How does Mandatory Mediation before foreclosure affect your market?

[Jose Rivas (DGRA) CDPE, SFR]

We are in an election year in Maryland and the governor is pushing for a state mandatory mediation before foreclosure, it appears that the bill will pass, since no legislator in their right mind will opposed a bill that might help voters.

Some are comparing this bill to the mediation in Nevada and the success rate there, I would like some input from some of you who might live in a state that has mediation. I want to be well inform to serve my clients better.

What the bill in Maryland is supposed to do is to give the home owner an opportunity to workout a loan modification with the lender and both parties have to work in good faith to do everything possible before the auction sale takes place, and everything has to be documented by both home owner and lender.

I personally think this is good, because some people don't have all the information to try to save their homes, to find alternatives, etc. because in most cases they are too worry or too upset of what is next, and their economic situation is either suffocating them or blinding them.

It seems that the biggest opposition to this bill in my state are the lender and the courts. The first because they will loose leverage and because they will have to make a good effort on trying to help the home owner, the second because they are concern of the court cost and time.

In the other hand if we agents have the right information and knowledge we can work are home retention consultants and inform the home owner of their options and laws that can help them. I am not saying lets give legal advise, put just point them in the right direction. I always tell my short sale clients that first they should try to get a loan modification and only to short when the loan modification is denied.

I am also concern from the REO side is if we need to ask the lenders for all the right documentation before we accept the listing assignments.

[Jose Rivas (DGRA) CDPE, SFR]

there is a general plan, but there are two sides, the government wants the lenders to start the NOD after they have exhausted all efforts to keep the home owner in the house. The lenders are asking for this negotiations to happen in the 45 days between the NOD and the Foreclosure sale, we don't have have a redemption period in Maryland.

Some are saying this is just a way to delay the foreclosure, but the data in NV is that 33% of the loan mods stay in the house, 22% have eventually foreclose and the other 45% is in loan mod trial. but what they are trying to do is to save about 30% of home owners in default.

[Tony Linton]

Hi Jose, Have they put together a well thought out plan to implement this mandate? It seems to me that this would completely shut down the process simply due to lack of manpower. The banks would need hundreds, maybe even thousands of reps to handle the negotiations as well as hundreds or thousands of mediators. By the time this all came together the foreclosure crisis could be over.

Interesting, I’d sure like to hear from someone in Nevada.