FT. MYERS, Fla. – The rush of home foreclosures in this southwest corner of Florida, estimated at as many as 25,000 in Lee County alone, has prompted county officials to recall judges from retirement and hold mass foreclosure hearings to speed up the process.
"I used to tell people you could get a foreclosure sale in about four months. Now you’re talking about the better part of a year," said Hank Hendry, a local attorney who is representing NCUA on about 130 foreclosures the regulator inherited when it liquidated Huron River Area CU last year. "Hopefully, this will all speed it up," he told The Credit Union Journal yesterday.
Hendry is one of a half-dozen lawyers representing NCUA on more than 300 properties that had been owned by Huron River Area, as well as Norlarco CU and New Horizons Community FCU, all of which made residential loans in two speculative developments near here, Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral. At one point last year NCUA owned more than 400 properties in the two developments.
Hendry said he’ll be back at the foreclosure hearings as they proceed throughout the month and into next year until the backlog is cleared out.
