Around Tampa Bay, foreclosure means never having to leave [Central Florida]
When his lender started to foreclose in 2003, Jeffrey DeMauro appealed for time to resolve his financial problems.
“I sincerely want to work this situation out and get back on track and save my home,” DeMauro wrote to Pinellas County court officials. “I have two children and do not want to be put out of our house and on the street.”
The DeMauros are still in foreclosure. But by declaring bankruptcy 11 times, they have managed to hang on to their house and to continue living there — seven years after they made their last regular mortgage payment.
Though an extreme example, the couple’s story is an increasingly common one among distressed Tampa Bay homeowners. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, are staying in their houses long after defaulting because they declare bankruptcy, challenge the foreclosure or simply sit back as their cases grind through an overloaded court system.