Foreclosure

Schneiderman said the three programs his office has created, the Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP), the New York State Mortgage Assistance Program (NYS MAP), and AGScamHelp.com, have benefited tens of thousands of homeowners in New York State by helping them avoid foreclosure and keeping them in their homes.

Pre-crisis, distressed sales usually hovered around 2 percent, the report stated. CoreLogic expects the numbers to return to this mark by mid-2017, a claim bolstered by the ongoing shift away from REO sales. REO sales made up 7.4 percent of total distressed sales in April, while short sales made up 3.7 percent.

Aged foreclosure inventory, which is comprised of residential mortgage loans in active foreclosure that are at least two years delinquent, has seen significant improvement in the last seven months, according to Black Knight Financial Services' May 2015 Mortgage Monitor released Monday.

Smith reported that Green Tree had completed eight corrective action plans (CAPs) to address root causes of fails that had previously been uncovered, and that he found no evidence of any failures during the "cure period," which is the amount of time in which the servicer has a chance to fix the issues.

Counsel's Corner is an ongoing series in which DS News talks with default servicing attorneys around the country about the most pressing issues facing the default servicing industry. This installment features Michael Woods, Supervising Attorney of the Foreclosure and Loss Mitigation Departments for Potestivo & Associates in the Detroit area.

Overall, the number of delinquent mortgages jumped by 98,000 up to about 2.5 million in May. Despite the increase in delinquent loans for the last two months, the delinquency rate is still down by 12 percent from May 2014 and is at its lowest point since the summer of 2007, according to Black Knight.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined to complete 65,960 foreclosure prevention actions in Q1 this year, bringing the total of such actions up to almost 3. 5 million between the two GSEs since September 2008 when the conservatorships began, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)'s Q1 2015 Foreclosure Prevention Report released on Tuesday.

Borrowers are warned to watch for the warning signs of foreclosure and to seek help if they look familiar. If a borrower is in need of help avoiding foreclosure, Freddie Mac lists several options to contact for help: the lender, housing counselors, Freddie Mac borrower help centers, and house finance agencies.

Counsel's Corner is an ongoing series in which DS News talks with default servicing attorneys around the country about the most pressing issues facing the default servicing industry. This installment features Linda Erkkila, General Counsel with Safeguard Properties.

CoreLogic's April 2015 National Foreclosure Report released this week found that four metropolitan areas accounted for 10 percent of the nation's completed foreclosures for the 12-month period ending April 30, 2015. In addition, about 45 percent of the completed foreclosures during that same period occurred in five states.