Reprint of interesting article from Virginia Lawyers Weekly:
Couple unable to stop auction; bank purchases home to remedy situation
By James Heffernan-jheffernan@nvdaily.com
Roy and Stephanie Mitchell were notified last Friday that the house they purchased this past summer was to be sold at auction Tuesday, despite the fact that they hadn't missed a payment.
Mrs. Mitchell said the former owners defaulted on the property, which the couple purchased in July. They have a copy of the deed, she said, as well as a report showing that the bank received its money from the sale.
"We can't understand it," she said. "We thought we did everything we were supposed to do."
The property, at 8049 Main St., is the Mitchell's first home.
"We wanted to live in this area," said Mrs. Mitchell, a former Northern Virginia resident who moved to Winchester nine years ago. "We waited for the right opportunity, and we were in a bidding war for the house. There were a lot of hoops we had to jump through."
The Mitchells and their real estate agent, Barbara Bailey of Holler Realty in Woodstock, believe the dispute over the title dates to when the bank foreclosed on the property.
They say the lender, Deutsche Bank Group, either lost or never filed the second of two required mailings involved in the transaction.
"We were told that because the trustee's notice they filed was in question, our deed was in question," Mrs. Mitchell said. "The bank didn't see our deed in their records, so they went forward with the auction."
Prior to the proceedings Tuesday outside the Winchester-Frederick County Joint Judicial Center, auctioneer Todd Fisher informed the Mitchells that the sale could not be stopped, and that the only way to remedy the situation was for the bank to buy back the property and issue a confirmatory deed.
The bank did in fact reacquire the property and has promised to make things right, according to Bailey, though it may take two to three months for the couple to receive the corrected title.
"They have said, 'Trust us. This will not hurt you. We will give you a deed, and everything will be the same,'" Mrs. Mitchell said.
For first-time homebuyers like the Mitchells, that's a leap of faith, according to Bailey.
"Until you have that deed in hand, there will always be that fear," she said.
The negligence that led to the Mitchells' nightmare is becoming more common as banks across the nation deal with a glut of foreclosures. State attorneys general are calling for an investigation into whether the mortgage industry has been rubber-stamping foreclosure paperwork to boost business.
Last week, Bank of America became the first bank to stop seizing foreclosed homes in all 50 states while the claims are sorted out. PNC Financial Services, GMAC Mortgage and JPMorgan Chase have announced similar moves in at least some states.
"These big banks are running roughshod," Mrs. Mitchell said. "What if we hadn't been notified [about the auction]? Someone would have bought our house, shown up on the doorstep and said we need to move out.
"This could happen to anyone," she added.
Please contact us (Charlottesville Attorneys) if you need legal assistance.
Tucker Griffin Barnes P.C.
Charlottesville, VA
434-973-7474
Inquire@TGBlaw.com
www.TGBLaw.com
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