The Miami, Florida house of Representative Erik Fresen is in danger of becoming a foreclosed home for sale after he defaulted on his mortgage payments for over a year now.
Lender JPMorgan Chase said that Fresen owes the company about $615,000 in outstanding principal balance, interest and fees.
Fresen, who plans to vie for House speakership in 2014, said that he is a victim of the financial crisis and haphazard record keeping by his lender. He said that JPMorgan Chase is trying to make him pay property taxes amounting to $10,321.41 which he claimed he already paid.
Fresen said that his lawyer told him to stop making payments to JPMorgan to force the bank to negotiate with him.
According to industry analysts, Fresen is at risk of losing his Miami house and have to resolve a property tax dispute. They said that if Fresen went into foreclosure, it could damage his credit rating and the foreclosure lawsuit could be used by his political opponents.
Fresen will vie against Republican Representative Chris Dorworth for House speakership on 2014. Dorworth has also his own financial problems concerning a $2.7 million court ruling over an unsuccessful business deal. He is also at risk of losing his home to foreclosure.
Nancy Norris of JPMorgan Chase said that some people in the mortgage industry are questioning the decision of Fresen to stop paying his monthly mortgage. She said that withholding mortgage payments does not mean that the bank will immediately call for negotiation, adding that foreclosure will eventually happen.
Fresen said that he could afford to pay his home loan mortgage because he is earning nearly $150,000 as part-time lawmaker and land-use consultant. The original bank loan on Fresen's house was made out by Washington Mutual.
Fresen said that his property tax payments got lost in the turnover of the loan from Washington Mutual to JPMorgan Chase. He admitted that his loan is the type in which he is responsible for directly paying his property tax to the county. He added that it is one of the conditions on his purchase agreement with his lender that he pay the property tax.
Fresen maintains that he is not at fault in this case but he admitted that he neglected applying for homestead exemption in order to reduce his property tax.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.realestateproarticles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites