Journeys End has 32 Lis Pendens

In the course of researching the market for the areas in which we specialize I routinely review the "lis pendens" for a neighborhood. In this post I'll go over what a lis pendens is and what is actually going on in Journeys End regarding homes with lis pendens filed on them.

According to an online legal dictionary, a Lis Pendens can accurately be defined as: Latin for "a suit pending." The term may refer to any pending lawsuit. (2) A written notice that a lawsuit has been filed concerning real estate, involving either the title to the property or a claimed ownership interest in it.

In reality, it generally means that someones lender has initiated the foreclosure process.

As of today, there were 32 Journeys End homes that currently have a lis pendens. Typically this indicates that the owners are in default...most likely for non-payment. Now out of the 32, 2 have already gone back to the bank but have not been put back up for sale yet; out of the remaining 30, only 9 are currently trying to be sold by the owners.

That leaves 2 already in the banks hands (but not yet listed for sale) and 21 more Journeys End homes that could possibly end up in the banks hands at some date in the future if the owners:
A) don't catch up on their payments/interest/penalties,
B) don't negotiate a forebearance agreement or loan modification enabling them to afford the home and make payments or
C) don't sell their home via a Short Sale prior to the sale on the courthouse steps.

This number (23) is a bit scary as it does not give any indication of the owners who are behind on their mortgage but their lender has not yet filed a Lis Pendens...and this is common, as the lenders are much slower to try and take a property back today than they were 5 years ago.

This is an excerpt from an article I read/posted today from the Mortgage Bankers Association: The results were lead by Florida with 12% of mortgages somewhere in foreclosure, another 5% at least 90 days past due and a total 22.8% at least one payment delinquent or in foreclosure at the end of June.

If you'd like to discuss what this may mean to you as a homeowner in Journeys End, please contact me via email or call the office at 561-432-5202.

Steve