NYC Foreclosure Auction Postponed 23 Times

Settling a foreclosure case in the NYC courts can take a surprisingly long time, sometimes even more than 6 years.  A PropertyShark in-house analysis based on our foreclosure data indicates that certain NYC homes in distress have had their auction postponed more than 20 times.

A postponed foreclosure auction can give homeowners more time to find solutions for paying off their outstanding mortgages or selling their homes. While some use the time to bring mortgage payments up to date, according to an article in CNN Money, others may continue to live in their houses without making mortgage payments, sometimes even for years. If people in the second group were to pay rent in, let’s say, Brooklyn NY, they would have to pay more than an average of $2,500/month  for a two-bedroom apartment. In four years, the amount could add up to around $120,000 in rent savings.

There are various methods by which a  foreclosure can be postponed. Among  the most frequent, as mentioned in the same article in CNN Money, are to dispute the filing, to file for bankruptcy, and to make arrangements with the bank to be given more time. Since the foreclosure filing is basically a lawsuit, those who know how to challenge it can benefit the most.

Properties for which foreclosure has been postponed many times  are not rare in NYC. Using records going back to 2003, PropertyShark has created a  top-10 list of homes whose foreclosure auctions have been delayed the most.

Many are single- and two-family houses in Queens and Brooklyn, with lien amounts going over $400,000. Their auction dates were last scheduled in 2010, but taking into account the “robo-signing” of foreclosure documents back in 2010, it may not be that strange that many cases have remained open.

Let’s take a look at some of the properties that have had their auction date postponed most often:

The two-family home at 145-45 Foch Blvd, Queens was first scheduled for auction on July 23, 2004, with a lien amount of $511,346. Twenty-three postponements later, the defaulting owner seems to be still in residence. The last time the property was scheduled for auction was on December 3, 2010.

Another property that had its foreclosure auction postponed 20 times is the single-family home at 130-26 147 St, Queens. It was scheduled for auction for the first time on January 26, 2006, with a lien of $293,396, and received a mortgage extension on May 28, 2010.

At #3 we have a two-family home in Queens whose foreclosure auction has been postponed 19 times since January 16, 2009, when it was scheduled for auction for the first time. The property at 110-12 212 St, Queens was built in 1930 and has 1,080 square feet of building surface.

Here is the complete top-10 list:

For a more complete picture of the entire foreclosure process you can read one of our previous blog posts here.