South Florida Law Blog

Like the never ending horror franchise, deficiency judgments are back. A Florida deficiency judgment occurs when a bank pursues the remaining balance on a mortgage either after a foreclosure or, in theory, after a Florida short sale. Most banks are currently too busy to process deficiency judgments because they are dealing with foreclosures and short sales. Due to the large […]

The Florida Court system, including judges, nearly faced mandatory furloughs and unpaid vacations due to an emergency shortfall in its budget. Court employees faced up to 30 days of unpaid vacation through the end of May. The reason for the short fall was the precipitous drop in foreclosure filings, which generated the fees the courts relied upon for the majority […]

In an eye-opening piece by 60 Minutes this week, Scott Pelley managed to actually interview robo-signers who had forged documents that allowed banks to foreclose on thousands of homes illegally. As we have discussed over the past few years, these document mills re-created the necessary documents that banks were too lazy to keep track of in the heyday of the […]

Reporting on the winning and losing headlines, South Florida Law Blog brings you the break down and what this means to the Florida homeowner. While South Florida is #1 for mortgage fraud and foreclosure settlement talks between banks and the Obama administration appear futile at best, this week’s new was not all doom and gloom. Check out Oppenheim Law and Weston […]

Foreclosures are back… just like Freddy Krueger. Just like in the horror films when things start to calm down and get back to normal… out pops Freddy Krueger again to scare the living daylights out of you. Well, that seems to be the case here in Florida as it relates to real estate and foreclosures. The news this past week […]

What do hyenas, wolves and hippos have in common with foreclosure mills? Upon learning this week that David Stern’s foreclosure mill decided to sue GMAC as well as some other former clients, the only fitting analogy for such backlash and conduct would be to compare it to species known for eating their young. In fact, it’s not just Stern’s office […]

Black hat foreclosure has been an accepted practice since 2006? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. As Florida’s top prosecutor continues to investigate the state’s law firms for improper foreclosure work, a report has surfaced showing Fannie Mae was warned in 2006 of abuses in the way lenders and their law firms handled foreclosures, according to the Wall Street Journal. The fraud-closure problem […]

Broward County homeowners now face an additional hurdle when trying to complete a loan modification or short sale to avoid a Florida foreclosure. In Sun-Sentinel reporter Paul Owers’ blog House Keys, Owers discusses the ramifications of Broward County now requiring 10 days’ notice to cancel residential foreclosure auctions according to an administrative order signed by Broward Chief Judge Victor Tobin. […]