LI foreclosure filings down in May, but up from '09
A foreclosure sign is posted outside a house in Stockton, California. (Sept. 18, 2008) Credit: Bloomberg News
Lenders sent out fewer foreclosure-related filings on Long Island last month compared with April, but the number was still higher than a year ago, RealtyTrac said in releasing May data Thursday.
The filings, which include newly started cases, fell 4 percent from April and rose 7 percent from a year ago, the report said. The figures dovetail with a fledgling trend nationwide: Lenders are focusing on closing cases stalled over the last few years, said officials at RealtyTrac, an online market for foreclosures.
"Lenders appear to be ramping up the pace of completing those forestalled foreclosures even while the inflow of delinquencies into the foreclosure process has slowed," said company chief James J. Saccacio.
The slower pace partly reflects the mortgage industry's attempts to modify loans, said Syosset attorney Alan Weinreb, who represents Wells Fargo and others in the industry.
"Before they send the files to me or another lawyer, they're holding on to the files longer to do their own internal review as to whether or not they fall into homeowner modification guidelines," he said.
An attention grabber in the data: 422 homes taken back by lenders in Suffolk, compared with 20 in April and 71 a year ago, according to the report. Nassau had six in May, seven in April and 63 a year ago, the firm said.
But don't think the crisis exploded last month for Suffolk - the May count is a statement on how data recording and collection can skew the picture. Some of the 422 properties were actually taken back in previous months, said RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist.
When a lender "buys" back a house at auction, the sale might not be recorded for months due to delays by the lender in filing information or by municipalities as they verify and log in documents. RealtyTrac hires local contractors, who are often title search or real estate-related firms, to pore over records at county clerk offices.
Cases with recording dates more than 90 days old are not counted, Blomquist said. That means a December auction can be recorded as an REO, or real estate owned, by a lender in February, found by the contractor in May and counted under that month by RealtyTrac.
"We count them in the month that we are able to collect them and enter them in our database," Blomquist said.
