Recent Foreclosure Consent Decree

As a foreclosure mediator in New Mexico, I like to report on news/cases in this special area and the big news right now is the Consent Decree/Judgment entered on April 4, 2012  against 5 financial defendants: 

- Bank of America

- Citigroup

- JP Morgan Chase

- Ally Financial/GMAC, and

- Wells Fargo

The Consent Decree derived from investigations concerning the "robo-signing" of foreclosure

NM Courts Uphold Home Mortgage Re-Fi Practices

A significant part of my mediation practice nowadays involves foreclosure mediation.  As I've written elsewhere, some courts on the East and West coasts have taken mortgage lenders to task in recent years.  In New Mexico, however, much of the debate about mortgage lending and foreclosure practices has been largely limited to op-ed pieces until now.  Finally, New Mexico courts have weighed in on lending practices at least, in a decision that clarifies the issues but may not bode well for home-owners.

Bankruptcy, Short Sale and Deed in Lieu in Foreclosure

A significant part of my neutral practice involves New Mexico foreclosure mediation, and I have written several posts recently regarding foreclosure.  See Foreclosure Mediation - Limitations and Concerns and How a Mediator Can Help in Foreclosure - More Thoughts.  Today, I'd like to look at a couple of particularly thorny issues that often arise in foreclosure mediation.  

First, it may be that the homeowner will need to consider whether he or she is even able to afford the home.  If the homeowner is not offered a loan modification that will

How a Mediator Can Help in Foreclosure - More Thoughts*

I've written in a previous blog about the role and utility of mediation in foreclosure matters.  Here are a couple of additional tips and pointers raised in a recent teleconference devoted to foreclosure mediation, including encouraging the parties to discuss how numbers were crunched,  locating the Pooling Service Agreement, and identifying the agent responsible for maintaining the file in the future.

Foreclosure Mediation - Limitations and Concerns*

As part of my New Mexico mediation practice, I find I am increasingly being referred residential foreclosure mediation cases.  This is no accident as today, an increasing number of states and/or individual state courts are utilizing foreclosure mediation programs to manage the current "foreclosure crisis." Some states with such programs, either state-wide or local include: Connecticut; Delaware; Florida—various judicial districts; Kentucky—Jefferson County; Maine; Maryland; Michigan; Nevada; New Jersey; New Mexico—First and Thirteenth Judicial Districts; New York; Ohio—various counties; Oregon; Pennsylvania—various counties; Rhode Island—Providence. 

A recurring and thorny dilemma for mediators today is how to conduct and what are the proper parameters for a foreclosure mediation or settlement facilitation.

News on the Home Front -- Mortgages and Foreclosures

Before I get to the meat of this post, I want to talk a bit about the nature of this particular blog, "On Maters of Family, Child Protection and Home."  

Beside my work in areas of general civil and labor/employment alternative dispute resolution, see On Being a Neutral, and  On New Mexico Labor and Employment Law, I am also increasingly engaged in New Mexico domestic relations, child protection and foreclosure matters nowadays.  "Domestic relations, child protection and foreclosure matters" may seem to you like an odd cast of characters to put together on your primarily labor-related resume, or to put together in one blog.  As to the resume, these are "hot" areas in mediation and my practice has necessarily evolved to go where the business is.  As to the blog, however, to me these areas are all connected by a common theme: what we do the rest of our day, away from work, e.g., home and family life.  Also, I frankly just had to cut myself off at the third blog!  

So, by way of that introduction, the following is my first post on matters of "home and heart," and what better inaugural topic than the present foreclosure crisis?