Team Thayer Property Servicing

While delaying foreclosure on a home does have some potential benefits, for the most part it is counterproductive, according to data released this week by  Freddie Mac . In Freddie Mac’s  November 2015 Insight & Outlook report , the Enterprise notes the time it takes to foreclose on a home is twice as long on the average in judicial foreclosure states, meaning that the courts must approve the process before it is completed, as opposed to non-judicial states, where the process can be completed without the courts. The state with the longest average time to complete foreclosure (from the date of initial default) was a judicial foreclosure state, New Jersey, at 22 months—which was twice as long as the shortest average foreclosure timeline, 11 months, in two non-judicial states, Michigan and Missouri. In some judicial states the foreclosure process can take much longer than 22 months, such as in Ohio, where a  bill recently passed in the State House of Representative...

Nationwide REO inventory is approximately one-third of what it was at its peak in early 2009 at the depth of the housing crisis. What will it mean for banks when the steadily declining REO inventory falls down to its "normal" pre-crisis level in less than two years, as is expected? What type of shifts or diversification is the mortgage industry experiencing right now as REO inventory continues to spiral downward? At the REO Lab at the  2015 Five Star Conference and Expo  on Friday in Dallas, industry experts discussed how to get ahead and stay informed and equipped to take on the new REO marketplace. Team Thayer Real Estate News The first panel of the lab, "True State of REO: Market Analysis and Shadow Inventory," included Roger Beane, President and CEO of LRES Corporation; Sharon Bartlett, Director of Vendor Services at Freddie Mac; and Clay Lehman, Principal, Resolute Asset Management. Beane said the future of REO, and of housing in general, could be...

Foreclosure volumes are near pre-crisis levels in many parts of the country seven years after the housing crisis, and the landscape is still constantly evolving. New and revised regulations coming from Capitol Hill are keeping mortgage lenders, servicers, and attorneys on their toes as far as compliance. How easy or difficult has it been to adjust? Team Thayer Housing news Eugene Oregon Participants in the Foreclosure Lab at the  2015 Five Star Conference and Expo  in Dallas on Thursday weighed in on this question and other topics such as the foreclosure statute of limitations and how to maintain a pipeline while the housing market is largely recovered and foreclosure inventory is way down from its levels of five and six years ago. "In our industry, there is only so much that we can control," said Daniel Chilton, managing attorney with Citi . "I believe that it's cyclical, and I believe that as defaults go back up, a key indicator will be as interest rate...

REO sales are down by 80 percent from their peak six years ago, but there are still plenty of affordable buying opportunities for homebuyers, according to a commentary  by Chris Bowden,  Freddie Mac 's SVP of HomeSteps , the GSE's real estate sales unit. About 6 percent of all residential home sales in June 2015 were REO sales, compared with their January 2009 peak of 27.6 percent, according to the latest data from  CoreLogic , a decline of about 80 percent. Today's low mortgage rates, which are hovering around 4 percent, provide more opportunities for investors and other buyers seeking an affordable home option. Bowden reminds potential buyers that while buying an REO property is very similar to buying any other house, there are four tips to remember: Find a reputable agent . It will be helpful to find a reputable agent who works actively in the neighborhoods where you are looking to buy a home. Though banks will negotiate, they often employ local pricing strateg...

Team Thayer Real Estate News Foreclosure inventory is back down to pre-recession levels, according to reports this month from CoreLogic  and  Black Knight Financial Services , and a major driver of the steady decline of residential homes in foreclosure is the steady foreclosure outflow. Black Knight found 739,000 homes in pre-sale foreclosure inventory for June (about 1.46 percent of mortgages), while fore CoreLogic the numbers were lower (472,000 homes, about 1.2 percent of mortgages). But both have been steadily on the decline – for CoreLogic, the 1.2 percent foreclosure inventory rate (a decline of 29 percent from the previous June) is the lowest level since January 2008. The estimated total of 1.46 percent foreclosure inventory by Black Knight in June was a 22.6 percent decline year-over-year; while this was the lowest year-over-year decline in foreclosure inventory reported for one month since early 2013, the number of loans in foreclosure still declined by 21...

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman  has announced  a targeted advertising campaign  and consumer education initiative to assist homeowners in his state avoid foreclosure rescue scams. The ads will appear in billboards and on Facebook in the areas that have reported foreclosure rescue scams most frequently. Typically, a scammer will promise the distressed homeowner a lifeline out of foreclosure but then take the homeowners money while not providing the help that was promised. The series of ads promotes homeowners to visit  AGScamHelp.com , which gives homeowners access to the Homeowner Protection Program ( HOPP ), a network of nearly 90 housing counseling and legal service agencies funded by Schneiderman's office. HOPP provides free services to distressed homeowners who are facing foreclosure. "The most powerful tools to stop mortgage rescue scams are educated, vigilant homeowners," Schneiderman said. "These scams are particularly pernicious because...

Foreclosure metrics were way down across the board again in July 2015, as pre-sale foreclosure inventory dropped to its lowest level since December 2007 and completed foreclosures were down by nearly 25 percent year-over-year, according to  CoreLogic 's  July 2015 National Foreclosure Report  released Tuesday. Completed foreclosures for July 2015 totaled approximately 38,000, which was a 24.4 percent declined from the previous July's total of 50,000. July 2015's total represented a 68 percent decline from the peak number of completed foreclosures (117,225) reached in September 2010. Completed foreclosures, which are a true measure of homes lost to foreclosure, have totaled 5.8 million nationwide since the financial crisis began in September 2008 and 7.8 million since homeownership rates peaked in Q2 2004, according to CoreLogic. While monthly completed foreclosure totals have been on the steady decline, July's total of 38,000 is still about 80 percent higher than t...

Freddie Mac  has announced that as part of the periodic review, state foreclosure timelines have been extended in 34 of 55 jurisdictions including Oregon  for all foreclosure sales completed on or after Aug 1, 2015. The temporary suspension of state foreclosure timeline compensatory fee assessments in the District of Columbia, New York (including New York City), and New Jersey has been extended from June 30, 2015, to December 31, 2015, according to Freddie Mac. The Enterprise originally announced the temporary suspension in the  Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide Bulletin 2014-19.  The temporary suspension and the extended foreclosure timelines recently announced will be discussed in Freddie Mac's October 2015 Guide Bulletin. Freddie Mac extended state foreclosure timelines as follows as part of the periodic review. The length of time is measured in calendar days, and the number of days here refers to the maximum number of allowable days between the due da...

With nearly a 30 percent year-over-year decline in June, the nation's foreclosure inventory rate—the share of residential homes with a mortgage in some state of foreclosure—is at 1.2 percent, the lowest level since 2007, according to  CoreLogic 's  June 2015 National Foreclosure Report  released Tuesday. The foreclosure inventory rate has now declined year-over-year for 44 consecutive months, including June. The 1.2 percent foreclosure inventory rate represented about 472,000 homes, down from 664,000 in June 2014. Although the national foreclosure inventory rate is back to pre-recession levels, the rate remains high in select areas hit hardest by the crisis, such as Florida and New Jersey. "The foreclosure rate for the U.S. has dropped to its lowest level since 2007, supported by a continuing decline in loans made before 2009, gains in employment, and higher housing prices," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "The decline has not been un...

Sales of distressed properties in April 2015 hit their lowest point since April 2007, according to a  report released Thursday by  CoreLogic . According to CoreLogic, distressed sales comprised 11 percent of home sales nationally in April. This is down 3 percentage points from last April and 1.5 percentage points from March. It is also far below the January 2009 peak in which distressed sales accounted for a third of U.S. home sales. 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. This shift, CoreLogic wrote, is a driver of improving home prices. The national numbers, however, are quite a bit lower than those in the five states with the heftiest shares of distressed sales. In Michigan and Florida, 21.7 perc...