A recent Land Court Decision Affecting Foreclosures in Massachusetts

I think I bought title insurance for the bank, but not myself.
Does that matter? Will I lose everything I have put into the home for improvements if they have to foreclosure again?
Will I have to go to the foreclosure and bid on it again? Even though the market has gone down, I have put a lot into the house in improvements. Do I just lose my downpayment and any other money I have paid into it if the bank takes it back and offers it for foreclosure again.

If the property sells for more than the mortgage was the first time around, who gets the extra money -the former owner or me?

Phoenix - if you used a lawyer for yourself when you closed you might want to contact him/her.

The way I understand things is that your problem might come when you try to sell your house. Title insurance would mean it is up to the insurance company to clear your title.

The bank who holds your mortgage might be able to guide you too.

Phoenix;
Here's my understanding. Judge Long ruled that a number of FCs aren't valid. As a result the title insurance companies aren't writing NEW policies on any properties that are impacted. That's made the properties more or less unsalable and resulted in the need to reforeclose. In your case the property has already been sold. Hence, you're the owner of record, although there may be a cloud on the title. The ruling does NOT require the bank reforeclose on your property. In the event you try to sell, the title companies have indicated they'll "insure over" the existing title cloud. The channel 56 story of the party that couldn't sell doesn't seem to agree with other information within the industry. They can't reforeclose on you since you're not in default and are the current owner of record. Although your title may be flawed, you're not in default. Your current policy holder has 2 options if you sell; Pay the claim or re-insure the next buyer. Based on the magnitude of the issue, they'll be reinsuring. Even if you didn't buy the insurance for yourself, the title companies would defend since your lender, who you did insure, has the most to use. The parties I'm seeing bitten the most are the cash investors that didn't buy title insurance. They have noone to turn to. Now my caveat...this is JUST my understanding, NOT a legal opinion since I'm not an attorney. There may well be other issues present here I'm not aware of. Speak to an attorney for legal advise.

I contacted Scott Smith again today the only response I could get is the following:

I have no further information as to when the decision will issue other than to say the decision apparently will not issue imminently. The judge is not offering any further information to me. Sorry.

I'm still waiting for the bank to return my deposit since I didn't signed an extension(june 26). I'm also trying to get the money spent on the appraisal and inspection which I really doubt I'll be getting. Now I moved on and have an accepted offer on another house that is not bank owned. hopefully I don't have to go through what we all been through before. I recomend that you just don't wait too long; there are some houses out there, you may be lucky. This was just ridiculous, all the time wasted. ;( Good luck to you all!!!! We'll see if I can close this deal.

I also called today....didnt get that message but got one that said if calling about it, its been submitted no further information.

It is a shame that this decision has become our lifeline, isnt it!?

I dont think the Judge understands the "undoing" he has ahead of him. I wish some higher ups would provide some guidance to him. The impact will be felt for years, I am not sure either outcome is valid under our laws, either way he decides there is another law in place that will be impacted.

I, for one, have gone with the extension, we have found two other home that meet our criteria, funny thing is they are asking 70K more than what we were locked into for the "ibanez home". WOW, speed that economy right up, I am just keeping my fingers crossed that someone accepts one of our offers and that it doesnt take a year to close.

Again....frustrated...

Can you post the phone number you are calling to get information? Thanks. Also, did you give your bank another extension? Or let it expire. In my case I have given them another extension, since I can't seem to find anything else in my price range. Do you know exactly what has been submitted? Peter

Sent a note to Scott Smith...his response indicated that he can only report that the Judge has the files and has been quite tight lipped about when a decision will issue. He indicated that it did not appear he would be making his decision in the next week or two.....althought he hopes he is wrong about that. He further indicated that perhaps by the end of next week he would have more information but to feel free to contact him at any time. He has been receiving dozens of inquiries weekly and really hopes that an answer will be had shortly!

Thats the news....still waiting......and who knows what the decision will say anyway, could be bad news, and could still mean that the title insurance companies will not insure until a FINAL decision has been made....ie those who wish to appeal can.....

Any updates from Scott this week?

In case anyone is interested I recieved my own response from Scott Smith,Judge Long's clerk here it is:

The only progress I have to report on the motions to vacate is that both Judge Long and his law clerk have been poring over the documents that have been filed in preparation for Judge Long to begin writing his decision. Nothing has been written yet, he's still in the process of determining which way this is going to come out. Feel free to check back in a week or two, as there has been some movement on the case, I just don't see the decision being issued for a little while yet.

Thanks for the update, at least it sounds like the case is being worked on.

For anyone here who is still holding on to their deal on a foreclosure: I just had to re-lock my loan, and the rates are down a bit from when I relocked the last time! Peter

Earlier today I had an in depth conversation with an attorney that represents a number of banks impacted the Ibanez ruling. Her opinion is that if Long overturns his ruling the results will be appealed by the attorneys representing the other side. She stated "this may drag out for a year and a half". She's advising her clients to cut the delay and just reforeclose. If I were in the position that some of you more patient folks are i I believe I'd move on.

We found a foreclosure that is a Fannie Mae. We are supposed to close at the end of August. They tell us that because it is a Fannie Mae foreclosed house that there should be no issue with the title. I'll keep you posted.

They dropped the price to our max in less than a month and it was a substantial drop so it might be a road folks might want to check into in case there is something in that group of foreclosures that looks good.

The house i was under agreement with went to auction the other day (re-foreclosure) and was sold back to the bank, Anyone have any idea how long it takes after the auction to finalize everything?

House which I had under agreement was taken away from me last week.

BL,
did you try to buy it during auction? did the bank buy it back for the same price that was owed by the previous seller or less? Also, Do you know how long it takes before it could appear for auction?