Today we have an interview with a special guest who will unravel the mysteries of foreclosure defense. Joining us today is renowned foreclosure defense attorney, James Keaveney of Keaveney Legal Group located in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
What inspired you to become an attorney?
I think, like ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been argumentative. I’ve always been interested in the law. I think I knew at a pretty early age that I wanted to be a lawyer. I remember my sixth grade teacher trying to describe to my parents the way I act in class. My mother told her, “Well, he’s very argumentative,” and the teacher said, “To say the least…” and that pretty much describes my personality.
I love a good argument and I like fighting for fairness. I was a middle child.
I think a lot of middle children end up becoming lawyers.There were four boys and I always wanted everything to be fair. I didn’t want more than everybody else, but I wanted my fair share. I was always fighting for it. I think that was in the back of my head. I went to college and then eventually went to law school, I was a paralegal for a couple of years to test the waters and then, I became a lawyer.
What made you decide to focus specifically on foreclosure defense?
That’s kind of an interesting story too. I have a really good friend. This was back 13 years ago. I was practicing a different type of law at the time. I was pretty high up in a firm that I’d been working with for many years. I was talking to my friend and he unfortunately was laid off and that was happening a lot back then. It was the housing crisis, the mortgage foreclosure crisis and he got laid off.
He knew I didn’t do that type of law at the time, but we’re good friends and we would talk and he’d tell me what was going on with the bank and what the bank was telling him. They were being very pleasant to him, saying “We’ll help you get caught up on your payments,” or “We’ll help you with this and that,” well it’s all rainbows to them.
One thing he said was that he applied for unemployment and they (the bank) said, well, when you get your unemployment, send us the information and we can start working on a loan modification for you. They started really giving him the runaround and I started getting more and more involved and just doing research. Eventually, I learned that this is a very common tactic. People are being foreclosed on all over the place and experiencing a thing called dual tracking and it’s kind of illegal. Dual tracking is where the loan servicers are talking to you and pretending they’re working with you, pretending they’re going to help you with a loan modification or another solution while in the meantime, they hire an attorney and they start/continue foreclosing on you. You’re not even looking out and all of a sudden a complaint comes, maybe you don’t even see it.
The next thing you know, they’re taking your property away. I’ve just read all these horror stories about it and predatory lending – it was really a big deal back then in 2010.
So in 2011, I just started my own law firm. I had done lots and lots of research and just started taking on mortgage foreclosure defense. I’ve been focused on it ever since. It’s extremely rewarding when you save someone’s home! Seeing people cry with tears of joy and they thank you so much, it just, it really warms your heart when you can help somebody like that. I love doing it, it’s my favorite area I’ve ever practiced.
Can you tell us then what Keaveney Legal Group as a firm stands for and what values really drive your law firm?
We are a client driven practice. All we do is mortgage foreclosure defense and bankruptcy, they kind of go hand in hand. It’s helping people that are in financial trouble.
When we talk to you, we want to know what your goal is. What are you trying to do?
Do you want to save this home? People want to save the home for various reasons.
When I was doing it back in 2011, everybody was underwater, meaning they owed more than the property was worth. I would tell them, if I get you a loan modification, you’re going to pay all that money back, you might be better off giving up your home. But I can’t tell you, maybe your children are going to school in that district, maybe it’s your family home and you don’t want to give it up and you’re willing to pay whatever it takes to keep that home. In that case, we go all out and do everything we can to save the home.
On the other hand, if you’re saying, “Geez Jim, I owe $400,000, the property is only worth 200,000, get me out of here. Just make sure I don’t owe the bank any money when I’m done, then we would take that route. So, we’re always individually client focused.
We want our clients to be aware of what’s happening with their case at all times. We want them to feel like they finally have somebody in their corner fighting for them.
We can be anything from Mr. Nice Guy to Mr. Bad Guy to help fight for you.
How exactly can those experiencing difficulties with mortgage payments benefit from your services?
Most clients want to keep their home. It’s whether they’re underwater or not and nowadays, sometimes they’re not, a lot of them are not, but regardless they want to stay in their property. The last thing the bank wants you to do is call Keaveney Legal Group. They know who we are. They don’t want us on the other side of the phone, they want you, the more naive person in the situation, on the other end of the phone. Then they’ll give you a song and dance like they did to my friend and then they have the control. If, let’s say you have equity in your property, they (loan servicer) want the property, they want to foreclose, they’ll get all their money back. Maybe then some.
If you hire us, we don’t take any nonsense, we know what the rules are and we’re going to help you achieve your goal and they’re not going to run all over you. I should say to get a loan modification without the assistance of an attorney, but do you really want to gamble if it’s your home and you really want to keep your home?
I’ve seen so many cases where they come to us after they’ve tried and failed and failed and they’re so angry at the bank saying, “They lied to me,” and it’s sad. Hopefully it’s not too late and oftentimes it’s not.
Usually when someone first hires us, they’ll say, oh, I felt such a sense of relief after I talked to your assistant, after I talked to the attorney. Now, I have somebody in my corner and they can sleep at night. That is the first and most important benefit: Somebody is fighting for you.
What is one of the most critical pieces of advice you would give to somebody that is looking for a foreclosure defense attorney in Pennsylvania or New Jersey?
The biggest thing is you really have to do your research. There are a lot of firms out there that will do foreclosure defense, but it’s one of dozens of practice areas they do. They may have no expertise or very limited expertise in it. They don’t know what is happening in the foreclosure defense world in the loss mitigation world. When I say loss mitigation, that means any program that will help a distressed homeowner. The rules change all the time, they are changing nonstop, especially when new presidents get elected or new politicians get into office.
Keaveney Legal Group is always on top of it. It’s what we focus on. If you hire somebody who only does foreclosure defense occasionally, but they don’t really do it, they’re not going to be up to speed on these things.
The other thing is, do your Google research, look at the reviews, see what people are saying. I welcome anybody to go and look at ours and even on youtube, I have videos of clients that I’ve helped.
How can someone overcome the fears they may have around hiring an attorney and move forward with getting the help and support that they need?
I think one of the big reasons why people sort of put their head in the sand is – one, they’re ashamed. People have pride and when they bought this house, they could afford it. They don’t realize that there’s so many millions of people going through the same thing. We can’t control the economy, we can’t control layoffs, we can’t control medical bills that come up or if someone in the family gets sick. They really need to get over the sense of pride because so many people are in the same situation and 99% of the time, it’s not your fault. Sure you can get a little sloppy with your bills and things can happen but don’t shoulder the blame because it happens all the time.
I think another thing people think is “Oh, lawyers are very expensive,” and, you know, maybe “I don’t have the money because first of all, I can’t pay my mortgage, so how am I going to afford an attorney?” We always work with people. We basically charge a monthly fee that is way less than your mortgage payment would be.
So literally, if you can’t afford us, you wouldn’t be able to afford to save your home anyway, because your monthly fee is going to be significantly less than what your mortgage will be if we can get you modified.
Why is it so important to address these financial difficulties promptly?
If you sit on it, it’s going to be harder for me to help you if you get in touch with us.
After 90 days of not paying your mortgage,you missed three payments, they’re required to send you a notice of default. And that’s before they can file a lawsuit against you.
So you can hire me right then and there before they even file a lawsuit and maybe I can get your case resolved before they file a lawsuit. So the sooner the better then the next step is they file a lawsuit, right? And then if you don’t answer that and you haven’t hired a lawyer, they take a judgment against you and now you’re really up the creek and you’re having problems. And then the next step is Sheriff Sale. If you contact me before the sheriff sale, I can probably help you.
But I would rather have you call me as soon as you get that notice of default, they’re going to come after you. I’m going to prepare for litigation and in the meantime, I’m going to try to resolve it before the litigation even starts.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners who might be searching for a foreclosure defense attorney?
As I said, do your research but also be prepared to be proactive once you do hire an attorney. For example, you’re going for a loan modification, whatever you’re going for the bank is going to require documents from you. They’re going to want to see your bank statements, they’re going to want to see your bills, they’re going to want a full picture of what your financial situation is, so they can figure out what programs you might be eligible for.
So a lot of times clients will think, “I hired an attorney now I can relax,” and that’s true to a certain extent, but you need to answer our calls when we call. When we ask you for documents, turn them up, give them to us as fast as you can. What happens is you give us a whole bunch of documents but not everything we need and then by the time you give us what we really need those documents become what we call stale and the bank won’t take them. It’s too old. It is important to be prepared, the more proactive you are the faster I can resolve your case and the cheaper it’ll be for you, as I say, we charge a monthly fee.
If you’re not getting us the documents and we have to keep bugging you and bugging you and bugging you, then it’s going to drag out and you’re going to pay more than you would have and you’re going to have more sleepless nights than you would have.
Be ready, be proactive, work with your attorney and respond to all the requests.
That would be the best advice I could give anybody who is trying to keep their home or whatever they’re trying to do with it. Respond to your attorney and do it quickly. You’ll get out as painlessly as possible.
This blog is not legal advice, but it is designed to empower you with knowledge and insights from the sharpest legal minds in America.
Contact Foreclosure Defense James Keaveney at Keaveney Legal Group For More Information
After meeting with Mr. Keaveney, it is clear that he is an incredibly dedicated and compassionate attorney. Experiencing foreclosure is extremely stressful, and speaking with an attorney may seem intimidating. Mr. Keaveney really makes facing these challenges more comfortable with his extensive expertise. Call (800) 219 0939 if you are in need of a foreclosure defense attorney in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.