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Palm Beach County clerk sees filings increase in March

April 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post

After several months of declining foreclosures, the Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts reports today that March saw a 20 percent increase in initial filings from the previous month.

At 908 new foreclosure filings, it was the highest number of new cases in Palm Beach County since October last year.

Clerk Sharon Bock predicts those new filings will continue to climb.

“We expect the increase in filings to continue as banks become less hesitant to file,” she said. “We believe that as banks become more comfortable with their foreclosure processes, they will release files they have been holding and volumes will start to escalate.”

March’s filings, although higher than February, still represent a 52 percent decrease over the number of cases filed during the same month in 2010.

Read more here

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Foreclosure volunteers help save county clerk more than $309,658

April 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post

Volunteers from Illustrated Properties, a South Florida real estate agency, will be recognized for their service in helping clear Palm Beach County’s foreclosure backlog on Monday by Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock.

According to a press release, the volunteers perform basic functions, including photocopying and filing, which helps to free up clerks for other essential tasks and customer service.

Since September more than 20 volunteers from Illustrated Properties have volunteered in the foreclosure area.

“Volunteers support departments that have been severely affected by state-mandated budget cuts and layoffs over the past two years, helping with the heavy workload and saving taxpayer money,” said Clerk Sharon Bock, Palm Beach County’s Clerk & Comptroller. “Last year, our volunteers logged approximately 15,000 hours and saved county taxpayers an estimated $309,658 in donated work hours.”

Palm Beach County’s foreclosure backlog currently stands at about 29,466 cases, down from 46,438 cases in July. Statewide, the backlog of foreclosures in the court system is 322,724, down from 462,339 in July.

The Clerk & Comptroller’s office seeks volunteers year-round. Volunteers set their own hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekdays, and work at a variety of locations throughout the county. For more information, go to www.mypalmbeachclerk.com or call 561-355-4172.

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Half of day’s foreclosure auctions called off

October 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post

The lawyer for the bank foreclosing on her home leaned in to Regina Ross on Tuesday morning to whisper an unexpected message.

Representing JPMorgan Chase, the Florida Default Law Group attorney had just canceled 27 foreclosure sales in less than 15 minutes in front of Palm Beach County Judge Meenu Sasser.

He told Ross he also would call off the sale in Bank of America’s 3-year-old case against her.

By the end of the morning’s hearings, 50 percent of the day’s foreclosure auctions were aborted, canceled in many cases only an hour before they were to go to sale.

The typical rate for cancellations is about 30 percent.

Lawyers scrambled to pull foreclosed properties from auction after the recent admissions from three major lenders that flawed foreclosure affidavits may have been filed with the court.

That means homeowners on the brink of losing their properties are getting last-minute reprieves, regardless of whether the reason for the pardon is clear to them or whether they’re even aware of the status of their cases.

Sasser said she’s had to explain to a few homeowners why the sales were canceled. If it’s a JPMorgan Chase, Ally Financial or Bank of America case, it could be because affidavits were signed by bank employees who falsely swore they had verified documents showing the foreclosure was warranted. All three banks have suspended portions of their foreclosure proceedings to review and correct documents.

“I always take time to explain what’s happening,” said Sasser, who estimated she approved 40 sale cancellations Tuesday .

Palm Beach County Judge Edward Garrison worked on similar foreclosure hearings.

In total, 150 properties were scheduled for auction Tuesday. Seventy-five were canceled, with 33 being pulled Tuesday before the 10 a.m. start time of the online auction.

Ross asked for the Nov. 1 sale of her suburban Lake Worth home to be canceled because she said she has someone who will buy it as a short sale. The home was purchased for $399,500 in 2005, but the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office now lists its total market value at $183,809.

While the bank has not approved the short sale and no mortgage has been paid on the home in two years, the foreclosing attorney agreed without argument to cancel the sale.

Attorney John Carter, who is not representing Ross but observed the hearing, said the bank was probably going to request the cancellation anyway because of the affidavit issues.

Read more here: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/half-of-days-foreclosure-auctions-called-off-956021.html

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As Palm Beach County foreclosure paperwork piles up, so does desperation

April 6, 2010 By 1 Comment

Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post

Don Cameron’s March 8 win in a Palm Beach County home auction is stalled somewhere on the third floor of the courthouse in stacks of foreclosure filings piled several feet overhead.

He’d like to start fixing up the three-bedroom house, renovate the kitchen, maybe get it ready for a first-time home buyer hoping to cash in on the waning days of the $8,000 tax credit.

But nearly a month after his $74,570 purchase, which he is required to pay for in full by noon the next day, the massive backlog of foreclosures in the Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller’s Office still has him waiting for the home’s title.

Despite tripling the number of employees who handle foreclosures, and scanning a feverish 30,000 case pages into the computer every day, staff can’t keep up with what amounted to about 2,500 foreclosures each month last year. (In all of 2005, there were 3,049 foreclosures in the county).

By statute, the clerk can’t release a title for 10 days, but waiting up to 60 days to claim ownership is cutting into Cameron’s profit margin and, some say, the economic recovery.

Getting foreclosures back on the market means paychecks for people who do renovations.

Buyers will purchase furniture and accessories.

Real estate and property taxes get paid.

“We can’t do anything. We can’t get our money back, we can’t work on the property, we can’t sell the property, we can’t market the property,” said Cameron, owner of real estate investment company Hi-Land Properties, a West Palm Beach subsidiary of We Buy Ugly Houses. “It’s a domino effect.”

This year, the Florida State Courts Administration is requesting $9.6 million from the state to hire more judges and speed the backlog of foreclosures through the system. The administration estimates there are about 500,000 foreclosure cases pending statewide, including 55,000 in Palm Beach County, and 13,750 in Martin and St. Lucie counties combined.

But even if the judges get their money, the cases could still get stuck in a processing logjam on the clerk’s side.

Read more here: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/as-pbc-foreclosure-paperwork-piles-up-so-does-521201.html?imw=Y

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