Smoke & Mirrors in Foreclosure | Bedford NY Real Estate

One in every 681 housing units was served foreclosure papers nationwide this August according to RealtyTrac.  That is not a record number, but it is an ongoing number, and one which partly reflects problems in the foreclosure process.

Florida just received its portion of a $25 billion national settlement with the five largest mortgage servicers.  Why?  Because the court found that Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial had employed robo-signers who were more signatory than sincere about verifying the facts of the foreclosure cases to which they signed.

Problems in documents during the boom years of real estate have led to document doctoring during the bust for some loans.  That makes foreclosure cases worth examining.  Even if you owe money and you know you owe money, you may have a legitimate complaint with the way your mortgage was handled, or the proper party owed.

Furthermore, a foreclosure defense not only looks at the legal aspect of your loan, it also gives you a chance to seek a resolution (like mortgage modification or short sale) while you request that the lender to go beyond the smoke and mirrors and check the actual documentation.

For August, RealtyTrac reported one out of every 681 households received foreclosure complaints in the US.  In Florida, it was one out of every 328, and within Florida, Duval was in the top ten counties having the highest number of foreclosures.