The bank’s problem is not foreclosed property, they are delaying the process to find out if they are legally in hot water (fines, prison, loss of license) for the sloppy paperwork that borders on perjury and fraud. That is why the bankers are delaying the process so they can tally up the legal costs for breaking the laws vs the foreclosure costs. It would be interesting to see how the numbers stack up. What will happen if the fines and legal costs exceed the cost of foreclosure??? Will the banks end up keeping all the REO’s on the books till they get a government bailout???? Hate to be a banker in the US today. White collar criminals getting tangled in their own web.
They wrote the foreclosures as diligently as they wrote the mortgages. There’s a certain symmetry, I suppose.
My questions about all this concern more than just the mortgages. If a system like MERS was used there might actually be a chain of title issue. If that happens then selling a house might become a big issue. Several title companies are already starting to make noise about issuing title policies.
I’m so glad that I have a nice abstract of title sitting in my filing cabinet showing the complete history of both the land and the house I live in. That and I no longer have a mortgage to pay.