By the end of this week approximately 700 Wayne County homes will have been spared from foreclosure as a result of Sheriff Warren Evans decision to suspend sheriff’s sales, John Roach, spokesman for the Wayne County Sheriff’s office said today.

Each week 300-400 delinquent mortgages are offered at a sale held by the Wayne county sheriff’s office. This sale marks the beginning of the home foreclosure process.
 
Sheriff Evans suspended sheriff’s sales this month after legal counsel Kate Ben-Ami found that Evans has no way of knowing whether the mortgages he is selling could be eligible for renegotiation under the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” or TARP, the $700 billion dollar bailout of financial institutions enacted in October. This legislation directed the Treasury Secretary to implement a plan to reduce foreclosures and encourage lenders to modify loans.

“Federal law preempts state law, which means the TARP provision preempts Michigan’s foreclosure law,” the Sheriff’s Dept. said in a statement, “That, in turn, means foreclosures cannot move forward until efforts to modify the mortgages of homes covered by TARP have been exhausted.”

The Michigan Attorney General’s office has not returned calls seeking comment on Sheriff’s Evans action.

In neighboring Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said that he had considered taking a similar action but was dissuaded by advice from his legal counsel.

Evans is expected to seek approval of his action in federal court, though spokesman John Roach said it is not clear when this case will be filed.

According to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office 18 percent of homes in the county are abandoned due to home foreclosure.