Real Estate News – December 7, 2011





Massachusetts Sues 5 Major Banks Over Foreclosure Practices (via nytimes.com): http://nyti.ms/vdUx2f


GMAC Mortgage, the mortgage lender of Ally Financial Inc., is exiting the vast majority of its lending in Massachusetts a day after the state sued it and other lenders over its allegedly improper foreclosure practices, a decision the state’s attorney general called an admission (via online.wsj.com): http://on.wsj.com/sIdFtn


Three top officers of a Stockton, California based real estate company were arrested Thursday.  The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) and California Attorney General Kamala announced that Magdalena Salas, 42, Angelina Mireles, 42, and Julissa Garcia, 36, of Stockton are being charged with taking thousands of dollars in up-front loan modification fees in a bogus loan modification scheme which targeted Central Valley homeowners (via LoanSafe.org): http://bit.ly/v0GNYM


Homeowners Association Forces Family to Remove Disabled Boy’s “Therapy Home” (via ktsm.com): http://bit.ly/sW25yD


Foreclosed homes, empty lots are next ‘Occupy’ targets (via usnews.msnbc.com): http://on.msnbc.com/vLkhxW


A disbarred real estate lawyer who was supposed to go to prison Friday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from wealthy clients got a brief reprieve in the hope he can pay more money back to his victims (via lohud.com): http://lohud.us/suNgNv


Future of foreclosures in N.J. hinges on state Supreme Court decision (via nj.com): http://bit.ly/v0CLmu


Changes to mortgage rules bring out scammers (via minbcnews.com): http://bit.ly/uo4kwL


Boca Raton family could lose home for forgetting to pay HOA assessment (via wptv.com): http://bit.ly/vx4e8C


Bank of America Corp. reached a $315 million settlement with a group of investors who sued its Merrill Lynch unit claiming they were misled about mortgage- backed securities, according to a court filing (via Businessweek.com): http://bit.ly/vmRxqL


Some apartments are turning to DNA testing to make the owners of pooping pets clean up their act (via StarTribune.com): http://bit.ly/smHaNy