Parkland Parrot

Archive for the 'Foreclosures' Category

Florida Courts Require Mediation Before Foreclosing

2010 is here, and the Florida court system has announced that banks and lending institutions MUST mediate before foreclosing on a real estate home.  I wrote an earlier article: Could Home Foreclosure Mediation Be Mandatory Soon? and now the court system in the state is intervening.

Now, both the lenders and borrowers on homesteaded Florida properties will have to meet at the bargaining table.  This court order, carried out by Chief Judge Peggy Quince, guarantees an audience for distressed homeowners and the lending institutions to discuss all available options from loan modifications or short sales before foreclosure.

Banks will be responsible to pay the court costs for each potential foreclosure, which will cost them approximately $750 each. Judges are hoping that this new requirement will help reduce the thousands of foreclosure cases taking over the court systems.

Distressed homeowners must be referred to counseling before mediation.  The mediation must take place no earlier than 60 days and no later than 120 days after a foreclosure suit is filed.  Also, non-profit organizations, such as the Collins Center for Public Policy, must be provied with mediators specially trained in mortgage foreclosure.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association in the third quarter of 2009, Florida’s 12.74 percent rate of home loans in foreclosure was the nation’s highest. As a result, 441,440 Florida home loans were in foreclosure at that time.

Hopefully, this new policy will help distressed homeowners remodify their loans or agree to do a short sale.  It is important that homeowners call their banks and speak with a real estate agent along with a real estate attorney.  Please give us a call at 954-609-0591 if you are in need of assistance.

To stay updated with all of the current Parkland real estate home information, receive our blog posts directly to your inbox by subscribing to the squawk.

If you are interested in buying or selling a real estate property in Parkland, please give us a call at 954-609-0591 or send a note to the squawk.

Tags: florida home mediation, florida real estate mediation, foreclosure mediation, home mediation, real estate mediation, short sale mediation, south florida real estate mediation

Could Home Foreclosure Mediation Be Mandatory Soon?

Let’s face it!  You hear on every media outlet that Home Foreclosures are increasing throughout the United States causing homeowners to be forced out of their homes as well as drastically decreasing home values!  A study performed by a Florida Supreme Task force has found that approximately 10.5% of the 3.5 million Florida mortgage loans were in some stage of the foreclosure process.

I just read a great editorial from Florida Trend which highlights Collins Center for Public Policy, which is a research organization affiliated with Florida State University.  The Collins Center is taking the initiative in three circuit court districts, including Miami-Dade, to force lenders to try and mediate and do a loan modification before seeking foreclosure.  The Collins Center Mediation Program  has kept over 1/3 of the distressed foreclosure-bound homeowners in their homes at a modified mortgage payment that they can actually afford!

The Collins Center also arranges meetings with distressed homeowners and local financial counselors to go over all of their options including discussing President Obama’s Hope For Homeowners Program. This month, the Florida Supreme Court is also meeting to decide if mortgage mediation should be required by ALL lenders and making foreclosure the last resort for distressed homeowners.

I wish President Obama and Congress would have passed a bill like this last year.  Foreclosures will continue to negatively affect the economy in 2010.  We can help stop the bleeding, as the Collier Center’s program is not costing any tax payer dollars.  As a result, thousands of homeowners are still in their homes because of this initiative!  Can we get the rest of the counties in Florida, as well as the rest of the country, to FINALLY get on board?  I sure hope so!

To stay updated with all of the current Parkland real estate home information, receive our blog posts directly to your inbox by subscribing to the squawk.

If you are interested in buying or selling a real estate property in Parkland, please give us a call at 954-609-0591 or send a note to the squawk.

Tags: florida loan modification, foreclosure mediation, loan modification, mandary loan mediation, parkland foreclosures, Parkland Real Estate, parkland real estate expert, parkland realtor, parkland short sales

Parkland Real Estate Foreclosure Update

Current Parkland Foreclosure Real Estate Update

Currently, there are ONLY 289 active Parkland single family listings on the market, with ONLY 10 being foreclosure listings. Parkland residents should be ecstatic at this exciting news, as the market is showing signs of settling!  Inventory is low and buyer activity has increased in the past few months.

Typically, foreclosure, or bank owned properties, have a very large impact on the current market values of properties.  Banks are trying to sell their inventory quickly at a discounted price.  When a foreclosure sells, appraisers are forced to use these homes as comparable sales when performing appraisals on pending sales.  But, the less foreclosure inventory on the market, the better the values will maintain through the rest of 2009 and hopefully into 2010.  Also, with less than 4% of the active single family Parkland listings being foreclosures, buyers will be forced to look at regular listings.  As a result, current Parkland sellers have been receiving more showings on their homes.  More traffic will ultimately equals more offers!

If you are potential buyer who is still sitting on the fence, waiting to get a better price, think again!  Many Parkland listings are getting multiple offers and are closing close to asking prices.  Potential buyers are starting to smell the coffee!

To stay updated with all of the current Parkland real estate information, receive my blog posts directly to your inbox by subscribing to the squawk.

If you are interested in buying or selling real estate in Parkland, please give us a call at 954-609-0591 or send a note to the squawk.

Tags: broward county foreclosures, buy parkland foreclosures, buy south florida foreclosures, buying parkland foreclosures, Foreclosures, parkland foreclosure update, parkland foreclosures, parkland real estate foreclosures