Allocation of National Mortgage Settlement

Have you wondered about what really happened to the money negotiated through the National Mortgage Settlement Agreement? I wonder. I still wonder. Nobody seems to know exactly where the money went. A recent article on The Bryan Ellis Investing Letter breaks it down, sort of. Nobody seems to know where all the money went. I looked at on the site for the National Conference of State Legislators and found a break down for allocations state by state which was published around the time of the settlement date. The allocation of funds for Florida follows. But how the money was actually spent, remains a mystery. It seems abundantly clear that the monies did not go to beleaguered former homeowners who had already lost their homes in foreclosure.

FLORIDA ALLOCATION OF NATIONAL MORTGAGE SETTLEMENT MONIES:

$334,073,974.00 - Florida's Share

$35 million for down payment assistance;
$10 million for housing counseling;
$5 million for the state court system to help with foreclosure-related issues;
$5 million to the Office of the Attorney General to fund legal aid programs;
$9,117,895 to the Florida Prepaid Tuition Scholarship Program;
$5,262,579 to the state courts system to provide technology solutions that expedite foreclosure cases through the judicial process;
$16 million to the state courts system to provide supplemental resources to reduce the backlog of pending foreclosure cases;
$9.7 million to the clerks of the court to enhance service levels to assist and support the courts in expediting processing backlogged foreclosure cases;
$10 million to the Office of the Attorney General to provide legal aid to low- and moderate-income homeowners facing foreclosure;
$10 million to the Department of Children and Families for capital improvements to certified domestic violence centers;
$20 million to Habitat for Humanity of Florida;
$50 million to reduce rents on new or existing rental units through the State Apartment Incentive Program;
$10 million to fund the construction or rehabilitation of units through the State Apartment Incentive Loan Program;
$40 million to fund the State Housing Initiative Program;
$10 million to the Department of Economic Opportunity to fund a competitive grant program to provide housing for homeless persons;
$10 million to the Department of Economic Opportunity to fund a competitive grant program to provide housing for persons with developmental disabilities;
$5 million to the Office of the Attorney General to reimburse the office for costs and fees;
The remaining funds are directed to the state General Fund as civil penalties.

And stated on the Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi's site:

"Attorney General Bondi formally entered a landmark $25 billion joint federal-state agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers over foreclosure abuses and unacceptable nationwide mortgage servicing practices. The proposed agreement provides an estimated $8.4 billion in relief to Florida homeowners and addresses future mortgage loan servicing practices. The settlement generally releases civil claims related to robo-signing, other foreclosure-related abuses, and loan origination misconduct, but it provides no release of criminal claims or of claims related to mortgage securitization.

'This settlement will provide substantial relief to struggling Florida homeowners, and ensures that our state gets its fair share of the relief being provided nationally,' stated Attorney General Pam Bondi. "This agreement holds banks accountable and puts in place new protections for homeowners in the form of strict mortgage servicing standards.'"

AND

"Florida’s share of the total monetary benefits under the settlement is approximately $8.4 billion.

• Florida borrowers will receive an estimated $7.6 billion in benefits from loan modifications, including principal reduction, and other direct relief.
• Approximately $170 million will be available for cash payments to Florida borrowers who lost their home to foreclosure from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2011 and suffered servicing abuse.
• The value of refinanced loans to Florida’s underwater borrowers would be an estimated $309 million.
• The state will receive a direct payment of $334 million.

In addition to the terms of the national settlement agreement, Attorney General Bondi separately negotiated an agreement with the nation’s three largest mortgage servicers to ensure that a guaranteed portion of the overall settlement funds goes to Florida borrowers.

For more information about eligibility and filing a claim:
Website: NationalMortgageSettlement.com
Email: administrator@nationalmortgagesettlement.com
Call toll-free: 1-866-430-8358 (Hearing Impaired: 1-866-494-8281).
*The line is staffed Monday through Friday from (7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central)."

In fact, some former homeowners received checks for $300.; and a few others I know of received around $1400. The state of Florida has gleefully participated in the fleecing of Florida citizens perpetrated by the banks and that fleecing continues to this day. The mortgage crisis and great recession is the result of the biggest Ponzi scheme ever that makes Bernie Madoff look like a kindergartner.

If I had never purchased a home, a potential first time home buyer, there is no way that I would buy a home now. Not in this economy. Not after witnessing these recent events. I would stay home with Mom as long as she could stand it, and then after that I would rent. The media can blame the slow down in purchases on the weather, or alternately claim that the mortgage crisis ended. But, you don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.  

Five Things to Ask Your Document Preparer

Are you a member of the Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers?

FALDP, the Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers is a statewide trade association specifically for Florida's nonlawyer document preparers? Membership is limited to those who meet standards set by the association and agree to abide by the terms of the FALDP Pledge. Visit www.faldp.org to learn more.


Do you use Florida Supreme Court approved forms?

Florida document preparers should use Florida Supreme Court approved forms whenever they are available. Almost all of the family law forms and landlord/ tenant forms are Supreme Court approved. For other types of document preparation projects, such as bankruptcy and immigration -- there are no Florida Supreme Court approved forms available - your document preparer will use the federal forms for these projects.

Do you provide all the forms that I need for my document preparation project?

Sometimes it isn't clear exactly what will be needed after the initial paper work, but it is important to know whether additional forms will be provided. For example, your document preparer cannot know ahead of time whether or not the other party will answer a petition or complaint. The next step may depend on the actions of the other party. However, it is important to ask whether your document preparer will prepare additional forms if needed, whether those additional forms are included in the initial cost, and if not, how much the cost will be. For example, if the other party is properly served but doesn't answer, your document preparer can prepare a Motion and Order for Default. Some document preparers will include those documents at no extra charge; other document preparers may charge a nominal fee. Ask.

What if the clerk says I need a certain document, and you didn't provide it, will you prepare it if I need it?

Good question. Sometimes local rules change, and your document preparer may not be aware of all local rules. Most reputable document preparers will provide and prepare a local form at no additional charge.

What if there are errors in the documents?

Most document preparers will correct errors at no additional charge, even if the error was not their fault. For example, a misspelled street name that was the customer's mistake. Many document preparers will also make minor revisions at no charge.

How do I check to make sure a document preparer is reputable?

Florida document preparers are not regulated by the State of Florida or the Florida Bar. You can search Rip Off Report, and the document preparer's local Better Business Bureau. These are not 100% accurate, but may give you an overall idea about that document preparer's reputation. Many document preparers are members of the Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers, and you can find out more about a certain document preparer by visiting the site - www.faldp.org - or calling and asking about them - 800-515-0496.

Net Neutrality - FCC Vote Tomorrow 5/15/14

Friends,

Tomorrow the FCC will begin a process that could either kill or save Net Neutrality. We need to speak up now.

Net Neutrality is what stops powerful Internet corporations like Comcast and Verizon from singlehandedly killing websites by making them impossibly slow.

Time is of the essence. Will you click here to sign Demand Progress's petition to the FCC?

Without Net Neutrality, your local cable company could simply decide the website of a political candidate you support and they don’t will start loading 0.001% as fast as the other candidate’s website, because they can; or heavily disable a political organizing tool online that’s being used to topple dictatorships abroad, or even fighting bank bailouts at home.

Internet service providers could promote content that they own, and undermine content from their competitors. They can shake down start-ups and artists and blogs for fees — and put them out of business if they don’t pay up.

When the FCC meets, we need to make sure they stand up for an Internet that's for everybody -- not just Comcast, Verizon, and the other mega-ISPs.

Add your name here to hold the FCC accountable.

Thanks.

Demand Progress

I signed and donated - will you? If we cannot preserve net neutrality this blog, www.faldp.org and many other sites that are popular but not super stars will go slow you won't have the patience to wait for them to load. That is if you can even find us.

Learn more about Net Neutrality on Save the Internet.

Happy Mother's Day to My Mom & All Moms

Happy Mother's Day!

A few years ago I wrote an article about my mom for a travel magazine - Escape Artist "It's Never Too Late to Follow Your Fun". This tribute is an update and adaptation from that article, in case it seems familiar. My mom is still alive, active, engaged, lucid, independent, funny, and opinionated. In short, a great lady. I'm not able to visit her today for Mother's Day, but we're planning a road trip at the end of this month, a cross Florida trek so that she can attend a friend's birthday celebration. In good conscience, I couldn't let her take the hound, although she says she wouldn't mind. Following is my original article, with an update at the end.

"It's Never Too Late to Follow Your Fun"

Ready for Zip Line - Costa Rica

With a mysterious smile and a flourish, I placed the picture of Mom squarely in front of the couple sitting across the table. Paula and George were only a few years older than me; and were saying that they were much too old to vacation. That was the wrong thing to say. 

Selling timeshare vacations isn’t easy, and I rarely refrained from using sales technique to make a point. The photo of Mom which I placed before their eyes, showed her calm and smiling, harnessed and ready to zoom the zip line through the Costa Rican canopy.  

Different people enjoy leisure time in different ways. Some want nothing more from a Caribbean vacation than white sand, hot sun, and icy drinks. Others want to explore the local culture, taking in museums by day and salsa clubs by night. 

Still others like more excitement and challenge. My mom is in the last group.

It isn’t easy to write about my mom; my mother, who is also a grandmother and a great grandmother.

Adventurous and independent are the two words that best describe her. Born in the twenties, a child of the Great Depression, Mom’s life has been endlessly interesting. Through good years and bad years, she has never lost her indefatigable spirit.
  
As a young woman she earned a college degree, when most women didn’t. She  assembled electrical components, doing her patriotic part, to assist in World War II’s war effort. And, she learned how to fly. Looking at the photograph of her standing in front of that tiny plane, called an Ercoupe, always makes me think of romantic faraway places. Years later she raised the five of us; and after Dad left, all on her own. Teaching us through word and example, everyday of our lives, that we can do anything we set our minds to. Thanks, Mom.

MOM WASTED NO TIME MOURNING HER EMPTY NEST. INSTEAD, SHE GOT BUSY DOING ALL THE THINGS SHE COULDN’T DO, ALL THOSE YEARS

Mom in front of her Ercoupe

Once we were all grown and gone, Mom wasted no time mourning her empty nest. Instead, she got busy doing all the things she couldn’t do, all those years. Now free of the responsibility of taking care of a bunch of kids, she lived her dream. At age sixty Mom learned how to sail.
  
When I lived at home, I never had an inkling that Mom was the least bit interested in sailing. She never gave me the feeling that she wished I’d hurry up and grow up so that she could have some fun. She might have thought that, but she never let it show. One fine day she signed herself up for a sailing safety course offered by the Red Cross. At the time, I remember thinking it strange, since Mom didn’t own a boat. Lack of actually owning a boat never once slowed her down.
  
Mom learned all of the intricacies of sailing. She nimbly ties elaborate sailing knots; and learned how to use a sextant to navigate by the stars. For a decade or more, with old friends and new, Mom went sailing. Establishing a network of sailor friends, she was in constant demand to crew on someone’s boat. 

On any given weekend, you could bet that Mom was sailing. She transformed herself into such an efficient sailor that her skills were sought after and welcomed by experienced captains vying to win the next regatta. Sailboat racing became her favorite as she much preferred the drama of competition to a tame day sail.

All the years I was growing up I had never realized that Mom wanted to travel. I should have figured it out since her college degree is in French. But, she always claimed that she learned French only so that she could write her diary in a foreign language; keeping it secret from her pesky younger cousin, our Uncle Carl. I’m not sure if she has visited France, but I know that she has traveled throughout the Caribbean.

A few years ago we planned a family trip to Mexico. Mom opted out a few weeks ahead, because she found a better opportunity. One of her sailing buddies, Phyllis, had booked a cabin on a cruise ship and invited Mom along.

This was no ordinary cruise. It was a thirty day cruise, in a reconditioned Norwegian Ice-cutter, that began in the Caribbean, voyaging all the way around South America‘s Cape of Good Hope, docking in exotic ports all along.

***

I'm the crunch in the sandwich generation. I continue to admire Mom and look after her as well as I can. I'm also happy to be a Mom, without my son I would have missed out on one of the best parts of life.

Response from Senator Bill Nelson regarding Net Neutrality

Thank you for contacting me regarding net neutrality.  I share your concern for a fair and open Internet.        On April 30, I sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler asking him to take steps to ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all users and content providers.  Specifically, I asked Chairman Wheeler to avoid a framework in the FCC's proposed Open Internet Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would allow some content providers to sign “paid prioritization" or "fast lane" agreements with Internet Service Providers (ISPs).  This approach could upset the basic concept of an open Internet by creating a "two-tier" system of access that would be very difficult to remedy in the future.        I also asked Chairman Wheeler to carefully consider the current legal framework for ISPs, and seek additional comment on whether it would be beneficial to reclassify ISPs as telecommunications common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act, instead of their current deregulated treatment under section 706 of the Communications Act.        I have a long history of fighting for a free and open Internet and remain committed to this goal.  Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue, and please do not hesitate to contact me in the future.                                      Sincerely,                                    Bill Nelson   P.S. From time to time, I compile electronic news briefs highlighting key issues and hot topics of particular importance to Floridians.  If you'd like to receive these e-briefs, visit my Web site and sign up for them at http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/ebriefs.cfm

Confused about Florida's real real estate recovery?

I used the search string - Florida real estate recovery 2014 - 


and received the following collection of conflicting results:


2014 looks like another good year for Florida real estate, but ...
www.heraldtribune.com/.../20140210/.../30210...‎



Housing recovery will slow in 2014: Florida Realtors
tbo.com/.../housing-recovery-will-slow-in-2014-flori...‎





Debt Repayment in Florida Hurt by Sluggish Real Estate ...
www.bloomberg.com/.../2014.../debt-repayment-in-flori...‎

STORY: Foreign Buyers Drive Florida's Housing Recovery
www.businessweek.com/.../foreign-buyers-driv...‎

..
Florida housing market heating up again - Chicago Tribune
articles.chicagotribune.com › ... › Fort Myers‎



...
Housing recovery radar: Where are the next hot spots?
www.cnbc.com/id/100961977‎





There's economic optimism for 2014 …but not a lot - Miami ...
www.miamiherald.com › Business‎

Top 10 real estate trends for 2014 - CBS News
www.cbsnews.com/news/top-10-real-estate-trends-for-2014/‎

..
Florida Home Prices and Home Values - Zillow
www.zillow.com/fl/home-values/‎







After a Slow Start, Florida's Housing Market Recovery Picks ...
pascoflrealestate.typepad.com/...realtor/2014/.../after-a-slow-start-floridas...‎



Mar 26, 2014 - ORLANDO, Fla. – March 26, 2014 – Florida was one of the first states to feel the effect of a national recession with job losses starting in April ...

The Pro Se Courtroom Experience

Picture yourself playing a three tiered chess game for the first time against an experienced opponent. Simultaneously you are playing poker against another experienced opponent, who bluffs and cheats. Loud music throbs in the background, heavy metal, rap, or whatever you don't like. Screaming children run in and out. The room is too cold or too hot and dimly lit. The stakes are perilous. If you lose, you could lose your house, your children, your money, each one, or all at the same time. Unfair? Uncomfortable? You bet. This can be the pro se courtroom experience. On top of all that, the judge speaks a different language, doesn't speak directly to you at all, doesn't allow you to speak, instead speaking in that different language and only to your opponents.

You came in to court for a dispute which you thought would be fairly decided by the judge. In your naive fantasy, you imagined the judge as a benign super hero ready and waiting to sort out the dispute and see through the lies the other party spews. Sometimes it works out that way, sometimes not. Sometimes, whoever tells the best lie wins.

So how to prevent this scenario? The obvious answer, is do not represent yourself in court. Hire an attorney. However, this is not possible for many. According to the Florida Bar's Economics and Law Office Survey completed in 2012, only 35% of the attorneys who responded stated that their hourly rate was less than $200. And 24% of the responding attorneys stated that their hourly rate is over $300.. And the trend for the years 2005 through 2012 tells a bleak story for wage earners:

Florida Real Median Household Income Trends since 2005

The current median household income for Florida is $45,040. Real median household income peaked in 2007 at $52,938 and is now $7,898 (14.92%) lower.

Real Median Household Income: Florida, National

Household income often assumes there are two wage earners, but we cannot be sure from the statistics given. And we also can't be sure of the family size, this could be a single wage earner, a one person household. Or a family of any number with only one adult working; or a two income family with no children. We don't know from these numbers. What we can glean is that, since the median household income in 2012 Florida was $45,040.; that works out to $865.000 per week gross earnings; and around $634.00 net. Which in turn works out to less than $16.00 per hour net, based on a forty hour week. And the wage earner is up against the decision regarding whether to eat and pay the bills or pay an entire week's check for around three hours of an attorney's time.

Crunching the numbers its easy to see that the decision to self-represent is dictated by daily survival. I encourage consumers to educate themselves as much as possible. And while non-lawyer document preparers may not offer legal advice, legal document preparers can offer information, and explain procedure and time lines to consumers. Document preparers can also prepare the documents thoroughly and professionally, and if nothing else the pro se litigant's claim is down on paper in court filings in black and white.