Having attended the Suffolk County Bar Association CLE lecture given by Charles Wallshein on “Suing the Loan Servicer for Mortgage Modification Abuses” and having practiced in the field over the years, I am suggesting a simple, yet practical solution to the mortgage foreclosure crisis.
Our court system is bogged down with hundreds if not thousands of foreclosure cases sitting in legal “limbo” as distressed homeowners remain in their homes until the day they are forced to relocate. Often this home represents an emotional tie. The separation anxiety combined with the comfort the home provides flies in the face of logic, resulting in homeowners, often with the aid of trained counsel, looking to remain in their homes for as long as possible. Other than ruining their credit scores, these homeowners should be “sacking” away every last cent for the day when they have to move. Based on this inevitable relocation, the strategy employed is simple: delay, delay and delay. Sometimes this strategy is aided by the Mortgagee (Lender) ceremoniously asking for a laundry list of documents throughout the settlement conference stage only to have the documents go “stale” months after submission or by offering a last minute modification that the homeowner cannot afford.
