A recent case in Montana is a reminder to homeowners to obtain legal help fast when threatened with foreclosure. In November, a jury awarded a Billings man, Jason Norman, just over $2 million in his claim against a bank that foreclosed on and actually sold a house that he and his wife had purchased for cash. Norman and his wife purchased the home from Deutsche Bank National Trust Company in 2010, and they spent another $40,000 renovating the home over the next two years. With the home worth $230,000 in 2013, they applied for a home equity loan with the intention of buying another property for investment. That’s when the Normans were informed by the Montana Department of Revenue that the house had been foreclosed on by Deutsche Bank and sold to a company called MOM Haven 6 LLP.
An error had been made on a quitclaim deed for another house that had been foreclosed on, but a legal description of the property, attached to the deed, described the property owned by the Normans. The Department of Revenue thus transferred ownership of the Norman home to MOM Haven 6, which had purchased 36 properties from a company associated with Deutsche Bank. The Normans sued for compensation. They were denied the home equity loan they had originally applied for, and since they no longer had the deed to the house, they couldn’t list it for sale or for rent. They contacted a foreclosure attorney. In the end, they prevailed.
Homeowners facing foreclosure in the Dallas-Fort Worth area – or facing a nightmare situation like the Norman family faced – should contact an experienced Dallas foreclosure attorney immediately. Errors on quitclaim deeds and other property documents are not uncommon, and an experienced foreclosure attorney knows where to look. In the Montana case, the bank had no right to foreclose on the home. In other cases, when debt and missed mortgage payments trigger a foreclosure, some homeowners may have to consider bankruptcy. After a foreclosure attorney has evaluated your financial circumstances, that attorney can suggest the alternatives that are in your best long-term interests. If you are a homeowner in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and foreclosure becomes an issue for you for any reason, make the call to an experienced Dallas foreclosure attorney right away.
