PFH, the banks have been illegally foreclosing on homes. There is a very specific legal process. In particular, the bank must be able to come up with the title. Title and proper filing of the title in the appropriate county is very important. Many banks cannot do that because of robo-signing and the sloppy process of securitizing the mortgages into derivatives. It's just a legal mess. All of this has been reported in the financial sections. It will take a while to sort all of it out. Be forewarned that you should be wary about title when purchasing real estate now.
ETA: There was a lot of fraud in mortgages during the frenzy of the bubble. Someone said that she got paid to sit and sign fraudulant documents as an agent of a bank. She was just someone they pulled off the street and paid hourly to sign documents. She signed a made up name. Crazy stuff going on then.