Purchasing a new home is an exciting time for many Florida residents. It is even more exciting when you are in a position to purchase a newly constructed home with no prior occupants. There is, however, a potential tax trap lurking in that newly built home. Put simply, the tax bill you thought you would owe at closing is far below what you end up paying once you get the keys and move into your new construction home. Improved vs. Unimproved Land We often hear this complaint from homeowners who have recently purchased homes from large builders like D.R. Horton, Inc. The Texas-based Horton is a F ..read more

Between 2010 and 2020, Florida’s population grew nearly 15 percent, according to the United States Census. People flock to the Sunshine State for many reasons. One of them is taxes. Florida’s lack of a state income tax and reputation for relatively low property taxes is especially attractive for people looking to buy a home in the state. Unfortunately, many of these new Florida home buyers get a rude awakening when one day they learn their mortgage payment has shot up due to property taxes. In many cases, the property tax bill is far higher than what the buyer was told when they closed on thei ..read more

Ameris Bank was established in 1971 and today, the company has headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Ameris Bank provides a wide range of commercial banking services to small and mid-sized companies, as well as individual customer products such as treasury support, mortgage and refinancing services, and savings and investment options. On their website, Ameris states that they want to empower customers to make decisions at a local level so they do not have to jump through hoops and endure endless red tape. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for many Ameris customers. The company has had many ..read more

Caliber Home Loans, Inc., often referred to as simply Caliber is a nationwide lender that has been doing business since 2008. They are headquartered in Coppell, Texas and the company offers several lending options including a line of non-qualified mortgage products for consumers that do not fall into traditional lending guidelines. In 2022, Caliber was acquired by NewRez. Today, anyone who applies for a new loan with Caliber must deal with NewRez while those who already had a Caliber loan before 2022 will continue to deal with Caliber. It is important to understand whether your loan is being m ..read more

Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in response to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. This law was intended to help homeowners who were facing financial hardship during the pandemic. One of the biggest protections provided to homeowners in the law was that mortgage servicers had to provide forbearance plans of up to 180 days when a borrower asked. After an investigation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC misrepresented the requirements under the CARE Act. The company was dishonest with consumers and ..read more

MidFirst Bank touts itself as the largest privately-owned bank in the entire country, which they say places them in a rare position. Unfortunately, there is something MidFirst Bank has in common with all of the other larger, public banks. That is the fact that they do not always treat customers fairly. Sometimes, they even unfairly try to foreclose on homes, leaving homeowners panicked and uncertain about their future. If you have a mortgage with MidFirst Bank and they are now threatening to foreclose on your home, it is important to remain calm. Even if the institution has already filed a law ..read more

Mortgage Assets Management, LLC (MAM) specializes in mortgage loan administration. Some of the services they offer are loan servicing oversight, loss mitigation management, default and foreclosure management, REO management, and more. MAM is based in Houston, Texas, but they do business throughout the entire country. They mostly specialize in servicing mortgage loans for other larger financial institutions, although they do sometimes start foreclosure proceedings against homeowners. If Mortgage Assets Management has threatened to foreclose on your home, it is natural to feel panicked and uncer ..read more

NewRez, LLC touts itself as one of the biggest non-bank originators of mortgages in the country. NewRez did business as Penn Financial before 2018 but the company was purchased by New Residential Investment Corporation that same year. It was shortly after the company rebranded itself as NewRez, LLC that the institution purchased Shellpoint Partners and went under the simplified name of Shellpoint. Still, NewRez LLC is recognized as a nationwide mortgage lender licensed in all 50 states. NewRez provides many options for homeowners including VA loans, FHA loans, conventional loans, refinancing ..read more

As their name suggests, Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC services mortgages for larger financial institutions. Mortgage servicers do not provide loans for people who want to purchase homes and other property. Instead, they are hired by the bigger banks that provide those loans to service the mortgage, which means maintaining it, collecting payments, and ensuring the loan does not fall into default. In some cases, servicers can start the foreclosure process but they must own the loan. In other instances, servicers sometimes try to foreclose on a home, but they do not own the loan. This is a wrongfu ..read more

According to their website, LoanCare, LLC is a sub-servicing partner that is focused on helping people achieve homeownership in the years after they obtain an original mortgage loan. The support they offer is through a team of experts in payments, escrow, taxes, insurance, and more. LoanCare states that it helps borrowers once loan origination has ended and servicing begins. Their website also states that it is okay when borrowers face financial hardship and that they are there to help. LoanCare works with almost 1.5 million customers every year across all states and territories within the Uni ..read more