Among the many things that Albany did when the pandemic began was the issue a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions to protect people economically impacted by the shut downs. Given that New York is a “judicial” state, meaning that foreclosure proceedings must go through the courts, over the next year we will see a return of bank -owned properties hit the market.
I think it will begin with a sparse trickle, but in the next few years the inventory of bank owned properties, that is, foreclosed properties taken back by lenders, increase.
This also means that anyone facing distress or delinquency is no longer protected by a moratorium, and should proactively work on a solution to addressing their issue, either via a loan modification, or a sale that allows them a dignified exit from the home. We are therefore working on making sure that we are ready to assist homeowners facing this challenge with as much sensitivity and professionalism we can offer.
Homeowners do have a window of time of course, since the courts aren’t lightening fast, but the lenders will aggressively pursue their options to make up for lost time.
