Florida real estate attorney and legal blogger Roy Oppenheim contributed to the report, which explains how a tenfold increase in foreclosure cases over the past five years is crippling the South Florida court system.

According to Oppenheim Law, South Florida courts have turned to mediation, a process prior to foreclosure proceedings that gives homeowners and banks an opportunity to avoid a battle in court if an agreement on the future of the property and debt can be reached. The problem, though, is most homeowners are not aware they now have a right to mediation.

“Mediation makes all the difference in the world,” Oppenheim says. “There are so many opportunities to resolve matters in mediation, a lot of creative ways.”

Check out the entire Foreclosure Tsunami article in Oppenheim Law’s Newsroom to find out the state’s plan to eliminate half of the foreclosure backlog by the end of the year.

The Court acknowledged the system is not working. Foreclosure filings are expected to reach 456,000 cases in Florida by the end of 2010, a 50% increase from those in 2009. Thus, the Court felt compelled to do something.

My free foreclosure and real estate workshop on Thursday, January 7, at 6 p.m. is designed to review the “Year That Was” and preview the “Year That Will Be” based on the New Rules for 2010.

These new rules mean banks will be taken to task by the legal system. If conducted properly, a homeowner can demand proof of the Note and ownership of the loan prior to mediation. If the bank does not show up at the mediation or does not have a person with “true” authority to settle the case, the Court can issues sanctions against the bank and even hit the bank with attorney’s fees in some instances.

Until now approximately 75% of cases in mediation settled. That number should now shrink since the system will soon be overloaded with mediations. The real question is how to take control of this new strategic tool. Of course, one has to be mindful of the old saying, “Be careful what you ask for.” That will certainly be the situation here.

You need to know your objective and have a plan or strategy. Is your desire to walk away without the bank coming after you, or is it to stay and renegotiate the loan to its new underwater value? Or is it to rent the house and just be able to stay?

Lots of creative options will arise that are good for the homeowner and even the bank. The key is knowing what is best for you and using this new opportunity as a way to fashion your own bailout.

I hope to see you all Thursday night, January 7th, at our free Florida foreclosure defense and real estate workshop as Oppenheim Law helps you achieve a New Bailout in the New Year. Again, I wish you all the best in 2010!

Well the early statistics are in http://bit.ly/RsUIQ. As expected, we are finding in Florida that the likelihood of completing a loan modification is much higher if conducted with a mediator under court supervision. That’s why it’s likely why we can anticipate that the Florida Supreme Court will require mandatory mediation in every foreclosure action. In fact, in the few Florida counties where mediation is already required a whopping 50% of the foreclosures are settling usually with a new loan amount, a decreased interest rate and with a new lower payment.

It is just unfortunate that borrowers need to take the lenders to the wall before they get the bank’s attention. We are seeing and hearing too many times when the banks just won’t cooperate with a modification until the person is in foreclosure and defended by competent counsel.

I’m not sure if it’s because the borrowers can’t get someone with authority to talk with and negotiate with until they get to mediation or if it is because the banks are just too overwhelmed in the first place.

In any event let’s just hope that the Florida Supreme Court Task Force sees the trend as we do and does the right thing by implementing unified mandatory mediation rules for mortgage foreclosures throughout all of the Florida judicial circuits.