Is Florida the Next Non-Judicial Foreclosure State

Please forward this blog post to every Floridian that you know or share it on your Facebook page…if this gets passed, it will be devastating for tens of thousands of homeowners. It will, in essence, take away the right to challenge the banks foreclosure (fraudulent documents and all) AND includes a huge disincentive to foreclosure defense attorneys from even taking your case.

If the mortgage industry has its way, the passage of a new bill floating around Tallahassee will ensure that Floridians will be displaced from their homes without legal representation or due process.  In typical Orwellian style, this bill is entitled the Fair Foreclosure Act – it’s anything but . . .

Florida often makes the national news when it comes to foreclosures, and it’s never positive.  According to a recent 24/7 Wall Street study, three of the ten housing markets most likely to collapse in 2012 are in Florida.  Naples, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale all make the top 10, and the rest of the Sunshine State isn’t far behind.

In its preamble, the FFA actually says, “Once suit has been filed, the public interest is served by moving foreclosure cases to final resolution expeditiously in order to get real property back into the stream of commerce.”  Of course, it is this glut of foreclosed homes flooding the real estate market that has all but ensured its collapse.  REO properties typically sell far below market value, and when so many REOs exist, it drives the overall market to new lows.  The vicious cycle is complete as more homeowners suffer increased losses from a down market.

So the bill’s stated purpose is flawed right from the outset, but getting our homes back into the “stream of commerce” really isn’t the purpose of the Fair Foreclosure Act.  Its sole design is to take Floridians’ property without due process or equal protection under the law.

Florida has a proud history of whoring for the mortgage industry, and while states across the country are fighting to restore honor and integrity to our judicial system, Florida has taken a different approach.  In Florida, the Supreme Court and our elected state officials are doing what they can to ensure their benefactors . . . the banks . . . get what they want.

Remember Foreclosure Court?   It unconstitutionally employed retired senior judges to act as mortgage mercenaries – ramrodding defective foreclosures through the judicial system despite national ridicule.  I am actually shocked it fell victim to Governor Scott’s massive spending cuts.  That must have been a mistake.

Then, with the addition of Pam Bondi as our new Attorney General, the mortgage industry took firm control of our prosecutors as well.  Ms. Bondi all but killed any investigation into foreclosure fraud, and fired two assistant prosecutors who gained national attention for piecing together a massive conspiracy by the mortgage industry to defraud our state court judges in foreclosure cases.

BUT, these acts of treason pale in comparison to the Fair Foreclosure Act, which proposes to do the following:

• Where the amount of principal and interest equals or exceeds 120% of the just value of the home, it will allow the mortgage company to foreclose without going through the judicial process.  That means no foreclosure complaint, no defense, no due process, no justice.  It will be as easy to take your home as it is to repo a car.
• It will repeal Florida Statutes § 57.105, which awards attorney fees to homeowners who successfully defeat mortgage companies in court.  At the same time, it assesses attorney fees against a homeowner and his lawyer (in equal parts) if the mortgage company prevails.  The design here is to stop consumer lawyers from taking any more foreclosure cases by making it impossible to make money and even personally expose the lawyer to penalties.  Consumer lawyers will have no upside potential and all downside risk.
• It will eliminate the right of a homeowner to set aside a wrongful foreclosure, even if the plaintiff committed fraud in the process of taking the home.  The ONLY recourse would be awarding money damages.  This language is to appease the title companies by retroactively ratifying all that foreclosure fraud that has taken place over the last decade.  Once the bank takes your home, you’ll never get it back, no matter what.

The typical knee-jerk response is always that these homeowners are people who “got in over their head.”  But such banking propaganda ignores the fact that 1 in 2 houses in Florida have no equity.  So, according to bankers, half of Floridians are irresponsible homebuyers. Wall Street and greedy bankers created this horrible mess, but they want no part of shared sacrifice in cleaning it up.  Middle class America didn’t cause this problem, and Middle class America shouldn’t pay for it.

We Floridians suffer from foreclosure fatigue, and the FFA will send us all over the edge.

This article comes courtesy of Chip Parker, A Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney. About Chip Parker, Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney

Chip Parker is the managing partner of the fastest growing law firm in Northeast Florida (two years running), Parker & DuFresne, P.A., and according to The Jacksonville Business Journal, he is an Ultimate CEO. Mr. Parker represents businesses and consumers facing bankruptcy, and homeowners in foreclosure defense actions. He is the recent recipient of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid's Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service. Mr. Parker is an active member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and National Association of Consumer Advocates

View all of the Fannie Mae foreclosed homes in Palm Beach County

Click on the Fannie Mae image and you will be able to see all of the Fannie Mae foreclosures in Palm Beach County.

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Credit Ratings Downgrade for Fannie and Freddie Now?

In what is shaping up to be an erratic trading day, the Dow has dropped below 3% in early trading after the latest news that Standard & Poor's downgraded the debt of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was widely expected that S&P's downgrade of U.S. debt would roll downhill to other entities that are closely linked to the federal government.

Fannie and Freddie, which were taken over by the government in 2008, fuel home sales by purchasing mortgages from banks.

It's not clear what - if any - effect the downgrade will have on Fannie and Freddie's borrowing costs. And since Treasury yields remain at very low levels, a sharp spike in mortgage rates seems unlikely.

I’ll let you know what effect this is having on mortgage rates as soon as I know!

Thanks for reading,

Steve

Major Lenders Offering Perks on Short Sales

The nation’s leading mortgage lenders are extending extras for short sale transactions employed as an alternative to foreclosure – both in the form of monetary incentives for borrowers and streamlined procedures for real estate agents.

Wells Fargo says it has been making “enhanced financial relocation assistance offers” that can be as much as $10,000 or $20,000 to certain borrowers who meet undisclosed criteria who choose to go through with a short sale or transfer the title back to Wells via a deed-in-lieu.

This extra incentive is being offered to distressed borrowers in Florida and other states where the foreclosure process is lengthening, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo explained. The exact amount of the relocation funds provided to individual borrowers varies based on a number of factors, the company says.

Wells Fargo noted that this type of additional relocation assistance is only available on first-lien loans that the company itself owns – which represent only about 20 percent of the loans Wells Fargo services.

Chase is also offering a range of incentives to borrowers that agree to a pre-foreclosure sale “because if we can’t work out a modification, a short sale is a better result for the borrower, the servicer, the investor, and the neighborhood than a foreclosure,” the company said in a statement.

Chase says the amount of the offer “depends on a number of factors” but declined to share specific details on how much money it’s been providing to short sellers.

Citi has confirmed that it is offering incentives up to $12,000 for borrowers in cases where Citi owns the loan.

BofA says it is “committed to improving the short sale process” and has made procedural changes to cut some of the red tape for agents working with the bank on pre-foreclosure sales. They now allow real estate agents to submit a backup offer on a transaction if the original buyer has walked away from the sale.

This means that agents no longer have to initiate a brand new short sale if the buyer changes, Bank of America explained. Instead, agents can move ahead with the original transaction and continue to work with the same short sale specialist without having to resubmit all of the same documents and start from scratch.

The ultimate inside job!

This is a must watch 3 minute video...

50 to 1

A recent report by LPS (Lender Processing Services) stated that there were 4,084,557 mortgages 90 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure as of the end of May. Contrast that with actual foreclosure sales at 78,676 at month end, the volume of seriously past due loans over-shadowed the number of completed foreclosures by 50 to 1, according to LPS’ May Mortgage Monitor report released last Wednesday.

That is very scary...for every home actually sold at a foreclsoure sale there were FIFTY in line behind it where the owners were 90 or more days behind in their mortgage payments!

Right now I don't have the actual figures of the percentage of people who fall 90 or more days behind and eventually catch up on their back payments, interest, penalties, attorney fees, etc....but I have to believe it is fairly low. Then throw in the possibility that a big percentage of those delinquent homeowners are in a 'negative equity' position and any reasonable person has to assume that the chances of those delinquent owners getting current or even having the desire to get current is miniscule.

Additionally, LPS’ analysis found that inventories of foreclosures in judicial states ( In Florida we are a judicial stae) have increased twice as much as inventories in non-judicial states over the last year as courts have become clogged with high volumes of cases and lenders have slowed their processing of foreclosures, particularly in judicial areas muddled by affidavit issues.

Nationwide, the average time spent in foreclosure continues to extend, with more than 33 percent of borrowers in foreclosure not having made a payment in over two years, according to LPS latest study. LPS says overall delinquencies are almost double and foreclosures are eight times higher than historical norms.

So..what's my point in writing this post? Basically the same as many of my other posts, mainly "don't rely on what you hear on TV or read in the papers"...those stories present only a sound bite...there is no analysis, follow up or discussion. Many times there is an agenda or spin being promoted. It is easy to hear a 'housing is rebounding' story on a Monday and a 'housing is getting worse' story on Tuesday.

Draw your own conclusions from the above... but that information from LPS tells me that there are many, many foreclosures and short sales that will be continuing to hit the market in the next 3-4 years...continuing to contribute to declining home values. If you are thinking about selling...call me and lets decide if it makes sense to do it sooner rather than later.

If you are thinking about buying, lets sit down and explore your options and see if it makes sense for you to buy now.

My direct line is 561 602 1258 Or you can email me HERE

July 4th, 2011

I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory; I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph.

John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776

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Give me a call today if you are interested in this pre-approved short sale...it is not on the market yet, but will be soon.

It is in great shape and is an excellent value. So if you want the first opportunity to view this home,

call me right away: 561-602-1258

NAR's Yun has just entered...The Twilight Zone

Today, the stock market surged on DECLINING home sales...the 'market' expected the Natl Assn of Realtors report to come in at 4.8M, instead it came in at 4.81M and everyone is ecstatic!

 

Last months sales were originally reported at 5.05M...but revised downward to 5.0M- (a common tactic...and watch, the 4.81 will get 'revised down' at some point).

 

And the NAR chief economist, Lawerence Yun, had the following (laughable) reasoning for the decline:...temporary factors held back the market in May... “Spiking gasoline prices along with widespread severe weather hurt house shopping in April, leading to soft figures for actual closings in May,” he said. “Current housing market activity indicates a very slow pace of broader economic activity, but recent reversals in oil prices are likely to mitigate the impact going forward. The pace of sales activity in the second half of the year is expected to be stronger than the first half, and will be much stronger than the second half of last year.”

 

I have to tell you...most of the time I am embarrassed to be a paying member of NAR. Spiking gasoline prices? Isn't that pathetic? You mean to tell me that Mr. and Mrs. potential homebuyer, just about to sign on the dotted line, decided that they couldn't afford a house because gas rose by forty cents? Let's figure this out; suppose that the average mileage is 18 MPG, the average miles driven per year is 15,000...that would be 834 gallons a year...at 40 cents a gallon hike that is an extra $374 per year, or an $31 per month, or an extra $7.75 per week! If $31 a month is turning buyers into non-buyers...they should not have been thinking about buying in the first place!

 

When are we going to get some truth out of the NAR PR machine? No wonder agents are regarded on par with the stereotypical used-car salesman...it is well deserved!