Why Pay? Borrowers Squat In Their Own Homes

Friday, 11 Jun 2010 09:31 AM
By: Dan Weil

Some homeowners whose properties are in foreclosure are modifying their mortgages by themselves: They’re simply staying — without paying.

That’s allowing them to improve their lifestyle, or at least get by.

In many cases they can stick around for more than year before finally getting the boot.

The average homeowner in foreclosure has been delinquent for 438 days before actually being evicted, up from 251 days in January 2008, according to LPS Applied Analytics, The New York Times reports.

That applies to a lot of people, as foreclosure procedures have been started against 1.7 million homes.

It is taking longer to complete the foreclosure process because of lawsuits, foreclosure moratoriums, government pressure for lenders to provide modifications, and lenders’ inability to deal with so many foreclosures at once.

It’s worked out pretty well for Alex Pemberton and Susan Reboyras, who are living in a foreclosed home in St. Petersburg, Fla. and stopped paying their mortgage last summer, The New York Times reports.

“Instead of the house dragging us down, it’s become a life raft,â€