Will More Realtors Pull MLS Listings from Trulia and Zillow?

• the aggregators' business model includes not only selling advertising to other agents but also "capturing" buyers and selling the leads back to the listing firm. So, your buyer client may choose to use the agent who has paid to have his or her advertising automatically appear on the page with the listing (and the aggregator's only qualification to appear is that the check cleared) or the buyer may be "referred" (for a fee to the data aggregator) back to the listing firm. There is a legal question as to whether the data aggregators are engaging in the real estate brokerage business without licenses when they charge a fee for the "referral";
• listing brokers often have little or no control over where listings are re-syndicated but they do get blamed by sellers for incorrect information about the listing that may appear on a site that the listing broker did not know had the listing information. Incorrect information corrected on the main site may continue to be incorrect on other syndicated sites;
• privacy issues are a growing concern. A site that Move, Inc. (which is licensed to use "Realtor.com") re-syndicates listings to will combine that listing information along with other information about the seller gathered over the Internet and issue a phony "press release" concerning the listing and the seller. The seller does not know or give permission for this "press release." Buyers have complained about interior photos of their home accessible on the Internet months after they completed the purchase. Some of those interior photos show children's names, expensive collections and furnishings and other information that those with evil intent would find useful;
• some sites permit uncontrolled and unedited "reviews" and comment on the listing information. Some sellers do not find these features helpful in selling their home.
• scam artists have "scraped" listing information off sites and used that information to defraud consumers (by placing a phony add for rent on other sites) or real estate agents (through check deposit scams).

Homeowners pay for customer service as part of their monthly mortgage payment

. . . then the servicer is nothing more than a debt collector subject to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the exception in that statute for servicers is not available

April Charney:

One reason it is important for the homeowner to be able to access the note holder is to be able to access legal rights to servicing under the mortgage. 

Normally there needs to be a demand for performance before a breach of contract can be declared by a homeowner and legal recourse pursued. 

Homeowners pay for customer service as part of their monthly mortgage payment.

Every PSA binds the servicer and the trustee of these REMIC trusts to manage the trust consistant with best practice servicing and the law of contracts implies a good faith obligation in every consumer contract that brings with it the obligation to best practice servicing.

Servicing includes delinquent loan servicing to avoid foreclosure within 45 days of an initial payment default and notice of these right is part of the duty. 

It is not part of the consumer's bargained for exchange to deal with a claimed agent performing (or not) for an undisclosed principal. 

Now, TILA gives consumers the right to this information. 

And, if the servicer is working for a principal who does not own the debt or did not acquire the debt until post default, then the servicer is nothing more than a debt collector subject to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the exception in that statute for servicers is not available.  Homeowners have stand alone claims against the debt collectors that are separate from claims against the owners of the loans.

Virginia Beach Solo Suspended

Partly for Implying His Law Firm Was Bigger

A Virginia solo practitioner has been suspended partly for holding out his law firm as a bigger operation.

Jason Matthew Head, a Virginia Beach lawyer, began calling his law firm Jason Head & Associates in May 2009, although he was the only lawyer in the firm, according to findings cited by a three-judge court. His website identified nonexistent practice groups, falsely stated his firm had three locations, and implied that a nonlawyer was actually a lawyer associate, the opinion (PDF) says. The Legal Profession Blog has the story.

The panel also found that Head overdrew his IOLTA account and did not maintain the required records. He also failed to pay a $7,500 settlement in a suit against his firm for alleged violations of the federal debt collection law, the opinion said.

The panel imposed a 30-day suspension and a one-year period of probation. During the suspension, Head will be required to retain a law office management consultant.

Head did not return a phone call requesting comment.

45 AUTO PRODUCT SAFETY WARNING

Ammo Recall

2/07/11

FEDERAL and AMERICAN EAGLE

45 AUTO PRODUCT SAFETY WARNING

Immediate Action Required

FEDERAL CARTRIDGE COMPANY • 900 BOB EHLEN DRIVE • ANOKA, MN 55303 • PHONE 763.323.2300 • Toll Free: 1-800-322-2342

Certain lots of recently manufactured 45 Auto ammunition may contain an incorrect propellant
charge. Use of product from these lots may result in firearm damage and possible
serious injury.

DO NOT USE PRODUCT FROM THE FOLLOWING LOTS:

38X628 through 38X765
38T401 through 38T414

If you have in your possession any 45 Auto with the following brand names and part numbers,
check to see if your ammunition package contains the above lots: American Eagle® (AE45A,
AE45N1, or AE45A250), Champion™ (WM5233), GoldMedal® (GM45B), Hi-Shok® (45C, 45D)
and Federal® Personal Defense® (C45C, C45D).

THIS WARNING APPLIES ONLY TO THE LOTS LISTED ABOVE.

If you possess ammunition from any of these lots, or have questions concerning this warning, please contact us
at 1-800-831-0850 or 1-800-322-2342 and ask for Product Service.

Federal will provide replacement product
and will cover the cost of returning the affected product.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

State Recordation Fees/MERS and More Tax Evasion

Over the past several years, the real estate industry in the United States has undergone a near collapse. House prices have been reduced so far by 25% nationwide due to the bursting of real estate bubble. The only vibrant part of the real estate market in the present economic recovery is the millions of foreclosed homes being sold to bargain hunters.

Some smaller States, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Alaska, have managed to avoid a big downturn in prices and hope to continue to do so. The big States most affected by the real estate disaster though, California, Michigan, Nevada, Florida, have lost more than one-half on home values in many major cities.

The History

The Wall Street investment banks, beginning in the late 1980s, initiated and bought millions of home mortgage loans to be repackaged as Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) and sold to investors across the country and the world. In order to have their investment offerings certified as safe by the investment ratings agencies, the Wall Street banks used almost exclusively Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac qualified mortgages on the assumption such loans have already undergone a serious scrutiny under federal regulations. In reality though the two quasi-government agencies did little to oversee the quality of the of the mortgage loans they were certifying, buying and selling.

The MBS marketing effort worked. The ratings agencies, paid huge fees solely by the investment banks, certified the Wall Street MBS offerings as mostly prime-grade investments. Congress, Fannie Mae and the Security and Exchange Commission greatly encouraged the MBS trade. Now, millions upon millions of these same mortgage loans are delinquent, some for longer than two years. Millions upon millions more American households still paying their mortgage have a property that is worth far less now than the mortgage loan balance.

It has been discovered that most of the loans in the Wall Street MBS packages and those held by Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, in fact, did not meet federal regulatory standards, not even close. Just about every player in the real estate industry had a large hand in this fraud: mortgage lenders, banks, sellers, buyers, brokers, appraisers, lawyers, middlemen, federal and state agencies, Congress and last five Presidents. The result is a home foreclosure rate that is unheard of already and looking likely to accelerate.

But the same Wall Street banks that bought off the ratings agencies and the government in order to cheat their customers and got away with it could not stop themselves from also committing massive tax evasion and the blatant violation of state laws across the nation with almost all of their MBS offerings. This is the fraud that might place the majority of US home ownership titles into serious question.