Las Vegas: Three big reasons why the foreclosure fiasco isn’t just a “clerical error”

The spin from the banking and mortgage industry (not to mention the Wall Street Journal) is that the robo-signing foreclosure controversy is not such a big deal and is just a “paperwork” problem.  Some files need to be cleaned up, “i’s” dotted and “t’s” crossed.

Here are three reasons why the foreclosure fiasco is more than just a clerical error:

1.  Where there’s smoke there’s fire.  The sloppy approach to one part of the foreclosure process (i.e., the signing of thousands of affidavits without actually reviewing them) indicates a good likelihood of similar mistakes and sloppiness elsewhere in the process.  Banks and mortgage lenders were sloppy when they created all of the mortgages.  There’s no reason to think they’re any less careless with the foreclosure process.

2.  Lost documents.  There is an increasing sense that the banks and mortgage lenders may not even have documents proving ownership of many mortgages.  The mortgages have changed hands so many times, and many banks and mortgage lenders have been bought and sold themselves, that tracking down the necessary documents may be extremely difficult or impossible.

3.  Real estate law relies on documentation.  The history of real estate law and transactions in the U.S., and going back to merry old England, is all about proper documentation.  It is considered so important to be certain of proper chain of ownership for land that transactions must be documented to a far greater extent than most other types of contracts in our society.  For banks and mortgage lenders to now say that these are just “paperwork” problems and should be swept under the rug is to undermine the integrity of our property-ownership society.

If you have foreclosure questions about your Las Vegas home, please contact a Freedom Law Firm attorney at 702-602-9886 to get your questions answered and figuring out what options are available to you.