North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre

Brian Bandell

Senior Reporter – South Florida Business Journal

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North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre was hit with a foreclosure lawsuit over his house, which the mayor says he was negotiating a mortgage modification for.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Pierre and his wife, Bernadette Pierre, on Feb. 20 targeting their 2,495-square-foot home at 2125 N.E. 121st St.

Reach on Thursday, Pierre was surprised to hear of the foreclosure and said the bank didn’t tell him it would seek to take his home.

“We were in the process of negotiating and getting into some kind of loan modification,” said Pierre, an attorney in private practice. “We have been sending documents back and forth.”

County records show that the Pierres’ mortgage was last modified at $432,538 in July 2011. The interest rate was reset to 4.375 percent to make the monthly payment $1,902, not counting any escrow payments. The loan wasn’t scheduled to mature until 2051.

That 40-year maturity schedule is longer than the typical 30-year residential loan term. The longer period allows for lower monthly payments.

When asked why he wasn’t paying his mortgage, Pierre said that the house is underwater.

The Pierres bought the house for $353,000 in 2003. The Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s Office valued it at $233,552 in 2011. It is their homestead property.

Pierre said he was hoping for a loan modification so he could keep his house.

“I’m not sure it’s legal for them to file it when we have been talking back and forth,” he said. “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”

Boca Raton attorney Suzette Maylor, who represents Bank of America in the lawsuit, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The fact that a house is underwater doesn’t excuse a homeowner from owing on a mortgage, but it does create a financial conundrum over whether or not it’s a good use of money to pay the loan.

Pierre has many political decisions to make, as well. North Miami is in negotiations with developer Michael Swerdlow over a potential lease and development agreement for Biscayne Landing, one of the largest available tracts in eastern Miami-Dade County.

In 2011, Pierre’s then-campaign manager and nephew Ricardo Brutus was arrested for accepting bribes. Brutus allegedly promised to place an item on the city agenda. The charges are pending.

Article posted at:  http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/blog/2012/03/north-miami-mayor-pierre-hit-with-home.html?page=all