Pittsburgh-Area Sheriff Moves To Slam Brakes On Foreclosures; Plan Currently Under Legal Review

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, KDKA-TV Channel 2 reports:

• Allegheny County Sheriff Bill Mullen wants to put the brakes on sheriff sales - the monthly sale of all properties that have fallen into mortgage foreclosure or tax delinquency. Mullen wants to institute an automatic delay of sheriff sales for perhaps as long as two months. That would leave time for a conciliation conference between the lender and the homeowner to craft an alternative - payment plans, new mortgage rates - any possible solution to keep people in their homes.

***

• Mullen's plan is currently under review by Joe James, president judge of Allegheny County [Court of Common Pleas], to make sure it passes legal muster. James is expected to approve some version of this plan that would require the lender to meet face to face with the borrowers and try to stem this plague of foreclosures.

For more, see County Sheriff Forms Plan To Curb Sheriff Sales.

Go here for posts on the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program recently implemented by the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which requires lenders to meet face to face with owner-occupied homeowners before a foreclosure sale can take place.