A South Florida city devastated by foreclosures is asking the state of Florida to create a mortgage court to deal with the spiking number of problem loans.
A crucial aspect of the proposal calls for the would-be mortgage court to provide borrowers with a 120-day moratorium on foreclosures thus ensuring that owners can stay in their homes for the short term.
This proposal goes beyond what the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program initated by the U.S. Treasury Department is prepared to do for individuval borrowers who have fallen behind on their residential mortgages.
With more than 900 residences in foreclosure within its boundaries, the City of North Miami, situated between Miami and Aventura, has passed a resolution asking government officials to examine the possibility of creating the special court to oversee foreclosures, according to the Miami Herald.
Currently, foreclosures are handled in the Circuit Court of the county where the property is located.
''The more people we can keep in their homes and out of the court system the better,'' North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns told the Miami Herald.
Burns is hoping that other cities in Miami-Dade will join North Miami's effort, which should not be too difficult given the total number of foreclosures in South Florida.
In the first nine months of 2008, Lenders have been busy filing 55,737 foreclosure actions valued at more than $14.2 billion on properties in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, according to a new report from Condo Vultures® LLC.
Condominiums and townhouses account for 16,553, or 30 percent, of the actions filed, totaling $3.4 billion, according to the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based consultancy that generated the report based on circuit court records.
In what may be a surprise to some, Broward County, not Miami-Dade County, has the highest concentration of total foreclosure actions with 24,733, or 42.2 percent, of the actions filed, totaling $5.99 billion, according to the report.
Palm Beach County is second with 17,065, or 29.3 percent, of the actions filed, which totals nearly $4.2 billion. Miami-Dade , which many industry watchers consider the epicenter of the Florida housing crash, has 13,939 actions – some 28.5 percent - filed, with a value of $4 billion, according to the report.
Condo Vultures® LLC is scheduled to release its third quarter 2008 Bank-Owned Properties report on Friday, Oct. 17. For an advanced copy, please be sure to register for the Condo Vultures® Market Intelligence Report.
Peter Zalewski is a principal with the consulting company Condo Vultures® LLC and a licensed real estate broker with Condo Vultures® Realty LLC. Peter can be reached at 305-865-5629 or by email at peter@condovultures.com. Be sure to check out Peter’s blog at CondoDump.com. Don't forget to sign up for our weekly Market Intelligence Report. Looking for a property at a deep discount? You are encouraged to take a peek at the Vultures Database™ .
Copyright © 2008, Condo Vultures® LLC
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