Jacksonville Real Estate Market Information

For Jacksonville Home Sellers perhaps the most stressful thing is simply pricing their Jacksonville real estate.  Who should you listen to?  Your neighbor? Your dad?   The news?  (How about the  Jacksonville real estate agent brave enough to tell you the truth?)

Price your Jacksonville real estate wrong and you could lose thousands...or worse.

What happens when you overprice your home?  You will likely get less money than had you priced it correctly in the beginning.

Jacksonville real estate should be priced with RECENT comparables to back up the sales price of your home.  The keyword is "recent comparables."  This does not mean comparables from 2006.  It means the absolute newest, freshest comps that you can find.  In addition the amount of distressed sales (Jacksonville short sales and Jacksonville foreclosures) in your neighborhood, and area, has to be taken into consideration as well.

Recent Comps do NOT extend to Jacksonville Real Estate currently for sale that has not sold!!!

Why not?  Because you can stick any price you want on a home and that does not mean that it is actually worth that price.  If your home is only worth $300,000...it does not matter if 15 of your neighbors, with almost identical homes, have theirs priced at $400,000.  What your neighbors have priced their home at does not create home value in the Jacksonville Real Estate Market.

Showing traffic is the biggest indicator that your Jacksonville home is overpriced.  If no one is coming to see it, it is probably not your Jacksonville real estate agents fault!  If no one is coming to your home and it is actively listed in the Jacksonville MLS system then the home is, far more often than not, overpriced. 

What happens when your home is overpriced?  Well, if the market is declining...you are losing money!  OVERPRICING YOUR JACKSONVILLE REAL ESTATE CAN COST YOU BIG!!!  At some point, buyers start to think something MUST be wrong with your home or it would have sold before now...wouldn't YOU think that if you were a Jacksonville home buyer?

So the question is do you want to just list your home for sale, or do you want to sell your Jacksonville real estate? 

You have to listen to the recent sales comps when you are listing your home for sale.  Someone who leads you to believe that your home is worth more than it is is not doing you any favors...they are costing you real money.  The Jacksonville real estate agent who gives you the lowest price in their market analysis may be the one most tuned in to the Jacksonville real estate market.

Nobody wins when you overprice your home in the Jacksonville Real Estate Market.  You lose.  Your agent who is working for free until the home sales loses.  And the buyer who might have thought your home was perfect had it been priced correctly...misses out on a great home.

It is important that Jacksonville real estate sellers try to remove the emotion and pay attention to the truth, whatever it may be.  

Yes, that is a real question.  While it sounds silly when I summarize it in this fashion, this is very common with Jacksonville foreclosures.  We work with a lot of foreclosure buyers, and have seen a lot of different scenarios play out.  Bidding against yourself is a very real possibility if you are looking to pick up a Jacksonville foreclosure / REO property. 

Many times (most?) after we submit an offer on a Jacksonville REO foreclosure we get the response that there are multiple offers on the property, "submit your highest and best."  Some buyers get mad when this happens, some call it ludicrous, but it is the reality of the Jacksonville real estate foreclosure market.  As a hopeful Jacksonville foreclosure buyer you should expect it.

Is there really another offer on the foreclosure property?  That is always the question.  We simply don't know. The listing agent can not reveal the details of the other offer.  There have been times where the home has been on the market for quite some time...it seems unlikely that there is another offer.  But there really may be one, as we have learned from experience.

Depending on who holds the property (bank, Fannie, etc.)  we may receive a form to fill out and sign regarding a revised offer on the Jacksonville foreclosure.  Other times the request for highest and best is just verbal or by e-mail.  It is then up to the foreclosure buyer to determine whether they want to increase their offer or not.  They do not know what the other offer is.  That is information that is not disclosed to us or the buyers. 

So the question is, will you increase your offer price because the foreclosure property has multiple offers?  Whether it does or does not, you may just be bidding against yourself.  There may be another offer that is far lower, or there may be an offer that is higher than yours. 

Here is a recent example of a Jacksonville foreclosure property that our buyer got:

• Asking price - $100,000
• Buyer's Original Bid- $100,000
• Got a message that there were multiple offers and to bring our highest and best.
• Buyer increased offer to $110,000
• Later, after we were under contract, a less than diligent individual in the listing agent's office copied us on an e-mail that we should not have been copied on that revealed the other offer.
• Buyer number 2 had only offered  $75,000.  (Would the bank had accepted EITHER offer had they both been around that price?  We doubt it...banks are more than willing to walk away from all offers and market the property longer. )

Here is another example of a hopeful foreclosure buyer we were working with who did not get the REO property:

• Asking price - $365,000
• Buyer's Offer - $272,000
• Bank refused to counter, asking for highest and best and citing other offers.
• Buyer's revised offer- 278,000
• Bank's Counter on the revised offer - $355,000
• Buyer refused to budge.  Buyer did not get the Jacksonville foreclosure.  But there really was another buyer as it closed soon after.
• Final Sales price of home pulled from the MLS - $ 340,000  (the buyer that got this home got an exceptional deal, this was an incredible house!!!)

And one more example of a buyer who did get the foreclosure from the bank, but almost didn't:

• Asking price - $157,900
• Buyer's Offer- $157,900
• Bank rejected buyer's offer, said they had accepted a different offer.
• One week later, out of the blue, the bank came back and "countered" the buyer's offer at $157,900.  (Yes, the same as the original offer amount.)  The buyer purchased the home.

One thing you can be sure of if you are in the market to purchase a Jacksonville foreclosure from a bank.  The experience will likely be predictably unpredictable.  Arm yourself with the numbers, recent comparable sales and know what you are willing to pay before you make your first offer.  Be willing to walk away if it does not meet your predetermined parameters.  Develop your strategy in advance and be prepared for the multiple offer call for highest and best.

We love helping sellers avoid foreclosure through short sales.  We are  Jacksonville short sale specialists and we know how to get approvals.  When this seller of an Oakleaf Plantation townhouse came to us, the situation seemed bleak...however, knowing our abilities and refusal to give up we took the listing hoping to make this one more seller that didn't have to endure the horrible process of foreclosure.

At the time we took this listing our last BOA / Fannie Mae approval had taken 6 months to get.  BOA was known to be slow and many buyer agents would not even take their buyers to BOA short sales anymore.

When this contract came in, Equator had recently been implemented for Bank of America short sales.  Many agents still do not like Equator, we LOVE it!!!  We are very strong in technology and welcome any technological improvements that arrive on the scene.  If you know how to use it, Equator is a wonderful tool that can greatly speed up your BOA short sale approvals.

Here is the timeline for this Oakleaf Plantation short sale approval (BOA/Fannie) and closing:

• 6/08/10 Short sale initiated in Equator
• 6/23/10 Counteroffer from BOA negotiator. BPO came in too high, the contract was countered much higher than the Oakleaf Plantation townhome was worth. We submitted the buyer's appraisal along with our own comps, countered the Bank of America counteroffer and persuaded the negotiator to take the buyer's appraisal. The BOA negotiator revised and countered again allowing the home to be sold at the buyer's appraised price (Buyer had a FHA appraisal).
• 06/29/10 Negotiator was satisfied and sent the deal to the investor, in this case Fannie Mae.
• 7/09/10 The contract was accepted by Fannie Mae and BOA generated an approval letter....only 31 calendar days after the short sale was initiated in Equator.
• 7/15/10 We closed the Oakleaf Plantation townhouse that was a Bank of America Short Sale only a month and a half after going under contract!

Summary of the numbers involved in the Oakleaf Plantation / BOA Short Sale: 

• List Price - $75,000
• Sales Price- $75.000
• Amount paid for townhouse in 2005- $166,100
• Amount owed on loan- $153,000 approximate
• Net Proceeds to Bank of America/ Fannie Mae in Short Sale - $64,149
• Past Due HOA dues paid by BOA/ Fannie Mae - $3,880
• Required Seller Contribution - $0

See the Bank of America Approval Letter for this Jacksonville short sale here.

Have a loan serviced or owned by BOA, underwater and need to sell?  We can help (and if we can't we'll tell you upfront!)

This Saxon short sale approval was on a wonderful home in Walden Chase in the Jacksonville Florida area.

Saxon issued this Jacksonville short sale approval on a Freddie Mac loan in only 2 days after we went under contract with this buyer!!!  But that's not the whole story (if only it had been that easy!).  This home had been under contract previously with another buyer.  We had explained the Jacksonville short sale process to the prior agent at length.  We had gotten assurances from her that she was not taking the buyers to other homes to look.  We had been highly suspicious because we figured out she was "cancelling" another short sale contract to buy this Jacksonville short sale listing.  We spent time explaining to this agent that the Jacksonville short sale contract is a binding contract with a CONTINGENCY for lienholder short sale approval.  She promised she understood and that her buyers were committed to this property.

One day when we called her to update her, we found out that they had put down a contract on a neighboring Walden Chase home at some point and that this home was now their number two???  To make a long story short, this agent had gotten her buyer into two legally binding contracts for a short sale (maybe more?).  Had both approvals come in at the same time, her buyer could have been left having to purchase both homes or having to forfeit her binder deposit for the home they chose not to buy.  We ended up with a short sale approval, but no short sale buyer!  This could have forced the seller into foreclosure, but we worked hard to make sure this didn't happen.

Luckily in the 11th (maybe 11th and 3/4) hour we were able to pull in a buyer for the same price and same terms as our prior approval.

We were able to submit the new deal to Saxon / Freddie Mac for approval and got our short sale approval letter issued two days later!

Details of Approval on this Walden Chase short sale:

• Original Purchase Price of this Walden Chase home - $343,000
• Loan Balance of first lien at time of Jacksonville short sale - $272,000 approximate
• Short Sale approval sales price - $220,000
• Payoff to Saxon / Freddie Mac - $198,961 (roughly 70% of loan balance)

 To See a Sample of an approval letter for Jacksonville short sales from Saxon mortgage:

Jacksonville short sales - Saxon approval letter Walden Chase 

This is not legal advice.  If you intend to take it as such, please quit reading now and consult an attorney directly.  We are not one!  Our dialog is strictly from a real estate transaction basis and is not legal advice.  We advise all of our short sale sellers to contact an attorney for specific legal advice.

There has been a lot of confusion recently on the deficiency balance issue when there is a Jacksonville short sale. If you have a foreclosure, Florida is a deficiency state, also called a recourse state.  This means that the lienholder(s) can pursue you for the deficiency balance (difference between what they recover and what is owed on the loan after all of the foreclosure costs are added)  This is unlike some other states that will not allow a deficiency after a foreclosure.  Florida foreclosure law can be found here.  This is also where you find details on a deficiency judgment in foreclosure. It is when you short sale that a lot of confusion comes in.  A very general definition that we sometimes hear of a short sale is "when the bank agrees to forgive the loan balance and lets you sell the home for what it is worth."  This makes us cringe.  This is NOT an accurate definition.  The bank is agreeing to a lien release.  What happens to the "balance" is a different story. Banks are not very forgiving these days.  It actually seems like the more they have gotten in taxpayer money, the less forgiving they have become. The truth is just because you complete a Jacksonville short sale does NOT mean there will not be a deficiency judgment down the road.

The players involved in a foreclosure or short sale are (simplified):

• The servicer. This is who you send your money to every month. (They can actually make MORE money when your loan is in default than when it's not.

• The noteholder. This is who has physical possession (supposedly) of your note. It can be VERY hard to get accurate information about who this is. Crazy enough, many servicers will refuse to tell a borrower who they actually owe the money to. Sometimes, we would argue, it's because they aren't even sure themselves.

• The PMI or MI company (mortgage insurance). Think you don't have this? Well you may be incorrect! Many people who put 20% down on their first mortgage are finding out that they do, in fact, have PMI!  We are starting to see this a lot.  Borrower puts 20% down to avoid PMI only to find out during the short sale negotiations with the lender that there is PMI because they are making a cash or note demand.

The short of it is that any one of these parties can decide you owe them money still....and then go after it.

The reasons to still do a Jacksonville short sale anyway even if a lender does not waive their right to later pursue you for a deficiency?

Faster Credit Recovery.  Current Fannie Mae guidelines allow you to purchase a home faster, sometimes years faster, if you complete a short sale instead of a foreclosure. FHA guidelines also allow you to purchase again years sooner if you sold your home in a short sale instead of having a foreclosure on your record. Many sellers tell us, "We don't care about that, we never want to own a home again."  I would be willing to bet that you will change your mind down the road.

You Control the Deficiency.  Once the home is foreclosed on you have no control whatsoever of the contract price or terms. The simple fact is that REOs / Foreclosures are almost, without exception, priced under Fair Market Value. This can translate to big $$$. For example, on one home we followed, the bank failed to act on a short sale (the home was only around $10,000 short of full payoff), the home was sold for $50,000 less once they foreclosed on the same home. Even though the bank FAILED TO TAKE THE SHORT SALE for $50,000 more they can still go after the seller for their own decision to underprice the home for $50k. This defies common sense...but it is happening. In a successful short sale you know roughly what the deficiency is that they may later pursue. In a foreclosure, you do not know how low they will eventually sell the home for, nor what outrageous expenses they will tack on to the bill to arrive at the deficiency.

There is a Chance That the Deficiency Can Be Waived. This varies greatly by bank or investor (whether you are in the HUD PFS program or HAFA) and seems to be in a constant state of change.  This may or may not ultimately happen.  But you can try to negotiate this when you are involved in a short sale.  This is not something you negotiate in a foreclosure.

You Maintain Your Dignity. Foreclosure is an emotional black hole. It is something that many people never get over.   In a short sale you feel like you are somewhat in control as opposed to a foreclosure where everything is out of your control.

Whether to short sale your home or not is a personal decision.  You have to weigh the costs and benefits to you and decide.  Regardless, you should be aware going in that a deficiency IS possible.  We work with both buyers and sellers of Jacksonville short sales and can help you determine if a Jacksonville short sale may be right for you.

Helping our buyers look around the Jacksonville area for condos has become quite interesting these days.  Buyers are getting excited when they see that condo complex they have had their eyes on for a few years has fallen below their range of what they can afford.

It is very common for Jacksonville condo prices to have dropped 50% since 2006/2007.  Surprisingly, I am seeing some condos in the Southside area of Jacksonville, St Johns County and Clay County priced around 25% of what they last sold for just a few short years ago!

Here are a few of the factors wreaking havoc on our Jacksonville condo values in the Jacksonville Real Estate Market:

• Jacksonville foreclosures in condo complexes.  Once Jacksonville foreclosures have entered a condo complex...expect values to start plummeting.  Rather than pricing the condo at market value...we see many new Jacksonville condo foreclosures come on for a good deal less than fair market value.
• Hardship situations making it hard, or impossible, for some (many???) residents to pay their condo dues.  When this happens, rather than dramatically slashing expenses to make it easier for the remaining residents, it seems that they are simply dividing the expenses by the number of people who are paying their dues still.  This in turn forces more people to not be able to pay their dues.  We think everyone would benefit by cutting condo dues, rather than raising them which will continue to add to hardship situations.  If you are buying a Jacksonville condo...remember one thing.  Go ahead and plan and budget for the dues to go up!!!  These condo fees are not set in stone, and we are of the opinion that we are nowhere near the point where they will level off.  We also question whether they will ever voluntarily bring these dues back down even after the housing situation and the economy improves to the point where we are no longer seeing defaults above the historic average. 
• It has become impossible to get loans in many Jacksonville condo complexes!  Many buyers do not realize this!  If you are looking to purchase a home in a Jacksonville condo complex it is crucial that you are working with a fantastic lender who can quickly evaluate whether a loan can be completed on a particular home.  FHA has an approved condo list.  Fannie has condo guidelines. Everywhere you look there are new guidelines popping up making it harder, or even impossible, to purchase that condo.   Recently we saw a case where a lender that the buyer was already working with when they first came to us did not prequalify the complex.  The transaction progressed with everyone believing the closing was fast approaching.  The week of closing USAA came back and said that the condo was not eligible for financing.  Why?  There were too many delinquent homeowner accounts.  There were too many people unable to pay the high condo association dues.  Here is the really interesting part....this was a Fannie Mae guideline that held this closing up.  We would venture a guess that many, many of these condos were purchased with loans that are now held by Fannie Mae.  How is Fannie helping anything with guidelines that are going to wreck the values further and force more homeowners into foreclosure?  They clearly are not thinking through cause and effect.  On this particular condo the short sale approval became useless without the ability to obtain financing on this unit.  So we submitted a new contract for this same property at 36% less than what the buyer had previously been willing to pay (and it had appraised for).  The seller had purchased the home brand new in Oakleaf for the $180k range just three years ago.  Our current contract price that is pending short sale approval is only 25% of the price he paid for the home.  It's a beautiful condo...almost brand new!!!  But now the complex has to be priced for cash buyers since financing is out of the questions.  Great job Fannie!  Way to think things through!  When three years ago I could hardly find a buyer a nice condo for $150,000...today I can help you get an oceanfront condo complex for that range!
• Condo conversion (and other?) lawsuits.  This issue has also been somewhat of a problem.  There have been different condos that have gone through phases of not being "loanable" nor "insurable" for title insurance purposes.  There is one particular complex that I would call fantastic.  It's awesome.  I have always loved it.  PERFECT location easily accessible to 9A, Town Center, I-95...fabulous floor plans.  Great site planning (not just rows and rows of units facing each other).  Huge windows with tons of light.  These condos feel more like a home than any other complex I've ever been in.  What can you buy these for today?  Banks are selling their foreclosures in here for around 25% of what the people who were foreclosed upon paid for the units.  Condo dues have also gone very high since there is a lawsuit pending against the builder / developer.  The lawsuit issue dealing with construction problems have sent values plummeting.  When the owners can no longer afford to keep their home in here they have no choice but to short sale or to let their home foreclose.  If they had 75% to cover the difference in the loss of value, they probably would not have financed in the first place.
• Condo Fees/ HOA Dues/ CDD Fees combined on units...or some combination of this.  The bottom line is that condo fees have gone higher.  With fewer people paying, the budget has to be divided up.  In the boom times, buyers did not care about the fees.  Fees were lower and no one anticipated what would happen to the market.  Some condo complexes have both Condo Fees and HOA Fees.  But did you know that some have Condo Fees, HOA Fees AND CDD Fees?  All of which have gone up due to the number of hardships being seen in the neighborhood.  I ran a scenarios for a condo buyer the other day for a Northern St. Johns County condo complex.  I quickly determined that although we can get him that condo for 25-30% of the price it was back in 2006/2007...all of the fees combined are equivalent to the principal and interest on a $150,000 house payment at 5% for 30 years!!!!  So if you pay all cash, it's kind of like that cash being a "downpayment" and monthly payments as if you had gotten a $150k loan.  Crazy????  We think!!!!

If you are a potential Jacksonville condo buyer, this is not a bad time to buy.  Can the market still decrease.  Yes, and we think it's not unlikely.  But when the homes are already priced at only 25% of what they were in recent years how much do you stand to lose?  At the same time, you need to be aware of what you are buying going in.  Be aware of the fee situation.  Find out if there are any lawsuits going on.  Understand that even if there are no lawsuits and the fees are just fine...THIS COULD CHANGE ON A DIME.  Be cautious of anyone who makes general statements.  Do your research.    Let us know if we can help.  We are very experienced in Jacksonville distressed properties and regularly help buyers purchase Jacksonville short sales and foreclosures.  We also help distressed sellers sell their homes through Jacksonville short sales. 

I  am not a lawyer.  This post is not in any way, shape or form legal advice. Do not even attempt to use it as legal advice.   It's simply not.  It's a post intended to share information that I have discovered quite recently regarding bankruptcy and how this does not make your home "not your problem."  If you are in this situation I suggest you consult COMPETENT legal counsel.  Most bankruptcy attorneys do not understand foreclosure law.  Most foreclosure attorneys do not understand bankruptcy law.  Be sure you are talking to someone who specializes in the particular topic area.

Working with Jacksonville short sales as much as we do we have run across this misrepresentation quite often.

We always have an escape clause for our short sale sellers.  If you have your home listed for sale with us and have gotten a loan modification or have decided to file for bankruptcy instead, we have always let our sellers out without any penalty.  We truly want what is best for homeowners in trouble out there.  If a  Jacksonville short sale is what is best for your situation, we are happy to help you...if it's not, then we truly wish you the best.

We have let several sellers out of  listing agreements over the past few years because they were filing bankruptcy and their bankruptcy attorney told them they "might as well quit trying to short sale" because they were filing bankruptcy.  The bankruptcy attorney had explained to them that the house simply did not matter to them anymore because once they filed for bankruptcy  the home would become the bank's problem.

We have even seen a bankruptcy attorney talk a seller out of going to closing on a Jacksonville short sale with full approval at the last minute because he convinced her that she would be better off forgoing the short sale and filing bankruptcy instead.

THE ACT OF FILING FOR BANKRUPTCY DOES NOT TRANSFER LEGAL TITLE OUT OF YOUR NAME.

Some other event besides the bankruptcy itself has to occur before legal title to your home will be transferred to the bank.  Even if you file Chapter 7 and you included the home choosing to "surrender" the home in your bankruptcy, did you know the house still belongs to you after the bankruptcy discharge? The act of filing bankruptcy can eliminate the debt owed on the note.  That is it.  Your Florida home purchase also had a second component in addition to the note...the mortgage.  The mortgage is the instrument that secured the debt and allows the bank to foreclose.  The bankruptcy does not wipe out the mortgage, nor does a transfer from the borrower to the bank magically occur.  This has to be done as part of a separate action.

Until legal title transfers to the bank you still own the property even if you have had your debts discharged in a bankruptcy.  

• Had your HOA dues discharged and think you are off the hook? We have been told by a bankruptcy attorney that we recently spoke to about this issue that you are responsible for all HOA dues after the date of filing.
• Have dead grass? If they HOA decides to fine you, you will owe this.
• Weeds in the yard? HOA fines assessed to you after the date of filing as long as the legal title still bears your name are yours.  It doesn't matter if you were discharged and had agreed as a part of the bankruptcy filing to surrender your home.

Does this mean that you are liable for the $9,000 insurance policy they put on your home too?  Does this mean that if someone is walking across your yard and has a horrible accident that you are financially liable?  Does this mean that the bank can come after you to reimburse them for the taxes that they have paid on the property that were accrued AFTER the date of filing?  Is there any limit on your liability?

Are the Banks in a Hurry To Take Possession of Your Home?

You know in Florida we've started seeing the banks drag their feet on actually taking the home back even after obtaining a judgment of foreclosure.  Many times they will get the foreclosure judgment then fail to take the home back.  They do not want it back on their books.  They do not want to be liable for all of the expenses of the home.  The banks are usually in no hurry to take back a home these days.  What if you still have legal title to your Jacksonville home 6 months after your bankruptcy filing?  What if you still have it 8 months after?  What if you still have it a year after?  Two years?  What kind of financial damage will you incur?

Unless you somehow sign the deed over, the bank will have to continue and complete the foreclosure process to get back title to your home.

Think that by filing bankruptcy you are avoiding having a foreclosure on your credit report? 

Think again.  Foreclosures will prevent you from buying again for years longer  than a bankruptcy or a short sale.  Many people think that by filing the bankruptcy they avoid the foreclosure on their credit report.  However, details are now emerging from people who have been through it that are learning that this is not the case.  The foreclosure still seems to be showing up on your credit report.

Current Fannie underwriting guidelines regarding the waiting periods before you can buy again:

• Bankruptcy- 2-4 years depending on circumstances (4 unless extenuating circumstances, then 2)
• Foreclosure(non-extenuating circumstances) 5-7 years FROM COMPLETION DATE (!!!) OF THE FORECLOSURE (NOT THE BANKRUPTCY)  depending on downpayment, credit score and occupancy.
• Foreclosure(extenuating circumstances) 3-7 years FROM COMPLETION DATE (!!!) depending on downpayment, credit score and occupancy.
• Short Sale / Preforeclosure Sale/ Deed-in-lieu (extenuating circumstances) -Just updated by Fannie 5/10!!! 2 years with 10% down.
• Short Sale / Preforeclosure Sale/ Deed-in-lieu (non-extenuating circumstances) - Just updated by Fannie 5/10!!! 2 years with 20% down.

Please educate yourself before you let a bankruptcy attorney tell you all of your problems will be over if you just file.  If a bankruptcy attorney tells you that it is a bad idea for you to try to complete a Jacksonville short sale, please get a second option.  Please evaluate your options to transfer title back to the bank in less harmful ways than through a foreclosure.  Please protect yourself!

If you are interested in talking to us about a Jacksonville short sale, let us know.  We can give you a good, honest evaluation and even refer you to a Jacksonville short sale attorney and a foreclosure defense attorney as well to get legal advice.  Our Jacksonville short sale consultation request can be found here.  If we can not help you, we'll tell you that and try to point you in the direction of someone who can. 

We've been working with Jacksonville short sales long enough for this news to come as both a shock...and not.  The shock comes from disbelief that this wasn't always a requirement. The Florida Supreme Court has issued a new mandate for Florida foreclosure filings.  It will be interesting to see if this changes anything now that someone is actually liable for knowingly filing fraudulent documents and statements in foreclosure cases.  We are not attorneys...we are just short sale specialists that try to help Jacksonville homeowners sell their home through a Jacksonville short sale.  We have seen so much and are not happy about the way foreclosures have been occurring.

In a nutshell, attorneys filing Florida foreclosure lawsuits have to tell the truth now or potentially get in trouble for lying.

Now, that may seem like an odd statement to someone who hasn't seen or read about some of the questionable things going on in Jacksonville foreclosure cases and foreclosure cases throughout the state of Florida.  But stick with me here...

The Florida Supreme Court has now mandated that those involved with filing Florida foreclosure cases now have to swear, under penalty of perjury, that the allegations and paperwork in a foreclosure case is all....wait for this....TRUE.  If you want to do a little heavy reading, this is a link to the document skip to page 13 if you just want to read this part.

Now if you are like me, you are wondering...ummmm...why haven't they always had to tell the truth?  But the foreclosure mills who file the majority of the foreclosure cases in Jacksonville and throughout the rest of Florida have been up in arms about this, with many foreclosures continuing to be filed without this.  Why are they fighting this requirement to swear under penalty of perjury that the facts alleged are true to the best of their knowledge and belief?  Here is a summary of their filings opposing this rule to the task force and the response by the task force to their briefs.

Isn't the writing on the wall?  Wouldn't your conclusion be that they KNOW that many (most???) of the cases they have been filing are questionable if not downright fraudulent?  Why would they react negatively to something that seems intuitive.  They SHOULD swear under penalty of perjury that what they are filing is true to the best of their knowledge.  So now they are going to be responsible, to some degree, for what they file.

Most Florida foreclosure cases seemed to be filed now with "lost note" affidavits.

  The lender filing the foreclosure is saying that they have simply lost the note or destroyed it so they can't produce the note and prove that they have it. Some filings say that they don't even have a copy of the note, much less the original.   Okay, so what's the problem?  Many times they don't really have it!  This begs the question...does someone else have it?  Did they ever have it?  Who is this money really owed to?

Florida Legal Services group outlines some of these practices in a letter that was sent to the Supreme Court of Florida Task Force on Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Cases.  You can read that letter here.

The Florida Bankers Association says that yes the notes were destroyed because it's "safer, more efficient and less expensive."

The Florida Bankers Association, in their protest to this new rule, admitted in their filing opposing the Task Forces recommendation of the Supreme Court rule that many of these documents were intentionally destroyed ("the physical document was intentionally eliminated") because they were "converted to electronic files almost immediately after the loan is closed."  They go on to explain that "individual loans, as electronic data, are compiled into portfolios which are transferred to the secondary market, frequently as mortgage-backed securities."  So tell me this.  How EASY is it to modify, or duplicate, or sell off yet retain an electronic document?  Why very easy, of course.  The reasons they quote for doing this is it is "safer, more efficient, and less expensive than maintaining the originals in hard copy."  How is this safer?  Anyone with a computer and the right software can alter an electronic document.  If they have destroyed the note, they can lift a signature off of the mortgage (the mortgage is publicly available to anyone sitting in their living room with internet access) and put it on the supposed note then claim that it is the note.  So many possibilities exist if the note only exists electronically.  An original, on the other hand, can be examined.  The signature can be verified.  It is tangible and provable.  Much harder to alter or counterfeit. 

And so I draw my parallel and other commentary....

Isn't this like me going to the bank, swearing to the teller that Bob, who has a certain bank account number, gave me a check for $1,000.  I lost the check or accidentally threw it away, but since Bob gave me the check...I'm still entitled to the money!  So they'd better give it to me.  Would THAT ever work?  Wait, I can fill out an affidavit swearing that I really did have the check and I'm the rightful owner of that check...I can show you my Quicken account where I recorded that I received it, I can show you he has sent me other checks in the past that I have cashed and you gave me the money for.   In a million years I would never walk out of that bank with the $1,000.  But what if I can show you my iPhone where I have an electronic record of this check.  I can show you my picture of this original check that I have since thrown away or destroyed.  I mean, WHY KEEP THE CHECK WHEN I HAVE A PICTURE OF IT ON MY iPHONE?  I keep all of the pictures of my checks on my iPhone...I can prove that.  I can show you my accounting records.  They still won't give me the money.  But the same bank can take your HOUSE using this procedure.

Note and mortgage not PROPERLY endorsed and assigned?  DON'T WORRY!  They will just PAY SOMEONE TO DO THAT!  (Notice we just did away with the word properly?  Who needs THAT?)

Sometimes the bank will "find" the note but it's not endorsed.  Supposed assignments have not been recorded.  But that's okay...they have a solution for that...they have companies whose job it is to handle all of the endorsements/ assignments on the mortgage and note to show that this is the entity that legally entitled to foreclose.  Don't believe me?  Look here!  Here is one Reuter's article on one such company.  Here is a summary of the Florida AGs investigation of this same company.  Mortgage never assigned, note never endorsed?  NO problem.  There's a Florida judge for that.  Mortgage assigned and recorded years after being put into a securitized trust?  No problem, there's a Florida judge for that too!  Mortgage assigned as an afterthought when they are already well into the foreclosure process?  Why don't be alarmed...don't you know there's a Florida judge for that?  Notice I'm not mentioning the note...ummm...oh yeah...the note...well we can't find it...Surprise, surprise, there IS a Florida judge for that!

Another parallel...that $1,000 check again...

This is like you giving me a check  for $1,000 that Bob gave Mary.  It's made out to Mary, but Mary gave it to Sue.  Sue gave it to Jack.  Jack gave it to John.  John gave it to you.  You gave it to me.  Okay, so can I take Bob's check to Mary to the bank and get $1,000 with it?  Of course not!!!!  But if I was a bank, and this were a note on a house,  I could just send it to a company who could magically sign for Mary, Sue, Jack, John and you making this check all of the sudden cashable. 

This is not fiction.  They are taking people's homes this way.

So why have banks and other lienholders been getting away with this in Jacksonville foreclosures?  I can't get money from someone else's bank account with a "lost check" affidavit...how can they take someone's HOUSE with a lost note affidavit?  Not sure, but they've been doing it.  Many Jacksonville foreclosures, and foreclosures around the state have been completed in this manner. 

Can someone please jump on this and run with it?  Please?  Can the real story be told?

Why aren't more people angry about this?  Why isn't the press outraged?  The sad fact is most people don't care until it happens to them or someone they love.  Well guess what?  You should care!  It's wrecking your community and your property value.  And if you run into unfortunate circumstances down the road, you may find it impossible to sell your own home because of everyone who this has happened to in the past.