Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Blog

Recent housing numbers show that Florida has the highest percentage of unoccupied homes with nearly 20% of homes in the state being vacant!! The Census Bureau data uncovered that 1.6 million homes, or 18%, are sitting vacant. That percentage accounts for a 63% drop in occupancy rate the last 10 years. The mortgage bubble and the growing population made Florida one of the nations hottest real estate markets, but the amount of unoccupied homes threatens to make Florida one of the most depressed markets for decades.

The hardest hit county in Florida has consistently been Collier County, where 32% of home sitting empty. Real estate industry insiders predict that home prices in these areas will takes decades to recover to their pre-bust levels, with Naples (Collier County) not expected to recover until the late 2030's. Collier is followed by Lee County (30%) and Sarasota County (23%) as counties with an over 20% vacancy rate. The other usual suspects the nations highest foreclosure rates also had high vacancy rates: Arizona (16%), Nevada (14%), California (8%).

It seems as though each day brings new news about the depths of the foreclosure crisis, especially here in Florida. If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today to see what foreclosure defenses may be available to you and possibly keep you in your home.

The City of Chicago is facing the possibility that it will be forced to spend millions of dollars to deal with the accumulation of abandoned homes within the city. According to reports, there are more than 18,000 properties on the city's vacant building rolls and of those 18,000 properties, 69%, or almost 13,000, properties can be associated with a foreclosure filing between the beginning of 2006 and July 2010. Of the number of homes linked to foreclosure filings, 10,778 have some sort of foreclosure outcome, which leaves 1.896 homes that do not have an outcome.

In instances like this, a lender has filed a foreclosure lawsuit, the homeowner abandoned the property and the lender decides that it is less expensive to not complete the foreclosure process and it will charge off the mortgage on the property. When this happens the lender is not responsible for the home, which means the cost of maintaining the home or demolishing the home falls to the city.

Cities across the U.S. now face similar problems due to the numbers of people who abandon their homes when they are facing foreclosure. Along with the costs of maintaining or demolishing homes, abandoned homes have long been associated with increases in crime and blight to their areas, which in turn further drives down area home values.

If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today.

The Sarasota Herald Tribune recently published a story detailing the new depths that banks are stooping in order to retake Florida homes. Allegations of breaking an entering and changing the locks, plundering personal possessions and theft are just a few of the allegations many homeowners are making regarding the banks behavior.

In one instance, a family of Canadian tourists returned to their rented beach house only to find their keys no longer worked, a half empty beer bottle sitting on the kitchen counter and their laptop computer, MP3 player and 6 bottles of wine were missing. The tourists were so alarmed by the turn of events they believed the home had been broken into by burglars and called the police. As it happened, the lender hired a Sarasota company to break in and change the locks in an effort to retake the property. Under Florida law it is illegal for a bank representative to enter a home if the bank has not yet taken the property through a foreclosure sale, especially if that property appears to be occupied.

In this case, the tourists decided that they no longer felt safe in their rental home and the homeowner was forced to return a portion of their money and pay for some of the missing property. This presents a problem for the homeowner because most police investigators categorize the break-ins at civil disputes because the banks and their hired contractors do not display the necessary criminal intent, making monetary recovery for the homeowner almost impossible.

Many foreclosure experts predict that as instances like this become more commonplace, law enforcement officials will be less and less inclined to help homeowners. If you have had an instance where you believe your mortgage company has broken into your home, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer and Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today.

A 12-year-old gardening business may be forced to close because of property damage caused One West Bank. In December, a typo in a foreclosure address caused One West Bank to seize and winterize the building that housed the businesses seedlings. When the banks seizure team left the building they didn't lock the doors and left the gates open, causing the seedlings to freeze as a result of being exposed to the harsh January cold.

Although the business owner was able to ultimately prevent One West from seizing her property she sustained $35,000 worth of property losses! The business owner has spent the last seven months fighting with One West to recover her losses due to their negligence and she has stated that if she doesn't recover her losses she may be forced to close her once thriving business.

One of the most important lessons the business owner wanted others to take away from her situation is to open and read all letters you receive from any bank, if only to make sure that they have made a mistake and are coming after your home. If you have received any communication from a lender seeking to mistakenly foreclose on your home contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer to discuss your options.

In Wells Fargo v. Tyson, the judge awarded the homeowner defendant a judgment of $155,092 on a counter-claim that Wells Fargo trespassed on the homeowner's property. Wells Fargo did not dispute that a representative of the company entered the home, without notice, on two separate occasions. Although the home was not the defendant's primary residence it was apparent that the home was not abandoned because the homeowner maintained the outside of the home and continued to keep many personal belongings in the home. In spite of that fact, Wells Fargo changed the locks on the home illegally locking the homeowner out of their home.

This should serve as a reminder to all lenders that they do not have an absolute right to enter the property of a homeowner in which they hold the mortgage and note. If a lender or their representative unlawfully enters the property of a homeowner they may, and hopefully will, have to answer to a counter claim of trespassing. If you are going through a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit and the company that owns your mortgage and note has unlawfully entered your home, contact a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer. You may have a counter claim against the lender for trespass.

Massachusetts homeowners filed a lawsuit in federal court against Bank of America for unlawfully seizing their home, removing their belongings and changing the locks. The Massachusetts owner stated that they paid cash for the full amount of their home in 2005. If the owner's statement is accurate, Bank of America had absolutely no right to act as it did.

Unfortunately for homeowners this is not the first time that we have seen a bank wrongfully change the locks and remove all of a homeowner's possessions. If you or anyone you know has a home being foreclosed on or you have been locked out of your home by a bank contact a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer or Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyer to discuss your legal options.