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Loss Mitigation

Short Sale Success Faces Hurdles in California: Survey

Ninety-four percent of Realtors surveyed by the California Association of Realtors participated in a short sale transaction during 2010, demonstrating the growing presence of short sale listings in today's distressed real estate environment. Despite increased market interest in the short sale as an alternative to foreclosure, the survey found that fewer than three out of five actually close in California. The trade group says this fact illustrates ""the complexity and difficulty of navigating lenders' and servicers' short sale procedures.""

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Details of Servicer Settlement Surface, Resolution Still A Long Way Away

The robo-signing settlement presented to servicers by government agencies and attorneys general last week features 27 pages of rules and regulations. Though the details of the settlement have been released to the public, they are in no way final and will go through many rounds of negotiations before government officials and servicers can come to an agreement. There is speculation that reaching a resolution will be a daunting task, but officials are hoping the process will be complete in the next two months.

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Allonhill Names New Managing Director of Government Services

Denver-based Allonhill, an independent third-party review firm specializing in mortgage due diligence and credit risk management, recently appointed Mike Margolf managing director of government services. Margolf, who previously served as the firm's director of due diligence, now oversees day-to-day operations of Allonhill's public sector offerings and manages relationships with government clients.

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Federal Foreclosure Programs to Cost Less than Expected

Members of the House Financial Services Committee are advocating for the termination of federal foreclosure relief programs largely based on the argument that their cost outweighs the benefits. Committee members are scheduled to vote on bills ending the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) on Wednesday. Information provided by the Congressional Research Service indicates that the price tag for the government's foreclosure mitigation programs will come in well below earlier estimates.

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Short Sale Association of America Introduces Lead-Generating Heat Map

The Short Sale Association of America (SSAA) recently launched a pre-notice of default (pre-NOD) map for real estate professionals looking for distressed property leads. Users can find and order pre-NOD leads by ZIP code and number of days late on mortgage payments using an interactive heat map. The new heat map provides lead counts for each state, county, and ZIP code, which are live-streamed from the credit bureaus. The map is also color-coded to illustrate high to low rates of default.

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Federal Trade Commission Requests Loan Servicing Records from Ocwen

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested documents and information from Ocwen Financial related to its loan servicing activities as part of a civil investigation, the company said in its annual regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Florida-based specialty loan servicer, which focuses on bringing highly distressed loans back to performing status, is the latest mark in a number of investigations by government agencies targeting the mortgage servicing industry.

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Homeownership Preservation Foundation Adds Board Member

The Homeownership Preservation Foundation (HPF), which administers the Homeowner's HOPE Hotline (1-888-995-HOPE) to provide free, financial education and confidential foreclosure prevention counseling, has named Bruce Gottschall to its board of directors. Gottschall is one of the original founders of Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Chicago. Under his leadership, NHS of Chicago partnered with the city to establish the Home Ownership Preservation Initiative to prevent foreclosures.

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North Carolina’s SECU Revamps Mortgage Assistance Program

With North Carolina facing a budget deficit of $2.7 billion, the State Employees' Credit Union (SECU) is fine-tuning its Mortgage Assistance Program to better assist state government employees facing potential job cuts. Developed in January 2009 with the objective of helping members stay in their homes, the institution's mortgage program so far has assisted 7,000 North Carolina families.

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Senators Advocate Restructuring Foreclosure Programs and Processes

While both the House and Senate seem to have similar ideas - that changes in foreclosure prevention are needed, and fast - the groups seem to have completely different takes on how to achieve those changes. This week members of a House committee reviewed proposals advocating for the termination of four foreclosure prevention programs and voted to send two of those proposals to the full House. Meanwhile, senators sent a letter to several government agencies, urging them to modify the very programs the House will consider terminating.

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California Senators Reintroduce Bill to Prevent Wrongful Foreclosures

With 305,000 California borrowers receiving notices of default and more than 170,000 families losing their homes to foreclosure in 2010, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) are again pushing for legislation that would help prevent what they deem as ""wrongful foreclosures."" Their California Homeowner Protection Act would require that borrowers be given a decision on a loan modification before the foreclosure process can begin.

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