I’ve never really gotten on the Zombie movie and TV show bandwagon. I think it’s because they’re just so far-fetched, that it’s difficult for me to buy into the premise. When it comes to the reality of the Zombie Property Apocalypse though, it’s a completely different story. You may have read or heard about “Zombie Properties” in the news, but might not know exactly what the term really means.

Zombie Properties are partially a result of the subprime mortgage crisis that contributed to the housing bubble burst in the late 2000s, as many homeowners and lenders across the state of Wisconsin found themselves in court involved in foreclosure actions. In Wisconsin, a lender must foreclose on a property by bringing a law suit, where it must prove that the borrower defaulted on its mortgage obligations in order to get a judgment for foreclosure. Upon that judgment, the borrower has a specified period of time to redeem the property. Often, however, upon receipt of the foreclosure notice, borrowers just abandon their homes and don’t fight the foreclosure action in court, making it easy for a lender to obtain the foreclosure judgment. Seemingly, this would also make it easy for lenders to sell the property to get their money back from the loan it gave to the borrower. But, sometimes lenders won’t sell the property even if they have a foreclosure judgment. Upon a property being abandoned, properties  sometimes become subject to break-ins and other crime, making them unmarketable for sale, and often are of so little value that the lender has little incentive to incur the costs to sell. The lender will then just leave the property abandoned and dormant, putting the property in a limbo where it is neither dead nor alive; hence the term “zombie property.”

Zombie Properties have a negative effect on the marketability of sellers of other neighborhood homes and also decrease the availability of housing for buyers. In an effort to curb the problem in the state, Wisconsin enacted Act 376 earlier this year. The Act seeks to combat the Zombie Property problem in Wisconsin by making the time period for all foreclosures quicker and by deterring lenders from letting abandoned properties sit unsold for too long.

Shortened Redemption Periods

The first notable change under the new law is the reduction of redemption periods for owners of residential properties subject to foreclosure. In Wisconsin, when a lender wins a judgment of foreclosure against a borrower in default, the borrower has a chance to redeem the property by paying off the mortgage, executing a short sale, giving the lender a deed in lieu of foreclosure, or even filing for bankruptcy. Under the old law, if the lender opted to retain the ability to go after the borrower for any outstanding amount due on the mortgage, the borrower was given a year to redeem the property and to repay the deficiency. Also under the old law, if the lender opted to just have the ability to sell after the redemption period but waived its ability to go after the owner personally for the deficiency on the mortgage, the redemption period for the property was only 6 months. Under the new law, the redemption periods were reduced from 12 months to 6 and from 6 months to 3, for each respective situation. One caveat in the new law is that for this new 3 month redemption period, the owner of the property can extend the redemption period by a maximum of two months by showing that he or she has made a good faith effort to sell the property. The home owner can show a good faith effort by listing the property for sale with a real estate broker.  Though this reduction in redemption time affects all foreclosures on mortgages executed after April 27, 2016, the law reduces the likelihood of a home becoming a “Zombie Property” by reducing the amount of time that abandoned properties remain dormant.

 

Forced Sale of “Zombie Properties”

            The other notable change in the new Act is a rule that forces the hand of a lender to sell a property within a certain period of time if a court deems the property to be abandoned. Under the prior law, the Wisconsin Supreme Court had interpreted the statute as to require a lender to hold a sheriff’s sale of a property within a “reasonable” time after the expiration of the redemption period. In that ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court intended to curb the apparent Zombie Property Apocalypse by forcing lenders to sell abandoned properties after redemption periods expired. Despite the Court’s efforts to combat the problem, the Court’s ruling requiring a lender to sell an abandoned property within a “reasonable time period” was unclear.

The new law removes this lack of clarity by accomplishing two things: First, it requires that either the lender or the municipality where the property is located prove that the property is abandoned. Next, if a court rules that the property is abandoned, the lender must either sell the property or release the mortgage on the property within 12 months of the expiration of the property owner’s redemption period. If the lender does not do so after the expiration of the 12 month period, the municipality where the property is located or even the owner of the property can force the lender to sell the property at a sheriff’s sale. This change on forced sales of abandoned properties applies to foreclosure actions begun after April 27, 2016, without regard to whether the mortgage was executed prior to that date. By deterring lenders from sitting on abandoned properties for long periods of time, this change also reduces the likelihood that a property becomes a “Zombie Property.”

This new foreclosure process in Wisconsin is important to know for both lenders and all owners of real estate. For any questions on how this new law might affect you or your business, contact Schober Schober & Mitchell, S.C. at 262-569-8300 or email me at jmk@schoberlaw.com.