Wednesday, June 06, 2012

California Joint Powers Authority may wield eminent domain to wrest underwater properties from lenders

Hesperia will not join regional homeowners association | hesperia, regional, association - Victorville Daily Press: HESPERIA • The City Council voted against joining other regional governments to help homeowners in over their heads with their mortgages.
Tuesday night, Hesperia’s council voted 3-2 to not join the Homeowners Protection joint powers authority, which already includes the county of San Bernardino and the cities of Fontana and Ontario.
The JPA investigates how to help property owners who owe more on their mortgages than their properties are now worth. Among the tools the group may use is the power of eminent domain — normally reserved for seizing property in the public interest once normal methods of acquisition have failed — to forcibly take mortgages away from lenders and refinance them.
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This is a novel legal tactic being employed in California's Inland Empire region that's seen some of the most pronounced and protracted real estate deflation in the nation.

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