All Forum Posts by: John B.

As a follow up to my post, here's some really good info on LSF9, from a private investigator who has been very involved in digging into these folks.  

https://bpinvestigativeagency....

Hi Brian, 

I know it's been a year or more, but wanted to drop my two cents in here for you.

LSF8 Master Participation Trust is a sham. It does not actually own anything. It is merely a participation entity, if you research 'participation agreements' you will get the idea. Supposedly, these mortgages were actually bought by a company called "LSF8 Mortgage Holdings, LLC" but even that is in question at this point.

If you were to contact that "trust", you would be directed to Caliber Home Loans, which is supposedly the servicer for that trust.  How convenient, all of the entities that are supposedly involved in this with the exception of the named trustee (US Bank Trust) are owned by the same company--Lone Star Funds.  Lone Star has been buying up tons of delinquent mortgages and distressed properties all over the country.  Caliber Home Loans is the "servicer" for this racket.  You would have more fun performing your own open heart surgery than you would dealing with Caliber.  I would know, I've been dealing with them for 7 years now.  The funny thing is, even Caliber itself cannot tell me who actually "owns" the note.  They've told me a bunch of different companies and trusts, the answer keeps changing.  

Consider the property you're interested in.  If they cannot send someone to even cut the grass, then chances are they aren't paying the property taxes on the property either.  In my case, I own a property that they keep trying to bill me for things like grass cutting and trimming shrubs--they claim they are sending property preservation folks to my house often.  But I have someone else already cutting that grass--with photos for proof of before and after every time he cuts.  And I don't even have a single shrub on the property.  They keep trying to charge me hundreds of dollars--this is now the third company they have hired in recent years to do this.  And it's also now the third time I can prove that they are billing me for work they are not actually even performing.  Four days after my lawn service cut the grass in January, they claimed that they showed up and cut the grass.  Four days.....in the winter, when grass down here does not grow enough to cut in two weeks.  Both other times, I caught the company actually admitting that the charges were for work supposedly performed at a different house, that "somehow" got attached to my property.  

This company is a scam, it is nothing but bad news.  I would not go anywhere near a property they claim to own.  

OK all, here are some things y'all need to know.

First, LSF(insert number here) Master Participation Trust does not own any of these mortgages, or properties.  Period.  The answer is right there in the name--these are participation trusts, and you need to research what a participation agreement is.  Participation trusts don't own anything, they enter into "participation agreements" with the actual owner for profit.  This does a couple of different things, but when you really get down to it, this is just one more example of mortgage fraud.  I've never seen a participation agreement that allows the participation vehicle (the trust) to enforce the mortgage agreements in case of default.  That right has always remained with the actual owner/holder.  And yet, here we are, with LSF8/9/whatever other number filing fraudulent foreclosure cases all across the country without any actual authority to enforce anything.  You will also notice, if you look into these cases, that 100% of the time they claim to the courts that the trust they are using the name of actually owns, holds or otherwise has the legal right to enforce the security interest.  In other words, they are lying to the court.

In the case of LSF9, there have been some bread crumbs scattered about. If you look around on the net, you will find things like this. This link shows a portion of a purchase agreement that was revealed through a bankruptcy proceeding. Notice that LSF9 Mortgage Holdings, LLC is listed as the actual purchaser? That's because the "master participation trusts" don't own these mortgages. You'll also notice that in all these cases, they present an "assignment of mortgage" to the court that claims the prior holder assigned the note and mortgage directly to the trustee for the named trust they use in each foreclosure. Even though the purchase agreement linked below shows a different actual purchaser. That's another indication of fraud--the assignment of mortgage is an intentional lie to the courts and to the homeowners.

https://www.valuewalk.com/2016...

Now, ask yourself this question. Trustees are needed for a trust, right? So why would a company that's organized as an LLC have, or even need, a trustee and a trust name to enforce security interest? If the Mortgage Holdings LLC purchased the loans, why would they need a trustee for said loans? Why wouldn't the LLC just enforce its own claimed assets in its own name? You're looking at smoke and mirrors, folks. Using Google Scholar, I searched "LSF8 Mortgage Holdings" in all state and federal courts...and came up with exactly ONE case that even mentions that company--and that case only mentioned them as a detail in the mix, not as a related party before the court. So, if the "Mortgage Holdings" companies are the ones actually buying up these mortgages, then why are they never in courts enforcing the security agreements? Even if they granted POA to Caliber Home Loans, or anyone else, they would still have to produce the POA as well as a competent witness to testify to the foundation of that document. But they are not involved and not present on any of these cases. At the very least, shouldn't the Mortgage Holdings LLC's be a part of the chain of title for these loans? You betcha. But they aren't ever included in front of the courts, and that means the stated chain of title is simply a lie.

If you're looking to buy one of these properties, my advice is to run--not walk--away.  LSF(_)/Caliber have shown themselves to be rather crooked in their dealings, and there's at least a chance you could be purchasing a property that was actually stolen without proper lawful authority from the homeowner.  At the worst, that's the case.  At best, you're going to be dealing with a company that has a very bad reputation for messing things up.  Just research Caliber online....there are more than a lot of complaints about them, and not just from homeowners fighting them in court either.