10. Lenders Do Not Properly Communicate With Borrowers
A consistent complaint of borrowers seeking modification, short sale or any other solution in the foreclosure crisis is they cannot communicate with their lenders. Cannot get the same answer twice. Paperwork sent over and over and over and over again. Borrowers lose the hope they need to participate in solutions when their time and efforts are not respected. With record unemployment, lenders should put people to work….in the communities they serve…to deal face to face with their borrowers and the loans they’re trying to foreclose. Reach out to work force alliances, community based jobs programs, any Florida-based group to develop these programs…..a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
9. Lenders That Are Totally Unrealistic About Short Sale Offers
Tens of thousands of homes in Florida could be sold immediately if the lenders would work with Realtors to accurately price the properties that are in foreclosure or already bank owned. If lenders had reasonable response times to short sales and reasonable expectations about what they will receive in short sale much of this inventory would move, sales would increase, communities would be revitalized and people would get back to work. It doesn’t matter what a lender’s computer model tells them the appraised value of a home is…work with Florida Realtors to value, price then market homes then work with Florida Realtors to get working Floridians into these homes. The Federal government recently announced the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA), which is optional at this point in time, but should be made mandatory as a pre-condition to foreclosure…..a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
8. Lenders Are Engaging in Unfair and Deceptive Practices
It’s hard to get a handle on this problem but in far too many instances borrowers cannot get any communication with lenders for months, then as soon as a foreclosure is filed, they get overnight packages and phone calls from lenders who hold out false hope and promise of a settlement or negotiation, especially after the foreclosure is filed. Homeowners are told explicitly (or reasonably believe) that they do not need to respond to the foreclosure until it’s determined if they qualify for a modification…..little do they know that the lender’s attorney is slamming the 20 day window to respond to foreclosure shut in their face. Lenders should be required to disclose modification communications to courts and not be granted defaults when the borrower is working through loan modification companies…..a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
7. Lenders Should Not Be Permitted to File Foreclosure Until All They Are in Possession of All Paperwork Necessary to Foreclose
Concluding a foreclosure requires only a few pieces of paper and a few basic facts, yet lenders and their attorneys refuse to collect these facts prior to filing foreclosure. After a case is filed, these documents and evidence are sent in piecemeal to courts across the state causing logistical and administrative burdens for the courts and judges. Lenders should be required to have all their paperwork in Order before they file to reduce the efforts and pressure placed on courts after they file. Wait a minute, the Supreme Court of Florida has already required that, but lenders are just routinely and systematically ignoring a binding Order of the highest court in this state…here’s an easy one….No foreclosures until you follow the rules in existing cases…..a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
6. Lenders That Engage in Gross Abuses of Floridian’s Rights
Jack booted thugs hired by lenders are prowling communities in pick up trucks all across this state. They have a list of homes and they’re going home by home to “check” on them. In far too many cases, they kick down doors, change locks, steal property and throw owners or tenants out in the street. All of this is totally forbidden by law. It is impossible to grasp the magnitude of these Gross Abuses of Fundamental Rights, but it’s happening all over. If the lenders feel the need to inspect property, they should not contract with private, unsupervised, unregulated thugs to engage in illegal conduct. Lenders operating in this state should contract with the Sheriffs departments in each county or with local law enforcement to make inspections and report to them on the status of the properties they’re concerned about. Reports would be forwarded to judges who could sign Orders to Secure if the facts warrant it…..a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
5. Lenders Should Not Be Permitted to Engage in Systematic Fraud On Courts
Lenders have created documents mills and employ robo signers who concoct whatever papers they deem necessary to foreclose. The processes and procedures implemented by these lenders are questionable at best, probably rise to the level of fraud and may even rise to the level of criminal conduct. Federal investigations are underway across the country and in this state. They should be permitted to run their course until we know the scope of the problems. Lenders should not be permitted to continue with foreclosures until we understand fully the processes and procedures being implemented and we have some way to ensure the veracity and legitimacy of the procedures being used…..a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
4. Lenders Should Not Be Permitted to Continue Abusing Our Courts
Attorneys for lenders have placed impossible pressures on courts and their judicial staffs by engaging in systematic abuses. Blocking hearing time and scheduling sales then canceling. Sending attorneys to courts who don’t even have the case files, much less know anything about them, calling in for phone hearings rather than appearing in person to explore settlement with opposing counsel. The foreclosure mills that are processing these cases are making millions of dollars maybe tens of millions of dollars in this process…these profits should be disgorged and their resources should be used to try and settle their cases, not public resources. Our courts, our judges, our judicial assistants and clerks deserve to be respected. No more foreclosures until basic rules of conduct are enforced…..a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
3. Our Courts And Judges Must Be Properly Funded
Courts have seen an unprecedented explosion in their caseloads but the judges handling these cases have not been given the resources they need to do their jobs properly. It is unfair and totally unrealistic for private parties (the parties that are responsible for this mess) to put such pressures on our courts without proper funding. Lenders and attorneys should pay more and the legislature should ensure this money makes it to the judges, clerks and judicial assistants who are engaged in this battle every day…..a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
2. Title to Real Estate in Florida Will Be Questionable For Decades to Come
This slap-dash, Russian bazaar, fast-food manner in which foreclosures are being conducted creates problems with title to properties across this state. These are ticking time bombs that will be going off for decades. Title insurance companies will go bankrupt, real estate lending will halt and we will enter round two of the foreclosure crisis. This is an 800 pound gorilla sitting in the middle of courtrooms all across the state as title to properties is being granted through Final Summary Judgment….time to think about the effect this will have on any eventual recovery….a 90 day foreclosure moratorium until this is investigated and all facts are on the table.
And the Number One Reason a 90 day moratorium on foreclosures should be granted….
1. You Folks Chime In With Your Suggestions on The Number One Reason….reply to this post….better yet,
COME TO TALLAHASSEE ON APRIL 21, 2010 TO SHARE YOUR NUMBER ONE REASON!
