Over 10,000 Bankruptcy Cases Filed
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows you to get rid of your unsecured debt while protecting all of your assets, such as your house and car. The process is relatively short, taking approximately 3-4 months from the filing of your case to your fresh start, and is also far less invasive than you might think.
Read MoreChapter 13
Chapter 13 bankruptcy is another chapter of bankruptcy that will allow you to reorganize on your finances. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, your budget is used to create a payment plan based on your disposable income. You can use Chapter 13 to repay the debts that could not be ordinarily discharged in Chapter 7 bankruptcy while protecting yourself from the actions of your unsecured creditors.
Read MoreAbout Your Lawyers
We have an outstanding team of fifteen Attorneys and legal assistants. Greg & Raj are the founding partners, but we are all here to help. See entire team.
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Warning! Short Sale Scams Abound
A short sale is an alternative to foreclosure where you obtain permission from your lender to sell your home to a third party buyer for less than you owe the lender. Working with a reputable broker and attorney in a short sale has always been important. Recently, the rash of short sale scams in which real estate agents walk away with thousands of dollars at the expense of homeowners has underscored the need to work with a Sherman Oaks bankruptcy attorney.
The scam setup is simple. First, an agent will shop the property around and line up a bonafide offer from a third party buyer – an offer that would represent the actual fair market value of the home at the time. The agent, however, does not inform the bank of this offer, instead making a lowball offer to the bank on his or her own behalf. The bank, thinking the agent’ s low offer is the best they can get for the home, accepts and sells to the agent. The agent then turns around and sells the home to the third party buyer at the initially agreed upon price, often in the same day. The result is that the agent captures the difference that should have gone to the homeowner and/or bank.
Some agents go to even greater lengths to maximize their gain, bribing appraisers or exaggerating home defects to get the home appraised to the bank at a lower price than it’ s actually worth. Then, the agent can bid an even lower price and the bank will accept it. Another trick is to misstate the location of the property altogether. A house in Malibu, CA was represented as being located in Riverside, CA. This caused the property to be appraised at $200,000 rather than the $1,000,000 price tag it should have had.
These scams are expected to cost lenders $375 million this year, up 20% from last year. Not only do these scams hurt lenders, but they also sully the short sale market, making the process more difficult for homeowners. These types of scams reinforce the need to deal with reputable and experienced professionals when conducting a short sale.
The attorneys at Wadhwani & Shanfeld, A Prof. Law Corp., bankruptcy attorneys in Sherman Oaks, can guide you through a short sale process, avoiding many pitfalls. We have reliable agents and brokers with close professionals ties to our office and a history of successful and honest short sale transactions.