Seminole County Short Sale Realtor News: Florida Foreclosures May Be Delayed

A special program created by legislators to help with the backlog of foreclosure cases created by the housing crisis is slated to end June 30th. The program, sometimes referred to as the “rocket docket,” hired retired judges to go through the mass amount of foreclosure cases. Many of these cases ended up being dismissed due to inactivity or missing documents. Of the 150,000 foreclosure cases filed in Florida from July 2010 through the end of March 2011, almost half of them were dismissed. The program never worked as intended, however, because banks had to slow down the process to avoid dismissal due to inaccurate or missing documents. While the program did make progress in reducing the amount of cases, many of these will be end up being re-filed, further stressing the courts that now must absorb over 310,000 backlogged foreclosure cases. For homeowners, the end of the rocket docket program likely means a slower process. The cases may also be more thoroughly examined by judges than they would have been by the retired judges.

April saw foreclosure filings increase by 18% in the Orlando Metropolitan area, including Seminole County. This suggests the long-anticipated surge in foreclosure activity may be stating. It is unclear how Florida’s court will be able to handle a spike in foreclosure cases. Officials believe the current backlog will be easily absorbed, but there is some doubt as to whether the courts could take on another foreclosure surge.

As for prices, experts believe that prices will probably not go lower due to the ending of the rocket docket. More likely, prices will stagnate and remain at current levels until the foreclosure mess it sorted out.

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