As the headlines continue my concern for Florida homeowners continues to grow.
This past week alone I have spoken to an unprecedented amount of homeowners whom are already in, or facing foreclosure. Each of them truly believe there is no reason to worry, no reason to spend the money hiring a foreclosure defense lawyer, that by some miracle the government is going to hold the banks accountable and have the courts cancel their mortgages.
Obviously not, the administration has already issued their statement; The Federal Housing Administration Commissioner, David Stevens, has joined David Axelrod in stating that the Administration sees no reason to halt all foreclosures.
Instead of the media focusing on the banks they need to focus on the people; Florida's homeowners that are now living with a false sense of security, only to wake up one morning to the nightmare of foreclosure and losing their home.
The people need to know that all of this talk and press coverage of halting the foreclosures is not going to save their homes. It's nothing more than a band-aid and an opportunity for the banks to clean up their mess. I explained in my prior posting, "Hoping the Current Bank Scandal Gets You a Free House?" the banks are doing this to gain the edge, clean up their mess and then it will be business as usual!
Florida homeowners are beginning to see the current banking fraud crisis as a way out - a way of keeping their homes - the courts and the government is going to protect them and save their homes. THEY ARE NOT!
Ask yourself one question; did the government do anything to protect homeowners over the past several years? NO.
Foreclosure defense lawyers like me have been raising this issue of fraud by the banks and their foreclosure mill attorneys to the courts attention for years now. However the judges are so inundated they don't have the time to review every case.
Over the past several months these foreclosure mill attorneys have been sinking to new lows; they are now seeking to default defendants (homeowners) through judicial default. In other words, the bank attorneys are seeking out the judges that are overwhelmed by the process and asking them to default a defendant that has already filed a motion for extension of time to respond.
Then there are those cases that go uncontested because the homeowner believes the bank when they are told that the foreclosure is in hold while they are in review for modification. Yet the banks foreclosure mill attorney is moving full steam ahead and suddenly the homeowner finds out their home is being sold at foreclosure.
Just Friday I met with an elderly gentleman who had spent more than a year trying to have his mortgage loan modified by Wells Fargo. Of course as in most cases the Wells Fargo representative told the homeowner to ignore the foreclosure as it was placed on hold. Guess what happened... they sold his home at foreclosure just a week ago! That's right, while all this grandstanding by the politicians and the banks was going on announcing the supposed halt on foreclosures this man's home was sold right from under him.
Did the homeowner seek the advice of an experienced foreclosure defense attorney? No, he turned to the internet and a friend that was a paralegal, which is why he lost the home to foreclosure.
If he had consulted with an experienced foreclosure defense attorney he would not be facing eviction right now.
I truly hope that my postings are not falling upon deaf ears. I am hoping, no praying, that Florida's homeowners stop listening to all of the grandstanding by politicians, the media and the misinformation all over the Internet and instead do what any person should when they have a legal problem.... Hire a lawyer.