Foreclosure statistics – WHY? (More proof that banks are harming the economy)
A recent article on Yahoo shows that banks foreclosed on 95,364 properties in August, 2010. Think about that for a moment. In one month alone, nearly 100,000 homes were foreclosed. Whenever I see statistics like this, my immediate reaction is to wonder “Why? What is this accomplishing?”
Some judges, including Palm Beach County Chief Judge Peter LeBlanc, have tried to justify the increasing number of foreclosure judgments (and the use of foreclosure “rocket dockets” and the use of senior judges) by arguing “it is important to clear the foreclosure cases so that vacant and dilapidated homes can go back on the market, presumably increasing neighborhood property values.” When I saw this quote from Judge LeBlanc, I blogged about it, below, arguing that banks are harming the economy, not my clients, because banks cause homes to be vacant and abandoned, not homeowners. If you read today’s Yahoo article closely, you’ll see what I mean. After all, as Yahoo reports:
“Fewer than one-third of homes repossessed by lenders are on the market”
Ponder that for a minute. Foreclosures are on the rise, at never-before-seen rates … yet the homes that banks are foreclosing are not being listed for sale. What does that mean? Simple –
Banks are causing homes to be vacant and abandoned.
That may sound harsh, but there is no other explanation. To illustrate, if 95,000(+) homes were foreclosed in August, and banks are listing only 1/3 of those properties for sale, then 60,000 homes that were foreclosed in August are now vacant/abandoned.
There is no other conclusion that can be drawn here. The numbers don’t lie. Banks are causing homes to be vacant and abandoned. Every time another foreclosure judgment is pushed through, another homeowner is removed from his/her home, causing the home to sit, empty.
This is what lawyers such as myself and fellow foreclosure defense attorney Matt Weidner have been saying for a long time.
Why are Florida courts in such a rush to foreclose on homeowners?
There simply aren’t enough buyers for all of these properties that banks are foreclosing upon, so all that’s happening when courts “push through” foreclosure cases is that homes which were occupied become vacant. Instead of a family having a place to live, a bank adds another property to its inventory (and that property sits, unoccupied).
Respectfully, I dare anyone to explain how this helps our economy.
How does it help for homeowners to be removed from their homes so those homes can sit, idle, unoccupied, not even listed for sale?
How does it help for tens of thousands of homes to become vacant every month?
I urge judges to ponder these questions when they are asked to sign a foreclosure judgment. Ask yourself, judges, “am I really helping the economy?” “Who is being helped here?” If you don’t think that matters, remember – mortgage foreclosure cases sound in equity.
Where is the equity in foreclosing on another homeowner when that home will sit, unoccupied, without being sold, for months or years?
I fear that some judges, in their ongoing urge to “clear the backlog” of foreclosure cases from their dockets, are not going to be persuaded by this argument. If so, then please, at least spare us the argument that Chief Judge LeBlanc made when he told the media that “it is important to clear the foreclosure cases so that vacant and dilapidated homes can go back on the market.” Respectfully, at this point, we all know that’s simply not true. In other words, let’s call a spade a spade.
The only thing foreclosures are accomplishing is filling the bank accounts of fat cat bankers, who are accumulating homes at record rates and waiting to sell those homes so as to maximize their own profits.
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