Saturday, November 20, 2010

Central Florida Woman Threatened With Foreclosure Says She Was Scammed Out Of Her Deed By Sale Leaseback Peddler; Now Sues To Recover Title To Home

In Orange County, Florida, WFTV-TV Channel 9 reports:

  • An Orange County woman thought she was being rescued from foreclosure, only to realize she was scammed out of the deed to her home. Now, she's fighting to get her home back. Claudina Mills worked two jobs to try to keep her Azalea Park home, but in 2007, the bank threatened to put it into foreclosure. She thought Tim Moore and the company Goodbye Foreclosure was the answer.

  • Mills signed a contract she thought would allow her to lease her home from Goodbye Foreclosure until she got back in good financial standings with the bank, but what she didn't realize is she signed the deed of her home over to the company.

  • "Back in 2007 this was extremely popular and what they would do is get it deeded to them and ultimately sell it at a higher amount and make a profit and kick the homeowner out," Matt Englett of KEL Attorneys said.

  • Englett thinks that's what Moore had planned to do with Mills' home, but then the market collapsed and he couldn't sell the house for more than what was owed on the mortgage. Mills is now suing to get her name back on the deed and get out of foreclosure.

***

  • Her attorney said it's a breech of contract. Goodbye Foreclosure was supposed to pay off her mortgage and never did. [...] Englett says their chances in court are excellent, but he says the right thing for Goodbye Foreclosure to do is sign Claudina Mills' deed back over to her out of court.(1)

For the story, see Woman Says She Was Scammed Out Of Deed To Home.

(1) For some insights on the various legal theories and startegies to attacking this type of scam in civil litigation brought on behalf of the screwed-over homeowner, see:

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 8:55 AM