Decrease in Foreclosure Filings Only Delays the Inevitable, Says Sarasota, Florida Attorney Jo Ann Koontz of Yesner & Boss

SARASOTA, FLORIDA – The recent lull in foreclosure filings may be a welcome relief for Florida homeowners, but it is not good news for the long-term recovery of the real estate market, said Jo Ann Koontz, an attorney and Certified Public Accountant in the Sarasota, Florida, office of Yesner & Boss, a Tampa Bay area law firm focusing on distressed properties.

Foreclosure rates are down nationwide as lenders take longer to act against borrowers who are delinquent in paying their mortgages. But once lenders work through the robo-signing issues and other judicial problems that led to the slow-down in filings, they will flood the market with a new wave of foreclosures, said Koontz.

“This is just the lull before the storm,” she warns. “We need to clear out the default backlog before the real estate market can make a true recovery.”

In the first half of 2011 nearly 85 percent of U.S. metropolitan regions with populations greater than 200,000 saw a drop in foreclosure rates as compared to the first half of 2010. Data used to conduct the study was collected from notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions, all indicators that can show a home may be lost to foreclosure.

Out of 211 of the nation’s largest municipalities, 178 saw a decline in foreclosure activity in the first half of the year. Analysis shows that the declines are likely attributable to impediments in the foreclosure process caused by documentation problems that came up last fall. Considerable paperwork had to be resubmitted on many homes that were destined for foreclosure, spurring an outbreak of government and regulatory agency investigations of the lending and banking industry.

The decline in foreclosure activity can also be linked to mortgage banks avoiding action against delinquent borrowers in favor of home loan modifications or other schemes that will keep borrowers in their homes and out of default.

Unimpressive home sales have also influenced lenders to refrain from evicting foreclosed homeowners, which would allow the property to sit vacant and unsold for months.

Florida had some of the metropolitan areas that saw the biggest annual declines in foreclosure activity, likely aided by the fact that Florida is a judicial foreclosure state which requires courts to sort out foreclosure issues in such volumes that significant hurdles are inevitable. Florida’s foreclosure rate ranked seventh in the nation in July, with one in every 372 home loans being foreclosed.

“While the slowdown in foreclosures may be a welcome respite for many, it is only short term,” Koontz said.

Yesner & Boss maintains offices in Sarasota, Tampa, St. Petersburg and Boynton Beach. The firm focuses on residential and commercial real estate closings, real estate litigation, foreclosure defense and short sales. It also offers a full range of legal practice, including tax law, civil litigation, bankruptcies, business law, family law, personal injury, and wills, trusts and probate.

The Sarasota office is located at 1819 Main Street, Suite 215, Sarasota, FL 34236. Koontz can be reached at (941) 362-0050 or joann@yesnerboss.com.

The Yesner & Boss law firm maintains offices in Sarasota, Tampa, St. Petersburg and Boynton Beach. The firm focuses on residential and commercial real estate closings, real estate litigation, foreclosure defense and short sales. It also offers a full range of legal practice, including tax law, civil litigation, bankruptcies, business law, family law, personal injury, and wills, trusts and probate.

Yesner & Boss, P.L.
1819 Main Street, Suite 215
Sarasota, FL 34236
Telephone: (941) 362-0050
www.YesnerBoss.com
Media Contact: Sheila Brannan Longo (941) 355-3006
Thomas & Brannan Communications .

This release was published on openPR.