This was a story that I didn’t get around to last week, but I thought was very interesting. Foreclosure rates in Nevada have dropped like a rock in response to tough new legislation that ensures that foreclosures comply with the rule of law and makes individuals criminally responsible for foreclosure fraud. The new law, Nevada State Assembly Bill 284 makes it a felony for a lender, servicer, or trustee to make false representations or claims over a title.
Additionally, the new law, which took effect October 1, imposes fines for robo-signing and allows borrowers to take further actions when there has been improper conduct in the course of a foreclosure. The law requires foreclosing parties to supply a notarized “Affadavit of Authority”, which identifies the trustee, the amount in default, identifies the current beneficiary.
This law was a reaction to the rampant robo-signing/foreclosure fraud that has occurred over the past several years. By making individuals who commit foreclosure fraud personally criminally and civilly liable for their actions, the lawmakers hoped to cut down on illegal foreclosures. Early results indicate that the law appears to be working.
According to data from ForeclosureRadar.com via a Las Vegas Review-Journal article by Hubble Smith, there have been 116 notices of default issued in Clark County during the first three weeks of October. By comparison, 3,649 filings were submitted in September.
Per a Housing Wire article by Jon Prior this morning, RealtyTrac reports that Las Vegas no longer has the top foreclosure rate in the country, a position it held for the previous twenty-two months.
Nevada was arguably ground zero for the housing crisis. Home prices in Nevada are down over 60% since they peaked in 2006. A CoreLogic report states that 60% of Nevada homeowners with mortgages are underwater (down from about 68% last year, but much of the decline is attributable to foreclosure). Nevada has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, and has an unemployment rate over 13%.
Loading ...
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment