A week ago the Wall Street Journal reported that the sheriff of Philadelphia was refusing to conduct auctions for foreclosed homes. It’s kind of civil disobedience from a government official. And his move prompted a sweeping reform scheduled to go into effect this week that will require lenders to participate in a court-sponsored “reconciliation session” before they can foreclose on a property.
This will no doubt reduce the foreclosure rate in Philadelphia but shouldn’t it also expand the delinquency rate? For a variety of reasons, Philadelphia missed out on much of the housing boom and so isn’t at the forefront of the mortgage mess either. But this move should help Philadelphia catch up with the rest of the country. If the bank can’t foreclose, that’s certainly an incentive to stop paying your mortgage when money gets tight.
He’s Taking Law Into His Own Hands To Help Broke Homeowners [Wall Street Journal]
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- Use the Bloomberg command
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philadelphia
philadelphia
No way dude, Pittsburgh is much worse than philly
An equally obvious question – “why would anyone loan money in Philadelphia?”
philadelphia > jersey city
Pittsburgh is sweet compared to philly
just another step to socializing the losses of the ignorant onto the taxpayers
Pennsylvania = turd
Why does this sheriff still have a job? Why is he not in jail?
And I love his populist rant about ‘Shouldn’t I help the people?’
Someone tell this douche that the people he is apparently helping have taken someone else’s hard earned money. If you keep tracking the money chain they probably someone’s retirement savings are stuck on that house.
So letting a deadbeat fritter away someone else’s retirement money is ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘helping the people’?
@ 11:55
You expect the intellegencia involved in this Philly debacle to be able to understand any of that?
You sir are far more an optimist than I!
But yea this guy should be throw in the brig, stat.
It is interesting to note that in most US States, a County (or Parish) Sheriff has far greater authority than most people would ever imagine. For instance, in some cases, a county sheriff can tell Federal LEO’s that they are not allowed to do anything in their county without their express prior consent.
If a sheriff won’t execute a warrant or a writ, the legal procedure to force them to do so can be both difficult and time-consuming, as you could guess by the fact that the sheriff’s office are often the ones who enforce court orders in the first place.
Unless the sheriff is violating somebody’s constitutional rights, the Feds can’t do anything to them. Contracts Clause notwithstanding, there’s no explicit constitutional right to foreclose on a mortgage. So long as he’s applying the policy evenhandedly (for instance, if he tried to offer such “protection” only to members of a given racial group, he’d be in trouble) it’s not going to be easy to deal with this guy.
JdJC has the right of it, though – all he’s going to do is delay the inevitable (eventually, they WILL get around him, it’s just going to be very time-consuming) and in the meantime, nobody with a brain in their head is going to loan money to anybody in his county.
Of course, if the mortgage companies had collective brains in their heads we might not be in this mess, but never mind that. :)
M
M is right.
Clearly any profits made by the mortgage companies or banks in this area were ill-gotten. They deserve what they get for loaning money to people that agreed with the terms of a legal contract, after all the banks knew that the real estate market would eventually melt down and people would not be able to make the payments.
They should have exercised the judgment that their clients did not have.
I hasten to add, because it appears I wasn’t clear enough, that I am in total disagreement with what this guy is doing. A deal, as they say, is a deal, and he wasn’t elected as some kind of Bankruptcy Judge of Last Resort.
That crack about the mortgage companies was directed at their lack of restraint during the Recent Unpleasantness, not as an indicator that I thought they deserved this kind of thing. I don’t. The fact that they loaned unwisely doesn’t mean that the borrowers should get a free pass.
M
@ 12:34
Did you read what you wrote before submitting? I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt that you were multitasking and just weren’t thinking clearly or something, because what you wrote there makes no sense. None, whatsoever.
12:18 – “Unless the sheriff is violating somebody’s constitutional rights, the Feds can’t do anything to them.”
I disagree. ‘The process of doing something to him is ardous and time consuming’ and very very different from ‘the Feds can’t do anything to him.’
If the courts have an arrest warrant out on a murder case, can the sheriff refuse to arrest that person? If the sheriff does, can the Feds do NOTHING to force him to and/or remove him? I think not so.
‘
That aside, this sheriff douchebag would do better in preventing the mind-numbing levels of crime in the Philly area, instead of focussing on letting deadbeats stay in their houses. That would be more of ‘serving the people.’
12:34, sober up a little bit before posting. The crack you had must’ve been of high quality.
12:18 except in Hazard Cty, where Boss Hogg held all the power. Rosco P. Coltrane was just his lackey.
philadelphia = turd
No doubt he’s a hero on his own turf, standing up to the evil banks looking to foreclose on ma & pa’s farm. What’s that I hear? Little Bess is crying ’cause she’s hungry and we have no food, and there’s nothing on the 42 inch plasma in the kid’s room for her to watch… damn the banks, damn them all to hell!!!
Oh, yeah. I’d love to see you wimps come on down to South Philly. You will all get your frat boy, Ivy League, assholes handed to you. Actually, when we’re done, you won’t need an asshole anymore…..pansy boys! Make sure that you bring your uptown-type girl friends to clean up your mess….after we get done freight-training them!
@ 8:04 You’re awesome, man. Really awesome. I mean, wow. I wish I was 8:04, then I, too, could strike fear into all the wall street pansies and freight trains or something. wow
Interesting way of dealing with the issue. Though I applaud the effort, it is not his place to make a decision such as that. His job is to uphold the law, which he is not doing. This is a very interesting story, and one that I will be following very closely…..
The Philadelphia Phillies have won their first World Series in 28 years. The last time they climbed to the top of the mountain (1980), Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose and Steve Carlton showed the American League the meaning of spirited, winning baseball. Today, as emotions run high and the city of Philadelphia gears up for celebration of their boys bringing home the Commissioner’s Trophy, pillars of the community like Temple University are preparing for mass rioting. According to Dean of Students Ainsley Carry, “Students involved in vandalism, refusal to disperse, destruction of property, etc. will face both criminal and University disciplinary action. Sanctions may range from fines up to and including immediate suspension. Surveillance – including videotaping – is heightened during the Series on campus and throughout the city.”
I’m all for personal responsibility, which includes showing respect for others and their property. But is the feel of a police state crackdown necessary? Wait, this is Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love.” Of course it’s necessary.
If you do happen to be ready to riot, take it down about 10 notches first. Be happy, but be respectful. If you find your windshield smashed by someone less respectful of property than you are – and you need some help to take care of that before you’re paid again, affordable personal loans are available at the click of a mouse. That is, if it still works after wild sprayings of liquid refreshments.
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