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Nevada foreclosure starts drop sharply
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Nevada foreclosure starts plummeted 81 percent in October in reaction to a new law that imposes stricter requirements on filing notices of default, online listing service ForeclosureRadar.com reported Tuesday.
The law appears to have specifically targeted ReconTrust, the trustee that handles all Bank of America and Countrywide foreclosures, said Sean O'Toole, chief executive officer of Discovery Bay, Calif.-based ForeclosureRadar.
It prohibits a trustee such as ReconTrust from being owned by the foreclosing lender.
"You have one paragraph in (Assembly Bill) 284 that specifically says the beneficiary can't be the trustee. There's no other reason to put that in, so yeah, I'd say they were targeted," O'Toole said.
He finds it amazing that so many people believe that legislation and lawsuits targeting the foreclosure process are good for homeowners.
"The reality is these delays help the banks by allowing them to keep bad loans on their books at inflated values, while leaving in limbo the millions of homeowners that are already in default," O'Toole said. "The housing market will not recover until we move beyond these delay tactics."
ForeclosureRadar showed 1,025 notices of default for Nevada in October, down 81.5 percent from the previous month; 2,270 foreclosure sales, a 10.7 percent increase; and foreclosure time frame of 377 days, up 0.3 percent.
CLARK COUNTY NUMBERS
In Clark County, notices of default fell to 897 in October, compared with 4,656 in September and 5,417 in the same month a year ago. Notices of trustee sale declined to 3,296, a 7.5 percent decrease from the previous month and 30 percent decrease from a year ago.
Notices of default are the first step in the foreclosure process. Notices of trustee sale set the date and time of an auction and serve as the homeowner's final notice before the sale.
Clark County's inventory of real estate-owned, or bank-owned, homes declined to 11,081 in October, down from 11,589 in September and from 11,573 a year ago.
LAW AIMED AT ROBO-SIGNINGS
Assembly Bill 284, introduced by Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, requires a lender seeking to foreclose in Nevada to record a notarized affidavit of authority to foreclose that includes information showing that they have the legal right to exercise the power of sale.
The new law protects homeowners from improper foreclosures and protects the integrity of the homeownership system, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said. It was crafted largely in response to the robo-signing scandal that surfaced last year.
The law also gives Nevada homeowners access to data on companies that hold their mortgages by requiring that documents used in foreclosure be recorded in the county where the property is located, a challenge to the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS.
The foreclosure process needs to work its course, said Victor Joecks, communications director for Nevada Policy Research Institute. While he couldn't address the specifics of AB 284, Joecks said Nevada's mandatory foreclosure mediation and other forms of government intervention have only set the process back.
Homeowners who bought into the "bubble market" in Las Vegas and can no longer afford their mortgage payments are going to have to get out of those homes, Joecks said. Values will drop and eventually someone else buys the home, and only then will values start to increase again, he said.
'JUST A SPEED BUMP'
"Some Realtors feel the world is coming to an end because the foreclosure process will take forever while others feel it's just a speed bump and things will be fine in a month or so," Tim Kelly Kiernan of Re/Max Extreme said. "I met with my Bank of America contacts and they say it's also just a speed bump. Who knows? Patience is a virtue I guess."
O'Toole said the intent of the Nevada law is that good and banks should be held accountable for their actions, but letting homeowners go without paying their mortgage won't solve anything, he said; it will hurt their credit and hurt the overall economy in the long run.
"I've said a million times I understand why people are mad at the banks," O'Toole said. "Unless politicians come up with a solution to fix negative equity, then adding more regulations and requirements will cause delays that do more harm than good."
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.
| October 2011 | September 2011 | October 2010 | |
| Notice of default | 897 | 4,656 | 5,417 |
| Notice of sale | 3,296 | 3,564 | 4,700 |
| Cancellations | 1,298 | 1,363 | 1,864 |
| Back to bank (REO) | 1,418 | 1,254 | 1,773 |
| Sold to third party | 623 | 553 | 331 |
| REO inventory | 11,081 | 11,589 | 11,573 |
| Winning bid | $166,000 | $168,000 | $174,000 |
| Days to foreclosure | 379 | 381 | 285 |
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It makes fools out the rest of us that are paying our mortgages at inflated prices. Why am I so dumb.I should be like the rest of theses home owners sitting in my home or renting it not paying my mortgage while enjoying may new found money with no shame while the government/banks is just prolonging it coming up with more and more rules. Why don't we as a nation STOP PAYING OUR MORTGAGES AND SEE WHAT THE GOVERNMENT /BANKS WILL DO THEN. WE THE 99% CAN MAKE THE CHANGE THAT IS NEEDED WITHOUT POLITICIANS AND BANKS AND HAVE EXTRA MONEY IN POCKETS TOO.
Our PSF (acronym for Political Survival Fund) dollars hard at work!
The muckity mucks at the Nevada Association of Realtors has decided that they would effectively put their support behind the big banks by as they say.."Mark your calendars for Monday, November 21, at 12:30pm! NVAR will be holding a live tele town hall to discuss the new state law addressing the problem of robo-signing that has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the filings of notices of default. You will also have an opportunity to ask questions to our....wait for it.....LOBBYING TEAM." It's official....I'm ashamed to call myself a Realtor....creeps!
Ok, let's get this straight...not everybody who bought a house in LV was a subprime borrower, a fraud, landlord or an investor...there were many others who were prime borrowers with cash down payments for primary residence homes...they made purchased based on market conditions that were soiled by the massive level of fraud being committed here..they did nothing to cause the collapse..on the contrary they continue to uphold their commitment by making their payments instead of dumping the house and further deteriorating everyone's home values.....these are the people who have legit complaints, these are the people who have been harmed the most....
boy you sure got me...lol
The mortgage giants spread their cash evenly: Democrats got 51% and Republicans 49%. Top lawmakers got top dollar.
In the House, Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., led among the leadership with $78,500 in donations from Fannie and Freddie. He was followed by Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, $60,500; Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., $51,500; Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., $47,000; and Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., $26,000.
Regarding the donations, Nick Simpson, press secretary for Blunt, said: “It’s not a quid pro quo. In fact, Blunt voted against the housing bailout and GSE reform, proposals which Fannie and Freddie supported.”
Among the Senate leadership, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., received $71,499. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., followed with $40,000.
Fannie and Freddie’s PACs showered nearly $792,000 on members of the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over the mortgage titans. The committee chairman, Barney Frank, D-Mass., received $30,500. Ranking member Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., took in $70,500, while Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., received $34,999.
“Their donations do not make me look at them any more favorably,” Frank said. “Indeed, it was under the Democrats that we finally passed legislation giving the Bush administration more regulatory authority over Fannie and Freddie.”
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., who runs a subcommittee overseeing the mortgage giants, received $57,500. The ranking member, Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, got $45,000.
Current members of the Senate Banking Committee received about $421,000 from Fannie’s and Freddie’s PACs. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, has received $71,499, more than any other member of Congress.
Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., received $48,500; ranking GOP member Richard Shelby of Alabama got $23,000.
Senators on a key appropriations panel received $167,000, with Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., reaping $64,000.
FANNIE AND FREDDIE HAVE GIVE OVER 319M IN 20 YEARS, MOSTLY TO DEMS. OBAMA HAS GOTTEN MORE THAN ANY OTHER POLITICIAN...TRY AGAIN PROUD-DUMMYCRAT
gbigs if the democrats run fannie mae i guess the republicans run freddie mac since they gave gingrich over a million dollars...lol
@billybob. you repeat dem talking points. try google subprime crash. you will become enlightened, provided you can both read and think.
There's light at the end of the tunnel Bill. A few more years of smoking and you can sue the tobacco companies because you didn't know it was bad.
I take no responsibility for the greedy actions of big banks, our lousy government, and Wall Street that negatively affected my situation. The note said you agree to pay AND if you don't pay, we get to take the house back. I'm giving it back. If the value of my house went down $10K or $20K I would have just taken the hit. How can you reasonably expect anyone to keep paying for a house that was purchased for $255K and is now worth $85K? If it was my fault the value dropped that much, I would have kept it and blamed myself. Seeing as I am a smoker and am going to be a renter, I'll never get through to you anyway. Yes, Fannie and Freddie played a huge role, but so did the big banks and our government. I don't expect any of you to necessarily agree with me, I'm just doing what I feel I have to do for me. I wouldn't stop paying on a car - it's a well known fact their value drops the minute you drive it off the lot. Raterpillar - I sure hope you enjoy your investment (house). At least you can brag about how you are morally and ethically perfect and that's a cool thing right?