Seems to me that early on in the Great Recession, I read about a couple of judges who were throwing out foreclosure judgments because the banks didn't have proper documentation.
Then that phenomenon seemed to fade away.
So, over the last couple of years, I would constantly read that loan modifications were difficult to achieve, or that short sales were extremely time consuming and difficult to close. But I heard no more about foreclosures being thrown out of court.
Then -- over the last couple weeks -- the foreclosure "Mess"; I used that term in my first entry about this, and it's the same word I've seen over and over again in the national news -- came back with a vengeance.
A Mess is a Mess is a Mess.
So what I'm wondering. Did we not hear of anymore successful foreclosure challenges because the banks got their act together, or because they found ways to cover up their ineptitude better?
Because if -- as I suspect -- it's the latter, we've got even more of a mess. Not only do the courts and government have to figure out who amongst all the packaged mortgages actually owns the papers, or is supposed to own the papers, we may have to go backward a couple of years and UNTANGLE the foreclosures which have already happened.
Which will probably be even more complicated.
It's like what they say about cover ups. It isn't the initial crime that gets you in trouble, its all the laws you break trying to cover it up.
*************
Hack Bend was wondering about the odd circumstance of WineStyles closing at the same time that three new breweries were opening.
Well, to borrow a saying about second marriages -- that they are a "triumph of hope over experience" -- opening a business is about hope.
Staying in business or closing is about experience.
As I keep commenting about the churning of businesses downtown -- opening new business reflects the relatively strength of the reputation of downtown, but does not necessarily reflect actual economic conditions.
**********
I seem to be far enough away from the downtown plaza to notice any problems, so I hesitate to comment. It must be bad enough that the nearby merchants would be willing to experience some bad publicity in order to get it resolved.
I will say this much -- this is one of the reasons that "Malling" the entire downtown would be a horrid idea.
Traffic cleans away the arteries, if you will.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
If you notice the problem is basically in the states that use judicial foreclosure and not in the states with deeds of trust. The issue is one of documentation not necessarily one of knowing. In a judicial foreclosure, as with most other legal actions, one must dot all of the i's and cross all of the t's. The issue is largely one that the banks were basically signing off on the computer outputs and not reviewing the complete set of records involved in the case.
The solution, as they are now doing, is to stop any foreclosures for which the review has not occured, assemble the documents, conduct the review and refile.
The New York Times had an article today on how this is negatively impacting home sales already.
Post a Comment