January 17 is Martin Luther King Day, but unlike many, I won’t be “off” from work. I’ll be presenting at and attending the ABI’s Northeast Consumer Winter Conference at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. I can understand how it might seem disrespectful to be attending a conference on a day when we should be celebrating the life of a civil rights leader. But it is also, I think, particularly fitting. Let me explain…
Posts Tagged ‘In the News’
Hope is a 4-Letter Word
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
Many have read media reports that decry HAMP (the Obama Administration’s purported “response” to the foreclosure crisis) and proclaim it is as lipstick on a pig. After two years have watching clients struggle in this program and few coming up with anything meaningful, I want to go on record as saying this:
HAMP is not only lipstick on a pig, but it’s continued existence only puts more light on the political impotence and the bankruptcy of leadership on both Beacon Hill and Capital Hill.
The Advertised Auction of 115 Cottonwood Street
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
My joyful descent into holiday weekend relaxation mode was interrupted by a Friday afternoon news story that caught my attention. Harmon Law Offices, a Massachusetts law firm, placed an ad in the New Bedford Standard Times announcing a land sale in Fairhaven.
The advertisement stated that the land “…shall not be sold, leased or rented to any person other than of the Caucasian race or to any entity of which any person other than of said race shall be a member, stockholder, officer or director.”
In a statement issued to FOX25, Harmon Law Offices said: “This notice involves a restriction that a previous owner placed on the property. We do not condone the language and do not believe that it would be enforceable. It is industry practice to include in the notice of sale the exact legal description as set forth in the mortgage. We have removed the language for future legal notices.”
As I mentioned on Twitter, and as I’ve been thinking about on the weekend, this news story raises a number of issues. (more…)
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Launches Investigation into Advertised “Caucasion Only” Land Sale
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Click the link below to read the press release from the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination about the “caucaisan only” land foreclosure auction sale advertised in the New Bedford Standard Times.
Twice.
Follow us on Twitter for more as this story develops (which oddly, took root at 3pm on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend that I think most people – including yours truly – really needs.)
Hat Tip to Fox 25.
Under Water, Walking Away & My Two Cents
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Over the holiday weekend, there were a number of press reports about a discussion paper, Under Water and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis. Reportedly Brent T. White, an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law advocates that homeowners who are underwater (meaning, the outstanding mortgage balance[s] is more than the value of the home…is now, or in some cases, will ever be) should simply walk away from their obligations and not look back without feeling a bit of guilt. Obviously this all got my attention, but before I took to this here blog and declared “You Have Got to be Kidding Me!” (which at first glance seemed like the most expedient way to address it), I opted to read the discussion paper (rather than just the abstract). Before you click the link below, pour yourself a fresh cup of tea.
Here’s my take:
Lending to Unemployed: Frankly, There’s Got to be a Better Way
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Yesterday I tweeted about Barney Frank’s idea of giving unemployed homeowners access to low interest loans. The theory is that it help fills a gap in the Obama Administration’s plan to address foreclosures caused by unemployment. I think this is a bad idea (and a bit of mid-term election posturing). And I think there’s a sounder way to help unemployed homeowners. (more…)
Social Networking Sites and Bankruptcy: The Intersection is Dead Ahead
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
There are a growing number of social networking sites out there on the world-wide-interwebs that people are latching onto. In fact, both the firm and I have latched onto Facebook (we just lauched our Fan page this week!). So I was intrigued after recently reading that a growing number of domestic relations attorneys were beginning to scour sites like Facebook in an effort to get information on opposing parties. At first, I found it merely interesting as I once practiced domestic relations law. But the subject gnawed on me for several days. Then, earlier this week, I read that collection agencies are trolling sites like Facebook looking for debtors. Then it dawned on me: if collectors are doing it, and divorce attorneys are doing it, there really is nothing stopping any party in any legal case from looking into Facebook or other social networking sites in an effort to gain a legal advantage of any opposing party. And this rings true in the world of bankruptcy.
The Sunday News
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
A fellow bankruptcy attorney shared this article that appeared in last month’s New York Times Magazine. I see in it some of the same difficulties I see in clients. It also makes me question how “half-empty” the glass really is. Although in the interest of full disclosure, the writer has a book coming out. In other news…
ONE FLAG! Six Flags Amusement Parks files for Chapter 11 protection.
Nashua NH Telegraph: Welcome to the New Consumer Economy.
Boston Herald: Consumer spending may never be the same as it was.
South Coast: Home values could take years to recover. We also could be hitting bottom (I’m not being sarcastic, it says the market “could be a reading a valley”). I could also be a ledge (ok, that was sarcastic).
Nantucket foreclosures. I wonder if these homeowners claim their loan was predatory? I also have to question whether it was.
A bad apple is removed from the barrel: Brockton lawyer settles fraud suit with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.
The Recession is Not Over, Take 2
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
My good friend and my bookkeeper has told me that she has seen the economy declining for a number of years, based on what she has seen with her clients and their vendors. “In fact,” she once told me “I can tell how bad it is really getting by how easy it is to find a parking space on Newbury Street.”
According to a report in today’s Boston Globe, the Pottery Barn is closing its Newbury Street store.
“It’s surprising to see some one like Pottery Barn go. But there’s been so many stores leaving,” said Debbie Greenberg, owner of upscale boutique Louis Boston, which is planning to vacate its landmark Newbury Street space by next spring for another neighborhood. “The rents went up so high, and then only the stores that could afford it came, making it look like the same street in Chicago and Dallas. It’s not original anymore.”
Looks like finding a parking space on Newbury Street just got a little easier. And after Louis Boston moves, it perhaps will get even moreso.
Barney Frank: Please Read This
I have a bone to pick with Barney Frank. Yesterday, a new multi-million dollar loan program was rolled out by HUD. Sharing in the local announcements were local Congressmen and other elected officials.
According to a Boston Herald report:
Boston.com reported the program a little differently, but in substance, it’s the same.
That smells a bit like “hope.” So I’m afraid the sound of this program ruffles my feathers a bit. But what compels me to write is this quote, which also appeared in the same Boston Herald report:
Really?
I’m going on record: Mr. Frank, I’m no anarchist I find this program offensive. So today, I write this blog to you.
(more…)
Tags: Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act of 2005, Chapter 13, Commentary, Consumer Protection, foreclosure, Homes, homesteads and real estate, In the News, Mortgages and Foreclosures, Yep. We're in trouble.
Posted in Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Foreclosures and Real Estate | No Comments »