When you think about the foreclosure process, it is essential to understand that each state either has a judicial, non-judicial, or both judicial and non-judicial foreclosure process . Throughout the foreclosure crisis, we have all come to learn that non-judicial foreclosure states move through the foreclosure process significantly quicker than judicial foreclosure states, due to the ability to bypass time-consuming trips through the court system.
Judicial Foreclosure Delays
The judicial foreclosure process requires a court appearance before the foreclosure is finalized; therefore, states like Florida have prolonged foreclosure processes. As a result, states with judicial foreclosure proceedings tend to lag behind non-judicial foreclosure states when it comes to real estate market recovery.
In Florida, the foreclosure process takes so long that the state is lagging behind others in regards to getting foreclosures through the system. The longer this process takes, the longer it will take before the real estate market stabilizes. In essence, something had to be done to speed up this process.
Florida Foreclosure Bill
As a result of the delayed foreclosure process in Florida, a bill has been proposed that will streamline the foreclosure process, thereby drastically reducing the amount of time from three month delinquency to property acquisition.
The bill aims to continue to protect the rights of homeowners, while also speeding up the foreclosure process in an effort to reduce the backlog of foreclosures. Those in opposition of the bill claim that if the bill is signed into law, it would limit the ability of homeowners to defend themselves. On the other hand, those in support of the bill are eager to drastically reduce the foreclosure timeline, which takes up to 2 years in Florida.
The bill has received approval from the House with a vote of 94-17, making it one step closer to being signed into law. All eyes are on the Senate to see if the bill will pass before the March 9 deadline, which is the end of the session.
In the end, Florida has to do something to speed up the foreclosure process in order to start making progress toward real estate market recovery. The current foreclosure backlog is becoming a barrier for progress within the state with the new proposed bill possibly being a solution. If the bill passes through Senate and is then signed into law, hopefully Florida will be able to drastically reduce the 2 year long foreclosure process and start to make a dent in the backlog.