Archives

July 12, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Governor Paul LePage issued a statement Monday regarding a recent opinion from Attorney General William Schneider. The opinion involves the purported sale of real estate to a State employee and a subsequent lease back to the State of a building located on the property

June 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Lloyd P. LaFountain, III, Superintendent of Maine’s Bureau of Financial Institutions reported mixed news from the first quarter survey covering residential mortgage loans held by Maine’s 32 state-chartered banks and credit unions

Washington, DC - June 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Susan Collins today announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the Caribou Housing Agency a grant in the amount of $48,729 to support its Housing Choice Voucher Family Self Sufficiency Program. This program is intended to help low-income families, who receive federal housing assistance, receive training and education, find jobs, save money, and eventually become financially independent, including becoming homeowners

May 25, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Gov. Paul LePage on Monday helped kick off a campaign to raise funds for a new $2.7 million Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 30, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today welcomed members of Maine’s Housing Authorities to Washington to discuss their concerns and priorities regarding affordable housing opportunities throughout the state. Representatives of the Auburn Housing Authority, Westbrook Housing Authority, Portland Housing Authority, South Portland Housing and Avesta Housing met with Senator Snowe and discussed the Housing Choice Voucher Program, the Small Housing Authority Reform Proposal (SHARP), and several other issues.

BELFAST, ME - February 21, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Belfast Water District in partnership with the Maine Department of Environmental Projection (Maine DEP) and the Maine Drinking Water Program recently completed the first phase of an Oil Tank Replacement Program for homeowners who live in the Belfast Watershed Protection area in Belfast and Swanville.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 4, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) applauded President Obama’s support for provisions in S. 1637, the Expanding Building Efficiency Incentives Act, legislation they sponsored last Congress to encourage energy efficient technology and construction in the existing home, new home, and commercial building markets.

January 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Effective January 1, 2011, the Bridgton District Court will retain all of the foreclosure cases filed in Bridgton that are referred to the Foreclosure Diversion Program for mediation. Bridgton District Court will hold informational sessions and mediations. Previously, Bridgton foreclosure cases on the diversion track were permanently transferred to the Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland.

November 25, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Mills announced progress in her negotiations with GMAC Mortgage LLC and Bank of America regarding their foreclosure practices in Maine. GMAC has agreed that it will temporarily halt sales on homes that have been foreclosed on, pending further talks to resolve the Attorney General’s concerns about the company’s foreclosure procedures

AUGUSTA, ME - November 24, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), working closely with the Town of Patten and the Maine Rural Water Association, is overseeing the replacement of approximately 30 home heating oil tanks in the wellhead protection area of the Patten Water Department.

Augusta, ME - November 22, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Janet Mills announced today that she is distributing $200,507 in foreclosure relief money from the Countrywide Financial Corporation settlement. The funds are being distributed to the state’s ten Community Action Programs based on the population of the areas they serve.

Washington, DC - October 21, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) is urging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reinforce their commitment to safeguarding the legal rights of borrowers in view of recent allegations of defective and flawed foreclosure documentation at several of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders. Senator Snowe’s comments were made following today’s announcement by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government sponsored enterprises placed into conservatorship of the FHFA in 2008 and currently financed by taxpayers, would need as much as an additional $215 billion over the next three years to meet their financial obligations.

WASHINGTON, DC - October 21, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) is reminding Mainers of home heating assistance programs and resources available in anticipation of higher heating costs during the cold winter months. “Increased heating expenses could exacerbate the economic storm weathered by families and businesses throughout Maine this year, and it is crucial that Mainers move forward with energy efficiency improvements,” said Senator Snowe, citing the recently released October 2010 Short-Term Energy Outlook by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which estimated households heating primarily with heating oil will spend an average of about $220 (12 percent) more this winter

Augusta, ME - October 18, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Janet Mills is joining a coordinated national effort by state regulators and Attorneys General to investigate the practice of so-called “robo-signing” in the mortgage servicing industry.The Mortgage Foreclosure Multistate Group, comprised of state attorneys general in 50 states and state banking and mortgage regulators in thirty states, including Maine, will investigate whether individual mortgage servicers have improperly submitted documents in support of foreclosures. Specifically, the group will look into whether companies misrepresented on affidavits and other documents that they reviewed and verified documentation supporting foreclosure actions. The group will also determine whether companies signed affidavits outside the presence of a notary public or committed other irregularities regarding residential mortgage foreclosures. (See attached joint multistate group statement)

October 4, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Five Maine residents filed a complaint today against GMAC Mortgage, LLC (GMAC) on behalf of themselves and a class of Maine homeowners, alleging that the company routinely and systematically files false certifications that it has a right to foreclose on Maine homeowners, and false affidavits when asking courts to enter foreclosure judgments