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by Kim Miller |  Palm Beach Post | “The founder of a Florida-based mortgage servicing firm was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday for her participation in a six-year scheme to prepare and file more than 1 million fraudulently-signed and notarized documents. Lorraine Brown, 56, launched the company DocX, which later became Jacksonville-based LPSRead more

TampaBay Newspapers | CLEARWATER – “One judge’s caseload will be distributed to other Civil Division judges so that he can work fulltime on clearing the more than 16,000 foreclosure cases that are backlogged in Pinellas County. Effective Sept. 1, Circuit Judge Thomas M. Minkoff’s court dockets and calendars will be filled with foreclosure cases that wereRead more

by Kim Miller | “The number of foreclosed homes that have been abandoned by their owners is by far the highest in Florida with 55,503 properties sitting empty and in some stage of a bank takeover. That’s 33 percent of the national total with Illinois coming second with 17,672 vacant and foreclosed homes. In aRead more

Gray Rohrer | “Florida has more vacant homes in foreclosure than any other state in the nation, easily beating out other large states with troubled housing markets, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks distressed properties. There are 55,503 housing units in foreclosure in Florida that are vacant. That’s 33Read more

winknews.com | “RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for real estate data, today released a report showing that as of June owners had vacated 167,680 foreclosure properties nationwide, representing 20 percent of all U.S. properties in the foreclosure process. These owner-vacated foreclosures are in addition to 544,274 bank-owned homes nationwide that have been foreclosed onRead more

Posted by Kerri Ann Panchuk | “When Florida’s Governor Rick Scott signed House Bill 87 – the so-called foreclosure Rocket Docket bill – he had no idea he was opening another can of worms and potentially giving foreclosure defense attorneys more tools in their arsenal to delay foreclosures. The bill was passed into law to deal withRead more

  Article By: Alexander Dobrev | “House Bill 87, also known as the Florida Fair Foreclosure Act, has successfully made its way through both chambers of the legislature, ordered “enrolled” as of the date of this writing, and should be on its way to the Governor’s desk in the very near future. So what does thisRead more

By Jennifer Liberto @CNNMoney | Tampa homeowners probably need the government’s help more than in other places. After all, Florida’s Tampa Bay reported the nation’s third highest rate of foreclosures as recently as May. But those seeking in-person help from the government will be out of luck. The federal housing department, which handles such things as emergency placementsRead more

By Lauren Carroll, Times Staff Writer | “Homeowners facing foreclosure should prepare for speedier judgment than they might expect. Last week, Gov. Rick Scott approved legislation intended to expedite the foreclosure process, which led the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit to make changes that will affect lenders and buyers. Currently, the average Florida foreclosure case lasts about 900 days. ChiefRead more

By Michelle Conlin and Peter Rudegeair | (Reuters) – “Six former Bank of America Corp employees have alleged that the bank deliberately denied eligible home owners loan modifications and lied to them about the status of their mortgage payments and documents. The bank allegedly used these tactics to shepherd homeowners into foreclosure, as well asRead more