By Elias DaSilva | September 11, 2024.<\/p>\n
Judges in South Florida are approving \u201cunorthodox foreclosure auction rules\u201d proposed by a lawyer that help ensure that his client will own the property for a fraction of its value, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald.<\/p>\n
The Hollywood, Florida, lawyer, Brad Ira Schandler, refused to identify his clients and declined to say how much money that he makes, other than to tell the Miami Herald: \u201cIt beats waiting tables.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described his procedures as an \u201calternative, legal foreclosure sale method\u201d that helps condo associations quickly resolve cases when the owner is in default.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the rare instance where a distant family member emerges late in the process, after the court has unsuccessfully attempted to locate them, my clients and I make every effort to resolve the foreclosure to the family member\u2019s satisfaction,\u201d Schandler said.<\/p>\n
According to the newspaper, Schandler typically looks for properties owned by deceased people with unpaid condo assessments or fees\u2014but with fully paid-off mortgages, \u201cleaving no banks to complicate an otherwise simple proceeding.\u201d The condo association files a foreclosure action, and a judge sets how much money that the association will get from the proceeds of an upcoming auction.<\/p>\n
Often, Schandler pays off the condo debt, giving him standing to request modifications to the foreclosure process and to try to recover the money that he paid.<\/p>\n
Losing bidders in foreclosure auctions have alleged that Schandler uses shill bidders to drive up prices and eliminate competitors, often at in-person auctions where few bidders are likely to show up. But when the winning shill bidder doesn\u2019t pay, Schandler\u2019s client gets the property, typically for $100.<\/p>\n
The Miami Herald linked to a lawsuit in which the plaintiff claimed that Schandler obtained an amended foreclosure judgment that said his assignee would be considered the next highest bidder if the top bidder at an in-person auction did not pay. The assignee paid $100, despite an estimated fair market value of $338,000 for the property, the suit said.<\/p>\n
The newspaper identified another tactic approved by some judges: Schandler\u2019s clients are allowed unlimited \u201cbidding credit,\u201d which allows them to bid as much as they want. But they are responsible for only the judgment amount plus fees, according to the Miami Herald.<\/p>\n
Heirs can make a claim for leftover funds after the judgment is repaid to the condo association.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter auctions with Schandler rules,\u201d however, \u201cthere is typically no surplus left over for heirs,\u201d the newspaper said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Elias DaSilva | September 11, 2024. Judges in South Florida are approving \u201cunorthodox foreclosure auction rules\u201d proposed by a lawyer that help ensure that his client will own the property for a fraction of its value, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald. The Hollywood, Florida, lawyer, Brad Ira Schandler, refused to identify […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[211,1,151],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5352,"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350\/revisions\/5352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foreclosurelistings.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}