Foreclosure and Loan Modification Blog

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed legislation intended to prevent foreclosures and reduce the harm done by zombie properties in the Empire State.

Homeowners in New York already have some advantages that people in some other states don't. New York is a judicial foreclosure state, which means the bank has to go through the courts to foreclose on your home. That takes longer and affords homeowners more time to find a resolution. 

Also, settlement conferences, which are a mediation between you and your lender, are mandatory for most foreclosure cases in New York. The purpose of the conference is for you and your bank to meet in person and come to some agreement that doesn't involve foreclosure.

Almost 1.4 million homes in America were vacant as of May 2016, according to real estate information company RealtyTrac's recently released Residential Property Vacancy and Zombie Foreclosure Report for the second quarter 2016.

Those 1.4 million vacant homes represent 1.6 percent of all 85 million residential properties in the country. The most recent numbers are a 2.7 percent increase in vacant properties from the previous quarter.

Zombies Becoming Less Common

While the number of vacant properties ticked up slightly, the number of zombie properties, which are residences that are vacant and in foreclosure, declined. 4.7 percent of properties in foreclosure, which is 19,187 residential properties, are vacant. That's a 3 percent decline from the quarter before it and a 30 percent dip from the same quarter in 2015.