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Florida's Foreclosure Backlog Still Growing

October 06, 2011 | WMFE - Florida lawmakers are looking for ways to speed up the foreclosure process. The courts are dealing with a backlog of a quarter million foreclosure cases, and the court system is running short on money.


The state’s chief economist says for every home that’s sold, three go into foreclosure.

Amy Baker told a state Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that it may take a few years before low housing prices attract enough buyers to turn the market around. She said each foreclosure case in Florida now takes an average of 676 days to complete.

Baker told committee members that unsold inventory is the biggest problem in Florida, and foreclosures keep adding to it. “It’s backlogged and it’s not moving.” Baker said. “It’s just freezing us in place for a housing adjustment that has to occur for us to move forward.”

During the 2010 legislative Session, lawmakers approved one year of funding that enabled the courts to temporarily hire senior judges and case managers to handle foreclosures. Those special dockets were very effective at cutting down on the backlog.

State Courts Administrator Lisa Goodner told the committee that cases were reduced by nearly 44%. “When those resources went away, all of our chief judges asked us, is there any way we can keep this program in place?” Goodner said.  “We have figured this out and we know how to move these cases so if the Legislature is interested in giving us those resources again, we absolutely will work with you on that.”

Last fall, companies were caught “robo-signing” piles of foreclosure documents without verifying the information. That resulted in a brief moratorium on foreclosures. Since Florida courts are largely funded through foreclosure filing fees, the moratorium led to a significant cash shortfall.

One option before lawmakers is to do like thirty other states have done and take the courts completely out of the process. Foreclosure cases move much more quickly in states that bypass the courts.  But even if lawmakers approve that change, it likely won’t go into effect until next summer. For now, foreclosures must be heard in a court system that’s running out of money.

Chief Justice Charles Canady has asked Governor Rick Scott for a $46 million dollar loan to keep the courts operating at full capacity through March.

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