Foreclosures.

By most accounts, the stock market is up; the economy is stronger; unemployment is down; and the real estate market is on an uptick. So where are foreclosures, which were the cause or a major contributing factor to the downturn of the aforementioned markets and the epicenter of the Great Recession?

Without a doubt, foreclosures have decreased since the seismic levels of the Great Recession. While this is true, the courts' foreclosure dockets are still relatively active.

However, the Florida Legislature passed a series of new laws and the Florida Supreme Court implemented new rules of court with the goal of streamlining foreclosures and specifying specific ground rules for the legal process from beginning to end. Judges also set aside specific time periods for foreclosure matters to be heard in their courtrooms that helped to manage their dockets more efficiently. The end result is lenders are held to stricter standards.

It is not only the actions of the Legislature and the courts that hold the lenders to stricter standards. The federal government also weighed in and implemented specific regulations lenders must abide by or risk heavy fines. In particular the Feds created the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, which seeks to protect consumers' interest in the financial sector. As it relates to foreclosures, the CFPB requires lenders to end what is termed "dual track foreclosures." Dual track foreclosures are foreclosures where the defendant is in the process of being reviewed or has been approved for loss mitigation, i.e., a loan modification...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT