If you're involved in the real estate business, which if you're reading this I am sure that you are, then the article that was featured yesterday with a mere 16 comments by Eric Martell should be at the very top of your list to become educated about right now.
There is a huge S*** storm brewing that every real estate agent, real estate attorney, title company, and the National Association of Realtors should be up in arms with. Here is a summary of the problem in my own words and opinions, however, I leave it to you to study this topic with the diligence your clients expect of you as their fiduciaries and form your own opinion.
The problem going on right now could give 62 MILLION homeowners clear title. Did you read that? 62 MILLION HOMEOWNERS FREE AND CLEAR TITLE. How, you say? A bit of a history lesson first.
To understand the problem, you need to understand MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems).
The MERS system from wikipedia: "MERS serves as the mortgagee of record for lenders, investors and their loan servicer's in the county land records. MERS claims its process eliminates the need to file assignments in the county land records which lowers costs for lenders and consumers by reducing county recording revenues from real estate transfers and provides a central source of information and tracking for mortgage loans."
In layman's terms: MERS makes it easy for lenders, investors, and loan servicer's to chop up their loans into a million pieces and sell them as securities to avoid paying title transfer fees. Which means, they avoid paying the county where the deed of trust is/was/should be recorded. They are ripping your local legislature off and they aren't happy about it and you shouldn't be either. We're talking about billions of recording fees that were never paid.
The Greatest Ponsi Scheme in American history?
Here's the deal. The MERS system allowed lenders to sell their loans in pieces, which means, if they want to foreclose on real property, they can't establish a clear chain of title entitling them to relief. The wall street big boys sold mortgages without holding clear title. Which means? Fraud.
There are already many cases where judges agree, including the Kansas Supreme Court. You can read that case here. Another case in California where the judge said MERS could not foreclose can be found here.
Which brings us to the current class action lawsuit being put together.
Figueroa Vs. MERSCORP - Class Action Lawsuit (Florida)
Defendants: Merscorp, Inc. , David J. Stern , Law Offices of David J. Stern, P.A. , DJSP Enterprises, Inc., American Land Title Association, Bank of America Bank, N.A., CCO Mortgage Corporation, Chase Home Mortgage Corporation, Citimortgage Inc., CRE Finance Council, Corinthian Mortgage Corporation, Everhome Mortgage Company, Fannie Mae, First American Title Insurance Company, Freddie Mac, GMAC Residential Funding Corporation, Guaranty Bank, HSBC Finance Corporation, Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation, MGIC Investor Services, Mortgage Bankers Association, Nationwide Advantage Mortgage Company, PMI Mortgage Insurance Company, Stewart Title Guaranty Company, SunTrust Mortgage, Inc., United Guaranty Corporation, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., WMC Mortgage Corporation and WMC Mortgage Corp.
All the big boys are involved in the fraudulent activity, and the Mortgage Bankers Association is holding a meeting in North Carolina as we speak. GMAC has issued internal documents telling all asset managers to hold off on foreclosure filings, contract negotiations, and closings for 30 days.
Why bring up GMAC? As you will find in this link: GMAC forging over 10,000 affidavits a month, GMAC is the one that has been caught forging documents to foreclose. Although only GMAC has been caught, you will find that the class action suit being put together alleges all of the institutions above are doing the exact same thing, they just haven't been caught yet.
Send Them To Jail? YES PLEASE!
The reason this class action is so important is because they aren't only challenging the right to title, but they are seeking criminal charges. How many times have you wanted the bailout banks, the wall street cronies, and the Ponsi scheme implementers in large financial instituions to face criminal charges?
I don't know about you, but every time I get a call from a seller saying they can't get anyone to help them at the bank with a modification, a short sale, or a re-negotiation of their interest rate that someone should be in jail. This class action suit, if it gets enough notice, could be the case that gets some revenge for the American people.
This is huge! And I don't see anyone on Activerain, or any real estate agent calling or mailing NAR to get their butts in gear on this subject and inform the people affected.
Contact NAR - Contact Your State Reps - Write A Blog Post
So the point of my post. It's time for you to stand up and fight back against the people who played back door paddy-cake selling our houses as derivatives when they didn't have the right to. It's time for you to call NAR, your state representatives, and let them know you're not happy about how things went down.
Contact NAR here or find out how to contact your state representatives here. Let them know you won't sit idly by while these big financial institutions hold closed meetings with government to come up with a plan to fix this problem. They must be held accountable.
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