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Real Estate Law & Litigation
Detailed Descriptions and Current Trends |
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Complex Dispossessories (Landlord/Tenant issues)
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Many homeowners and/or investors wishing to lease or rent their properties face a myriad of legal rights of tenants to whom they want to lease or rent their properties. A landlord must protect and guard themselves against any future issues by having properly drawn legal applications and leases prepared for prospective tenants. Our firm will prepare such applications and leases to fit a landlord's specific needs in assuring that they gain and maintain, over time, a valuable return on their investments by renting and leasing to tenants.
Georgia law provides a great deal of rights to tenants. With these rights, landlords may unforeseeably put themselves into a position of wrongful eviction of their tenants. Tenants rent payments may become overdue or their actions may not be consistent with the agreement the landlord had set up, but without a properly drafted lease agreement it can be extremely difficult for a landlord to actually evict their tenant(s) from the property. We offer services to those landlords who are faced with such difficult tenants and we are well versed in dealing with these tenants on behalf of our clients.
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Condominium Investors
Many Atlanta condo owners/investors have been unable to rent their units due to a glut in construction and/or problems within the current real estate market. There are options available of which we may be able to assist you. We encourange you to speak with us about possible ways to reduce or eliminate the outflow of maintaining such investments.
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Homeowner’s Associations
Our firm represents both the boards of Homeowner’s Associations as well as homeowners who pay for their Homeowner Associations to carry out their duties and responsibilities. Much of the business of Homeowner’s Associations is controlled by a very large body of Georgia Statutes and Georgia Case Law to assure that both the Boards, in their representative capacity for their homeowners, and the homeowners are protected from harm. Our firm has been very successful in representing both the boards on behalf of the homeowners as well as the homeowners themselves. Whether the board and homeowners are threatened by an outside force or from within, we are here to assist in any of those matters.
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Mortgage Fraud
Mortgage Fraud is one of the most devastating types of criminal activity in our society today. The process of mortgage fraud, in and of itself becomes more and more sophisticated everyday. Mortgage fraud has developed into a highly complex tangle of lies throughout the home buying-and-selling process. It has a long-range, devastating effect on society and the housing market at large. By using our vast knowledge in this area, our trained personnel and our experienced private investigators, we have been very successful at untangling this web of deceit for many mortgage fraud victims.
A few examples of mortgage fraud are:
* Appraisal Fraud
* Employment/income fraud
* Failure to disclose liabilities
* Mortgage fraud ring
* Mortgage servicing fraud
* Occupancy fraud
* Predatory mortgage lending
Predatory mortgage lending is sometimes more detailed in structure and extremely more difficult to recognize. U.S. consumers are often victims of this type of mortgage fraud. While legally conducting business, a few of these brokers and lenders are finding loopholes in the system to obtain an accelerated profit from their transactions. These types of mortgage fraud transactions include:
* Balloon loans: after a series of low payments, the remaining balance is due in a lump sum
* Convincing borrowers to refinance a loan several times, each time increasing monthly payments or amounts owed
* Encouraging applicants to include false information
* Encouraging borrowers to leave signature lines blank
* Failure to include a Good Faith Estimate, Truth in Lending and/or Settlement Statement
* Failure to explain unexpected costs at the settlement
* Presenting loan amounts higher than the value of the home
The scope of mortgage fraud is very serious and has spread throughout the nation. Our goal is to properly prosecute these cases in order to make our clients financially whole and to stop the progression of these fraudsters in continuing their illegitimate business practices.
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Every homeowner is entitled, under Georgia Statute, to certain rights. Any mortgage lender who forecloses on a home is required to provide the tenant or homeowner such notices and rights, particularly after a foreclosure. You may not simply be legally “removed” from your home without proper notice and a right to be heard in Court. Regrettably, due to massive foreclosures occurring today many lenders and their “eviction service companies” are ignoring the statutory rights of persons living in these homes. Wrongful evictions are very serious and the Courts of Georgia are very strict about affording the foreclosed upon homeowner, or tenant, their statutory rights.
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