Commentary

Florida courts have been very aggressive in moving the foreclosure cases pending on their dockets, especially the aged cases. The Courts’ tool of choice to obtain file movement is the Case Management Conference (CMC). At the court-ordered CMC, the Court will hear and decide all pending motions and, if the case is at issue, set the case for a trial to be held within a 45 to 60 day timeframe.

A discussion of leadership has to include the question: What skills does a leader need to have in order to be effective? Leaders need to be able to manage change, and in order to manage change, leaders have to navigate a myriad of social relationships.

Happy New Year, and what a beginning to the year we have had. The country has, as many of you have experienced, dealt with record cold weather, snow, and ice. However, perhaps in many respects, first on our industry’s mind has been the implementation of the new CFPB servicing guidelines.

Are debtors getting another attempt to extend or impose the Automatic Stay in cases where there is no Automatic Stay in effect? Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §362(c)(3), the automatic stay shall terminate on the 30th day after the filing of the later case of a single or joint case of the debtor that was pending within the preceding one-year period but was dismissed other than a Chapter 7 dismissal under Section 707(b).

In the emotionally charged environment of default servicing, unscrupulous legal professionals continue to solicit work from distressed homeowners with promises of nothing more than delaying a lender’s recovery process regardless of the facts. In this industry, where time is so ...

Historically, Chapter 7 Trustees rarely seek authorization to sell over-encumbered real property of the estate free and clear of liens because such a sale is authorized only under very limited circumstances. Based upon the rarity of motions to sell over-encumbered property and the assumption that a Court would never grant such a motion, creditors have generally been complacent about monitoring bankruptcy cases for such motions.

As Webster's dictionary defines it, efficiency is the extent to which time, effort, or cost is well used for the intended task or purpose. Something we perhaps all strive for, but something of which we also can easily lose sight. We are deluged with the daily necessities of work: the email, phone calls, meetings, and other distractions that make our days fly by. So, when do we have a chance to pause and reflect on whether we are personally operating efficiently, or the time to review if our businesses are operating efficiently?

We can expect to see the U.S. housing market cool off as we move into 2014 for a number of reasons–some economic, some specific to the housing market itself. And the implications are significant for companies in the default services industry.

Almost everyone agrees that something needs to be done with the GSEs, and almost everyone recognizes that the “something” will be a complex undertaking, but we must be up to this task, we must be thoughtful about reform, avoid unintended consequences, and strike a middle ground between growing a private mortgage market and providing a government backstop.

Last night, in President Obama's State of the Union address to Congress, the President said the American people were “tired of stale political arguments.” I agree, Mr. President, we are tired. We are tired of the divisive language from our President. Instead of bringing America together and setting us forth on the path towards economic growth and prosperity, what I heard in his address was more of the same misguided, go-it-alone ideas we’ve heard before, as opposed to real job creation and economic growth.