30% of Distressed Florida Homeowners Not Interested in Avoiding Foreclosures

In Palm Beach County, facing foreclosure is something considered to be ordinary. With the state being hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, it should not come as a surprise why many homeowners are having a tough time staying in their home.

Of course, if you are in the same unfortunate situation as these homeowners, you would look for a way out of your mortgage problems and do everything you can to avoid foreclosure. There is always the option to have your mortgage loan modified or submit a short sale proposal to your lender.

In Palm Beach County, it would seem that 30 percent of the distressed homeowners who have been found to be eligible to enter foreclosure mediation cannot be reached, were unresponsive or do not want to participate. The mediation is sponsored by the Palm Beach County Bar Association and even offered for free. It started last July and was actually intended to provide distressed borrowers with options to prevent foreclosure.

It has been hard for the organizers to contact the 3,200 borrowers who received a foreclosure notice, the first step in the foreclosure process. The good news is they noticed that those who attended the mediation program felt almost immediately better as soon as they have talked to one of the mediators. A lot of homeowners only needed to be given a little encouragement to make them realize their problems can actually be solved if they start acting as soon as possible. So far, there were 41 mediations which have occurred and 10 of these have ended up with settlement agreements. A second batch of 100 mediations is being scheduled.

Last year, the Supreme Court of Florida has ordered its circuit courts to halt foreclosure mediation sessions as part of their efforts to bring down the number of foreclosure cases currently being reviewed by the system. Lenders were even charged $750 per case.

The organizers believe that the lack of response can be attributed to the increasing number of foreclosure-related scams. As a result, struggling homeowners are wary of any mail or letters offering help or assistance.

Reference: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/one-third-of-palm-beach-county-homeowners-in-1030213.html