Foreclosures

It has been reported that foreclosure filings are down in Palm Beach County likely due to a new law that is making it more difficult for banks and lenders to initiate foreclosures. The new state law (Section 702.015, Florida Statutes) requires plaintiffs to acknowledge in their foreclosure complaint that they have all the documents necessary to prove the case against the homeowner.

The latest statistics reveal several interesting trends:

• The number of new foreclosure filings in Palm Beach County decreased dramatically in July.

• Since the new foreclosure filing requirements took effect July 1, 2013, there were 387 new foreclosures, a 61.3 percent decrease from 1,001 new foreclosures in June, and a 68.3 percent decrease from 1,220 cases filed in July 2012.

• The new cases filed in July represent the lowest number of new foreclosures filed with the Clerk & Comptroller, Palm Beach County, since July 2006, when 392 foreclosures were filed.

• The number of new mortgages and deeds recorded in Palm Beach County during July remained higher compared with the previous year, but lower than the totals recorded in June. There were 6,985 deeds recorded in Palm Beach County in July, down 7.5 percent from 7,548 deeds recorded in June, but up 44.7 percent from 4,828 deeds recorded in July 2012.

Clerk Sharon Bock attributes the new law to the declining number of foreclosures, which demonstrates that banks are acting with an abundance of caution before they bring forward foreclosures cases in Florida.

Click here to read more on the recent decline in foreclosures in Palm Beach County.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.

According to a recent report from RealtyTrac, Florida posted the nation’s highest foreclosure rate in July for the third consecutive month. Among metro areas, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties had the nation’s second-highest foreclosure rate, with one in 250 homes in the foreclosure process. Jacksonville ranked first, at one in 230. These numbers can be attributed to lenders clearing backlogs of foreclosures caused by the housing bust.

Across the state, 79 percent of loans in foreclosure were originated from 2004 to 2008. In South Florida, 81 percent of loans in foreclosure were from those five years. Analysts report that even though there is still a ‘sizable pool of delinquent mortgages in Florida, there is enough demand for homes to keep the values from falling.” New cases in Palm Beach County declined 68 percent in July from a year ago, according to the Palm Beach County Clerk & Comptroller’s office.

Some experts attribute this to the new state law that took effect on July 1, 2013, which was designed to speed up foreclosure filings, but also requires lenders to have all of the necessary paperwork to prove their case.

Click here to read more on Florida leading the U.S. in foreclosures for the third straight month.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Economists from the Federal Housing Finance Agency recently examined markets in Miami and Tampa, FL to determine the impact of bank-owned property and short sales on the FHFA’s house price index. The latest data, released July 23, showed that house prices appreciated a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in May from the prior month — the 16th consecutive increase. The report reinforced views that the housing market is rebounding, but it also points to some distortion in the index through boom-and-bust cycles.

The study revealed that, “As the ‘weight’ of distressed sales on the standard index decreased in recent periods, the depressing effect lessened over time. This means that the price appreciation observed in the standard FHFA index was somewhat above what the distress-free measures reported.”

In the late 1990s, distressed sales in the Miami and Tampa markets tended to price about 10%-15% less than normal sales. As the housing boom accelerated, the discount shrank to 5% and 10%. But from 2007 to 2010, that figure jumped to near 30%. In recent quarters, with the onset of the recovery and rising home prices, such discounts have become slightly more modest. In the first quarter of 2013, the average discount was about 25%, the study reported.

Click here to read more on a new study which reveals foreclosures distort home-price measure.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.

A new report shows that mortgage delinquencies have dropped in every state from one year ago, another sign that the housing market is recovering. Arizona and California showed the biggest declines, where homeowners who were at least 60 days behind in paying their mortgages decreased by more than 40%. The two states with the highest mortgage delinquency rates in the nation- Florida and Nevada- also had encouraging yearly drops of 26.8% and 28.7% according to TransUnion.

Experts attribute this turnaround to improving housing prices and low interest rates, which have helped homeowners across the country refinance or sell their way out of mortgage payments they were having difficulty affording. While the new TransUnion numbers are encouraging, many of these same states also still have the most homeowners who owe more on their home loans than the current market value of their property, known as underwater mortgages.

According to a report in June by CoreLogic, Nevada had the highest percentage of mortgages underwater (45%), followed by Florida (38%), Michigan (32%), Arizona (31%) and Georgia (30%).

Click here to read more on the recent decline in mortgage delinquencies across the country.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.

A new study has found that Americans who have trouble dividing 300 by 2 are more likely to end up in foreclosure than those consumers with average math skills. According to the study’s authors, the research is among the first to directly link mortgage trouble to ‘financial literacy.’ The study also revealed that math skills were a better predictor of foreclosure than the type of mortgages available, which takes some of the blame away from so-called ‘risky’ mortgages.

The study examined actual mortgage payment streams obtained from the Federal Reserve, and then contacted mortgage holders to assess their math skills. Each was asked a series of five basic math questions; the answers were then assigned into four “buckets.” Four of those questions tested the ability to perform simple division or calculate percentages, like: “A shop is selling all items at half price. Before the sale, a sofa costs $300. How much will it cost in the sale?” Roughly 1 in 7 test-takers could not answer even two such questions correctly, and landed in the lowest bucket. That group was four times more likely to be in foreclosure than consumers who landed in the top bucket by answering all five questions correctly.

The researchers also went to great lengths to control outside factors, such as income, overall education level, IQ, and type of mortgage. Math skills had the most pronounced effect on likelihood that consumers would end up in foreclosure. For example, homeowners with no college degree but high math skills performed better than college graduates with poor math skills.

Click here to read more on this recent study linking the likelihood of foreclosure to individuals with poor math skills.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Checks sent to foreclosed homeowners are going un-cashed, another sign that the government’s national foreclosure settlement is falling short of its promised impact. 4.2 million checks have been distributed to foreclosed homeowners. The majority of those checks were just $300 each. A review by the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) suggested that almost a quarter million Americans lost homes under false or illegal pretenses and that about 1.2 million borrowers had to defend against wrongful foreclosure acts.

The latest evidence revealed in June 2013 confirms the housing industry is continuing to prey on borrowers.
Authorities recorded approximately 60,000 official complaints in just six months about bank actions that violate the mortgage settlement back in June. In addition, Bank of America was caught using sales tactics in their solicitation mailers that are illegal. Individual horror stories about wrongful foreclosures continue to crop up across the country.

Click here to read more on victims of mortgage fraud refusing to cash settlement checks.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.

Daunte Culpepper, former Miami Dolphins quarterback recently had his Broward County home taken away by the bank. Sun Trust Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit in February against Culpepper, his wife and DRKRC Land Trust over the 9,867-square-foot home he owned in Landmark Ranch Estates. In April 2013, the home was surrendered to SunTrust in a deed in lieu of foreclosure. It cited $3 million in debt released in exchange for the property.

Culpepper purchased the home at the height of his career in 2006, when he was traded from the Vikings who had signed a 10-year deal with him in 2003 for a whopping $102 million, which included a signing bonus of $16 million. The Dolphins reworked his contract after the trade with a $7 million signing bonus and a $1 million salary in the first year, and then $51.5 million through 2013. Culpepper struggled with injuries and was released after only one season of playing for the Dolphins.

Click here to read more on former Miami Dolphins quarterback, Daunte Culpepper losing his Fort Lauderdale home to foreclosure.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.

According to RealtyTrac, one in 236 housing units in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach received a foreclosure filing in June; more than four times that of the national average! Miami’s foreclosure rate ranked at the top of major U.S. metropolitan areas last month. This recent jump can be attributed to the increase in auctions and lenders pushing properties through foreclosure after years of judicial delays.

Prices for single-family homes in the Miami metro area climbed 13 percent in April from a year earlier, the biggest gain among East Coast cities in the S&P/Case-Shiller index of 20 major markets. Home prices are rising and inventory has decreased, making it a perfect sellers’ market.

According to CoreLogic, Florida’s foreclosure inventory was 8.8 percent of its mortgaged homes in May, the highest share of any state and more than double the 4 percent share of second-place Illinois and more than triple the U.S. average of 2.6 percent.

Now that we are seemingly out of the foreclosure crisis, developers are proposing new condo projects. With the decrease in land available to build on, developers are constructing vertically.

Click here to read more on the latest foreclosure trends in Miami.

Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the website, www.miamibankruptcy.com.