VERO BEACH — If the owner of Vero Fashion Outlets mall doesn’t answer a $32.15-million mortgage foreclosure lawsuit by Sept. 16, it could lose the right to defend itself in the case, according to attorneys.

If so, a judge could order the outdoor mall at Interstate 95 and State Road 60 — the first large mall in the county — to be sold.

“We plan to stay open during the foreclosure and after,” said West Palm Beach attorney Kenneth Curtin, who represents the mortgage holder, LNV Corp., of Nevada. “The mall will stay the same as it is now, with tenants.” (more…)

VERO BEACH — A Nevada corporation that holds the mortgage for Vero Fashion Outlets is seeking to foreclose on the mall, according to civil lawsuit filed in Indian River Circuit Court.

LNV Corp. of Nevada is seeking $32.15 million, including principal and interest, because the mall defaulted on payments, according to the lawsuit.

“Vero (Fashion Outlets) has defaulted,” wrote attorney Kenneth Curtin, of West Palm Beach, in a lawsuit filed Aug. 26. It is assigned to Circuit Judge Paul Kanarek. No action has been taken in the civil lawsuit and the mall’s owners have not responded to the allegations. Curtin did not return calls Wednesday.
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FORT PIERCE — For three months this year, the seemingly endless stream of new foreclosure lawsuits coming into the St. Lucie County Clerk of Court’s civil office appeared to be slowing.

The number of new filings had dropped to 625 in March, 455 in April and 567 in May, all down from February’s 817.

Clerk of Court Joe Smith said his staff wondered if perhaps, after about two years of watching boxes of paperwork arrive day after day, things were finally improving in St. Lucie County.

Then came June: 857 new foreclosure filings, the highest one-month total this year, and just below the 897 recorded in June 2008. (more…)

STUART — A Martin County jury tomorrow will likely begin deliberating the case of former Jensen Beach pastor Rodney McGill and his wife, Shalonda McGill, accused of orchestrating a real estate scheme that ended in more than $1 million in foreclosed property from three unwitting investors.
After a week on the other side of the witness stand, the former pastor and real estate investment pitchman took the stand in his own defense Monday, telling a jury that unscrupulous mortgage brokers were the ones to blame for an alleged mortgage scheme that ruined the credit of the women he and Shalonda helped invest in local properties. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A lock on the door was the only notice Jessica Rufo got that Hayes World Day Care & Learning Center had closed.

Rufo, a St. Lucie County School District employee, is keeping her 3-year-old daughter at home for the summer, but had left Hayes World about $500 to hold a spot for Elizabeth in the fall. Driving by the Darwin Boulevard center this weekend, Rufo noticed locks on the door.

A message on Hayes World’s phone service said the day-care center is “temporarily closed,” but offered no other information.
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While foreclosure actions on the Treasure Coast continued to fall during the first quarter of this year from the last quarter of 2008, the numbers for March indicate a resurgence.

Foreclosure actions — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were down 18.5 percent in Indian River County, 3.3 percent in St. Lucie County and up 1.1 percent in Martin County in the first quarter compared with the last quarter of 2008, according to U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released today by RealtyTrac (realtytrac.com). Those first-quarter numbers were still up 40 percent to 68 percent from a year ago.

But foreclosure actions in March rose 71 percent from February in Indian River County and 48 percent in St. Lucie County, though they declined 6 percent in Martin County.
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Port St. Lucie is getting into the home-buying business.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last week gave city officials the go-ahead on a plan to spend $13.5 million in federal money buying, repairing and reselling foreclosed homes.

Port St. Lucie hopes to start working with local real estate agents this week and begin closing on homes in as little as a month, said Pat Selmer, assistant director of the city’s community services department. (more…)

Beth Mazzouccolo, a widow with two children and her 86-year-old mother living at home, is concerned about landing a new job and being able to pay for health care.

But she’s hopeful that President Obama’s $75 billion housing plan will allow her to reduce her monthly mortgage payments.

With her unemployment benefits soon to run out, Mazzouccolo’s income tax refund has allowed her to catch up on her $1,600-a-month mortgage on the Fisherman’s Cove duplex in Stuart that is now worth nearly $40,000 less than the $195,000 she bought it for two years ago. (more…)

Anyone who’s been paying even modest attention to the housing fallout knows new-home construction is at a virtual standstill in Port St. Lucie. But the latest numbers from the city’s building department still manage to shock.

The city issued 10 single-family home permits — T-E-N — in January.

That’s down 98 percent from the 552 issued in January 2005, the year Port St. Lucie was declared the fastest-growing city in America.

The pace is way off the pre-boom numbers, too. In 2002, the city averaged 250 or so new homes a month. (more…)

The Baehrs — Derek, Kellyanne and their two young daughters are five months behind on their mortgage payments. They sometimes eat at a soup kitchen and shop at a food pantry. They expect to lose their three-bedroom suburban house before the end of the school year.
“This is just awful, and I know that we are not the only ones going through this,’’ says Kellyanne, 37, an accounting clerk. Derek, 40, is disabled. “We used to try to go day by day. Now we are just trying to get to the end of each day.’’

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