A foreclosure is not always the next step after a mortgage default. A mortgage’s terms and/or state law often entitles a property owner to notice of a default before a creditor can pursue possession of mortgaged property.

Interested in knowing your rights and obligations in a property law proceeding? Schedule a consultation and you'll be able to meet with a Palm Beach Foreclosure Attorney. To do so, just call our office at (561)472-0919 or complete and submit a Consultation Request form to the right of your screen and we'll follow up with you.

Mr. Bryson challenging  his creditor’s right to a mortgage foreclosure brought the case of Bryson v. Branch Banking and Trust Company before the Florida 2nd DCA (appeals court.) The appeals court issued its decision on November 30, 2011.

Martin County Foreclosure Case Affirmed where homeowner alleged a fraudulent endorsement of note and requests reconsideration.

Many in foreclosure actions erroneously believe if there has been some mishandling of the promissory note by the lender, the lender will not recover.  Is is largely incorrect.  Clients often bring this issue up in the initial consultation.  They have heard it from friends, family, and hairdressers and they have come to an attorney to hopefully confirm the rumor.  Unfortunately, losing the promissory note is not a bar to recovery.  The  case provided below is recent and out of the 4th DCA, which controls in Palm Beach County and Broward County amongst others.

If you found this blog trying to find more information on how the note plays into your case, please continue reading so I can provide a brief but good basic education.

Reversal of Palm Beach County Foreclosure Action due to Counterclaim and Affirmative Defenses

The real estate boom is chock full of stories of borrowers alleging fraud on he part of their mortgage lender.  Indeed, there have been many substantiated cases of predatory lending during this time frame which has made the fraud argument more common.  Predatory lending is, essentially, a lender seeking out prospective borrowers with little means and giving them loans with extremely low introductory rates which will later adjust to a level the borrower could not conceivably afford. 

Such behavior was egregious and, accordingly, received considerable publicity.  The practice and other similarly deceptive behavior on the part of lenders and their agents has been commonly grouped under the category of "mortgage fraud.".

As investigations into the mishandling of foreclosures continue, a Chicago Sheriff has halted evictions. Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart has let over 1,000 evictions pile up in his office. He has decided that his office will not evict hoemowners unless lawyers for the mortgae companies personally vouch that their actions are justified.  According to a recent Washington Post article "after reading about problems such as banks "robo-signing" foreclosure documents without verifying their accuracy, Dart asked that attorneys for mortgage companies sign something personally confirming that evictions are justified. None did. So Dart has refused to honor their requests."

Dart, whose office is responsible for physically evicting delinquent homeowners announced Oct. 19 that his deputies would "no longer be doing the banks' work for them anymore. I can't possibly be expected to evict people from their homes when the banks themselves can't say for sure everything was done properly," he explained.

"Frustrated by the banks' response to the foreclosure mess, a growing number of public officials - including chief judges, attorneys general and sheriffs from jurisdictions big and small - are pushing the boundaries of their powers to slow down foreclosures in their areas, according to the Post article.

Superman saves the day for a family facing foreclosure. The family, who has decided to remain anonymous, was just about to lose their home to foreclosure. They were, in fact, packing up their belongings to move out of the home when they found a box of magazines and old comics in the basement. The box contained Action Comics No.1 published in June 1938 by DC Comics, featuring the debut of Superman. The house had been in the family since the 1950's and it was likely the wife's father had stashed the comic book in the basement back then. The family contacted comic book dealer Stephen Fishler who was skeptical at first. Once he saw a picture of the cover though, Fishler realized it was the real thing. The comic will likely fetch upwards of $250,000 at auction. It is currently on display at Comic-Con in San Diego where it will be officially graded. The family is greatly relieved to be out from under the threat of foreclosure, but said that having realized what the comic is worth they will be happy to see it find a new home.

To read the FoxNews article on this story click here.

Renters Beware! New scams targeting renters are another way that the foreclosure crisis is affecting Floridians.

A recent Palm Beach Post article discussed a  Wellington-based company called Saving Palm Beach Homes Inc., run by Mark Guerette, that entered into numerous rental agreements on homes that were not actually owned by the company or its founder. The homes were in foreclosure, but Guerette hoped to use a centuries-old law to take possession of the foreclosed properties in Palm Beach and Broward counties. Florida Statute Chapter 95 deals with adverse possession and allows a person who cares for and acts as the owner of a property to legally take  possession of the property after seven years. The volume of foreclosures in recent years has created confusion over who owns properties. As mortgages are transferred between lenders and companies go out of business, documentation can be lost leading to mix-ups over ownership of properties. "This is the ideal opportunity for adverse possession because titles are clouded," said Kama Monroe, senior attorney for the Florida Department of Revenue. "No one is sure who to call to say, 'get them off my land." It is, however, still not legal for a person or a company to collect rent on homes they do not own.

Craigslist is the source of another rental scam targeting Palm Beach County residents. People are posting fake ads on Craigslist advertising rentals at very low rates and using property photos from actual listings. When prospective renters contact them, they ask for either forms with personal information like bank acounts and social security numbers, or in some cases they ask for payment to be sent in exchange for keys to the property. Click to read more about the "cash for keys" scam.

Lenders are currently working through the huge backlog of borrowers that have fallen behind on their payments and have already repossessed nearly 528,000 homes in the first half of this year. If this pace continues, 2010 could see over 1 million foreclosures, an even greater number than 2009's record of over 900,000 repossessions.

Lenders set the pace for the foreclosure process and are trending toward allowing borrowers to stay in their homes for longer periods of time as the banks attempt to work through their current backlog. According to Lender Processing Services Inc., a mortgage tracking company, it takes on average about 15 months for a home loan to go from being 30 days late to the property being foreclosed and sold. The amount of foreclosures in a given area and other factors will also affect how long borrowers have before their homes are repossessed. Florida, for example, is among the states with the highest rate of foreclosure so there are more cases to push through an already overloaded system. In Palm Beach County, a recent Administrative Order now requires the borrower and lender to attend mediation for all foreclosures filed against a homestead residence. It remains to be seen whether the new mandated foreclosure mediation program will affect the pace of the foreclosure process.

High rates of unemployment and lowered incomes are forcing many homeowners into foreclosure. Strategic defaults are also accounting for a large percentage of new foreclosures. With the weak housing market, people are seeing their home values plummet. They are faced with a situation where they are paying far more on the home than it is worth and many borrowers in that situation are choosing to simply walk away from what they consider a bad investment. According to a recent New York Times article wealthier owners are more likely to walk away from a home they consider a bad investment.  The delinquency rate on investment homes where the original mortgage was more than $1 million is now 23 percent. For cheaper investment homes, it is about 10 percent. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two quasi-governmental mortgage finance companies are trying to discourage this behavior by making it harder for strategic defaulters to receive one of their loans in the future. Overall, it seems that unfortunately "the downward pressure from foreclosures will persist and prices will be very weak well into 2012," said Celia Chen, senior director of Moody's Economy.com