Bank of America halting foreclosure is 23 states including Illinois. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/01/bank-of-america-foreclosures-halt-23-states_n_747669.html. We are starting to see a trend. This is now the third major lender to make this announcement in recent weeks. GMAC and Chase have also halted foreclosure proceedings.
While this will assist homeowners who were facing foreclosure, by giving them the gift of time to stay in their homes, the interesting thing to watch will be the impact of these announcements on current short sale negotiations with lenders, as well as the impact on the real estate market itself. On the one hand, this may make short sales easier to negotiate as these banks have no fall back position to proceed with a foreclosure proceeding. On the other hand, the longer these defaulted properties sit without going through the foreclosure process and going back on the market as a bank owned property, the longer it will be until we can truly hit rock bottom prices in the market and expect any meaningful turnaround in prices. Stay tuned and see how this all plays out.
