HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
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explained. “So we had to wait all of 2016. Now we have the answers, and it took a little time after the opinions came through because it took a little while to adjust (foreclosure filing procedures).” End of Road for Foreclosure Holdouts Tromberg also noted that another court ruling late last year is helping banks push through foreclosures delayed by bankruptcy proceedings. In “Failla v. CitiBank, N.A. “, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Florida ruled in October 2016 that “chapter 7 debtors who file a statement of intention to surrender
real property in bankruptcy cannot later contest a foreclosure action,” according to the Burr Foreman legal blog. “That has really helped us in cases that were highly contested to get all of the defenses stricken,” Tromberg said. Kirn, the foreclosure attorney in New Jersey, said he’s also seeing more foreclosure cases previously stalled by bankruptcy now progressing to the foreclosure sale, which provides closure to a protracted process.
“People will stay in them until the sheriff’s sale, but when the sheriff’s sale happens they realize that it’s the end of the road and they will vacate,” Kirn said, adding that he believes the loosening logjam of legacy foreclosures will ultimately be good for the overall housing market in New Jersey. “As we get through the sheriff’s sales and the backlog, it will be the beginning of a recovery period for our housing market. …Urban blight is going to decrease. Zombie properties are going to decrease … it’s better for everybody.”
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