Harry Marsh Law

Yes: we do South Carolina closings as well :)

There is not enough room on this page to fully elaborate, but remember that North Carolina is an equitable distribution state. Despite whether or not your spouse or x-spouse is on the deed to your house, he or she may have a 50% interest in the property. I commonly see divorce situations where one spouse is on the deed to the house and the bank does not require the other spouse's signature until the final modification papers have been drafted. You might have already made the trial payments, by yourself. If the spouse or x-spouse is unavailable or unwilling to cooperate, you have an immediate and large problem. Without their signature or immediate legal work, you may be in jeopardy of losing your loan modification.

Often! You need a lawyer who understands judgments and real property law. Very small differences can mean the difference between a lien attaching to your real property and not attaching. If a judgment, such as a credit card, attaches as a valid lean to your property, you may be ineligible for a loan modification. If you have a 2nd mortgage, you may need to ask that it subordinate to the first mortgage. Maybe you have 2 or 3 mortgages and a home equity loan. Each of these recorded deeds of trust may be a separate entity that you need to negotiate a loan modification with. These different companies have different policies. Often, lenders cooperate and have programs that will make loan modifications of a 2nd mortgage easier. Often, you will find yourself with a 2nd mortgage that will not cooperate with the first (Greentree, Ocwen, SLS). If you have Greentree, you need to find an Attorney and begin this process very quickly.

In my experience, here is why they are doing that: 70% of the time: the lender has requested the Attorney do this, in order to give you more time to submit a loan modification or short sale 20% of the time: the Attorney is requesting documentation from the lender that they are slow to provide, such as the affidavit of default 10% of the time: something fishy is going on and needs to be further investigated Rarely (if ever) does it mean they lost your records. The foreclosing Attorney would dismiss or not file the case, if your records were lost.

This is rarely true. You may have correspondence and/or a credit report that shows your other loan as written off, charged off or otherwise. But, until you receive a 1099 for cancellation of debt (IRS document), you likely still owe on this loan. It may be years before the original holder of this loan sells this note to a different debt collection agency or holder, but it is very likely an active debt. At any time, a collection agency such as Greentree could rise from the ashes and begin collection and/or foreclosure activity.

Also not true in most circumstances. A second is legally able to foreclose, even if they will not receive any of the proceeds of the foreclosure auction. If a second forces foreclosure, your property will be sold at auction and the proceeds will be distributed to pay off the first mortgage. After the first mortgage has been entirely paid off, the second will receive what monies remain. This may explain why your second mortgage has disappeared for a few years. They could stand to gain nothing from your foreclosure but the cost of legal fees. Sometimes, they lay in wait, hoping that you may have equity in your home in the future.

This is probably a 50/50. It is true that a chapter 13 bankruptcy could give you the ability to make a payment arrangement through the bankruptcy court to become current on your mortgage obligations over the course of 3 to 5 years. However, these monthly payments are likely to be substantially higher than your current payment obligations. If you do not have the income to support these large payments, you may not qualify to file chapter 13. Additionally, filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy to save a property that is substantially underwater could be a poor economic decision in spite of your possible eligibility.

You would expect this to be false, but it is actually true. Some mortgage companies exercise a right in their mortgage documents to enter your property and 'secure' it in the event that they think you have left it vacant. I have been increasingly called by homeowners with Chase mortgages that come home to changed doorlocks. If this happens to you, call your mortgage company immediately.

If you are facing foreclosure, HARP is likely worthless. Most (if not all) Harp eligibility requirements insist that you be current on your mortgage. Others request that you not have made a late payment for six months. Beware out of state law firms or television advertisements that lure you into giving them up-front money to apply for programs such as HARP. They know that you are not eligible, but won't relate this information until they have your money.

Usually true. However, a licensed Attorney from North Carolina is an exception to this rule. They may charge you. This regulation was enacted to attempt to protect consumers from what was an onslaught of out-of-state law firms, debt consolidation companies and other quasi-scam organizations that were preying on North Carolina consumers. Some of these companies gave you guarantees of certain results (unethical) while others grossly overcharged for their efforts, which often amounted to no action by them. Meanwhile, these out-of-state entities were hard to control. The North Carolina State Bar has limited jurisdiction over a company in California or New York. I highly suggest that you hire a local law firm with local Attorneys to help with your case. Furthermore, pay attention to out-of-state law firms that promise they have local partners. Be aware that these 'local partners' often receive $50 per case. You can imagine that they might not be aggressively pursuing your case.

In the state of North Carolina, closing documents are made available to the public by request to the register of deeds. The buyer, seller, and final sale price are disclosed.

Commonly referred to as a settlement agent or real estate closing attorney the role is to represent the buyer or seller and handle the legal transfer of title/deed and ownership from the seller to the buyer.

States usually fall under either an 'attorney' state or 'title company' state In an Attorney state, the attorney controls the closing process, selects the title company, performs the escrow (handling of money) and the actual closing. From start to finish, your closing attorney in NC should be able to guide you through every individual step. In a 'title company' state, the process would be different - you would contact a large title company to start the process.