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Huffington Post | “My father arrived in this country from Europe in the late 1940s with a love of all things American but was especially fond of the post-war boom in emerging technology. To satisfy this hunger, he bought himself a new-fangled Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder replete with a throbbing green “magic eye” (to monitorRead more

by Kim Miller |  Palm Beach Post | “The founder of a Florida-based mortgage servicing firm was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday for her participation in a six-year scheme to prepare and file more than 1 million fraudulently-signed and notarized documents. Lorraine Brown, 56, launched the company DocX, which later became Jacksonville-based LPSRead more

BRIAN J. O’CONNOR | DETROIT NEWS FINANCE EDITOR | “The former president of a Georgia company that filed more than 1 million forged foreclosure documents in Michigan and other states was sentenced to five years in federal prison Tuesday. Lorraine Brown: Former President of DocX Lorraine Brown, the former president of the DocX document processing firmRead more

by JAMES L. ROSICA | Tribune Staff | TALLAHASSEE – “Gov. Rick Scott signed into law Tuesday a plan from a national foreclosure settlement between lenders and states that shuttles money into programs helping Florida homeowners. “Banks will be held accountable,” Scott said during a bill-signing press conference. “Florida families will be protected.” The planRead more

By  ILYCE GLINK / MONEYWATCH/ (MoneyWatch) So-called zombie homes are appearing on the real estate market, but they’re not built to keep out the walking dead. Hundreds of thousands of homes in the U.S. are now labeled as “zombie” foreclosures. That’s when the owner of a foreclosed home leaves only to find out years later that heRead more

A split has emerged between the Florida House and Senate on how to use $200 million the state received as part of a multi-state agreement with five major lenders. The main spending panel in the Senate will take up a proposed committee bill (SB 7146) Wednesday that would divide the money into a number ofRead more

  “TAMPA — Tampa Bay posted the nation’s fourth-highest foreclosure rate last month as the sludge of bad home loans continues to gum up local courts, RealtyTrac data released today show. More than 5,000 notices of mortgage default, foreclosure auction or repossession were sent across Tampa Bay last month, a 23 percent jump over lastRead more

Big banks are finding a way to benefit from what was supposed to be their punishment in the robo-signing scandal. In Florida, they have spent 75 percent of $7.7 billion in settlement outlays approving short sales and forgiving home-equity loans, earning credit for debts they were unlikely to collect or sales that would have happenedRead more

By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer | Florida is still suffering beneath a deluge of home foreclosures, leading the nation with the highest state foreclosure rate of 2012, research firm RealtyTrac reported today. One in 32 homes in the Sunshine State faced foreclosure last year, more than double the national average. That equates to nearly 280,000 homesRead more

By Toluse Olorunnipa, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau | “A “faster foreclosures” proposal that sparked consumer outcry and protest last year has resurfaced in a more moderate form, with a new bill filed this week by Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples. The bill, HB 87, offers a slew of changes to the civil procedures governing foreclosures in Florida, whereRead more