When there’s distress, there’s fraud, scams and victims, especially in New York. Distressed homeowners beware– no equity, no plan, no defense to scammers. The NYTimes reports about a new breed of scammer, one who takes your payments, fails to deal with the debt they promised to consolidate or “solve,” and…
How was it that during the “heyday” of the credit spigot the “lender’s” appraisal for real property in New York always ended up at or close to the exorbitant purchase price and inflated mortgage sought by the purchaser. That is the question that New York’s Attorney General threatened to investigate,…
Your home is your sanctuary, your largest investment, and possibly your largest headache if you are not careful about who you hire. So, it pays to be careful when hiring home improvement contractors, whether for a small construction project or a huge renovation, you need to know that your contractor…
We all get them– telemarketers calling to solicit funds for the Police Benevolent Association, the PTA, or the American Heart Association. Did you know that a vast majority of the the professional telemarketers are the ones making the money, not the Non-Profit, and it’s totally legal. When I first started…
Is the price of re-financing worth the expense in New York? Well, as you can imagine, that depends. As a recent NYTimes article points out, as the prices for mortgages drop, consumer interest perks up, and we all go around wondering whether it makes sense to re-finance again!! Here’s the…
What can you do if your disability insurer disclaims coverage for your long term disability claim? Well, as one policy holder found, you can sue, and win. In this case, the insured sued because the infamous Unum Provident disclaimed coverage for his long term disability claim. Unfortunately for the insurance…
How do you sell your distressed home or refinance your real estate if you have a federal or state tax lien? Well, WSJournal.com reports that the IRS is trying to help themselves get paid for their tax liens more quickly, thereby speeding up relief to distressed homeowners trying to re-finance.…
It appears that the Federal Government is getting a little more needy, because it is now going to collect more capital gains taxes on the sales of residential real estate property in New York. As discussed in other posts, under the “The Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008,” homeowners no…
Mortgage Fraud, Deed Thefts and other nefarious acts by unscrupulous people in New York City lead the New York Daily News to investigate. As part of the “investigation” they filed a bogus deed to the Empire State Building, exposing the massive loopholes in New York City’s recording of documents. Here’s…
Beware of what you are signing in an upstate New York real estate transaction. The problems and perils of non-lawyers having contracts signed prior to attorney review. New York State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, recently considered a frightening set of facts and protected the attorney-client relationship. But, beware.…