Law Commons^™

Foreclosure Echo: How Abandoned Foreclosures Are Re-Entering The Market Through Debt Buyers, Judy Fox

Journal Articles

It is common knowledge that mortgage defaults increased steadily from 2006 through 2011. In some situations, lenders moved swiftly after default to foreclose the property; but for other homeowners the foreclosure process began and then stalled or was completely abandoned by the lender. The result of these abandoned foreclosures has been devastating to cities and consumers throughout the country. This article explores what is happening to homeowners caught up in the strange world of bank walkaways as the economy is beginning to improve. This second wave of collection activity, an echo of the original foreclosure crisis, could easily throw thousands …

Sharing The Wealth, James J. Kelly Jr.

Journal Articles

This review of the textbook, "Community Economic Development Law" (Aspen 2013), written by Susan Bennett, Brenda Bratton Blom, Louise Howells and Deborah Kenn, appeared in the Vol. 22, No.1 issue of the Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Economic Development Law.

A Continuum In Remedies: Reconnecting Vacant Houses To The Market, James J. Kelly Jr.

Journal Articles

For decades, America’s older, undercrowded cities have struggled with neighborhoods beset by vacant houses that seemingly have no connection with a functioning real estate market. A nationwide foreclosure crisis has brought even greater attention to the need for inner-city communities to address vacant house nuisances. This paper argues that recent developments in property theory help us understand and complete reforms of legal remedies that address this continuing national need.

Traditional, in personam code enforcement remedies emanate from a legal understanding of real estate ownership as the strongest of property-rule-protected entitlements. Local government authorities hold owners directly accountable for any failures …