Layton is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 67,311, rising to an estimated 77,303 by 2018. Layton is the most populous city in Davis County and the ninth most populous in Utah. Layton has direct access to Salt Lake City, Ogden, Salt Lake City International Airport, Antelope Island, and the FrontRunner commuter rail. Layton City is a leader in economic development for the region, with immediate adjacency to Hill Air Force Base, a large hospitality district (1,000+ hotel beds) and conference center, the Layton Hills Mall, multiple nationally recognized retail and food chains, the East Gate Business Park, and the Weber State University-Davis campus. In 2014, Layton contributed $1.34 billion worth of retail sales activity, the second largest market north of Salt Lake City and seventh largest in Utah. Layton was settled in the 1850s as an outgrowth of Kaysville, and is named after Christopher Layton, a Latter-day Saint colonizer and leader. It was included in the boundaries when Kaysville was incorporated as a city in 1868, but by the 1880s many Layton residents wanted to separate from the city. They challenged Kaysville’s authority to tax their property, claiming they received no municipal services.

This dispute reached the United States Supreme Court in 1894 as the case of Linford v. Ellison, which was decided in favor of the Layton property owners. The separatist movement finally succeeded in 1902, when Layton became an independent unincorporated area. After further growth it was made an incorporated town in 1920. The town’s population increased slowly; up until 1940 it was about 600. The creation of Hill Air Force Base to the north in 1940, followed shortly by the United States’ entry into World War II, led to a dramatic population increase. War workers streamed into the area; the 1950 census counted 3,456 people. Layton became a city, transformed from a farming town to a residential community. Growth slowed after the war, but Layton continued to develop as a suburban bedroom community, as those not employed at the Air Force base began commuting to the Salt Lake City or Ogden areas. The city continued to expand geographically, annexing surrounding parcels of land, including the adjacent town of Layton and city of East Layton. In 1985, Layton passed Bountiful to become the most populous city in Davis County.

States have their own rules and regulations regarding the process of foreclosures. There are several steps that take place before the actual final step of when the lender seizes your property through the foreclosure. In 22 states judicial foreclosure is the primary way of dealing with home foreclosures. This means that the lender must go through the courts to show that the borrower is failing to make the monthly mortgage payments. If the courts approve the foreclosure, the local sheriff auctions the property to the highest bidder to recoup what the bank is owed or the bank becomes the owner to resell the property. Some other states use non-judicial foreclosure, which is also known as the power of the sale. This process is faster compared to court intervention.

Foreclosure process is complicated and can be overwhelming. It is important to know what your rights are and what the banks are not allowed to do. Some banks can cross boundaries in the foreclosure processes. Each state has their own set of regulations on dealing with the foreclosure process. Here is a list of things to consider of what banks cannot do before foreclosing on the home:
• Some states require banks to determine if the homeowner qualifies for either a loan modification or some other form of help before foreclosing on the home. If the bank decides to do both at the same time, it is illegal also known as “dual tracking”;
• If the homeowner applies for some help or loan modification, the bank cannot start the foreclosure process;
• The bank must obtain a court order and file for an eviction before foreclosing the home;
• The bank cannot padlock your home if you are still living in it and;
• If you reinstate your mortgage before the sheriff sale, the bank cannot continue your foreclosure process.
However, there are some things that the bank is allowed to do during the foreclosure process:
• Banks can padlock the home if it is empty;
• The bank can seek alternative judgments if they are unable to sell the home at auction for what they are owed on the mortgage and;
• The bank can either request a non-judicial foreclosure or judicial foreclosure.

If you are currently failing to make monthly payments for your mortgage. It is crucial to seek help earlier in the process to ensure that you have a path forward. Here are some practical tips to consider when trying to avoid a foreclosure:
• Be timely with your loan payments and do not ignore the problem;
• There may be other financial options available for you therefore, it is recommended to contact your lender earlier on;
• Make sure you are receiving the notices from your lender and responding accordingly because failing to do so will not serve as an excuse in the foreclosure court;
• Read and understand your rights through your loan documents to make sure you know what the lender can and cannot do if you miss a payment;
• There are alternative foreclosure prevention methods and it is important to know them;
• You have the option of asking additional help from the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) they have counselors that are available to assist in better managing your finances;
• Mortgage payment should be priority along with healthcare therefore organizing a budget that ensures this is crucial to being on time with the monthly payments for your home;
• Utilizing your assets to reinstate your loans can also be another option to avoid foreclosure on your home;
• Avoid foreclosure prevention companies and do not pay fees for that type of help and;
• Be aware of foreclosure fraud and scams that can require a signature on one document for your foreclosure to go away.

If you think you are in a difficult financial situation and may not be able to make your monthly mortgage payments seek help immediately. It is important to contact your lender earlier in the process and plan for other options to modify your payments than deal with a foreclosure. The foreclosure process is overwhelming and complicated; therefore contacting your local foreclosure lawyer may be helpful.
Foreclosure Fraud
Foreclosure fraud is a term encompassing any type of scheme involving misrepresentations, false statements, or false promises related to foreclosure. The fraud scams must be designed to enrich the person or company making the fraudulent statements or false promises and/or must be designed to deprive the scam victim of the rightful value of his property.
Foreclosure fraud takes many forms including:
• Foreclosure rescue scams: This type of scheme involves charging a fee for “foreclosure relief” and not providing any such relief. Homeowners who were in danger of losing their homes receive advertising material promising them that the home could be saved. After paying fees, the homeowners are often told that their houses are too far gone or that staving off foreclosure is not possible. Thousands of homeowners paid out exorbitant fees (sometimes several thousands of dollars) to get none of the foreclosure help that they were told they’d receive.
• Foreclosure fee inflation: Service providers charge exorbitant fees to serve notices of foreclosure on homeowners. While a traditional fee for service of process should total a few hundred dollars, some service providers were paid thousands of dollars to give papers to homeowners. The costs of these fees were passed on to the homeowners, who become responsible for paying for the money the mortgage lender spent on the foreclosure process as part of a foreclosure judgment.
• Fractional ownership transfers: This is a special type of foreclosure rescue fraud. The process involves a homeowner signing over a part interest of the home to a company that promises to stop the foreclosure. The company then hires “straw homeowners” and gives them the ownership interest. The straw owner files for bankruptcy and the foreclosure process is delayed. Homeowners were frequently misled into believing these scams could help them save their house, but instead the homeowner simply ended up paying a monthly fee as well as giving up partial ownership in the home as the foreclosure process was strung along.
• Improperly taking ownership of foreclosed homes: Many homes that were in default or with pending foreclosures were vacated by their rightful owners. One foreclosure fraud scam involves using forged quit claim deeds to make it appear that a person or company owns several foreclosed homes. The homes were then rented out to unsuspecting tenants.
Bank Foreclosure Fraud
While some foreclosure fraud scams target financial institutions, many banks also engage in fraudulent behavior. Mortgage fraud by banks also takes many forms including:
• Document forgery: Mortgages are frequently sold and resold by lending institutions. This could result in some lenders having ownership of a mortgage loan but not having the paperwork to show a right to collect. Banks could create documents after the fact to make it appear as if the paperwork was in order. An electronic database called MERS is supposed to track mortgage transfers, but there was little quality control. In fact, as part of a 2011 settlement with federal regulators, MERS promised to improve controls to avoid fraudulent assignments and database errors.
• Robo-signing: Mortgage paperwork is supposed to be carefully checked before a foreclosure moves forward. Many lending institutions, however, had unqualified people rubber stamping foreclosures and signing off on thousands of actions per month without actually doing a thorough review of documents.
• Mortgage modification fraud: To help people save their homes, the government created mortgage modification programs and incentivized lenders to participate. Some lenders have been accused of failing to honor loan modifications that were transferred from other mortgage servicers. Others demanded payments with promises of negotiating a modification and then never followed through on the modification. Still others delayed decisions on short sales or claimed never to have received paperwork so that foreclosure could move forward, even as homeowners were trying to participate in mortgage modification. Because of the foreclosure fraud by banks, a foreclosure fraud settlement was reached in which the five largest mortgage services were supposed to provide $5 billion in direct payments to defrauded homeowners and were supposed to take an additional $20 billion worth of action to provide relief to homeowners, such as reducing principal balances or interest rates. The government continues to pursue action against banks for foreclosure fraud. Banks could face criminal and civil actions. Lending institutions, as well as financial professionals who may have been part of fraud schemes, should consult an attorney.
What Are the Types of Foreclosure?
In the United States, individual states follow either a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure process, typically depending upon whether they are a mortgage state or deed of trust state. However, you may safely assume that all states allow some form of judicial foreclosure process.
Judicial foreclosure
• The lender seeks to foreclose by filing a civil lawsuit against the borrower and serving the borrower with a formal summons and foreclosure complaint.
• The foreclosure process is handled through the local court system. The court appoints a referee to conduct the foreclosure auction on the courthouse steps.
• The lender records a lis pendens with the county clerk where the property is located. This lis pendens becomes a lien on the property and gives notice of the pending foreclosure auction.
• The court grants a judgment permitting the lender to conduct the foreclosure auction.
• The Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NFS), which announces date, time and place of the auction, is published and sometimes posted (depending on the locale) for a certain period of time prior to auction.
• Generally, the borrower can stop the foreclosure by repaying what he owes up to the moment of sale.
• The process can take from four to eight months to complete if no one raises any legal objections to the foreclosure.
Non-judicial foreclosure
• This is followed in deed of trust states. A deed of trust conveys an interest in real property to a third party (the trustee) to hold as security for repayment of a debt.
• The trustee has the authority to initiate foreclosure proceedings by virtue of a power of sale clause included in the mortgage or deed of trust.
• The trustee records a Notice of Default (NOD) with the county clerk where the property is located. This document gives notice of an impending foreclosure and grants the borrower a period of time in which to object to the lender’s claim or pay what he owes.
• The borrower may not stop the foreclosure after the expiration of this time period.
• Following the expiration of a predetermined amount of time (which varies from state to state), the trustee records a Notice of Trustee’s Sale (NTS) with the county clerk. This notice establishes the date, time and place of the foreclosure auction.
• It can take up to 12 months to complete a foreclosure, depending upon the state.
It is important to remember that neither judicial nor non-judicial foreclosures are one-size-fits-all. Each state follows its own established foreclosure laws and procedures. Consult with a foreclosure specialist in your state to protect your rights during a foreclosure.

Layton Utah Foreclosure Lawyer

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