Homeowner missing thousands after seeking foreclosure help

A Tarrant County homeowner said she is missing thousands of dollars after a company promised to help her with a foreclosure case.

Read on for her efforts to track the money and what she wants other homeowners to know.

‘FRESH EYES’ ON A SALE

The day her house sold on the Tarrant County courthouse steps, Connie Brown hoped for a miracle.

“I was honestly praying that it did not happen, but it did happen,” Brown said.

Within hours of the foreclosure auction, a text hit Brown’s phone. It said it was from someone with the law offices of Avner and Kaufman. They offered to help Brown dispute the sale.

“I thought, maybe there's somebody with fresh eyes that can look at this and help me,” Brown told NBC 5 Responds.

Brown said she got on a phone call with the person, “He made himself seem like he knew what he was talking about and that he could really actually do something about this.”

Brown said Avner and Kaufman sent a notary to her house where she signed an authorization to have Avner and Kaufman represent her after the foreclosure – including in claiming any money that may be left over.

She said they agreed to a contingency fee, paying the firm a third of surplus foreclosure proceeds.

In Brown’s foreclosure, her home sold for more than what she owed. Brown was entitled to nearly $60,000 in surplus funds after the debts and other fees were paid.

“When I do the math, it adds up to them getting paid $19,000 to do something that I never needed a lawyer to do in the first place,” said Brown.

Since signing up with Avner and Kaufman in January of 2023, Brown said she hasn’t seen the surplus proceeds and the firm stopped responding to her messages. Brown connected with Legal Aid of Northwest Texas.

Attorney Ndidi Gbulie explained Brown wouldn’t have had to hire anyone to claim the surplus proceeds after a mortgage foreclosure auction.

“It's really just a claims form that you complete. The money is due back to you, the borrower. You have a legal right to get that money back,” Gbulie said.

Gbulie said she tried contacting Avner and Kaufman, sent demand letters asking for the proceeds with no response so far. Gbulie said if they don’t hear back, they’ll plan to file a lawsuit.

SEARCHING FOR THE FUNDS

NBC 5 Responds sent a message through Avner and Kaufman’s online contact form and sent emails, asking about Brown’s proceeds.

When we dialed the phone number on the site, a recording said it was not in service.

We didn’t see any attorney names on the website, so we asked the State Bar of California if it is familiar with Avner and Kaufman. It told us a preliminary search found no individual lawyers who identify themselves as practicing as part of a law firm by that name.

The State Bar of Texas said it didn’t find any licensed attorneys in Texas that seemed to be associated with Avner and Kaufman either.

In our online search of business registration information filed with the California Secretary of State’s office, we found an Avner and Kaufman LLC which listed Maxwell Schlosser as its manager.

We searched other court records and found an individual Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition filed by a Maxwell Schlosser last August. The documents say Schlosser is the sole proprietor of Avner and Kaufman and lists Schlosser’s occupation as “foreclosure consultant.”

NBC 5 left a voice message at a phone number given to the bankruptcy court. We also wrote to an email address listed in the petition for Schlosser. We have not heard back.

Brown said she did her own digging and contacted the trustee that handled the foreclosure sale of her home. She said it provided a copy of a surplus proceeds check for $59,190.72 dated April 11, 2023.

On the back of the check, Brown saw her name. She told NBC 5 it was not her signature and she didn’t sign the check. Under her name on the back, is a third-party endorsement that said Bernstein and Geller.

NBC 5 Responds searched for its contact information online and found a document on the California Secretary of State’s website that lists Angel Harris as a manager and CEO. We found possible email addresses for Harris and wrote to them.

NBC 5 later received a phone call from someone who introduced themselves as the CFO for Bernstein and Geller, describing it as a holdings company handling financial services for other firms. It said it processed Connie Brown’s check, subtracted the fee for Avner and Kaufman, then mailed the rest of the funds to Brown’s address on file, the foreclosed home, last July.

In follow-up questions, Bernstein and Geller said they looked at the file after NBC 5 reached out and said the nearly $40,000 check wasn’t cashed. The CFO said Brown could contact them to sort it out.

NBC 5 shared that information with Brown and Gbulie. Gbulie said she reached out to Bernstein and Geller. It told her it would re-issue the check when it gets additional documentation, which Gbulie said she’s provided.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SURPLUS PROCEEDS

As we followed Brown’s story, NBC 5 wanted to know how mortgage foreclosures typically work in Texas. What should homeowners understand about the process to claim money if there’s any left over?

We took our questions to Rusty Adams, a research attorney with the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University.

Adams is not involved in Brown’s case. Generally, he said mortgage foreclosures by a lender are nonjudicial, meaning the lender wouldn’t have to sue in court.

Adams explained a foreclosure would follow the steps outlined in a Deed of Trust, the mortgage agreement.

“It gives a trustee, who's usually an employee of the bank, it gives them a power of sale to sell the property in the event that the notes are not paid,” Adams said.

During the foreclosure, a homeowner may see communication from a substitute trustee, someone appointed by the lender to handle the sale. A trustee uses the proceeds to pay the loan, interest, other fees and liens on the property in a specific order. At the end, if money is left over from the sale, it goes to the borrower.

“The trustee has to make reasonable efforts to find the people who are entitled to the excess proceeds. At the very least, they're going to be communicating with the borrower at the borrower's last known address,” said Adams.

For homeowners who move, you can update the lender’s file with your new address to receive communication post-sale.

“I would tell a homeowner: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” said David Pratt, an attorney who typically represents lenders.

Pratt, who is not involved in Brown’s case, said consumers should be wary of anyone offering to get a home back after it’s sold at a foreclosure auction.

If someone says they’re with a law firm, check references and verify their credentials in Texas. You can search for an attorney’s name on the State Bar of Texas website.

“Follow up, check the State Bar of Texas records,” said Pratt. “Make sure you know who you're doing business with.”

FIND QUALIFIED HELP

Gbulie said homeowners should talk to their lender as soon as they know they can’t make a payment. If you’re facing foreclosure, reach out to a qualified attorney for answers to your questions.

“You've lost your home, you're about to be evicted, you don't know what's next and people are reaching out to you saying, I can help you get your home back or something went wrong. I can help resolve this. I can help fix it or I can help you get X amount of money and do it really quickly. Anybody could fall victim to that,” Gbulie said.

Brown, a registered nurse, said she’d fallen behind on her mortgage while out of work for a medical issue and struggled to catch up. She said she hopes her story connects with other homeowners unsure of where to turn.

“I was at a vulnerable time is what I've learned,” Brown said. “I was just reaching for anything at that time. I reached and they reached out and they got me.”

Homeowners have options when there’s a financial hardship. Call the lender to ask for a loss mitigation application packet.

Find out about a loan modification, repayment plan, or even temporary forbearance.

For free foreclosure prevention counseling, consumers can contact the HOPE Hotline at 888-995-4673.

You can find links to foreclosure prevention resources here and here.

Veterans can find resources and information here.

Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas may be able to help.

You can also read up on rules about lawyers soliciting potential clients in Texas here.

NBC 5 Responds is committed to researching your concerns and recovering your money. Our goal is to get you answers and, if possible, solutions and a resolution. Call us at 844-5RESPND (844-573-7763) or fill out our customer complaint form.