Not only did HomeBanc suddenly lay off employees, close shop, and quickly file bankruptcy, but now, they’ve left numerous Georgia law firms holding bad checks. Something really stinks about this whole HomeBanc debacle if you ask me.

Dozens of Georgia real-estate lawyers are left holding millions of dollars worth of bad checks by HomeBanc’s sudden exit from the mortgage lending business.

HomeBanc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Wilmington, Delaware, last week — out of cash and out of a business that had flourished in its hometown of Atlanta.

Lawyers whose real-estate practices flourished along with HomeBanc had already begun worrying about the mortgage-funding checks from the big lender that they’d deposited in their escrow accounts.

In Georgia, real-estate deals are funded right at the closing table. Lawyers had written checks to sellers out of those escrow accounts.

The checks bounced, and HomeBanc names about two dozen Georgia law firms on its list of unsecured creditors. Those are the people who stand to get what’s left over after the failed mortgage company’s top lenders get paid.

It’s one thing to fall on hard times and require re-organization, it’s quite another to knowingly write bad checks and leave others holding the bag.

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