Strategic Default Explained by Attorney Roy Oppenheim on The Sun-Sentinel’s The Morning Show.

Lisa: As the number of homeowners facing foreclosure swells in South Florida, so does the number of lawyers suggesting what they call “strategic default.” Roy Oppenheim is one of those who has reinvented themselves as foreclosure defense specialists. He claims to have negotiated nearly 400 foreclosures, short sales, and loan modifications in the past two years. He says 11 million American home owners are under water, owing more than what their properties are worth.

Roy: You build value and you build equity by buying a home, and that’s the American dream. Well, the American dream has become the American nightmare for so many people. And I lay a lot of the fault at the banks.

Lisa: According to a Chicago financial trust, in debt, the percentage of foreclosures thought to be the result of strategic defaults was 31% in March. That’s up 22% from a year ago.

I’m Lisa Hayward, and those are just some of the latest headlines in South Florida.