A beneath-the-fold, front-page article in today's edition of The New York Times by David Streitfeld maintained that "A growing number of the people whose homes are in foreclosure are refusing to slink away in shame."

"They are fashioning a sort of homemade mortgage modification," the article stated, "one that brings their payments all the way down to zero. They use the money they save to get back on their feet or just get by. This type of modification does not beg for a lender's permission but is delivered as an ultimatum: Force me out if you can. Any moral qualms are overshadowed by a conviction that the banks created the crisis by snookering homeowners with loans that got them in over their heads."

"Foreclosure procedures have been initiated against 1.7 million of the nation's households," the article continued, adding that "The pace of resolving these problem loans is slow and getting slower because of legal challenges, foreclosure moratoriums, government pressure to offer modifications and the inability of the lenders to cope with so many souring mortgages. The average borrower in foreclosure has been delinquent for 438 days before actually being evicted, up from 251 days in January 2008, according to LPS Applied Analytics."

The article said that "real estate agents and other experts say the number of overextended borrowers taking the 'free rent' approach is on the rise."

"More than 650,000 households had not paid in 18 months, LPS calculated earlier this year. With 19 percent of those homes, the lender had not even begun to take action to repossess the property - double the rate of a year earlier. In some states, including California and Texas, lenders can pursue foreclosures outside of the courts. With the lender in control, the pace can be brisk. But in Florida, New York and 19 other states, judicial foreclosure is the rule, which slows the process substantially," according to the article.

"In Florida," it continued, "the average property spends 518 days in foreclosure, second only to New York's 561 days. Defense attorneys stress they can keep this number high." The article said that one lawyer in St. Petersburg, Florida, Mark P. Stopa, "sends out letters - 1,700 in a recent week - to Floridians who have had a foreclosure suit filed against them by a lender. Even if you have 'no defenses,' the form letter says, 'you may be able to keep living in your home for weeks, months or even years without paying your mortgage.'"

"About 10 new clients a week sign up, according to Mr. Stopa, who says he now has 350 clients in foreclosure, each of whom pays $1,500 a year for a maximum of six hours of attorney time. 'I just do as much as needs to be done to force the bank to prove its case,' Mr. Stopa said."

Many mortgages were sold by the original lender, a circumstance that homeowners' lawyers try to exploit by asking them to prove they own the loan.

From the lenders' standpoint, the article said that "people who stay in their homes without paying the mortgage or actively trying to work out some other solution, like selling it, are 'milking the process,' said Kyle Lundstedt, managing director of Lender Processing Service's analytics group....These 'free riders' are 'the unintended and unfortunate consequence' of lenders struggling to work out a solution, Mr. Lundstedt said. 'These people are playing a dangerous game. There are processes in many states to go after folks who have substantial assets postforeclosure.'"