In Response to Flood of South Florida Foreclosures, Law Firm Offers Foreclosure Defense Services
An editorial in Aug. 9’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune called attention to an ongoing problem here in South Florida: the flood of foreclosed homes. As the article notes, major mortgage lenders were taken to task by the Obama Administration in late July for failing to take stronger action on loan modifications. Of the estimated 2.7 million Americans eligible for loan modifications under the Making Home Affordable program, an estimated 9% have actually received loan modifications, the article says. Meanwhile, there have been 1.5 million foreclosures around the nation so far this year, and Florida is one of the hardest-hit, with 10 of the top 25 most-foreclosed metropolitan areas. The editorial called on lenders to do more to meet the administration’s goal of 500,000 loan modifications by November 1 of this year.
At Balliro, Galasso, Leskovich & Seltzer, we serve clients throughout South Florida -- so we see the bad results of these foreclosures in our communities. In response, we are proud to announce that we will offer legal foreclosure defense services to homeowners throughout the state of Florida. Our Sarasota foreclosure defense attorneys represent homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure or actually facing foreclosure proceedings. Depending on the circumstances, we may be able to get a legal order stopping the foreclosure right away, giving our clients the chance to negotiate a workable loan modification, get back on their feet financially or, in some cases, invalidate a loan made under illegal circumstances.
Hiring a Fort Myers foreclosure defense lawyer may sound strange to some people. After all, borrowers are free to work out loan modifications on their own. However, months of news reports have made it clear that lenders and mortgage servicers do not seem to want to grant loan modifications. In fact, a study released in July by the Boston branch of the Federal Reserve concluded that lenders intentionally avoid making loan modifications because they lose money making those changes. As one author, Boston Fed economist Paul Willen, observed, banks would go out and hire more staff to deal with the overwhelming demand for loan modifications if making the modifications were profitable. Because banks have not hired this staff, borrowers seeking a loan modification face months of delays, lost paperwork and bureaucratic mistakes even as their lenders continue the process of foreclosing on their homes.
Even if you’re facing this kind of red tape, BGL&S can help. Our Naples foreclosure defense attorneys get the banks’ attention very quickly by filing lawsuits in cases where that action is appropriate. A lawsuit can result in a legal order to stop foreclosure right away, long before the case is resolved. In many cases, homeowners who are facing foreclosure are people who took out subprime or exotic loans -- a market that multiple suits now allege was rife with unethical behavior. If you were lied to or misled when you took out your loan, you are probably a victim of predatory lending. BGL&S aggressively pursues predatory lending lawsuits because they can invalidate the loan, allowing borrowers to negotiate for a more favorable loan modification.
