Foreclosures

According to a recent report by CoreLogic, more homes were lost to foreclosure in Florida than any other state in the last 12 months. Florida had the highest number of foreclosed homes in the nation in May, with 8.8 percent of mortgaged homes in some stage of the foreclosure process. That level marked a 2.9 percentage decline from the previous year.

Some believe the reason Florida’s foreclosure inventory is so high is the lengthy court process a foreclosure has to go through in the State of Florida.

CoreLogic also reported mortgage loans in Florida are showing some troubling signs. For May, the share of Florida mortgages that were seriously delinquent — behind by 90 days or more — was 13.3 percent, the highest rate of any state and more than double the national average of 5.6 percent.

After Florida, California ranked No. 2 with 76,000 homes lost to foreclosure in the year ending in May 2013.

Click here to read more about Florida being ranked #1 in foreclosures.

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, South Florida comes in at No. 2 in metropolitan areas, with more than 13,000 abandoned and foreclosed properties. The State of Florida ranks No. 1 in the number of foreclosed properties abandoned by homeowners. One of the reasons for this is that banks are reluctant to maintain the property until they finally take possession, which can take years. The amount of abandoned and foreclosed properties can have a devastating effect on property values and entire cities. Lake Worth Commissioner, Scott Maxwell, is looking for a permanent solution to the problem, beginning by examining the city’s code enforcement.

Click here to read more on the devastating effects the high number of abandoned and foreclosed properties can have on South Florida and some of the solutions being proposed.

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.

The term, ‘zombie home’ refers to a house where the owner has moved out and the lender has never finished the foreclosure paperwork, leaving the absent homeowner legally liable for the foreclosed property along with the property taxes, homeowner association fees, fines for building code violations, etc.

Public records are clear that the homeowner still owns the property, but in many cases since the owner has already moved out he or she is unaware of this. Lenders typically are not required to notify the homeowner when a foreclosure is not complete. So following your move out, you should research public records to monitor the home’s ownership status.

According to RealtyTrac, as many as 300,000 zombie houses exist in the United States, and every state likely has at least a few of them. Florida is “Zombie Central,” with potentially 90,556 zombie houses, about 30 percent of the U.S. total. So why are there so many zombie homes? One reason is metropolitan areas tend to have distressed properties in such poor condition that neither the homeowner nor the bank wants to own them.

States such as Nevada, Oregon and Washington have new laws that punish banks for improper foreclosures, causing delays in the process. Some cities have set up registries of foreclosed or abandoned properties or enacted local laws that require lenders to perform basic maintenance, but enforcement may be minimal or ineffective.

Click here to read more about zombie homes and their effect on the housing market.

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.

Although South Florida has recently shown impressive gains in home prices and sales volume, it still has a long way to go. Corelogic reported that 40.7 percent of the mortgaged homes in the greater Miami area and 39.3 percent of those in the greater Fort Lauderdale area remained underwater in the first quarter. According to the real estate data firm, that is roughly double the national average of 19.8 percent of all mortgaged homes. In Broward County, foreclosure activity spiked 112.8 percent in May from a year earlier. One of every 317 residences in Broward received some sort of foreclosure filing during May, RealtyTrac said.

Much of the foreclosure activity reflects lenders moving forward with cases that were long delayed while regulatory concerns about robo-signing and similar mishandling of delinquent loans were settled. This recent data helps to explain the lack of inventory available in South Florida at present time. Most homeowners are less likely to put their home on the market if that means having to pay out cash at the closing table.

Click here to read more on the latest foreclosure data compiled by Corelogic for South Florida.

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.

In an increasing foreclosure trend, a number of homeowners are being taken to court by their lenders years after their houses were lost to foreclosure. Lenders are filing motions in old foreclosure lawsuits and hiring debt collectors to pursue leftover debt, plus court fees, attorneys’ fees and tens of thousands in interest that had been accruing for years. It’s all part of a legal process known as a “deficiency judgment,” which is allowed in 40 of 50 states- including Florida.

It works like this: A property with a $500,000 mortgage might be worth only $300,000 following the housing crisis. The $200,000 difference, or what’s commonly referred to as the “underwater amount,” is known to lenders as a deficiency balance. Among the lenders pursuing the judgments are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Officials at those agencies said the judgments are necessary to recoup money lost in the housing market crisis.

Deficiency judgments are financially devastating to the foreclosed home buyer and also come with income tax consequences. Freddie Mac seems to be targeting “strategic defaulters,” which the agency defines as “someone who had the means but chose to go into default, that there were no extenuating circumstances that affected their ability to pay. If you’re choosing not to pay off your mortgage, but you’re paying other bills, this would be considered strategic default.”

Click here to read more on lenders seeking court actions against homeowners years after foreclosure with deficiency judgments.

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.

Property values in Broward County are on the rise according to new data. Cooper City leads the way with an 8.56-percent increase in taxable value; North Lauderdale comes in second with a 7.07-percent increase. Parkland has registered a 6.20-percent increase, while Coral Springs has seen a 4.08-percent spike in value.

These new numbers confirm the worst may be behind us. Mayor Vince Boccard expects property values to increase gradually in the next few years. Interest rates remain at historic lows, which have contributed to the shrinking inventory of homes on the market and an increase in housing prices all over the country. Many people are coming to realize that it costs less to purchase a home than to rent one.

Click here to read more on the rise in property values in Broward 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.

On Friday, June 7, 2013 Governor Rick Scott signed the controversial ‘fast track’ foreclosure bill. The bill is the first substantial change to Florida foreclosure laws since the burst of the real estate bubble in 2007, which pushed thousands of homeowners into default and overwhelmed the court system with foreclosures.

HB 87 requires homeowners to respond more quickly to foreclosure filings and gives community associations more power in the process. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jack Latvala and Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, also requires lenders to have their paperwork in order before filing a foreclosure complaint. And it cuts the time period in which banks can seek a deficiency judgment against homeowners to one year from five.

Scott, along with other supporters of the bill believes it will help Florida’s economic recovery ‘by placing abandoned homes, caught up in the foreclosure backlog, back on the market.’

A major concern of opponents is the provision that gives homeowners only monetary damages if their home is foreclosed on fraudulently. The measure is meant to protect third-party buyers from losing the home after purchase, bill sponsors said. But defense attorneys and other opponents say the measure erodes time-honored property rights and is unfair to homeowners.
The law will also allow any lien holder, including community associations, to request a so-called “show cause” order that would require homeowners to present a defense more quickly and give the judge the ability to make a faster ruling.

Click here to read more on the foreclosure bill recently signed by Gov. Scott that puts Florida homeowners at a disadvantage.

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.