Windows 10 help - If you can't select text, drag and drop after updating Windows 10.

After a Windows Update, I had a problem in that I could not select text, cut, paste, drag & drop with either the touchpad or a mouse.  I looked on the web for a solution, and the tips were not helpful, including the top to update your driver.  More than one said that the change in touchpad response was due to the implementation of multi-finger gestures in Windows 10.  The problem was the touchpad wasn't responding to any multifinger gestures.  

Eventually I found one post that said, instead of "updating" my driver for my touchpad, I should roll it back to the previous driver.  I went into SETTINGS then MOUSE AND TOUCHPAD, and followed menues from  there until I found an option to ROLL BACK DRIVER.  I clicked that, restarted the machine, and everything worked fine.   BOTTOM LINE - IF YOUR TRACKPAD SUDDENLY DOESN"T WORK UNDER WINDOWS 10  - ROLL BACK YOUR DRIVER.
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More on Caliber Home Loans and LSF9 Master Participation Trust - Beckwith vs. Caliber Home Loans

I ran across a 2015 court case from the United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Beckwith vs. Caliber Home Loans et al.  This is a case where a borrower whose mortgage had been assigned to LSF9 Master Participation Trust (serviced by Caliber Home Loans) sued Caliber and those up the chain of ownership alleging a bunch of theories of liability including breach of contract and Truth In Lending Act violations.  The originating bank filed a demand for arbitration. There was an arbitration clause in the contract.  The borrower claimed that the Dodd Frank Act applies which bars arbitration clauses in home mortgage contracts but which wasn't passed until after this loan was executed.  The court held that the original lender gets to hide behind the arbitration clause because as a general rule statutes passed after contracts are executed can't change the terms of the contract; however, because Caliber was not a party to the contract, Caliber can't hide behind the arbitration provision.   This case might be useful to anyone litigating against Caliber in the future.  (It is only binding authority in the Northern District of Alabama, but the reasoning is about what I would have expected.)

We are looking into Vivint Home Security - Looking into Deceptive Marketing of Alarms & Home Security in General

We are looking into issues relating to Vivint Home Security.  If you are an Indiana resident who has an issue with Vivint Home Security, please contact us.  Actually, we are looking into deceptive marketing and sales practices in the entire home security and alarm industry.

David Garden Guilty on 20 Counts

Indianapolis television station Fox 59 reports that a jury found "businessman" David Garden guilty on 20 counts including corrupt business influence, forgery and theft.  Even though I was not involved in this case, I was interviewed by reporters as an expert on scams like those of David Garden.

I wish David Garden was one-of-a-kind, but he's not. People are being taught to scam hapless homeowners in "no money down" real estate courses.  The first people that get scammed in "no money down" real estate scams are the people taking the courses.  They key to making money in "no money down" real estate is to find a motivated seller, someone who will give you their home, or control of their home, without getting paid for it.  You may ask why anyone would surrender their home, their most valuable asset, without getting any money for it.  The answer is, usually they won't; and it is extremely difficult to make money in real estate with no money down. Most people can't do it.  If you find someone desperate enough, and you are a good enough con man, you might be able to come up with a lie that will just do the trick.

According to media reports, David Garden found homeowners nearly in foreclosure and promised them a "short sale".  Only your lender can truly come up with a binding agreement to do a short sale. It's far from guaranteed, and often it isn't worthwhile if you can get it.

Anther tactic is "we buy homes".  You've probably seen the signs "we buy homes" on bulletin boards and telephone poles.  the "we buy homes" scam identifies people who owe more on their house than what it is worth and who want to move.  The scammer identifies these people and promises to pay their mortgage and get them out from under the loan.  The key is the documents the scammer has the homeowner sign doesn't do any of this. Usually the scammer will have the homeowner sign a power of attorney, a sale leaseback agreement and a deed.  In no case is there a legitimate business purpose for all of these documents.  In a legitimate sale-leaseback, the buyer actually provides the capital to buy out the original lender, and then rents the house back to the original owner, generally with an option to purchase. The sale-leaseback agreement is recorded. The scammers don't record the sale-leaseback, they get the original owners out of the property, and they provide no capital.  The power of attorney makes the scammer the agent for the owner. That's like giving the keys to a safe to a thief.   When the scammer gets a deed - that's really crazy, because that's giving away your house for nothing.

Once the scammer gets control of your house, the scammer will find a tenant to rent the house, collect the money, but the scammer doesn't forward any of the money to the original owner or the lender.  The scammer may even collect a large down payment from the tenant under the guise of a rent-to-buy contract downpayment.  In this case, the owner loses, the lender loses and the tenant loses.  Only the scammer wins.

If you are a victim of a we-buy-homes or similar scam, it may be very hard for you to get justice. Humpty Dumpty has already fallen off the wall. Sometimes, if you get to the scammer early enough, you can, with a lawsuit, pressure the scammer to sign rights to the home back to you and undo all the fraudulent paperwork.  A skilled scammer will hid behind corporate shells and duped accomplices who have no money and will vanish before the law can get to them.  Unfortunately, from the people that I have seen who were victimized by these scams, the best option in the majority of the cases ended up being bankruptcy.

Since there is no easy out if you are victimized by a no-money-down home scammer, the important thing is to avoid getting scammed in the first place. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If someone wants to intercede between you and your lender, be very sceptical.  Check everyone out.   If you are victimized, find a consumer lawyer near you at www.consumeradvocates.org.

My car didn't come with a spare tire. Is that safe?

My car didn't come with a spare tire. Is that safe?

More and more new cars DON'T come with a spare tire -- not even a compact spare.  My Ford C-Max did not come with a spare tire, and that's the norm for hybrids and electric cars because cargo space is precious after you pack in the batteries.  I decided that I would take it upon myself and find out just how dangerous it is for a car to come without a spare tire.  What I found out was surprising.

First some background to the problem. There is some benefit to NOT having a spare tire. Omitting a spare tire saves weight, space and increases usable cargo room. It also saves cost. If you don't have a spare tire, you don't pay for it.  The benefit of having a spare means that if you have a flat in a place where you can change to the spare, you put on the spare and safely drive to the nearest mechanic to have the regular tire replaced and repaired. Of course, SOME flats can be fixed by aerosol sealant a/k/a "Fix-a-flat" or "goop".  Cars that don't come with a spare virtually always will have a tire repair kit with spray sealant.  So, then, you have to weigh the odds of having a flat, the odds that that flat won't be fixable with goop but occurring in a place where you can change to the spare.  You also have to look at the odds of putting yourself in more danger while you are fixing the flat.  On most busy roadways in the United States, if you are able to pull off the road, you don't have room to change a tire on the left side without being in traffic, and on the right side you may not have enough shoulder to change a tire at all.  Your other option is driving on the flat tire until you can get the car to a safe place to either call roadside assistance or get the tire changed.  This will likely ruin the tire if it isn't already ruined, and it may ruin the rim as well, but it will likely not put you in additional danger like changing a tire on the side of a road.   There are also "run flat" tires, tires that are designed to be driven on for a limited distance without air.  These tires are more expensive and generally don't wear as long as conventional tires.

I haven't had to change a tire since 1982. I have had three flat tires since then, but in each case, the tire went flat from a slow leak caused by road debris, and I was able to get the tire inflated well enough with or without goop to get to a tire store.  So I have had one flat tire a decade since 1982 and I've never had to use a spare.  With that history, I felt reasonably safe buying a car without a spare tire.  Still, I wondered if my experience was typical or if flat tires were more common. I figured that surely somebody had to do some research to determine that it is safe to leave spare tires off of new cars.   What I found out was that either nobody did that research, or they aren't publicizing the results.

I figured the experts on this issue had to be the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). I sent them an email asking them if they had any research on the issue, and they replied back that they have none.  I asked the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and they replied back that they had none. They suggested that I contact the automakers. I'm not going to do that, because if I were one of the automakers and I had that information, you wouldn't get it out of me without a subpoena.

The bottom line is that, as far as I can determine, nobody has researched the issue about the risk of shipping new cars without spare tires.  Since more and more cars are leaving the factory without one, I think it is high time for somebody to step up and look at the issue.  When I get some time, I may see if research has been carried out in other countries, but honestly, the risks may be different not only in different countries but different parts of the United States. If I mainly drove in the boondocks, I would want a car with a spare tire, because tire stores and AAA trucks would be few and far between, and you are more likely to be able to safely pull off the road and change your tire.  If I lived in the Northeast Corridor, I'd probably take out the spare tire if I had one and plan on driving on the rim.

If you have a spare, make sure it is in good condition, you know where the tools are and how to use them to change the tire.  If you have a kit with sealant, make sure your sealant hasn't expired. The cans may only be good for 2-3 years.  If you don't have a spare, you might want to think carefully before you try to get the last 5,000 miles or so out of your tires.