Lawyers Push Up Numbers of Forclosure Homes For Sale
May 11th, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
A rising number of lawyers in Florida have been giving false statements to judges in court to facilitate the conversion of delinquent properties into forclosure homes for sale. They have been skipping several legal procedures for filing foreclosure cases in court, including failing to notify delinquent homeowners and determine the real owners of the properties.
Because of large numbers of filings by lawyers to turn defaulting properties into forclosure homes for sale, the courts are unable to check thoroughly all cases filed with them.
When asked about the fast-tracked forclosure homes for sale, the judges said that they can try to prevent the unethical practices of some of the lawyers, but the judges can not assure they can catch all of them. They hope to catch and punish some of the irresponsible lawyers to keep the others warned.
Because of the backlog, the judges asked homeowners to make sure that the information in the lawyers’ filings to turn their properties into forclosure homes for sale are correct.
Since the foreclosure crisis started in 2006, foreclosure cases in courts have risen by 600 percent across Florida.
In the areas of Sarasota, Bradenton and Venice, there were already 4,991 foreclosure filings, putting the areas among the top places with the highest number of forclosure homes for sale in the country.
In the same period, budgets for courts handling foreclosures declined by 13 percent.
Most lawyers filing foreclosures are non-resident attorneys, and they rarely go to the courts in person.
Florida Judge Donna Berlin discovered documentary mistakes when she noticed before signing that two delinquent properties were located in Miami, which is outside her jurisdiction. She said she does not usually look at those types of details because she relies on her staff for details.
Jacksonville lawyer April Charney said the practice is not isolated in Florida. She advised homeowners to check court files and the information written in filings.
Richard Kessler, a lawyer in Sarasota, examined 180 foreclosure filings in Sarasota County and found that 3 out of 4 cases had incorrect or incomplete documentation. He said that only 1 in 12 filings had documents showing that the firm doing the foreclosure is also the firm that own the mortgage note.
Almost 50 percent of the filings declared that mortgage notes had been lost.
Other techniques to facilitate the conversion of defaulting houses into forclosure homes for sale include skipping mediation meetings with homeowners and changing the names of mortgage lenders.
