Cerabino: Suburban West Palm condo association looking to turn tables on Wells Fargo
Alan Meltzer has a fantasy about walking into a Wells Fargo branch and making a dramatic announcement.
“I’m here to collect,” he imagines himself saying. “Give me your cash registers.”
Meltzer isn’t a would-be bank robber. He’s a condominium president who has turned the tables on one of America’s megabanks.
“We bailed out Wells Fargo, then Wells Fargo bailed out on us,” he said.
“Us” in this case is the Forest Condominium Association in suburban West Palm Beach. The Forest condominiums, near the intersection of Haverhill and Gun Club roads, is a sterling example of the damage caused by the overheated housing market and the lending practices that precipitated its collapse.
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But unlike other condo owners, the bank never paid the $260 monthly maintenance fees to the association. And to make matters worse, the physical condition of the bank’s empty condo deteriorated.
“We warned them,” Meltzer said. “There was a mold issue in there, and they needed to resolve it. It was coming from a drip from the washer-dryer hookup.”
But nothing happened, so the association went ahead on its own to fix the mold problem in the bank’s unit.
“We had to gut the apartment,” Meltzer said. “It was a big job. They had to go in with hazmat suits.”
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So the condo association took the next step, foreclosing on the bank’s condo.
“We treated them just like we would treat any other owner in the community,” Meltzer said.
In July, the condo association became the owner of the gutted unit, which in its present condition isn’t worth as much as its outstanding maintenance and repair bills. To remedy that, the association can pursue something called a “deficiency judgment” against the bank, which would pay for the repairs.
“I’m going to do this,” Meltzer said. “We are a poor community. We don’t have money. This isn’t a clash of the titans. It’s just little us. But the banks are going to learn.”
Full article here…
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My brother in law had is townhouse stolen by Wells Fargo 3 years ago via the HOA. He was evicted in a judicial state without a foreclosure being filed. They transferred title to a realtor and erased his existance from his public records. He never had a day in court. He has all of this fraud documented. While I am happy to see the parasites are now feeding on each other, there needs to be justice for ALOT of people who were victimized by these fraudsters.
YOU CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE “POOR” CONDO OWNERS HAD TO PUT UP W/ THE “M-O-L-D”
THE HOMEOWNER’S ASSOC. ANOTHER F RAUD GAAME JUDGES ARE COLLECTING MONIES HAND OVER FIST FIRST FROM THE FRAUD ENTITIES, NOW THE H.O.A.’S ,
IT PAYS GOOD $$$$$ MONIES TO BE A JUDGE, EVERYBODY MAKES OUT EXCEPT THE HOMEOWNERS !!!!
Time for the American People to foreclose on the FED.
CNBC Maria Bartirom interviewed Former J.P.Morgan Chase CEO, William Harrison on whether the Big Banks should be broken up. His answer is NO…if that happens “U.S. BANKS” won’t be able to complete in the Global Economy. Mr. Harrison said the BANKS are NOT 100% to blame for the crisis. He said…”Borrowers were abusing the system during the crisis.” I would like to add that he gave no reason why BANKS that are lent U.S. TAXPAYER MONEY….UPFRONT, in exchange for lending credit to people were giving bad quality loans to qualified borrowers and jacking up the values of homes to suck all of the equity out of the peoples properties. Or, why the BANKS DID NOT PAY THE TREASURY BACK FOR WHAT THEY BORROWED FROM THE TREASURY AT THE ORIGINATION BUT POCKETED THE PAYMENTS WE MADE IN THE FORM OF USURY AND OVERSOLD INVESTMENTS IN THEIR DEBT EXPONENTIONALLY WITHOUT PAYING BACK THE
TREASURY FIRST WENT BROKE..AND ARE STILL GETTING BAILED OUT TO THIS VERY DAY…..BY THE U.S TAXPAYERS FOR THE ORIGINATION FRAUD AND OTHER FRAUDS.. THEY ARE ABSOLUTE CRIMINALS.
http://www.blm.gov/nils/AQ_handbook/h-2100-1/chapter-VII/chapVII-illus-18.htm
Condo association foreclosing makes sense.
A deficiency judgement is the difference between the sale price of the unit and the amount of the note owed. Since bank did not borrow money from condo there is no note, so I don’t know how he would get a traditional foreclosure deficiency judgement.
Maybe the condo association documents allow for service fees, and they can get a judgement on that, but I think it incorrect to style it as a deficiency judgement.
Good for the association. Hope they make sure to attach hefty fees to the foreclosure for attorneys, inspection, title search,…