michigan Foreclosure Solutions Available And We Can Prove It! MFI-Miami has created a foreclosure defense team that creates the most aggressive Michigan foreclosure solutions Michigan has ever seen! We are the only foreclosure experts with the strength to challenge any foreclosure in a Michigan courtroom. Our competitors show off one or two victories but they can’t beat our track record. How do we know this? Because  we have the track record to prove it . MFI-Miami has become a mortgage lender’s worst nightmare. We have also become a nightmare for foreclosure mills like  Orlans Associates  and  Trott Law ! Why? MFI-Miami has successfully challenged some of the  most arrogant foreclosure mill lawyers  in Michigan. Steve Dibert has also helped keep lenders from discriminating against Hispanics and people of African and Caribbean descent. In addition, he has helped keep combat veterans in their homes.  Read more at MFI-Miami

Mr. Cooper Forced To Pay The State Of Maryland $1.5 Million Over Illegally Charged Inspection Fees Mr.Cooper  formerly known as  Nationstar Mortgage will pay out more than $1.5 million to the state of Maryland. The state had accused the lender of illegally charged homeowners for inspection fees. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh alleges Nationstar passed certain home inspection costs on to homeowners despite it being illegal to do so in the state. Nationstar acting as a mortgage servicer orders inspections on properties when the borrower goes into default on their mortgage payments. Maryland law prohibits passing the fees from these inspections on to the borrowers. Yet, Nationstar charged the inspection costs to borrowers until Jan. 1, 2014 on mortgages and until February 2016 for reverse mortgages. Nationstar charged Maryland borrowers more than $1 million in improper fees. Read more at MFI-Miami

Michigan Bankruptcy Lawyers Are Lying To You About Foreclosures. Bankruptcy Does NOT Stop A Foreclosure! Let’s be honest. Michigan Bankruptcy Lawyers are business owners. They want your money. They will sing and dance the Jitterbug on their desk to convince you to give them your hard-earned cash. Matter of fact, like most Michigan lawyers there is little they won’t say or do for you to hand over your hard earned dough. Your bankruptcy lawyer is lying to you if he or she claims they can stop a foreclosure with a bankruptcy. This is not entirely true. A bankruptcy can only delay the foreclosure. This is because all a bankruptcy can do is extinguish the promissory note. It does not extinguish the mortgage which is the actual lien on your house. If bankruptcy becomes your only option, then you  MUST  do it prior to the Sheriff’s Sale.  YOU CAN NOT SAVE YOUR HOME USING BANKRUPTCY DURING MICHIGAN’S 6-MONTH REDEMPTION PERIOD OR DURING THE EVICTION STAGE. This is because you no longer

The Only BSI Financial Foreclosure Defense Team With A Record Of Putting BSI Financial In A Choke Hold! MFI-Miami has created a specialized BSI Financial Foreclosure Defense Team. The team’s focus will focus solely on developing strategies to give homeowners an edge in any Freedom Mortgage foreclosure! We are the only foreclosure and mortgage experts with the resources to successfully challenge BSI Financial. Our competitors may show off one or two victories against this lender but they can’t beat our track record. How do we know this? Because  we have the 10-year track record  to prove it! MFI-Miami’s BSI Financial Foreclosure Defense Team is  BSI’s worst nightmare . Why? MFI-Miami has successfully challenged some of their most arrogant foreclosure mill lawyers. As a result, MFI-Miami CEO Steve Dibert has developed a reputation for bringing this lender to their knees. He has even humiliated BSI’s Lenders lawyers. Read more at MFI-Miami

MFI-Miami Puts Sterling National Bank In A Choke Hold Like Only MFI-Miami Can! MFI-Miami has created a specialized Sterling National Bank Defense Team. The team’s focus will focus solely on developing strategies to give homeowners an edge in any Sterling National Bank foreclosure! We are the only foreclosure and mortgage experts with the resources to successfully challenge Sterling National Bank. Our competitors may show off one or two victories against this lender but they can’t beat our track record. How do we know this? Because  we have the 10-year track record  to prove it! MFI-Miami’s Sterling National Bank Foreclosure Defense Team is  SNB ‘s worst nightmare.  Why? MFI-Miami has successfully challenged some of their most arrogant foreclosure mill lawyers. As a result, MFI-Miami CEO Steve Dibert has developed a reputation for bringing this lender to their knees. He has even humiliated SNB’s Lenders lawyers. Read more at MFI-Miami

Adult Film Stars Face Housing Discrimination By Landlords And Potential Buyers  Actress Aurora Snow says people working in the adult film industry face housing discrimination when they try to rent homes. Female Adult film stars say they often face housing discrimination. Several adult-film actresses claim they have been screwed by potential buyers and landlords because of their profession. Aurora Snow claims adult film performers face discrimination from landlords due to their line of work. She wrote in the  Daily Beast: As a renter, I had to be vague on my applications by listing myself as an actress/model. Only when pushed did I offer up  my affiliation with Playboy TV.  This was apparently more palatable for the landlords than  my collective body of work .  I was young and had great credit and plenty of money. I had even agreed to put down three times the deposit. But it wasn’t enough. He grilled me about my employers in person and demanded to know why I did “it.” The

Trump Supporting Business Owners Now Face Bankruptcy Because Of Trump Economic Policies Trump supporting business owners are now having buyers remorse. They are facing insolvency because they can’t find employees. All thanks to President Trump and his economic policies. Trump supporting business owners are complaining they can’t get foreign seasonal employees. The  Lexington Herald-Leader   reports  landscaping companies claim they can’t get Americans to work for the same wages. Eddie Devine voted for  Trump . He but worries he may go out of business if he is unable to continue hiring 20 foreign workers a season through the H-2B visa program. Devine admitted: I feel like I’ve been tricked by the devil. I feel so stupid. Read more at MFI-Miami

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette Has $40 Million Hidden In An Offshore Tax Haven Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has a $40 million real estate empire hidden in the Carribean. State lawmakers and his Republican colleagues want to know how and where Bill Schuette got $40 Million as a 32-year public servant. Bill Schuette is a career politician who has been on the public payroll since 1984. In 1984, he scored an upset victory over former Democratic Congressman  Donald Albosta  with the financial support of Dow Chemical. In 1990, he and the Michigan GOP decided he was the man to defeat Carl Levin (D-MI) for the U.S. Senate. The popular Detroit Democrat handed Schuette his first defeat. Schuette was only unemployed for a matter of days. After being sworn in as governor, fellow mid-Michigan career politician  John Engler  appointed Schuette as Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture. Schuette won a seat in the Michigan Senate in 1994. He served in the S

Former ICE Agent Admits To Defrauding Suntrust And Freddie Mac In Short Sale Straw Deal Gone Bad A former ICE Agent admitted in court last week that she conspired to defraud  Freddie Mac  and  SunTrust Mortgage  in a short sale scheme. Shauna Sutherland pleaded guilty this week to one count of wire fraud related to the scheme. Sutherland admitted to defrauding SunTrust Mortgage and Freddie Mac as part of her plea agreement. She allowed a short sale of a property she owned in Georgia to a family friend who acted as a straw purchaser. Sutherland also lied about there being no hidden agreements between her and the purchaser. She requested forgiveness of more than $40,000 owed on the mortgage as a result of her supposed financial difficulties. SunTrust and Freddie Mac agreed to the short sale offer based on her false claims of hardship. Sutherland’s family friend purchased the property for approximately $34,000. In exchange, SunTrust Mortgage and Freddie Mac released Sutherl