One of the surprising and to some mortgage companies, alarming outcomes of the foreclosure crisis has been the rise in the number of people who are refusing to vacate their homes after foreclosure, or in the case of one family breaking back in even after their home has been sold.
Jim and Danielle Earl and their nine children lost their six-bedroom home to foreclosure; but after learning that the mortgage company allegedly had not properly processed the foreclosure , they moved back in, without the approval of the lender.
The Earls say it’s unclear who owns the loan. Foreclosure documents list GRP Financial Services. HousingWatch says that the original lender was Washington Mutual Bank which became JPMorgan Chase. The loan went to Bank of America on the same day that Chase sent the homeowners a notice of default. The Earls argue that Chase never properly assumed the loan and thus did not have the right to sell it off. And in turn, the investors, Conejo Capital Partners, did not properly purchase the property.
As the investigations into fraudulent foreclosures reveal mortgage companies’ dirty tactics, we could begin to see a flood of families refusing to vacate their homes after foreclosure. Already many homeowners remain in their home up to a year without making payments as the foreclosure process slowly moves forward. And the mortgage companies are finding that they are often unable to rely on the police for assistance when a homeowner refuses to leave even after foreclosure. In the case of the Earl family the police were present when the family moved back into the home; but they did not intervene because it is considered a civil matter.