Latest news with #foreclosure
CBS News
28-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Baltimore's Harborview Marina to be auctioned after judge denies attempt to stop sale
A Baltimore judge Wednesday rejected an attempt to halt the foreclosure sale of Harborview Marina, clearing the way for the waterfront property to go to auction, according to the Baltimore Banner. The popular downtown ceased operations March 31, displacing dozens of boat owners who had to relocate their vessels. Richard Swirnow, a minority stakeholder in the marina, had his attorneys file for a temporary restraining order Friday in an attempt to stop the proceedings, the Banner reported. The public auction moved forward as planned at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Why did the Marina shut down? Marina management cited structural safety issues as the reason for the sudden shutdown. "We just received a report from our marine engineer advising us that this decision is required because of safety concerns about the current condition of the fixed pier," a post on the HarborView Marina website reads. Marina closure impacts Baltimore boaters The closure displaced those who lived at the Harborview Marina. Bobby LaPin, who operates the charter service Boat Baltimore told WJZ he previously lived on a 45-foot sailboat at Henderson's Marina in Fells Point, with his wife for six years. He now advocates for the city's maritime residents through his social media platform 'Sail Local'. "We choose to live on a boat because, well, honestly, it's cheaper and you have a great view. You're right on the water," LaPin said. LaPin said those at live on boats in Baltimore have fewer places to move, since most marinas don't allow living aboard.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thousands of rent-stabilized NYC apartments face foreclosure in tenant ‘bloodbath'
Thousands of rent-stabilized apartments in NYC are under threat of foreclosure as an increasing number of landlords stop paying their mortgages — making the coveted units even more scarce, insiders told The Post. Buildings with a cumulative 176 rent-stabilized units have been foreclosed upon since 2022 – a figure that's been doubling every year on average — with another 2,093 stabilized units have been put on notice by banks in April that landlords are defaulting on their mortgages, according to an analysis by PropertyShark data. 'It's a bloodbath,' said Sarah Saltzberg, co-owner of Bohemia Realty Group, who rents pre-war units in upper Manhattan. Owners lose money on stabilized units, so they leave them empty and skip the listing — or walk away entirely, leading to foreclosures, Saltzberg said. 'The owners are under water — that's why in the past year it keeps happening over and over,' she said. Many of the pre-1974 buildings — the year NYC established the rent stabilization system — desperately need repairs, but owners have stopped investing due to 2019 laws capping rent hikes after improvements at 2% and banning landlords from raising rents by up to 20% upon vacancy — changes that cut property values. Rising interest rates over the past three years also slowed renovations to a crawl. Tenant advocacy groups and Democratic state legislators lobbied hard for these changes, considered the biggest overhaul of New York's rent laws in a generation — arguing they were necessary to protect tenants against rent hikes and evictions. And they succeeded. But NYC tenants could end up paying the price. 'A lot of us might end up displaced — a new owner can come in and kick us all out,' said Coco Portofe, 34, whose East Village rent-stabilized building is the subject of ongoing court proceedings. If a landlord defaults, a new owner has to keep rent-stabilized units stabilized and keep rent the same. But the issue is when no one wants to buy the foreclosed property because the rent-stabilized units make it so financially unattractive, insiders told The Post. In that case, the building's residents could face eviction. 'There are situations where given the rent-stabilized nature of the tenancy, any purchase price over $1 would be ludicrous,' said foreclosure attorney Alexander Paykin. Experts point to a recent case in March, when mortgage lender Santander Bank refused to even take the keys of a foreclosed rent-stabilized building in Harlem, as indicative of what could come. Some fear a repeat of the 1970s, when New York landlords simply walked away from decaying buildings that were no longer profitable to rent out. Portofe's landlord – private equity firm Madison Capital Realty — is accused by its lender, the Community Preservation Corp., of not making mortgage payments on her building since January 2024, court records show. 'I have to pay rent on time, and they are not upholding their part of the bargain,' said Portofe, who pays $2,200 a month for a rent-stabilized one bedroom on East 12th Street. Market rate for one bedroom in her nabe rent for an average of $3,800, according to StreetEasy. A total of 209 rent-stabilized apartments across 15 East Village buildings are part of the lawsuit. Residential portfolio acquired by Madison acquired those units in 2021 as part of a residential portfolio for $153 million — a small part of the real estate investment firm's $22 billion assets under management. Madison Capital is accused of 'intentional misconduct' and 'gross negligence for 'wrongfully' collecting rent and failing to turn over that money to its lender — to whom it's said to owe more than $76 million in mortgage payments, interest and late fees. Madison Realty Capital didn't respond to The Post's request for comment. According to data from the Rent Guidelines Board — 10% of the 643,140 pre-1974 rent-stabilized apartments in New York City — an estimated 64,314 units – are losing money, a figured that's doubled since 2019 and is only expected to grow. Before the rental laws were overhauled, rent-stabilized buildings were a lot more profitable. 'The extent of this rent shortfall will grow over time, risking the long-term sustainability of these key segments of the city's affordable housing stock,' said Mark A. Willis, a senior policy fellow at NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. And about to make matters even worse is a tax-lien sale the city Department of Finance is planning to hold on June 3 — the first since the pandemic — to sell the debt of landlords who've been delaying property tax, water or sewer payments to try to stay afloat. Whoever buys up that debt could foreclose on the properties to collect what's owed. Additional reporting by Helayne Seidman
Bloomberg
22-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Major NYC Landlord Puts Thousands of Units In Bankruptcy
Joel Wiener, a major owner of New York City apartments, has put properties with thousands of residential units into bankruptcy months after a bank sought to foreclose on them. Numerous property holding companies tied to Wiener's Pinnacle Group sought court protection Wednesday in New York. The properties listed assets and liabilities of between $500 million and $1 billion on Chapter 11 petitions, each of which was signed by Wiener, who is Pinnacle's chief executive officer.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Feds must probe NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for possible mortgage fraud in light of ‘serious' red flags surrounding Brooklyn home: pol
The feds and the city must probe whether NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams committed mortgage fraud and broke other laws in light of 'serious' red flags surrounding his troubled ownership of a Brooklyn property that ended in foreclosure, a fellow Democrat demanded this week. Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) fired off letters Monday to Federal Housing Finance Director William Pulte and NYC Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber in the wake of The Post's exclusive last week revealing how the socialist pol lost a two-family home in Canarsie to Bank of America after he stopped paying the mortgage and racked up nearly $1 million in debt over 15 years. Holden in both letters said public records suggest Williams misrepresented his financial situation for years by collecting rent from multiple tenants living on the property while simultaneously being delinquent on a federally backed mortgage. 'If Mr. Williams misrepresented his financial position, rental income, or occupancy status in mortgage applications or ongoing certifications, he may have violated federal statutes governing mortgage fraud and bank fraud,' Holden wrote Pulte. 'This matter is particularly troubling given Mr. Williams' prominent role in publicly criticizing landlords through the City's 'Worst Landlords Watchlist' while allegedly engaging in similar misconduct himself. The apparent hypocrisy, combined with the scale of financial mismanagement and possible deception, undermines public confidence in elected leadership.' Williams – who earns $184,000 annually and collected thousands of dollars a year renting the home to multiple tenants – stopped making his $1,344 monthly mortgage payments in 2010, according to records. Holden in his letter to Strauber questioned whether Williams broke New York law by 'knowingly making false statements' in his annual financial disclosure filings. Williams, who served as a Brooklyn councilman from 2010 to March 2019 before being elected public advocate, didn't list earning rental income in many of his past yearly filings dating back over a decade — despite court records showing tenants living on his property. But he did list earning anywhere from $5,000 to $55,000 in rent in both 2022 and 2023, according to his most recent disclosure statements. Williams was slapped with a foreclosure action in 2014 by Bank of America over a $389,600 mortgage he took out on the house in 2006 to finance a vegan sandwich shop in Park Slope that went belly up two years later. Williams has long blamed his financial woes on the terms of his loan and tenants who didn't pay rent. The house was listed for sale through a foreclosure auction last month, but it reverted back to Bank of America ownership after not a single bidder offered a price exceeding the debt owed, which is now up to $944,582, according to The DOI and the Federal Housing Finance Agency declined comment. Williams' spokesman Kevin Fagan shot down the claims, saying Holden 'has every right to request wasting time and money investigating a decade-old non-story on a false premise — though it would have been more efficient if he'd simply looked at the public records and seen that the public advocate has accurately reported any rent collected and filed required disclosures.'
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Foreclosure auction for Farmers Exchange in Kennewick didn't go as planned. The latest
The future of Kennewick's vacant Farmers Exchange complex is uncertain after a foreclosure auction set for Friday was postponed. The property is now set to be sold to the highest bidder at 10 a.m., May 23, at the entrance to the Benton County Justice Center, 7122 W. Okanogan Place, in Kennewick. A process server who announced the delay told the small crowed that gathered for the sale no reason would be given for the delay. Farmers Exchange closed in 2024 and is being auctioned after the owners defaulted on a loan from Banner Bank. A small crowd gathered at the original auction time to find out who might be interested in the collection of historic and industrial buildings at West Canal Drive and North Benton Street. Stephanie Button, executive director of the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership, said she's worked for months to find a buyer who can bring activity back to the prominent site in the heart of Kennewick's Central Business District. The property offers nearly a full city block, quirky buildings packed with charm, historic significance and three-phase power, she said. It could be reinvented as a retail center, hospitality destination or even industrial arts studio for wood- and metal workers. Button said she's even reached out to McMenamins, the Portland venue operator known for converting old schools, fraternal lodges and institutional buildings into hotels, restaurants and visitor destinations. She hasn't connected, but believes Farmers Exchange could tempt McMenamins to expand into the Tri-Cities. 'We want to see something special,' she said outside the justice center. 'We want to see it loved and honored and utilized.,' After 110+ years historic Farmers Exchange site on foreclosure auction block The oldest building in the Farmers Exchange complex, at 215 W. Canal Drive, was added to the state and national Registers of Historic Places in April. The Washington State Advisory Council on Historic Preservation voted unanimously to add the 1912-built structure in honor of its significant role in the early development of Kennewick as a hub for agriculture. The property's storied history includes multiple uses, including a school, a creamery and a cannery. It has been identified with Farmers Exchange since 1924, when Alfred Amon and Carl Williams established the business. They sold it to Emerald Silliman in 1939 and through four generations of Silliman, Farmers Exchange was they place where Tri-Citians bought feed, lawnmowers, chainsaws, snow blowers, plants, garden supplies and, in the winter, fresh Christmas trees. Banner Bank foreclosed on a loan totaling nearly $2.2 million after the owner failed to make payments. In April, it advertised that it would take nearly $364,000 to bring the account current. Barring a private sale before the May 23 auction, the auction will seek to find a buyer for the buildings at 35 and 18 North Benton, and at 215 and 205 W. Canal. The property includes seven distinct parcels. The Seattle law firm of Hacker & Willig is serving as trustee for the property, according to a notice posted on the property.
