BLOOMBERG: Foreclosure Filings Plunge as Bank Delays Mask ‘True Face’ of U.S. Crisis

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CONTESTED FORECLOSURES HAVING HUGE EFFECT

Foreclosure filings have fallen for eight straight months on a year-over-year basis as banks rework their documentation procedures following claims they improperly repossessed homes. Weak demand from buyers is making it difficult for lenders to sell the properties that they already have on their books, known as real estate owned, or REOs, according to RealtyTrac.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Think about it. Why and how could recorded documents be “reworked”? The answer is only if we let them. And the readers of this blog and tens of thousands of other people, with the help of hundreds of lawyers who have found a living in defending foreclosures, are getting increasing attention. Strategic defaults are increasing steadily — people staying but not paying and simply waiting to see what happens and willing to fight with the bank if something does happen.

THERE IS NOTHING TO BE REWORKED. EVERY HOME THAT WAS FORECLOSED OR WAS THE SUBJECT OF A SATISFACTION OF CONVEYANCE OF MORTGAGE HAS A TITLE DEFECT. THINK I’M WRONG? ASK THE TITLE CARRIERS. THEY KNOW IT AND THEY INTEND TO DENY COVERAGE. WILL THEY GET AWAY WITH IT?

It’s not the economy that will come crashing down if the transactions are seen under the rule of law as invalid and unenforceable — what will come crashing down is debt that never should have existed in the first instance and which does not exist as a matter of law and fact.

• It turns out, contrary to the earliest lies, that the parties who brought foreclosures were wrong. They were pretenders who had no interest and no business related to the actual loans. MERS for example advertised its services under the promise that they would never assert a claim in law or equity against the title or the money in any of the mortgage loans. Yet they were repeatedly named as the lender or beneficiary or mortgagee. And they were repeatedly named as the party bringing a foreclosure action.
  
• It turns out, contrary to later lies, that the paperwork wasn’t messed up, it was fabricated and forged. Go talk to Scott Anderson, robosigner extraordinaire, if he exists at all.
  
• It turns out, contrary to the initial opinion of judges, that the evidence wasn’t there and that the Judges erred in allowing foreclosures to proceed on the assumption that the evidence existed. They just could not imagine that bank would show to foreclose on a mortgage that didn’t exist. They could not wrap their heads around the idea that the banks actually were not the lenders, were not creditors, and had no interest in the loan. Why would they do that? (ANSWER: SEE Free HOUSE)
• It turns out, contrary to the clerk’s offices (some of whom won’t accept robosigned documents anymore) that the acceptance of the credit bid at the auction was a farce without the laughter. The auction was bad, the credit bid was from a non-creditor and the issuance of title was the equivalent of a wild deed.
• It turns out, contrary to the title insurance policies and title registries around the country, that title insurance and chains of title have been defective for over 10 years placing clouds on title, probably incurable, resulting from more than 80 million transactions affecting most people who own a home whether they paid cash or financed or some combination of the two. Title is corrupted around the country and cannot be fixed. It can be cleared by quiet title but it can’t be fixed.
  
• It turns out, contrary to everyone’s assumption in the early days of the crash, that the loans were defective, fraudulent instruments not entitled to any consideration. Anything recorded is essentially a wild deed. And title insurance isn’t going to help. They can and will deny coverage. I have this confirmed from the highest levels of the title insurance carriers.
  
• It turns out, contrary to the spin of Wall Street that the foreclosures are a grand illusion which under law is as meaningless as recording a comic book in the title registry.
  
• It turns out, contrary to the management reports and financial statements certified by auditing firms with the same enthusiasm as the AAA ratings of the bogus mortgage bonds, that the assets of the mega banks are not mega after all.
  
• And it turns out, contrary to economists who are paid to lie to us, that the recession is real enough for people who don’t have a job, but actually an illusion made real by the unwillingness of our government to govern for the people.

Foreclosure Filings Plunge as Bank Delays Mask ‘True Face’ of U.S. Crisis

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States where courts oversee foreclosures showed a 45 percent decrease in filings from a year earlier, while non-judicial states had a 25 percent decline and accounted for almost two-thirds of the national total, RealtyTrac said. Photographer by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Foreclosure filings in the U.S. tumbled last month to the lowest in almost four years as banks weighed down by an increasing inventory of seized homes delayed processing defaults, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

A total of 214,927 properties received default, auction or repossession notices in May, the fewest since November 2007, the Irvine, California-based data company said today in a statement. Filings dropped 33 percent from a year earlier and 2 percent from April. One in 605 households got a notice.

Foreclosure filings have fallen for eight straight months on a year-over-year basis as banks rework their documentation procedures following claims they improperly repossessed homes. Weak demand from buyers is making it difficult for lenders to sell the properties that they already have on their books, known as real estate owned, or REOs, according to RealtyTrac.

“Foreclosure processing delays continue to mask the true face of the foreclosure situation,” James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. “Even at a significantly lower level than a year ago, the new supply of REOs exceeds the amount being sold each month.”

Unemployment and falling home values are limiting property sales and have pushed about 28 percent of mortgage holders underwater on their loans, meaning they owe more than the home is worth, according to Zillow Inc. The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent in May from 9 percent the previous month, the Labor Department reported June 3.

Eight-Year Low

Home prices slid 3.6 percent in the first quarter to the lowest level since 2003 in the S&P/Case-Shiller index of values in 20 U.S. cities. Confidence among builders in June was at the weakest in nine months, as executives expressed pessimism about the prospect of higher sales, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo sentiment index showed yesterday.

The inventory of distressed homes nationwide stands at 1.8 million, which would take about three years to sell at the current pace, Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s communications manager, said in a telephone interview.

Default notices were filed on 58,797 U.S. properties last month, the lowest in more than four years and a 39 percent decline from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.

Auctions were scheduled for 89,251 properties, down 33 percent from May 2010. Lenders seized 66,879 homes, a 29 percent decrease from a year earlier.

States where courts oversee foreclosures showed a 45 percent decrease in filings from a year earlier, while non- judicial states had a 25 percent decline and accounted for almost two-thirds of the national total, RealtyTrac said.

Nevada, Arizona

Nevada had the highest rate of foreclosure filings per household for the 53rd straight month, with one in 103 getting a notice. Arizona had the second-highest rate at one in 210 and California was third at one in 259. Michigan, Utah, Georgia, Idaho, Florida, Illinois and Colorado also ranked in top 10.

Five states accounted for more than half of the U.S. filing total, led by California’s 51,906. Florida was second at 19,192 and Michigan third at 14,614. Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin rounded out the top 10.

RealtyTrac sells default data from more than 2,200 counties representing 90 percent of the U.S. population.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Levy in San Francisco at dlevy13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net

Tags: bankruptcy, borrower, countrywide, disclosure, foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure offense, foreclosures, fraud, quiet title, rescission, RESPA, securitization, TILA audit, trustee, WEISBAND
Posted in bubble, Corruption, Eviction, securities fraud |