perhaps another way to look at your question is, “what does a mortgage servicer accomplish today by serving an NOD or going through with a foreclosure?”
forcing the FB out of the house results in the mortgage servicer having to realize a loss – as long as the FB remains in the house, even if they AREN’T making their payments, the servicer can pretend that the mortgage is still an asset
houses aren’t selling in today’s market (“done like dinner” is my favorite recent description of the local market) so why would a mortgage servicer want to take possession of any more houses than they absolutely had to?
better to wait and see what the numerous bailouts might bring before hurrying to foreclose on a bunch of FBs
