Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues. This blog will consist of information describing the various forms of Home Equity Theft and links to news reports & other informational sources from throughout the country about the victims of Home Equity Theft and what government authorities and others are doing about it.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Foreclosed Homeowners Opt Against Pressing Criminal Charges Against Neighbors Who Looted Their Home Under Mistaken Belief It Was Abandoned
In Aurora, Illinois, WBBM-TV Channel 2 reports:
There will be no charges filed against the neighbors who picked clean an Aurora home they believed had been abandoned. As WBBM Newsradio’s Pat Cassidy reports, Mike Stapleton and his wife, Susan Kendall, had moved most of their possessions out of their home on Downer Place in Aurora before turning the home over to the bank and moving off to Kansas.
But when they returned for the rest [o]f their personal belogings, the Aurora Beacon-News reports they discovered that neighbors had cleaned up – and cleaned out – the house.
The neighbors entered the house without permission, and took about $3,000 worth of property from the house, including Stapleton’s lawnmower, hedge trimmer, and other gardening implements, the Chicago Sun-Times reported last month.
The neighbors even took personal items of sentimental value such as family photos and heirlooms, the Sun-Times reported.
Aurora Ald. Rick Lawrence (4th) said he was called by a neighbor about the trash left behind, the Sun-Times reported. The neighbor wanted the house cleaned up.
Lawrence said he was inside the house shortly after the neighbors had picked over and taken many of the items, the Sun-Times reported.
But Stapleton tells the newspaper the air conditioning was still on and the utilities were still in the family’s name, and they would never have abandoned the house with everything inside. He told the paper that no one had a right to barge into the house and take anything he or she wanted.
Still, while police could have filed charges against the neighbors, they did not, because the owners did not want to press charges, the Beacon-News reported.
CBC News: Betrayal of Trust (A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services)
Land Contract/Contract For Deed/Rent-To-Own Rackets
The New York Times: The Housing Trap (In the wake of the housing crisis, low-income families have turned to seller financing to buy homes but these deals can be a money trap)
Beware The Fine Print: Consumers Forced To Sign Away Their Rights To Use Court System
The NY Times: Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice(Part 1 in series examining how clauses buried in tens of millions of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court)
Foreclosure Mills' Abysmal Record In Complying With New NYS Foreclosure Requirements
Justice Deceived: How Large Foreclosure Firms Subvert State Regulations Protecting Homeowners
MFY Legal Services Report On Questionable Practices By Process Servers In Debt Collection Cases
Justice Disserved: A Preliminary Analysis of the Exceptionally
Low Appearance Rate by Defendants in Lawsuits Filed in the Civil Court of the City of New York
Mortgage Mess Redux: Robo-Signers Return (A Reuters investigation finds that many banks are still employing the controversial foreclosure practices that sparked a major outcry last year)
CNN Video: As Foreclosures Mount, Florida Court Turns To 'Rocket Docket'
The Wall Street Journal: A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases (2 Questions, 15 Seconds, 45 Days to Get Out; 'What's to Talk About?' Says a Judge)
"Produce The Note" Strategy When Dealing With Missing Promissory Notes In Foreclosure Actions
ABC Video: Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay)
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