Unemployment is Increasing. What does it mean for bankruptcy?

Unemployment Rises In More Than Half Of U.S. Metro Areas
WASHINGTON -- Unemployment rates rose last month in more than half of the nation's largest metro areas, driven higher by weak private-sector hiring and natural...

Full story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/unemployment-metros-half_n_887081.html

Mansfield Law
www.venturadebtlaw.com


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The Great Recession or Great Depression?

Can you believe the news?  I feel the pain out in our community.  Mansfield Law Office can help, though.  We provide a great deal of information on bankruptcy protection on these web pages on our main website venturadebtlaw.com for those in trouble.

Bernanke, Fed see economy losing steam

U.S. Home Prices Fell 5.7%

Andrew S. Mansfield

Mansfield Law Office -- Venturadebtlaw.com

Mansfield Law: Mortgage Rates

I find this fairly amazing.

The sales report came out as fixed mortgage rates continued to fall.

Sales of previously occupied homes fell 0.8% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That's far below the 6 million homes a year that economists say represents a healthy market.

Purchases made by first-time homebuyers rose 3% to 36%.... Sales have fallen in four of the past five years before hitting a 13-year low last year. Sales are falling even as prices decline. The median sales price in April rose 2.4% from March, to $163,700. But it's still down 5% from the same month one year ago.

Sales of homes at risk of foreclosure fell 3% in April, to 37% of all purchases. Foreclosure sales likely declined only because a large number of those homes are backlogged in the courts. They have been held up by a state and federal probe into troubled foreclosure practices by lenders.

A record 1 million homes were lost to foreclosures last year and foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac expects 1.2 million more will be lost this year. Homes at risk of foreclosures usually sell at 20% discounts compared to their original listing price.

Because of California's over-restrictive regulation of attorney participation in foreclosure defense work, I typically do not get involved in foreclosures until a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 is needed to block a trustee sale and, hopefully, provide the consumer with a way to keep the house.

Even as times get worse, Mansfield Law Office is here to help if bankruptcy might be the only answer to a foreclosure.

Interesting American Bankruptcy Institute Headline and Summary on Nevada Bankruptcy

The American Bankruptcy Institute (an organization of which I'm a member) sent the following summary this morning.

Nevada has the highest population-adjusted bankruptcy filing rate in the nation, but even with the highest foreclosure ratio in the nation, Nevadans are not using bankruptcy to skirt foreclosure and keep their homes, according to Columbia Law School professor Ronald Mann, DSNews.com reported today. Mann's analysis shows that Nevada's bankruptcy filing rate so far this year is 5,176 filings per million adults, more than twice the national rate of 2,562 per million. At the same time, Mann notes that while Nevada leads the nation in filings - and has done so by a wide margin all year - its filing rate is actually down 17 percent from the first five months of 2010. Another wrinkle, he says, is that despite the subprime mortgage crisis that ravaged Nevada's economy, the 23 percent of its chapter 13 filings trails the national average of 28 percent. "Whatever Nevada filers are doing, they are not in bankruptcy to save their homes," Mann said.

The full article is here.

Posting by Andrew S. Mansfield (174556)
Mansfield Law Office
http://www.venturadebtlaw.com
http://www.oxnardbankruptcylawyer.com

Please note the disclaimer on this website that all information posted by Andrew S. Mansfield does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.  You may need to contact an attorney to protect valuable rights.

Double Dip and Bankruptcy

The economic pessimists have said for some time we may have a double dip recession. Bankruptcy is a legitimate way to start over and get your affairs in order. If this is the start of a double dip it is more important than ever to be out from under debt that cannot be paid. It may be time to consult with an attorney if this is facing you.

More in the Wall Street Journal<

Mansfield Law Office
www.venturadebtlaw.com

Fighting Foreclosure through Litigation Concerning Loan Documents and Ownership

I often have clients come to me and hope to sue the banks and servicer involved with their home loans.  I have reviewed questionable loan documentation.  It appears that actually prevailing in such is becoming a bit more likely.

Banks trying to foreclose on homeowners are hitting another roadblock, as some delinquent borrowers are successfully arguing that their mortgage companies can't prove they own the loans and therefore don't have the right to foreclose.

These "show me the paper" cases have been winding through the courts for several years. But in recent months, some judges have been siding with borrowers and stopping foreclosures after concluding that banks' paperwork problems are more serious than previously thought and raise broader ethical questions

This year, cases in California, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Massachusetts and others have raised questions about whether banks properly demonstrated ownership.

Full article is here (Wall Street Journal subscription required for entire article).

Posted by Andrew S. Mansfield
Mansfield Law Office
http://www.venturadebtlaw.com
701 E. Santa Clara St., Suite 13
Ventura, CA 93001