Foreclosure

Columbia, Maryland-based CMSI Group Inc., a company that helps financial institutions mitigate credit risk, recently announced the first of two software applications for assessing the underlying loss risk of a lender’s loan portfolio.

ForeclosureRadar, an online company that tracks California foreclosures and provides daily auction updates, issued its California Foreclosure Report for November 2008 today. Despite the clear impact that California State Senate Bill 1137 had on stemming foreclosure activity in September and October, November saw significant increases across all stages of the foreclosure process, the company said.

Bergenfield, New Jersey-based NJLispendens recently announced enhanced search options to its Web site for pre-foreclosure court filings. NJLispendens offers legal insider information that is updated daily, allowing for real estate investors, lenders, and Realtors to locate recently filed foreclosure actions as they are recorded in the courts and pinpoint homeowners in default who need their help to avoid foreclosure.

An estimated 8.1 million homes in the United States, or 16 percent of all outstanding mortgages, will be foreclosed over the next four years, according to a recent research and analytics report issued by the 152-year old financial institution Credit Suisse.

Lenders who have pledged to halt foreclosure proceedings are apparently proceeding with foreclosure actions anyway, according to a recent BusinessWeek:http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/dec2008/db2008123_362200.

RealtyTrac released its November 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report today, which shows foreclosure filings – default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions – were reported on 259,085 U.

San Francisco-based Roost Inc. – a national real estate property search engine – announced yesterday that it has partnered with First American CoreLogic – a First American Corporation company and a provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics and services – to add foreclosure listings from First American CoreLogic to Roost.

New data shows that more than half of the loans modified in the first quarter of 2008 became delinquent again within six months, Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan said at a national housing conference in Washington yesterday.

New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine is calling for federal assistance to homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments and facing the threat of foreclosure. Corzine said that a federal program needs to be implemented to address the housing crisis or the government risks driving the nation even deeper into recession.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a public plea to the federal government on Thursday to take a more aggressive stance in the fight against foreclosure and consider government-funded programs to provide assistance for struggling homeowners.