Foreclosure Listings Articles

Florida and other places in America wrecked by foreclosures are facing the problem of treating abandoned pools left behind in vacant foreclosed houses. The pools have become stagnant choked with algae. It is resulting in breeding of mosquitoes and other disease spreading insects.

The code enforcement officials in Wellington were one of the first to experiment with a certain type of fish named pleco. In appearance they look like catfish. They are adept at feasting on algae and in the process clearing pools. This has led to booming business for Bartow fish farmer David Hoy. He has teamed with the aquaculture department of University of Florida to make a success of the project of cleaning pools with these janitor fish.
Initially a limited number of fish of a certain size are used. Hoy explained, “You don’t want to get too many fish in there, because when they purge, they’ll just create another mess. We don’t want that. With just 15, the waste will dissipate in the water. It eventually breaks down in a natural bacterial process and goes away.”

It takes a minimum of 6 weeks for the fish to clear the first lot of algae. The success has led officials in Wellington to phase out projects that used chemicals to clean the pools. It had other harmful side effects apart from being less effective. Rose Taliau of Wellington’s code enforcement department said, “It’s evident to us that these fish will control the algae and make the odor go away. And once we put the fish in, that’s it. We just periodically check on them to make sure everything is going well, but we’re not out there putting chemicals in every other week.”

The fish are kept in the pools until the property changes hands. It does not require any regular maintenance cost. Hoy charges an initial fee ranging from $500 to $1,000 depending on the number of pools he has to tackle at one time. The fee is inclusive of time spent in commuting and expenses of staying in Palm Beach County. The fees would be less for destinations nearer to his base. Talking about his work Hoy said, “I just take the fish down there, let them loose, and they do the rest.”

The word about Hoy’s project is spreading and has reached the ears of Polk County’s officials. Here the numbers of abandoned swimming pools have doubled in the previous two years.

The staggering number of foreclosures has led to a virtual paralysis of the judicial system. Florida is one of the worst affected areas and the courts here are choked with foreclosure cases. This prompted Miami University’s Michael Froomkin to craft The Foreclosure Defense Program. It helps to engage young attorneys with the backlog of foreclosure cases. Over 50,000 filings have been posted only in Miami-Dade alone.

Many of the borrowers do not know where legal help is available. This assistance somewhat reduces the pain and lessens the expenses even if it cannot completely do away with foreclosure. Froomkin said, “Potentially, one of the most significant [defenses] is that the lender, because so many home loans were securitized during the housing boom, often doesn’t even know who owns the mortgage anymore.” One of the biggest tools being recently used is challenging the very right of the plaintiff to initiate the foreclosure process.

The senior lawyer of Legal Services of Greater Miami, Carolina Lombardi, is in charge of instructing some of the fledgling lawyers of Miami University. She said that the defendants in these foreclosure cases also should have attorneys to protect them from unjust escrow demands. He said, “Homeowners who have lawyers are usually prevailing in those cases.” But she observes that unless the borrowers are below the federally stipulated federal line of poverty ($22,000 for a family comprising of four members) they are not eligible for free legal assistance that her agency and others like her provide. This is a big hurdle for many of the foreclosure defendants who are not technically impoverished but due to unemployment and other related matters are at risk of losing their homes and cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

Another big hurdle is the foreclosure law. One young lawyer who has jumped into the fray to help indigent litigants, Yolanda Paschal, said, “It’s a labor-intensive area of practice. It involves a ton of paperwork.”

The pay offered to attorneys taking up foreclosure cases is relatively low said Melanca Clark of Brennan Center. She suggests that Congress and the legislators of the state should offer incentives to those defending the defendants. It should be at par with what the plaintiffs offer their representatives. Only then will the playing field be level. For instance there is the unfair practice of not allowing winning defendants in foreclosure cases to collect attorney fees. The restrictions on federal funding for legal services should be immediately removed. Structural reforms are badly needed.

Florida courts are drowning in foreclosure cases causing a massive backlog. A task force was set up to recommend suggestions for improving the system and adding more speed to it.
The most attention is likely to be given to compulsory mediation for residential foreclosures. It is being implemented in three judicial courts in Florida. By mandatory [...]

Continue reading: Task Force in Florida Giving Prime Importance to Mandatory Mediation to Stop Foreclosures

The housing advocates and homeowners battling foreclosure crowded before the State House recently to show their support for many bills that are aimed at slowing the pace of foreclosures and ensuring more equitable treatment towards the house owners and the tenants
There was a strong crowd at the hearing before the Joint Committee comprising of law [...]

Continue reading: Pro-Foreclosure Bill Supporters Gather Before the State House in Bay State

Despite incentives offered to servicers regarding modification, foreclosures that could have been avoided continue. According to recent reports the banks are not extending relief to the harassed borrowers.
According to National Consumer Law Center of NCLC, servicers of the mortgages comprising of many big banks, are opting for foreclosures because it is more profitable than going [...]

Continue reading: Despite Incentives Offered to Servicers Foreclosures Continue

There are no signs of the foreclosure problem fading. Across the country about 940,000 houses are in some stage of foreclosure during the third quarter of 2009. Either it is a default or auction notification or the house is taken over by the lender. In New York State the filings shot up by 11% in [...]

Continue reading: Foreclosure Victims Deserve to be Heard in Court

When the foreclosure crisis made its debut experts in personal finance put pressure on the homeowners to open communications with their lender if they defaulted. The house owners were made to believe that the lenders would do their best to skirt foreclosure. But now the experts are not sure and singing a different tune.
The borrowers [...]

Continue reading: Do the Servicers of Mortgage Give Preference to Foreclosures?

The foreclosure crisis for a lot of people actually started when they, as borrowers, were willing to take a risk on sub-prime loans. Today that crisis, as outlined in this story is reaching farther down the line to people who quite simply can’t find work. People who were at one time [...]

Continue reading: Foreclosure Recap – Week #43