Manhattan Foreclosure Cases Ride The Rocket Docket

Manhattan Foreclosure Cases Speed Up As Courts Implement Rocket Docket. 

Manhattan judges have implemented a rocket docket for Manhattan foreclosure cases. It seems the end is near for Manhattan homeowners hoping to take advantage of the borough's notorious long foreclosure litigation time.  

Other New York counties are taking Brooklyn's lead in dealing with Manhattan foreclosure cases. Counties across the New York Metro area have also begun implementing similar rocket docket procedures. County governments expect foreclosure litigation times to dropped by 75% by the end of 2018.

The Empire State had an average foreclosure litigation time of 36-48 months in 2015. The average foreclosure litigation time across New York is expected to hit 12 months. Supreme Court Judges want to cut it under six months.

Multiple factors on the federal and state level have attributed to this drastic cut. 

The End of HAMP Speeds Up Manhattan Foreclosure Cases

The Home Affordable Modification Program was launched in 2009 in answer to the financial crisis.

Economists believed that foreclosures were losing proposition for everybody involved. Lenders would face long-term losses from a foreclosed mortgage instead of negotiating more favorable terms with the homeowner. Foreclosures also drag down the value of surrounding properties by creating a cascade of lower values across the housing market.

HAMP offered financial incentives to lenders to negotiate loan reductions with at-risk homeowners. The government would pay the mortgage lenders $1,000 for every loan they modified. They would also pay lenders an annual $1,000 for every borrower who stayed current over the next three years.

The program had limited success. 

When the program ended January 1st, Finch Rating Agency stated, "Modification decision timelines will shorten, which may lead to a modest reduction in liquidation timelines."

Read more at MFI-Miami