Archive for the ‘nevada foreclosure mediation’ Category

4 Websites You Can Trust for Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Information in Nevada

Monday, September 13th, 2010

There are a lot of scams in the world of bankruptcy, foreclosure, short sales, loan modifications and foreclosure mediation. Especially in Nevada, and perhaps even moreso in Las Vegas.

You can search on Google for help. But how do you know which information sources you can trust?

Look no further because here are…

4 Websites You Can Trust for Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Information in Nevada

1. http://www.nvb.uscourts.gov/BankruptcyInfo/BkInfo_Home.htm

U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Nevada. The Bankruptcy Information page contains explanations of basic bankruptcy terms such as Chapter 7, Chapter 13 and Discharge. It also has links to approved credit counseling and debtor education agencies. (Though be aware that “approved” does not mean the same as “recommended.”)

2. http://foreclosurehelp.nv.gov

A government website set up by the Nevada Department of Business and Industry. This site has a Foreclosure Mediation Hotline. A Foreclosure Information Workbook you can download and listen to. (Y puedes eschuchar en espanol tambien.) A way to report scams. And plenty of other helpful information if you’re not sure where else to turn.

3. http://www.nevadajudiciary.us/index.php/foreclosuremediation

For Foreclosure Mediation information, the authoritative site is the Nevada Judiciary’s website set up specifically to facilitate the Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program. Plenty of good explanations and Q&A to learn from as well as updates and perspectives on how the program is doing.

4. http://www.hud.gov/local/nv/homeownership/foreclosure.cfm

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) site which lists various resources and links specifically for Nevada.

The key for anyone who thinks they may need help dealing with bankruptcy or foreclosure is to start with someone you trust. That can be a government resource, or it can be a lawyer or other trusted advisor who you know is going to put your needs first.

If you’re facing bankruptcy or foreclosure, we encourage you to contact a Haines & Krieger lawyer at 702-880-5554 for information or to set up a free consultation. It doesn’t cost anything and we’ll make sure you walk out with answers you can trust.

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Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program and Good Faith Requirement

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Does the “good faith” requirement for mortgage lenders under the new Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program have teeth?

If you’ve been following this blog, then you know that under Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program put into place this year, a Nevada homeowner who received a foreclosure notice on July 1, 2009 or later can apply within 30 days for a foreclosure mediation session.  This means that an authorized representative from the mortgage lender must attend the session.

According to the rules, the mortgage lender’s representative must act in good faith.  That is, they can’t just show up and go through the motions.  The consequences for not acting in good faith are “sanctions” which can mean a delay of the foreclosure, or perhaps something stronger.

What those sanctions will be and whether they’ll have enough teeth, however, is not clear yet.

Thanks to a frustrated homeowner named Raul Cardenas, however, we may soon find out.  He went through a foreclosure mediation session with his mortgage lender–Chase Bank–recently.  After getting the sense they were not acting in good faith, he sued Chase.  The court set November 13 as a hearing date to determine sanctions, though the judge also encouraged both sides to get together for another mediation session.

While we do not yet know what the sanctions will be, it is encouraging to see that the courts are placing value on the “good faith” requirement and allowing a hearing on the sanctions to proceed.  That alone may provide the leverage Mr. Cardenas needs to be able to keep his home.

Help Stop Foreclosure Las Vegas
If you’re a Las Vegas homeowner facing foreclosure and you’re seeking good bankruptcy attorneys in Las Vegas who are experienced with foreclosure, loan modifications and new bankruptcy laws Las Vegas, then contact us for a free foreclosure consultation.

We’ll help you figure out all of your options and get the full benefit of the bankruptcy process that was created to protect citizens like you. For more information see our page on Las Vegas foreclosure mediation or call Haines and Krieger today for a free consultation at 702-880-5554.

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More Nevada homeowners requesting “Foreclosure Mediation”

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Since it was first implemented by the Nevada Legislature earlier this year, Nevada’s Foreclosure Mediation Program has become a big deal for Las Vegas and other Nevada homeowners who have received a foreclosure notice.

There have been over 2,200 mediation requests, and according to an article in the Las Vegas Business Press, there have been up to 100 mediation requests per day according to the program’s project manager Verise Campbell.  The article also noted that Clark County reported 6,160 notices of default in December according to the Foreclosure Mediation Program data. And the first week of September was the peak with 1,742 homeowners in the county receiving foreclosure notices.

How successful is Nevada’s Foreclosure Mediation Program so far?
It’s hard to say right now.  There have been approximately 50 actual mediations since mid-September, though information about the outcomes is not available to the public.  But what is clear is that there is bid demand for loan modifications from Las Vegas homeowners facing foreclosure.

The primary advantage of the program is that a Nevada homeowner who receives a foreclosure notice can request a mandatory foreclosure mediation sessions within 30 days of receiving the foreclosure notice.  That means an in-person meeting with a representative of the mortgage lender, a professional foreclosure mediator, the homeowner and the homeowner’s lawyers.  (And yes, you most likely do want to have a lawyer with you for this process.)

If you’ve received a foreclosure notice and want to talk with a Las Vegas bankruptcy lawyer about the foreclosure mediation process as well as other options, please contact us for a free foreclosure consultation.  We’ll provide you with all of the Las Vegas bankruptcy information you’ll need to make an informed decision.  And we’ll do everything we can to help you start getting your financial life back together.

Contact Haines and Krieger today for a free consultation at 702-880-5554.

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Nevada foreclosure rate tops again as unemployment continues to rise

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Thanks to the Las Vegas housing bust, Nevada once again has topped RealityTrac’s quarterly report for having the the highest rate of foreclosures in the U.S. at 1 out of every 23 homes.

The Nevada foreclosure situation is of course not being helped by a 13% unemployment rate in the state along with declining population overall, according to a recent article in Bloomberg.

This means continued trouble for homeowners in our Las Vegas community.  And it means that, barring significant government help, the best option for homeowners to have any chance of keeping their homes is Chapter 13 bankruptcy or a loan modification (aided by Nevada’s Foreclosure Mediation Program), or a combination of the two.

Of course, none of this helps homeowners who also have lost their jobs, since you generally need some sort of steady income to be able to negotiate a loan modification or set up a Chapter 13 repayment plan.

As a result, there have been some calls for a moratorium on foreclosures for those who are unemployed.  In particular, James H. Carr of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition has been an advocate for this concept.

“We do need to think more carefully about a bridge so people aren’t being kicked out of their homes as they are looking for employment,” Carr was quoted as saying in an October 16 article in the Washington Post.

Whatever happens, it would be best if it happened quickly.  Especially for Las Vegas homeowners.

In the meantime, if you’re worried about foreclosure in Las Vegas and are seeking Las Vegas bankruptcy information, then it makes sense to talk with Las Vegas bankruptcy lawyers to get all of your questions answered.

Contact us for a free initial consultation.  We’ll sit down with you, explain your options and provide the Las Vegas bankruptcy help you need to get back on track with your financial life.

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Nevada’s foreclosure mediation program: Connecting the disconnected

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

There was a nice piece recently on News 4 KRNV about the Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program and how 25 more mediators were sworn in.  (Watch the video and read the article here.)

The gist of the story was that demand for loan modification via foreclosure mediation sessions is growing, with an average of 78 new requests per day coming in, according to Program Administrator Verise Campbell.

One of the interesting points made in the story is that these mediation sessions will be the first time where someone from the mortgage company will actually meet with and hear a homeowner’s story.

It occurred to me that this is essentially re-connecting what’s been disconnected.  In the case of the mortgage process, the desire for mortgage brokers to complete a transaction was disconnected from the actual value of the transaction.  And in the case of the mortgage itself, once the loan is set up, it is then re-packaged and sold to another company which puts it into a pool with other mortgages in order to create an investment pool.  The pool of mortgages is then chopped up and sold as bonds or some other security to investors.

In other words, the connection between the homeowner and the owner of the loan (i.e, the bank or mortgage company) has been stretched thin.  And as a result, it’s much easier for an employee of a mortgage company to see a homeowner simply as a number of a statistic.

What Nevada’s Foreclosure Mediation Program does, if nothing else, is to re-establish the connection between the homeowner and the party that owns the loan.  And perhaps a sense of connection is one of the pieces of the puzzle we’ve lost and that we need to successfully sort all of these problems out.

Whether you’re worried about foreclosure in Las Vegas or filing bankruptcy in Las Vegas or any other steps to protect your assets, it’s important to have a good Las Vegas bankruptcy laywer whom you can trust.

If you’d like to learn more about loan modifications and your options regarding Nevada’s Foreclosure Mediation Program, please contact Haines and Krieger today for a free consultation at 702-880-5554.

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Las Vegas Foreclosure mediation update: Non-Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Programs Struggling

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

So far, Nevada’s Foreclosure Mediation Program appears to be the only one with teeth in it.

Recently, the non-profit National Consumer Law Center released a report saying that none of the foreclosure mediation programs they reviewed (a list which does not include Nevada) are providing significant benefits to homeowners.  (See Reuters article on the report – “US home foreclosure mediation in jeopardy:  report“.)

Why?  Because the existing programs routinely fail to impose significant obligations on mortgage servicers, according to the article.

In contrast, Nevada’s Foreclosure Mediation Program gives homeowners facing foreclosure the option to request a mandatory foreclosure mediation session.  This means someone from the mortgage company with authority to negotiate must attend the foreclosure mediation session.  Additionally, Nevada has now trained a number of professional foreclosure mediators who also sit in on and participate in the foreclosure mediation session.

It would be great if the other states could create laws with similar teeth in them.  And it would be even better if Congress or the Treasury could come up with uniform protections and solutions for homeowners.  However, the mortgage industry’s lobby is strong.  And according to the NCLC report:

“It is unfortunate that the [mortgage] industry has so far prevailed in blocking Congressional action on court-ordered loan modifications, the one step that would level the playing field for consumers and ensure the necessary accountability from all parties….With the industry’s encouragement, crucial elements of accountability have been omitted from the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Now, over six months after its inception, this new federal initiative serves only a small percentage of eligible homeowners.”

The important takeaway, for now, is that Nevada homeowners have some unique tools at their disposal.

We’ve been following this issue very closely and making sure our clients get the full benefit of the bankruptcy and foreclosure laws available.  If you’re a Las Vegas homeowner who is facing foreclosure and seeking a bankruptcy attorney in Las Vegas, then contact us for a free foreclosure consultation.

Having an experienced and trustworthy Las Vegas bankruptcy attorney is the most important first step in moving forward.

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Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program Has Received Over 450 Requests for Mediation So Far

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Despite a somewhat misleading August 10 article in the Las Vegas Sun (“Foreclosure Crisis:  So far, few have applied for mediation“), the Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program is now reporting that over 450 requests for mediation have been received as of August 13, according to the program’s website.

The Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program enables homeowners who receive foreclosure notices (aka ” Notices of Default and Election to Sell”) to seek mediation under the program that was created by the Nevada Legislature effective July 1, 2009.  Such homeowners have 30 days from the day they received their notice to request a mediation session.

The program’s website also reports that the first two mediation sessions have been scheduled for September 14.  It’s apparently taken a little time to get the first hearings scheduled because training for mediators was held August 5-7 and the program was only recently able to officially appoint its first mediators.

You may recall from previous posts on this blog about the foreclosure mediation program (here, here, here, here and here) that the Nevada foreclosure mediation program is the only such program in the U.S. that enables homeowners to request a mandatory foreclosure mediation session with their mortgage lender.  In other words, Nevada homeowners facing foreclosure have access to the strongest anti-foreclosure tool available at the present time.

Help Stop Foreclosure Las Vegas
Las Vegas residents are facing a foreclosure crisis greater than anywhere else in the U.S.  Anything we can all do to stop foreclosure in Las Vegas and keep people in their homes will ultimately benefit not just the homeowners but our community as a whole.

Having good bankruptcy attorneys in Las Vegas is extremely important in this process.  Let us answer your questions and help you understand all of your options.

For a free consultation or if you need any assistance from Las Vegas Bankruptcy Attorneys, or have questions about Las Vegas Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, or Las Vegas Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, or Las Vegas Debt Settlement, please call the offices of Haines and Krieger at 702-880-5554 today.

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Another reason why Nevada’s mandatory foreclosure mediation law is necessary

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

In previous posts, we’ve talked about the benefits to Las Vegas residents of Nevada’s foreclosure mediation program (NRS 107.080) here, here and here.  The gist of it being the new law allows homeowners who received a foreclosure notice after June 30, 2009, to request a mandatory mediation session with their mortgage lender.

Here’s one more reason the law was the right move by Nevada:  It turns out banks and mortgage lenders actually have an incentive to delay the foreclosure process because they collect generous fees along the way.

“Lucrative Fees May Deter Efforts to Alter Loans” was the headline in last week’s New York Times investigative piece.  And in interviews with former employees from mortgage lenders, the article describes in detail how mortgage companies continue to collect various fees for things like insurance, appraisals, title searches and legal services from the pools of home loans while homeowners dangle in foreclosure limbo.  The mortgage companies collect these fees regardless of the outcome, so it doesn’t matter to them what ultimately happens to the home or the people who live in it.

Also, the mortgage companies are often owned by the banks and mortgage lenders, or they have profit sharing arrangements with them, according to the article.  In contrast with the Making Homes Affordable program, which offers $1,000 incentives to banks to enter loan modifications with homeowners, the fees from delaying foreclosure are much more profitable.

This article further confirms the fact that the Nevada did the right thing when they passed the most aggressive legislation of any state so far to try and help homeowners negotiate loan modifications with their banks and lenders.

Our first foreclosure mediation sessions under the new Nevada mediation law are coming up in about 60 days.  Stay tuned to the Haines & Krieger blog as we’ll continue to monitor and write about this important topic.

In the meantime, if you’re a Las Vegas homeowner and need to stop foreclosure and you’re in need of good bankruptcy attorneys in Las Vegas or you’re looking for bankruptcy information in Las Vegas, then get in touch with us to set up a free initial foreclosure mediation consultation.  We’ll sit down and provide the Las Vegas bankruptcy help you need, explaining all the options and strategies that will help you move forward with your financial life.

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Step-by-step guilde to Las Vegas foreclosure mediation

Monday, June 29th, 2009

How will foreclosure mediation work for you if you work with Haines & Krieger?  And what will the process look like?

First, if you receive a foreclosure notice, you’ll contact us for a free foreclosure mediation consulation.  We’ll explain the whole process to you in person and answer any questions.  Don’t wait too long. The law requires that you request foreclosure mediation within 30 days of the date that the foreclosure notice was mailed.

Second, we’ll provide you with a request letter that we’ll then send to the appropriate party.  This letter triggers the mandatory request for foreclosure mediation and also temporarily stops or “stays” the foreclosure process for 90 days from the date of the foreclosure notice.

Third, a Haines & Krieger attorney will work with you to select a date for the mediation that is convenient for all parties.  A date should be within 80 days of the date of the foreclosure notice.  90 days is the maximum time limit.

Fourth, your Haines & Krieger attorney will go to the mediation session with you to meet with the mediator as well as the representative from your mortgage lender.  The mediator will be an experienced and trained foreclosure mediation professional.  They want to help you and their goal is to help the parties reach an agreement so that you can keep your home.

If an agreement is reached between you and your mortgage lender that enables you to keep your home, then the mediator will prepare a foreclosure mediation memorandum to be signed by both you and your mortgage lender.

If all goes well, then within a short amount of time you’ll be ready to keep your home and continue your life!

Help Stop Foreclosure Las Vegas
With an experienced bankruptcy attorney in Las Vegas, you’ll be empowered to take the steps necessary to keep your home and maintain control of your life.

For a free consultation or if you need any assistance from Las Vegas Bankruptcy Attorneys, or have questions about Las Vegas Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, or Las Vegas Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, or Las Vegas Debt Settlement, please call the offices of Haines and Krieger at 702-880-5554 today.

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Nevada foreclosure mediation gives homeowners a new option

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Big news for Las Vegas homeowners facing foreclosure:  You may now have the option of requiring your mortgage lender to participate in foreclosure mediation with you if you have received a foreclosure notice for the home in which you live.

The Nevada legislature has made it official with the passage of Assembly Bill (AB) 149.  And the Nevada Supreme Court has put together the rules that will govern the process.

Here’s how it will affect you:  If you receive a foreclosure notice on July 1, 2009 or any time after, and you live in the home that is threatened with foreclosure, then you have the option of requesting that your mortgage lender meet with you for foreclosure mediation in an effort to negotiate a loan modification.

Why is this big news?  Because, as the Nevada state government has recognized, a significant number of foreclosures could be avoided if the two parties just have a chance to sit down and talk.  People don’t want to move out of their homes.  It’s actually in the interest of banks to have people stay in their homes and continue making payments rather than foreclosing (especially in this real estate market).  And when a foreclosure problem is as big as the one that Nevada and Las Vegas face, it’s in the interest of our society and economy to enable people to stay in their homes.

However, as many Las Vegas residents know, it can be very difficult to contact or communicate with your mortgage lender.  They don’t necessarily return your calls.  And the employees may be busy with other activities.

As a result, Las Vegas homeowners often don’t even have a chance to have a conversation and try to work something out.

Now you do.  The new foreclosure mediation program is one more way to help stop foreclosure Las Vegas.  The other way is to make sure you have good bankruptcy attorneys in Las Vegas who understand how the new foreclosure mediation process works.

So whether you need Las Vegas foreclosure mediation help, loan modification help or Las Vegas bankruptcy information, please feel free to contact us for a free consultation to learn more about all of your options and get all of your questions answered.

Contact Haines and Krieger today for a free consultation at 702-880-5554.

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