Josh Salman | Herald Tribune |
“Courts across Florida are chipping away at massive foreclosure backlogs, and while that pace may accelerate thanks to a new law aimed at further expediting the process, choked court systems remain a reality throughout the state.
In the 12th Judicial Circuit, which includes Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties, more than 1,000 foreclosure cases were expedited in the past two months alone — more than the previous 10 months of the current fiscal year combined, a new report shows.
But even with that, the process continues to lag behind what state lawmakers had in mind when they allocated more than $5 million to alleviate the situation.
For Realtors in one of the tightest markets in memory, that means little new distressed product for them to provide hungry buyers. The lack of existing homes for sale has been pushing buyers toward new homes, a thirst builders are struggling to slake in the face of skilled-labor shortages.
For current homeowners, it means the potentially value-warping effects of distressed properties — and all the headaches associated with having foreclosed properties in the neighborhood — could be with us for many years to come.
A logjam of 14,471 pending defaults continues to stymie the court system, and more than one third of the cases dismissed this year were dismissed without a judgment.
As a result, those foreclosures could still circle back into the courts when lenders shore up paperwork or make other necessary adjustments, according to an update released this week from the State Courts Administrator.”