Monday, February 18, 2008

Take My House, Please

Things change.

A total of 47 cases were scheduled for hearings Thursday in his Santa Rosa bankruptcy court, each involving a creditor seeking permission to seize a debtor's property.

While a few cases dealt with debts on cars or commercial properties, the vast majority involved lenders attempting to foreclose on homeowners who had sought safe haven in the courts from the fallout of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Instead of fighting for their homes, however, most didn't even bother. In case after case, homeowners simply let lenders begin foreclosing on homes that are now worth less than the mortgages owed on them.

So instead of an arduous morning filled with adversarial hearings, most cases flew by.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Jaroslovsky said before the hearing. "I've never seen so many people care so little about losing their homes."