Since the moratorium was placed on New Jersey foreclosures by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner on December 20, 2010 the state has seen a drastic downturn in the number of foreclosures filed in 2011 versus the previous year. After robo-signing issues came to light six of the largest banks (GMAC, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, City Bank and West One) were all issued a hold on foreclosures in order to ensure the bankers were following the appropriate procedures. Since then, a series of hold ups have resulted in over 100,000 foreclosures waiting to be filed and about 60,000 cases pending in the courts.
From the first hold up on January 19th when the initially scheduled meeting between lenders and New Jersey Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson was postponed to February 14th to the current issue surrounding who is to be named as a point of contact on the Notice of Intent, New Jersey foreclosures have been piling up in law offices across the state. Â There have been numerous times this year when it looked as though foreclosures would be approved to move forward only to have the courts put the brakes on any proceedings.
The average wait time for a New Jersey foreclosure is now at a record 984 days. This standstill has 2011 showing very different numbers in comparison with 2010 foreclosures. According the California company that tracks the foreclosure market, RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings were down 82% from April 2010 to April 2011.
Yet it looks as though the rush will be coming within the next couple of months as the Supreme Court case involving the Notice of Intent (US Bank National v. Guillaume) should be coming to a close with an official decision to be published. After speaking to numerous attorneys involved in the foreclosure industry, many are confident that this time the foreclosures will finally be ready to be processed. It is currently uncertain as to whether or not the courts will be able to keep up with the tens of thousands of foreclosures being filed once given the go ahead to do so, but there is no doubt that it will take some time for the courts to catch up with the backlog.
For now, the legal community is waiting for the final printed decision of US Bank National v. Guillaume and bracing themselves for the rush, adding new employees in anticipation and reviewing procedures and methods.
Make sure you’re ready for the foreclosure rush with a New Jersey process server you can depend on.
