The Ritters have kept the sheriff at bay by repeatedly filing for bankruptcy and by exploiting changes in Maryland’s laws designed to help delinquent homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Those efforts to protect homeowners have transformed Maryland’s foreclosure process from one of the country’s shortest to one of the longest. It now takes on average 634 days to complete a foreclosure in Maryland, compared with 132 days in Virginia.
Homedebtor deadbeats in CA are faring at least as well as those in MD. Even though the law in CA provides for a 111 or 141-day foreclosure from the first of the original month of default to trustee’s sale (plus a 3 business day perfection of a filed trustee’s deed), in more than a few instances I have seen lenders on CA properties take 900+ days to foreclose, allowing the delinquent trustor to squat all of that time … and then “pay” the homedebtor/squatter $3000 to leave the property free of debris and broom-swept after foreclosure!
Yes, 30 mos of free “squatting” and then walking $$ to boot! You may be asking, where do I sign up for that? Well, I can’t advise you except to forget the “MERS-lost-it” argument (tried, done and failed in CA). If your 1st TD and note alone renders you underwater and its current servicer is B of A, Chase or WF, you might give stiffing your lender a try!
Good luck, make sure you have storage units at the ready and keep your storage bill paid!
