OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CONEJO CAPITAL PARTNERS LLC REGARDING THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 5893 MUSTANG DRIVE, SIMI VALLEY CA:
October 15, 2010
Given the extraordinary and illegal events orchestrated by the former homeowners and their attorney, we now feel compelled to share the facts regarding 5893 Mustang Drive.
On January 28, 2010 the property was sold thru a public auction at the trustee sale held at the Ventura County Court House. Each month this same process occurs thousands of times across the nation as a method for banks to take back or dispose of the property that is not being paid for. Conejo Capital was the “successful” bidder. Shortly thereafter the former bank issued the title and it was legally recorded with Conejo Capital Partners LLC as the new owner of the property. At the time all we knew about the property was that the former homeowners purchased it in 2001 for $539,000, and that they later refinanced it, pulling equity out, resulting in debt of roughly $1,000,000. No “lis pendens” had been recorded indicating any disagreement or legal action pending regarding the property. Had they done so before the auction, we would not have purchased this property.
After purchasing the property we found it to be occupied by the former home owners, Jim & Danielle Earl. We were able to make contact with them and tried to understand their situation. They expressed their opinion that they had been unlawfully foreclosed on by the bank. Yet to our knowledge, the Earls had not initiated a lawsuit against any bank at that time, and as far as we know even today there is no pending lawsuit against any bank. Any grievance they had would have been with their bank, not Conejo Capital Partners. We tried to amicably discuss terms of a possible agreement which would have helped them make a comfortable transition but they were unwilling. They gave us no choice other than having to start an action against them to gain physical possession of the property.
The unlawful detainer action (eviction trial) is something that normally takes roughly a month to complete, but they stretched it out to almost 6 months by filing two bankruptcies. The first one was dismissed due to their failure to file the proper paper work and the second was probably dismissed as well. At the unlawful detainer trial, the judge thoroughly reviewed all of the facts of the case and ruled in favor of Conejo Capital Partners LLC and ordered the Earl’s to vacate the property. We were also awarded a monetary judgment in the amount of just over $27,000 (fair market rental value for the time they illegally occupied the property). The Earls appealed the decision but their appeal was dismissed by the court because they failed to pay the court its required appellate costs. The Earls’ attorney sent us threatening correspondence and amazingly described his plan to a federal court judge in San Francisco that he planned to undertake “self help” to retake possession of the Mustang property illegally. The federal judge denied their motion for an injunction and ruled that the "Plaintiffs have offered no authority in support of this extraordinary concept (of “self help" seizure of the Mustang property).
On July 2, 2010 the Ventura County Sheriff and an agent of ours went to the property to complete the court-ordered eviction. There, they found that the Earls had departed but (based upon their attorney’s advice), the Earls left all of the personal belongings, in the Mustang house including all of their furniture, cars and the family dog. This extraordinary tactic caused us another 2 week delay because we were forced to follow the legal guidelines in dealing with the situation. The Earls contacted us at the very last minute before we would have had legal right to dispose of the property and we allowed them to retrieve it at no additional cost to them.
Once we had gained possession of the Mustang Property, we spent a considerable amount of money remodeling it. When the remodeling was complete, we put it on the market for sale. We secured a buyer and were scheduled to close escrow on Monday October 11th. On Saturday October 9th the Earls and their attorney followed thru with their previous threats and took the law into their own hands. They hired a locksmith to break into the Mustang home. They had arranged to have t.v. news cameras filming their actions, and then proceeded to hold a press conference stating that they were within their rights and that we (Conejo Capital Partners) had somehow violated the law. All along the Simi Valley Police Department sat idle and refused to get involved no matter how much proof was offered supporting our legal rights and position. We were told that we needed to resolve it in front of a judge even though it had already been decided. In the days immediately following, the same attorney has done this again in Escondido and Newport Beach (the latter time both the attorney and his clients were arrested). It is amazing that this can happen in a nation founded on and based upon law. It is truly sad that all across America so many people claim to be the “victim” rather than taking personal responsibility for their actions.
It needs to be noted that Conejo Capital Partners LLC did not take the home from the Earls, their bank did. We simply purchased the home from the bank in a legal manner and then had to deal with the situation that had been created. Conejo Capital Parnters LLC is not a large Wall Street bank, we represent a group of regular people who are hard working citizens that pay their bills and abide by the law. We have approached the Earls on many occasions in an attempt to see if we could find an amicable resolution but in each case have been denied. We offered to waive our monetary judgment in simple exchange for confidence that we wouldn’t find ourselves wrapped up in litigation that ultimately results in everyone losing. Although the former homeowner had roughly $1,000,000 in debt against the home, both they and their attorney have said in recent interviews that they feel like they don’t owe anything and in fact are owed damages as well.
The Earls’ attorney announced proudly that he “chose” the Earls because he needed to protect the new buyers from being defrauded by us. It is extremely unfortunate that he is putting others in jeopardy as a way to create notoriety for himself. The facts about Mr. Pines life are well documented and we urge you to do your homework on him and decide about his motives for yourself.
The most innocent of all victims in this situation are the new buyers who had signed a contract to purchase the Mustang property. They are a family of 4 who are adopting their first child this month. They had already funded their loan, spent money on appraisals, given notice at their current residence and were scheduled to take possession of 5893 Mustang Drive on Tuesday the 12th. They have now cancelled the transaction and are scrambling to find a place to live as they will be homeless at the end of the month. They are scared.
This is a terribly unfortunate situation to be involved in, one that we wouldn’t wish for anyone to experience. We especially feel for the children who are being subjected to this, and the new buyers who will be temporarily homeless as a result of these events. In all likelihood, there is no way for us to recover the damages we have suffered, this is no longer about winning; it is about what is right. We didn’t ask for a fight; it was brought to us. Now with no other options, we feel compelled to do everything in our power without regard to cost or time to protect ourselves and insure this does not happen to others.
Conejo Capital Partners LLC
h/t Robert
Do you like a good crime novel – a corporate crime novel? If so The Monster: How a gang of predatory lenders and Wall Street bankers fleeced America – and spawned a global crisis by Michael W. Hudson is for you. Unfortunately it’s not a fictional novel but the history of the mortgage crisis that may yet bring down the US and world economy.
This book is not directly about the foreclosure crisis but about the seeds of that crisis – deceptive and fraudulent mortgages that left desperate people worse off than before and without a chance of meeting the obligations of the contracts they had signed.
The seeds were initially planted over 30 years ago in the form of deregulation of the financial industry. The seeds sprouted in the late 80s and blossomed into the S&L crisis. Little if anything was learned and the deregulation continued – still more seeds were planted. By the early and mid 90’s the players that had escaped the S&L crisis and even some who didn’t were back at it writing predatory sub prime loans. The deception and outright fraud was becoming even more prevalent easily circumventing the few new consumer protections. At about the same time mortgage backed securities were a hot commodity. The Wall Street investment banks had stayed clear but a familiar name in the most recent crisis, Lehman Brothers, saw an opportunity it couldn’t pass up. As the money to be made in subprime mortgages increased so did the deception and fraud as well as involvement by more and more Wall Street banks.
Like any good crime novel this story has a cast of villains and victims. Of course this is not a novel so the people are real. One of the main characters is Roland Arnall who grew a small Orange County S&L into the mortgage giant Ameriquest. The way it grew was to place sales and profit above all else. There was nothing an Ameriquest salesman would not do to close a loan.
At the downtown L.A. branch, some of Glover’s coworkers had a flair for creative documentation. They used scissors, tape, Wite-Out and a photocopier to fabricate W-2s, the tax forms that indicate how much a wage earner makes each year. It was easy: Paste the name of a low-earning borrower onto a W-2 belonging to a higher-earning borrower and, like magic, a bad loan prospect suddenly looked much better. Workers in the branch equipped the office’s break room with all the tools they needed to manufacture and manipulate official documents. They dubbed it the “Art Department.”
…………
What if a customer insisted he wanted a fixed-rate loan, but you could make more money by selling him an adjustable-rate one? No problem. Many Ameriquest salespeople learned to position a few fixed-rate loan documents at the top of the stack of paperwork to be signed by the borrower. They buried the real documents—the ones indicating the loan had an adjustable rate that would rocket upward in two or three years—near the bottom of the pile. Then, after the borrower had flipped from signature line to signature line, scribbling his consent across the entire stack, and gone home, it was easy enough to peel the fixed-rate documents off the top and throw them in the trash.
There was lots of money to be made so neither the investment banks that were packaging the loans or the investors buying them questioned the loans themselves. But the continued growth depended on a continued influx of new loans and rising home values – it was in effect a Ponzi scheme. When the housing bubble deflated in 2007 the Ponzi scheme collapsed.
I recommend The Monster: You can pretend it is fiction and have an enjoyable read or you can learn about how greed driven fraud and deception resulted in the worst economic crisis since the great depression. While Wall Street and the bankers are still quick to blame those who don’t make their mortgage payments you will who the real victims are.
Note:
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
Cross posted at Newshoggers
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apartment property management companies
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OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CONEJO CAPITAL PARTNERS LLC REGARDING THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 5893 MUSTANG DRIVE, SIMI VALLEY CA:
October 15, 2010
Given the extraordinary and illegal events orchestrated by the former homeowners and their attorney, we now feel compelled to share the facts regarding 5893 Mustang Drive.
On January 28, 2010 the property was sold thru a public auction at the trustee sale held at the Ventura County Court House. Each month this same process occurs thousands of times across the nation as a method for banks to take back or dispose of the property that is not being paid for. Conejo Capital was the “successful” bidder. Shortly thereafter the former bank issued the title and it was legally recorded with Conejo Capital Partners LLC as the new owner of the property. At the time all we knew about the property was that the former homeowners purchased it in 2001 for $539,000, and that they later refinanced it, pulling equity out, resulting in debt of roughly $1,000,000. No “lis pendens” had been recorded indicating any disagreement or legal action pending regarding the property. Had they done so before the auction, we would not have purchased this property.
After purchasing the property we found it to be occupied by the former home owners, Jim & Danielle Earl. We were able to make contact with them and tried to understand their situation. They expressed their opinion that they had been unlawfully foreclosed on by the bank. Yet to our knowledge, the Earls had not initiated a lawsuit against any bank at that time, and as far as we know even today there is no pending lawsuit against any bank. Any grievance they had would have been with their bank, not Conejo Capital Partners. We tried to amicably discuss terms of a possible agreement which would have helped them make a comfortable transition but they were unwilling. They gave us no choice other than having to start an action against them to gain physical possession of the property.
The unlawful detainer action (eviction trial) is something that normally takes roughly a month to complete, but they stretched it out to almost 6 months by filing two bankruptcies. The first one was dismissed due to their failure to file the proper paper work and the second was probably dismissed as well. At the unlawful detainer trial, the judge thoroughly reviewed all of the facts of the case and ruled in favor of Conejo Capital Partners LLC and ordered the Earl’s to vacate the property. We were also awarded a monetary judgment in the amount of just over $27,000 (fair market rental value for the time they illegally occupied the property). The Earls appealed the decision but their appeal was dismissed by the court because they failed to pay the court its required appellate costs. The Earls’ attorney sent us threatening correspondence and amazingly described his plan to a federal court judge in San Francisco that he planned to undertake “self help” to retake possession of the Mustang property illegally. The federal judge denied their motion for an injunction and ruled that the "Plaintiffs have offered no authority in support of this extraordinary concept (of “self help" seizure of the Mustang property).
On July 2, 2010 the Ventura County Sheriff and an agent of ours went to the property to complete the court-ordered eviction. There, they found that the Earls had departed but (based upon their attorney’s advice), the Earls left all of the personal belongings, in the Mustang house including all of their furniture, cars and the family dog. This extraordinary tactic caused us another 2 week delay because we were forced to follow the legal guidelines in dealing with the situation. The Earls contacted us at the very last minute before we would have had legal right to dispose of the property and we allowed them to retrieve it at no additional cost to them.
Once we had gained possession of the Mustang Property, we spent a considerable amount of money remodeling it. When the remodeling was complete, we put it on the market for sale. We secured a buyer and were scheduled to close escrow on Monday October 11th. On Saturday October 9th the Earls and their attorney followed thru with their previous threats and took the law into their own hands. They hired a locksmith to break into the Mustang home. They had arranged to have t.v. news cameras filming their actions, and then proceeded to hold a press conference stating that they were within their rights and that we (Conejo Capital Partners) had somehow violated the law. All along the Simi Valley Police Department sat idle and refused to get involved no matter how much proof was offered supporting our legal rights and position. We were told that we needed to resolve it in front of a judge even though it had already been decided. In the days immediately following, the same attorney has done this again in Escondido and Newport Beach (the latter time both the attorney and his clients were arrested). It is amazing that this can happen in a nation founded on and based upon law. It is truly sad that all across America so many people claim to be the “victim” rather than taking personal responsibility for their actions.
It needs to be noted that Conejo Capital Partners LLC did not take the home from the Earls, their bank did. We simply purchased the home from the bank in a legal manner and then had to deal with the situation that had been created. Conejo Capital Parnters LLC is not a large Wall Street bank, we represent a group of regular people who are hard working citizens that pay their bills and abide by the law. We have approached the Earls on many occasions in an attempt to see if we could find an amicable resolution but in each case have been denied. We offered to waive our monetary judgment in simple exchange for confidence that we wouldn’t find ourselves wrapped up in litigation that ultimately results in everyone losing. Although the former homeowner had roughly $1,000,000 in debt against the home, both they and their attorney have said in recent interviews that they feel like they don’t owe anything and in fact are owed damages as well.
The Earls’ attorney announced proudly that he “chose” the Earls because he needed to protect the new buyers from being defrauded by us. It is extremely unfortunate that he is putting others in jeopardy as a way to create notoriety for himself. The facts about Mr. Pines life are well documented and we urge you to do your homework on him and decide about his motives for yourself.
The most innocent of all victims in this situation are the new buyers who had signed a contract to purchase the Mustang property. They are a family of 4 who are adopting their first child this month. They had already funded their loan, spent money on appraisals, given notice at their current residence and were scheduled to take possession of 5893 Mustang Drive on Tuesday the 12th. They have now cancelled the transaction and are scrambling to find a place to live as they will be homeless at the end of the month. They are scared.
This is a terribly unfortunate situation to be involved in, one that we wouldn’t wish for anyone to experience. We especially feel for the children who are being subjected to this, and the new buyers who will be temporarily homeless as a result of these events. In all likelihood, there is no way for us to recover the damages we have suffered, this is no longer about winning; it is about what is right. We didn’t ask for a fight; it was brought to us. Now with no other options, we feel compelled to do everything in our power without regard to cost or time to protect ourselves and insure this does not happen to others.
Conejo Capital Partners LLC
h/t Robert
Do you like a good crime novel – a corporate crime novel? If so The Monster: How a gang of predatory lenders and Wall Street bankers fleeced America – and spawned a global crisis by Michael W. Hudson is for you. Unfortunately it’s not a fictional novel but the history of the mortgage crisis that may yet bring down the US and world economy.
This book is not directly about the foreclosure crisis but about the seeds of that crisis – deceptive and fraudulent mortgages that left desperate people worse off than before and without a chance of meeting the obligations of the contracts they had signed.
The seeds were initially planted over 30 years ago in the form of deregulation of the financial industry. The seeds sprouted in the late 80s and blossomed into the S&L crisis. Little if anything was learned and the deregulation continued – still more seeds were planted. By the early and mid 90’s the players that had escaped the S&L crisis and even some who didn’t were back at it writing predatory sub prime loans. The deception and outright fraud was becoming even more prevalent easily circumventing the few new consumer protections. At about the same time mortgage backed securities were a hot commodity. The Wall Street investment banks had stayed clear but a familiar name in the most recent crisis, Lehman Brothers, saw an opportunity it couldn’t pass up. As the money to be made in subprime mortgages increased so did the deception and fraud as well as involvement by more and more Wall Street banks.
Like any good crime novel this story has a cast of villains and victims. Of course this is not a novel so the people are real. One of the main characters is Roland Arnall who grew a small Orange County S&L into the mortgage giant Ameriquest. The way it grew was to place sales and profit above all else. There was nothing an Ameriquest salesman would not do to close a loan.
At the downtown L.A. branch, some of Glover’s coworkers had a flair for creative documentation. They used scissors, tape, Wite-Out and a photocopier to fabricate W-2s, the tax forms that indicate how much a wage earner makes each year. It was easy: Paste the name of a low-earning borrower onto a W-2 belonging to a higher-earning borrower and, like magic, a bad loan prospect suddenly looked much better. Workers in the branch equipped the office’s break room with all the tools they needed to manufacture and manipulate official documents. They dubbed it the “Art Department.”
…………
What if a customer insisted he wanted a fixed-rate loan, but you could make more money by selling him an adjustable-rate one? No problem. Many Ameriquest salespeople learned to position a few fixed-rate loan documents at the top of the stack of paperwork to be signed by the borrower. They buried the real documents—the ones indicating the loan had an adjustable rate that would rocket upward in two or three years—near the bottom of the pile. Then, after the borrower had flipped from signature line to signature line, scribbling his consent across the entire stack, and gone home, it was easy enough to peel the fixed-rate documents off the top and throw them in the trash.
There was lots of money to be made so neither the investment banks that were packaging the loans or the investors buying them questioned the loans themselves. But the continued growth depended on a continued influx of new loans and rising home values – it was in effect a Ponzi scheme. When the housing bubble deflated in 2007 the Ponzi scheme collapsed.
I recommend The Monster: You can pretend it is fiction and have an enjoyable read or you can learn about how greed driven fraud and deception resulted in the worst economic crisis since the great depression. While Wall Street and the bankers are still quick to blame those who don’t make their mortgage payments you will who the real victims are.
Note:
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
Cross posted at Newshoggers
Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)
A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...
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Checking in on the fantasy news of the day for Week 8.
Halloween Candy: The Not-So-Sweet <b>News</b> - Slashfood
Photo: mandaloo, Flickr No one is going to claim they eat Halloween candy because it's good for them. But the Daily Beast ran the numbers on.
Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)
A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...
Fantasy Football <b>News</b> Roundup, Week 8: Does Jon Kitna Have Value <b>...</b>
Checking in on the fantasy news of the day for Week 8.
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Photo: mandaloo, Flickr No one is going to claim they eat Halloween candy because it's good for them. But the Daily Beast ran the numbers on.
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