Foreclosure

The law firm of Davidson Fink LLP recently announced that partner Heather C.M. Rogers is the new chair of the 4,877-member Real Property Law Section of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) for the 2011-2012 term. At Davidson Fink, Rogers manages the default operations department and is the primary client liaison for the firm. She also dedicates a portion of her practice to commercial and residential real estate and business and corporate law.

The phenomenon of strategic default has become a growing concern within the industry, but a new ""Market Insight Snapshot"" released by Experian Thursday suggests the percentage of mortgage defaults involving borrowers who decided to simply throw in the towel is trending downward. Since strategic defaults hit 20 percent of all mortgages 60-plus days delinquent in the fourth quarter of 2008, they've come in below that mark ever since, according to the study. By mid-2010, the share of intentional walk-aways was 17 percent.

Twenty-eight percent of homebuyers in California who signed their name on the dotted line last month are buying REO properties. At the same time, short sale deals made up some 19 percent of the state's pending home sales in May. These are the latest figures released by the California Association of Realtors. While the state's 48 percent distressed market share is significant by all accounts, some areas of California are nearly fully saturated in distressed sales. In Madera County, REOs and short sales claimed 90 percent of all pending sales last month.

CoreLogic has announced the introduction of Verification of Military Status (VOMS), a compliance and loan portfolio due diligence solution. VOMS allows mortgage servicers to identify borrowers protected under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which bans foreclosures and caps interest rate increases for those on active duty and up to 90 days following discharge.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says its all the distress in the housing sector that's pulling home prices and consumer confidence down and keeping buyers away from the market, despite the fact that the Fed's bond-buying program has succeeded in keeping interest rates low and housing affordable. Bernanke says he'd like to see more efforts to modify loans, but when that's not appropriate, the industry needs to speed up the process of foreclosure and disposition to clear the market.

Servicers have been ordered to institute a clear resolution process for consumer complaints. Accountability when it comes to dealing with distressed borrowers has become a central focus of mortgage servicing reform, but an audit conducted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency's inspector general found that the GSEs' regulator is itself lacking in this area. The report says the agency has let complaints alleging fraud, abuse, and improper foreclosures slip through the cracks with no oversight of their resolution. FHFA says it will take actions to remedy the issue.

The shadow inventory of repossessed and soon-to-be repossessed homes not yet visible to the market has been trimmed, according to CoreLogic. The company reports that as of April 2011, the industry's shadow supply fell to 1.7 million units, down from 1.9 million a year earlier. CoreLogic attributes the decline to fewer new delinquencies and a high level of distressed sales, which has helped to reduce the deluge of foreclosure properties on a market already beset by a supply and demand imbalance.

Data released by Lender Processing Services (LPS) Tuesday puts the number of home mortgages that are delinquent or in foreclosure at 6,350,000. The company's assessment is based on mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database through the end of the month of May. In April, LPS reported that there were 6,388,000 mortgages going unpaid. The month-over-month decline can be attributed to both a decrease in the national delinquency rate and a drop in foreclosure inventories.

The delinquency rate on loans included in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) fell four basis points in May to 9.18 percent, according to Moody's. The dollar balance of past due loans was approximately $56 billion. While loans totaling $3.4 billion became newly delinquent, previously delinquent loans totaling $4.1 billion became current, worked out, or were disposed. The top 25 metros continue to outperform the broader market with a delinquency rate of 8.48 percent, 70 basis points below the national average.

Wells Fargo will host a home preservation workshop in Irvine, California, this week to assist Wells Fargo and Wachovia customers in Southern California who are facing financial hardships. The two-day event begins Wednesday. Borrowers attending the event will meet with home retention team members to obtain loan modifications or pursue other foreclosure prevention options. Bilingual representatives are also available to assist borrowers.