At their current pace, it will take New York State lenders 62 years to repossess all the houses currently in foreclosure or severe default, NYT reports. That’s good news for some homeowners looking to get a break while they try to get out from behind the eight-ball with their debts. Some of them could even be dead by the time the house repo man comes to collect.

In the 27 other states where the courts are not involved in foreclosures it will only take two or three years, but that’s still a significant amount of time. New York is the longest of the states that have courts as part of the foreclosure process, but others are not that far off. For example, it would take New Jersey 47 years.

“If you were in foreclosure four years ago, you were biting your nails, asking yourself, ‘When is the sheriff going to show up and put me on the street?’ ” Herb Blecher, an SVP at LPS, which supplied the foreclosure analytics, told NYT. “Now you’re probably not losing any sleep.”

Homeowners who are behind on their payments, or worse, who find themselves with an unexpected breath of air like this should use the time to fight for mortgage modifications and improve their finances by cutting expenses and increasing their income.

Backlog of Cases Gives a Reprieve on Foreclosures [NYT]

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