The wait may be over: foreclosure filings in Florida are on the increase, according to two top industry watchers, and this may mean that Florida banks are gearing up to foreclose on lots of home owners who have been setting in their homes for many months, waiting for that foreclosure notice.
For a long while, Florida homeowners with problem mortgages were dealing with lenders who were slow to proceed with foreclosure suits, maybe because of robo-signing paperwork concerns or maybe because the lender already had a big back shadow inventory of properties and wasn’t looking to take on more real estate responsibilities.
Banks in Florida have been dragging their feet and Florida homeowners have been sitting in their homes, maybe making partial payments, maybe trying to short sale, or maybe in full default. It’s been a sort of limbo for everyone.
Florida Foreclosure Machine May Be Cranking Up In Fall 2011
Industry leaders are warning that they are finding a change in the wind. According to RealtyTrac:
“U.S. foreclosure activity has been mired down since October of last year, when the robo-signing controversy sparked a flurry of investigations into lender foreclosure procedures and paperwork,” said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “While foreclosure activity in September and the third quarter continued to register well below levels from a year ago, there is evidence that this temporary downward trend is about to change direction, with foreclosure activity slowly beginning to ramp back up.
“Third quarter foreclosure activity increased marginally from the previous quarter, breaking a trend of three consecutive quarterly decreases that started in the fourth quarter of 2010,” Saccacio continued. “This marginal increase in overall foreclosure activity was fueled by a 14 percent jump in new default notices, indicating that lenders are cautiously throwing more wood into the foreclosure fireplace after spending months trying to clear the chimney of sloppily filed foreclosures.”
Meanwhile, the real estate auction house RealAuction.com confirms that foreclosures are moving forward now. In recent Miami Herald coverage of the current foreclosure situation here in South Florida, Lloyd McClendon, CEO of RealAuction.com, confirmed that “…banks are starting to file again.” RealAuction.com, as the company that handles foreclosure auctions for both Miami-Dade County and Broward County, reports that there is a 200% jump in the number of actions in October 2011 from September 2011 in those two counties alone.
A jump of two hundred percent (200%) is a pretty big hint that Florida banks are back in the foreclosure game.
There’s still time to fight against foreclosure, but no Florida homeowner has the luxury of waiting much longer to see what happens. The old adage that the best defense is a good offense has never rung more true than in Florida Foreclosure Defense right now.
Florida Foreclosure Defense – Fighting For Your Home and For Your Future
It takes around 750 days from start to finish for a foreclosure action in Florida today – there is a huge bottleneck right now, down at the courthouse. So much so, that Florida Governor Rick Scott just okayed a $45,600,000 loan to the Florida courts so that they have the money to try and clear that bottleneck. (Read Governor Scott’s letter approving the loan and explaining its reasons here.)
The courthouse bottleneck is a strategic advantage for Florida Foreclosure Defense right now.
The length of time needed to move a foreclosure action through the Florida court system may mean banks will be more amenable to negotiating with a home owner.
Additionally, continued problems with robosigning and other bad acts by lenders, their mortgage servicers, or their lawyers make for strong foreclosure defenses under Florida law. Each case must be reviewed on a case by case basis to discover what problems may exist in the paperwork. Is there appraisal fraud? Is there a fake affidavit? Florida Foreclosure Defense has a lot of arrows in its quiver right now — given to Florida Foreclosure Defense attorneys by the banks and their agents. Bad acts can mean more loan modifications.
If you have fallen behind on your mortgage payments and are facing foreclosure it is important that you not walk away and allow the bank to foreclose on your home. A knowledgeable real estate attorney can defend a foreclosure lawsuit, based on various defenses, resulting in the homeowner keeping their home for an extended period of time until the Court determines the homeowner’s rights. (See, Foreclosure Defenses are Stopping Mortgage Foreclosures).
In many instances, the paperwork filed by the Bank or its lawyer is either incorrect, fraudulent or otherwise defective. Those defects in the paperwork are allowing experienced foreclosure defense attorneys to help homeowners even after the bank has obtained a judgment against them or a foreclosure sale is about to occur or has already occurred. In many instances, just the filing of faulty documents by the bank and/or its lawyer is itself enough to set aside a judgment and/or foreclosure sale. So, don’t just walk away.
We defend foreclosure cases brought by Wells Fargo, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup (CitiMortgage or CitiFinancial), U.S. Bank National Association, Deutsche Bank, One West Bank (Indymac Bank), Ocwen, PHH Mortgage, LaSalle Bank, BankUnited, SunTrust Bank, HSBC Finance, First Franklin, Option One, Fremont Investment & Loan as well as other mortgage lenders.
If you have a problem with your Florida mortgage, then NOW is the time to get busy and fight for the financial future of your family. Don’t let procrastination or stress stop you from taking action.
