August 8th, 2012 Standard foreclosure proceedings have been put on pause. This article endeavors to provide instruction on how to cure one of the most frequently stumbled upon legal impediments to litigating these actions—the lost note. Many foreclosure actions are sitting stagnant for months, or even years, as a result of not only a reticent Full Article…
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‘Miller-Francis’: A Disturbance in the Force, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman April 9th, 2014 When the Empire destroyed the planet Alderaan in Star Wars IV, Obi-Wan Kenobi sensed “a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.” When the Appellate Division, First Department decided Miller-Francis v. Smith-Jackson,1 there Full Article…
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Saves Borrower $23,000.00 in Mortgage Tax
Our firm has recently begun representing a lender based out of Florida State for residential mortgage closings. The first refinance we closed with this new lender was for a $1.2 million dollar mortgage which at the time was held by the same lender. Our firm requested we close this mortgage with a Consolidation, Extension and Modification Agreement (CEMA). A Full Article…
Reducing Refinancing Expenses
By LISA PREVOST New York homeowners looking to refinance an existing mortgage don’t have to pay the state’s mortgage recording tax all over again. Yet they may end up doing so if their lenders don’t cooperate. The state charges a recording tax on new mortgage debt. The rate varies by county, with the minimum being Full Article…
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Resolves Credit Report Mix Up at the Closing Table
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. recently represented a lender on a residential mortgage refinance where the borrower had an extremely common first and last name. The borrower was 82 years old and desperately needed to refinance for a lower rate. On the day of closing a last minute condition was sent by an underwriter for the Full Article…
Understanding, Complying With New Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Rules
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act has governed costs associated with residential mortgage transactions since 1974, but it became the subject of significant controversy as reports surfaced of abuses by lenders and third-party service providers. After many halting attempts to overhaul the RESPA rules, the Department of Housing Full Article…
Using the Judicial System to Abate the Foreclosure Crisis
By Adam Leitman Bailey And Rachel Sigmund Many stagnant foreclosures in the United States have been stuck in the judicial process for more than two years. This article describes how several states have addressed one of the primary legal impediments clogging the pipelines of pending or future foreclosures: lenders’ inability to locate the original mortgage Full Article…
New Power of Attorney Law Corrects Some Flaws, Not All
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman On Oct. 14, 2009, these authors critiqued the then brand new Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney (POA) statute. In brief, we found it to be a disaster. Now sitting on the governor’s desk, awaiting signature, is a heavily amended version of the statute addressing a number of the Full Article…
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