Suspension of Foreclosures has Hardly had Any Impact in Collier County

The much hyped suspension of foreclosures by the mega banks has hardly any impact in Collier County. 122 foreclosed houses were auctioned during October first weeks of October. Dwight Brock is the clerk of circuit court in Collier County.

His office sees to the processing of all legal papers and chalks out schedules for the sale of foreclosed units after the ruling has been delivered by the judge. Dwight said that 60% of the planned sales were cancelled this October – it may seem to be a good number but actually it is not above the norm.

He said, "That’s not quite like some of the perception that I’ve heard in the national media that, ‘Oh, these were being stopped’. That I don’t think was the case at all, not in my jurisdiction".

As per the records of the Collier County three of the largest banks of the country (Bank of America, GMAC Mortgage and JPMorgan Chase) all moved ahead with foreclosure auctions even after their announcement of suspension. Since the beginning of October the banks have taken action against 200 residents of Collier County. Brock observed that there has not been any noted change in the number of foreclosures cases filed in September.

Bank of America, GMAC Mortgage and Chase however contend that they have been as good as their word. It seems that their promises to halt foreclosures failed to be as wide as it had seemed originally.

Housing attorney Maria Barbosa of Legal Aid Service at Collier County said that it was never quite clear which, if at all any of her clients, would be impacted by the temporary stoppage of foreclosure. Hence she had been warning them not to think that anything had at all changed. She said, "We certainly don’t want to give the clients false hope that it may mean that their cases are going to be dismissed".

Brock said that it is no fun to take away the home of another. But he thinks these cancelled sale of foreclosed houses to be annoying. He anticipates that the majority of these units will again return to the market ultimately while for all this mayhem it is the taxpayer who will eventually have to foot the bill for the second round of sales that would have to be chalked out and advertised all over again.