Massive Foreclosure Logjams Stall Court's Issuance Of Property Titles To Winning Bidders At Public Auctions

In West Palm Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:

• Don Cameron's March 8 win in a Palm Beach County home auction is stalled somewhere on the third floor of the courthouse in stacks of foreclosure filings piled several feet overhead. He'd like to start fixing up the three-bedroom house, renovate the kitchen, maybe get it ready for a first-time home buyer hoping to cash in on the waning days of the $8,000 tax credit.

• But nearly a month after his $74,570 purchase, which he is required to pay for in full by noon the next day, the massive backlog of foreclosures in the Palm Beach County Clerk of Court's Office still has him waiting for the home's title. [...] By [Florida] statute, the clerk can't release a title for 10 days, but waiting up to 60 days to claim ownership is cutting into Cameron's profit margin and, some say, the economic recovery.(1)

For more, see As PBC foreclosure paperwork piles up, so does desperation.

(1) For an example of what can happen when a winning bidder at a foreclosure sale immediately takes possession of, fixes up, and rents out a property without waiting to have the title formally issued to him, see Family kicked out of rental that landlord didn't legally own.