Buy Foreclosure and Go To Jail??? - Posted by JSune
Posted by JSune on July 31, 2003 at 07:05:34:
Source: mortgagegrapevine.com–Ask The Experts–Legal Corner*
Anybody else has heard about this??
[*The post is not clear as to which State it applies to]
AMENDED LEGISLATION -BUY A HOUSE IN FORECLOSURE AND GO TO JAIL?
Existing law provides for the regulation of a contract incident to the sale of a residence in foreclosure, where the contract is between an equity purchaser, a specified person who acquires title to a residence in foreclosure, and an equity seller, the seller of a residence in foreclosure. Existing law provides that the equity seller has, in addition to a right of rescission, the right to cancel any contract with an equity purchaser until midnight of the fifth business day following the day on which the equity seller signs the contract or until 8 a.m. on the day scheduled for the sale of the property. These provisions include notice obligations and other requirements on equity purchasers, most of which are enforceable in a civil action. Existing law also provides that, a prevailing equity seller shall recover actual damages, plus reasonable attorneys fees and costs, and may be awarded exemplary damages or equitable relief. Certain violations require the court to award three times actual damages as exemplary damages. Effective January 1, 2004 a court, in every one of these civil suits in which an equity seller prevails, to award a civil penalty of not more than $2,500, if it does not award exemplary damages.
Existing law provides that any equity purchaser who violates certain of these provisions or who engages in any practice that would operate as a fraud or deceit upon an equity seller, is punishable for each violation by a fine of not more than $10,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment. Effective January 1, 2004 the maximum fine is $25,000. (SB455, 7/21/03,Amends CC Sections 1695.7, 1695.8)
MORAL
Buy the house before the NOD is recorded. That is the definition of “in foreclosure.”