Foreclosure

Atlanta-based Johnson & Freedman, LLC, a member of the Fannie Mae Retained Attorney Network and Freddie Mac Designated Counsel Program, recently promoted January N. Taylor to partner. As a foreclosure attorney, Taylor manages the foreclosure processes for Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Virginia. She also manages the firm's title department, which supports foreclosure, bankruptcy, REO, and litigation in reviewing and clearing title issues.

Last year the Florida State Courts Administration asked its legislators for $9.6 million to try to clear its massive backlog of foreclosures. Since the courts received the money and began working through the backlog in July 2010, the state has cleared more than 110,000 foreclosures from its system. That, however, leaves more than 350,000 foreclosures to work through.

Though servicers seem to be having minimal success with the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), final 2010 data released by HOPE NOW shows that its members completed 1.24 million proprietary loan modifications last year. That number is more than double the 512,712 HAMP modifications completed by servicers last year. HOPE NOW's data show that there were 1.06 million foreclosure sales in 2010, compared to 1.76 million total loan modifications.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is pushing legislation that would allow bankruptcy court judges to order foreclosure mediation between homeowners and lenders. His proposal is modeled after a program in his home state of Rhode Island. He says it would not give judges the power to slash mortgage debt like the many bankruptcy cramdown measures that have fallen short, but instead would force lenders to open up the lines of communication to find a solution that is in the best interest of both homeowners and investors.

Ally Financial, the parent company of GMAC Mortgage, said Tuesday that it brought in net income of $1.1 billion for the full-year 2010, a sharp turnaround from the $10.3 billion net loss recorded for 2009. During the fourth-quarter period of last year, the company posted a profit of $79 million, compared to a net loss of $5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2009. The company's financial sheet turned from red to black largely due to gains in its mortgage operations.

Last week, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, released a report to Congress saying servicers are not doing all they can to help facilitate the process of keeping borrowers in their homes. To date there have been 1,025,907 homeowners rejected for HAMP modifications by the eight largest servicers, and there have been 572,655 canceled trial modifications, which typically occurs because of insufficient documentation, program ineligibility, or because the borrower missed payments.

Treasury and HUD released a new report Monday on the state of the housing market, including new metrics that provide a more granular view of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Most program participants are moderate and middle income distressed homeowners, with a median credit score of 570, who are underwater on their mortgages. Borrowers in active permanent modifications have seen their monthly mortgage payment cut by a median of 40 percent.

The number of California homes going into foreclosure dropped during the fourth quarter of 2010 to its lowest level in more than three years. According to San Diego-based DataQuick, 69,799 Notices of Default (NoDs) were recorded in the state during the three-month period, down 16.2 percent from the prior quarter and down 17.5 percent from a year earlier. California's priciest ZIP codes saw mortgage defaults rise slightly quarter-to-quarter, but defaults still remain much higher in lower-cost areas.

According to a new report released this week by the Nevada Association of Realtors, nearly one in four Nevada homeowners who have lost their homes to foreclosure admit to ""walking away"" as part of a strategic default. The report also revealed that most of the state's homeowners facing foreclosure were not aware of federal and nonprofit programs designed to help them. Sixty-one percent said they'd never heard of the federal government's HAFA short sale program.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced Friday that it is extending the suspension of its 'anti-flipping rule' through the remainder of 2011. FHA Commissioner David Stevens says the temporary waiver will accelerate the resale of foreclosed homes in neighborhoods that are overrun with abandoned properties and blight. The move is intended to help stabilize home values and improve conditions in communities experiencing high foreclosure activity.