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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Monday renewed calls for the state legislature to address the problem of "zombie properties," or foreclosed homes that banks have walked away from to avoid the cost of maintenance.
May 19 -
Calling his state's foreclosure process "badly broken and in need of change," New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky wants new policies enacted to fast-track vacant property foreclosures and reform the state's mandatory foreclosure mediation requirements.
May 19 -
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to address the growing problem of vacant and abandoned properties that banks and mortgage servicers have walked away from to avoid maintaining the homes.
March 12
The number of vacant and abandoned properties that are in foreclosure has fallen in the second quarter, according to a RealtyTrac report.
The number of so-called zombie foreclosures fell 10% to 127,021 nationwide, as of May 28, compared to a year earlier,
Even so, zombie foreclosures rose in about half of 183 metropolitan areas examined in the study, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia and Boston. Miami, on the other hand, had the biggest decline in zombie foreclosures.
Zombie foreclosures are created when a mortgage servicer starts the foreclosure process, but then fails to complete it, leaving borrowers on the hook for taxes and maintenance, even though they may have already moved out.
