From Barclays' Jasraj Vaidya, who states: "At this stage, we are unable to ascertain what that exact issue might
be. What is certain is that foreclosure timelines in those states for
GMAC loans will be extend further, potentially adversely affecting their
eventual severity" which echoes verbatim what Zero Hedge suggested a week ago on the Florida Judge news: "The implications for the REO and foreclosures track for banks could be
dire as a result of this ruling, as this could severely impact the
ongoing attempt by banks to hide as much excess inventory in their books
in the quietest way possible." Jasraj also notes: "Using publicly available data from HUD and RealtyTrac, we have created a list of judicial foreclosure states. These are states where judicial foreclosures are most common and in which the lender has to appear before a judge and obtain a court order before initiating foreclosure proceedings against the delinquent borrower. Such states tend to have much longer foreclosure timelines than non-judicial states. What is striking about the list of states in the GMAC announcement is that all but one (North Carolina) are judicial states. Also, all judicial states in the country but one (Delaware) are in the GMAC list. This would hint at some potential issues with judicial states that is driving the GMAC directive." In the meantime, class actions lawyers across the country will not be sleeping for days.
Full Barclays report:
It was reported on Bloomberg today that GMAC has sent a memo to all brokers suspending all foreclosure activity against delinquent borrowers in 23 states. Further action has also been frozen on all properties for which foreclosure has already been implemented. Any buyers of those properties face an extension of the closing date by 30 days and have the option to cancel the agreement to purchase.
Most likely an issue with judicial states
Using publicly available data from HUD and RealtyTrac, we have created a list of judicial foreclosure states. These are states where judicial foreclosures are most common and in which the lender has to appear before a judge and obtain a court order before initiating foreclosure proceedings against the delinquent borrower. Such states tend to have much longer foreclosure timelines than non-judicial states. What is striking about the list of states in the GMAC announcement is that all but one (North Carolina) are judicial states. Also, all judicial states in the country but one (Delaware) are in the GMAC list. This would hint at some potential issues with judicial states that is driving the GMAC directive.
A recent news report provided some hints at the type of issues with judicial foreclosures that servicers may look to avoid before it become a larger issue. The Florida Attorney General recently announced an investigation of the three largest foreclosure law firms in the state. These firms represent the lenders, and there have been question about claims of note ownership put forth by these firms during foreclosure proceedings. A clean record of note ownership is lost or hazy in many cases, due to multiple transfers of the notes. The moratorium can be an attempt on the part of RFC to ensure that the process does not have significant flaws that can leave it open to legal action in the future.
At this stage, we are unable to ascertain what that exact issue might be. What is certain is that foreclosure timelines in those states for GMAC loans will be extend further, potentially adversely affecting their eventual severity.
Can it also be a lawsuit in the making?
Given that the directive spans multiple states, and given previous experience with Countrywide, there is always the possibility of some multi-state settlement in the works for various disclosure issues with lending practices. However, we found some major omissions when we compared the list of states in the GMAC announcement with those involved in the Countrywide announcement. California, Nevada and Michigan - three states with significant mortgage volume, as well as distressed mortgages - are missing from the announcement. This makes us a little skeptical whether this is indeed a class action lawsuit in the making on the lines of the Countrywide one. On the other hand, the Countrywide list ballooned from 11 states initially to 42 states and DC finally, so one cannot yet rule out multi-state action. However, given greater evidence about judicial states, we still believe that to be the primary driver of this directive.
GMAC volumes in the non-agency securitized space
We used LoanPerformance to get a quick estimate of the volume of GMAC serviced loans in each of these states. Overall, we find that about 30% of the outstanding balance of GMAC-serviced loans falls within these 23 states. However, the share of delinquent loans within these states is higher: about 40% of GMAC delinquent loans falls within these states, with a higher concentration in alt-A and subprime.
Effect on housing
Implementation of this foreclosure moratorium, depending on its length and extent, could be a mild positive in the near term. A reduction in REO supply and foreclosure sales by GMAC would take out some distressed supply from the market. The effect of this announcement is similar to what we have earlier described for various loan modification efforts. It prevents more REOs from hitting the market and, thus, artificially skews the mix of distressed properties in the sales metrics. Reduction in the share of REO sales in overall sales has the effect of a stronger reading on the home price indices. However, this comes at the cost of a larger shadow inventory of non-performing loans, which continues to create pressure on home prices for an extended period.
No, we’re not talking about that David J. Stern, the lawyer turned NBA commissioner. We’re talking about David J. Stern of Plantation, Florida, a leading lawyer to banks and financial services companies in mortgage-related and foreclosure proceedings.
Over the holiday weekend, the New York Times ran a lengthy article, by Gretchen Morgenson and Geraldine Fabrikant, focused on Florida’s new foreclosures-only courts. Florida’s court system has been so overwhelmed by foreclosure proceedings that the state earlier this year set aside $9.6 million to establish foreclosures-focused courts around the state, presided over by retired judges.
One of the major players in the new court system is David J. Stern, whom the Times describes as “he lawyer most closely identified with Florida’s foreclosure morass.” And for his troubles, this “mystery man within the foreclosure world” has been richly rewarded — very richly rewarded.
Stern went to a fourth-tier law school, but financially he’s running circles around all those Stanford and NYU law grads who wound up as Biglaw partners. His inspiring story shows that, in the end, success in the law is not about where you went to school, but what you’re capable of doing.
Even if you graduated from a non-top-tier law school, if you’re aggressive and smart and entrepreneurial, you can do quite well for yourself. Let’s take a look at David Stern….
Like many a Morgenson article, the NYT piece about the Florida foreclosure courts may engender reactions of TL; DR. And, to be sure, it is long, and it very much fits the Morgenson mold (railing against perceived injustices in the world of business and finance — yawn). But buried deep within the article’s 3,000 plus words is some juicy dish about the powerful and mysterious Mr. Stern:
Operating out of a gleaming eight-story office building in Plantation, Fla., Mr. Stern, 50, has come a long way from the South Texas College of Law, from which he graduated in 1986. He spent his early career as a quality-control lawyer for Gerald Shapiro, a lawyer who represented mortgage lenders. He opened his own firm in 1994; Fannie Mae voted him attorney of the year in 1998.
Mr. Stern’s company, which now includes a law firm and ancillary foreclosure support businesses, employs more than 900 people. The firm filed 70,382 foreclosure cases last year.
Stern’s alma mater, South Texas Law, is a fourth-tier law school, according to the U.S. News rankings. Some say that you shouldn’t go to law school unless you can get into a first-tier institution. But if David Stern had followed that advice, he probably wouldn’t be where he is today.
And where is that, you ask? In the lap of luxury, earning many times more than those lame Harvard and Columbia law grads who are partners at large law firms:
Brian Foley, a compensation consultant in White Plains, concluded that Mr. Stern made $17.8 million in 2008, including $12.64 million in compensation and nonrecurring benefits of $4.36 million. In the deal with Chardan [in which he sold off a support-service part of his operation], Mr. Stern and his affiliates were paid $93.5 million: $58.5 million in cash and $35 million after the transaction closed, according to government filings. In addition, Mr. Stern got a promissory note for $52.49 million to be paid out over the next couple of years.
And David J. Stern, in true south Florida fashion, knows how to spend all those benjamins. Interested in Lawyerly Lairs? Stern has several:
In recent years, Mr. Stern and his wife, Jeanine, have bought nearly $60 million in real estate, mostly in Florida, property records show. Their Mediterranean-style home on Harborage Isle Drive, in a gated community in Fort Lauderdale, faces water on two sides and cost almost $14 million. Not far away, in Hillsboro Beach, the Sterns bought two waterfront properties for $17 million.
Mr. Stern also spent $6.8 million last year on a 9,273-square-foot apartment at the Castillo Grand Residences in Fort Lauderdale, part of a Ritz-Carlton complex. He and his wife own two homes in Beaver Creek, Colo.; one was purchased in 2001 for $4.975 million, and another bought in 2007 for $14.2 million.
He also has incredible cars, including “a 2008 Bugatti, multiple Ferraris, Porsches and Mercedes and a Cadillac.” His automobile collection may be worth as much as $3 million.
Being a foreclosure lawyer, Stern knows that people can lose their homes. No worries — in the unlikely event that he were to lose his (many) luxury homes, he can just repair to one of his boats:
Mr. Stern also collects boats. A 108-foot Mangusta yacht, Lady J, is for sale at $5.9 million, Web postings show. It was replaced by a 130-foot yacht that cost about $20 million, according to an acquaintance who requested anonymity over concerns about Mr. Stern’s influence in the community.
In a nod to his foreclosure work, according to the acquaintance, Mr. Stern mused about possibly naming the larger yacht Su Casa Es Mi Casa — “Your House Is My House.” But his wife and others cautioned against it, according to this acquaintance, and Mr. Stern named the boat “Misunderstood.” Mr. Stern denies that he considered the “Su Casa Es Mi Casa” name.
That’s too bad. We’d respect Stern more if he had had the guts to go with that delightfully obnoxious moniker.
There is also some stuff in the NYT article questioning the ethics of David J. Stern and his colleagues, identifying possible conflicts of interest, and discussing an investigation by Florida’s attorney general. But when a man is making this kind of bank, some player-hating is to be expected.
Anyhoo, if you care about all that ethics mumbo-jumbo, you can read the full article at the link below.
Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess [New York Times]
Google New: It's Google <b>News</b> About New Google Stuff In One Place
In terms of blog networks, no one ever seems to talk about Google, but they actually have one of the biggest. The search giant has well over 100 blogs devoted to everything from general company news to niche things that only webmasters ...
Thursday Theatre <b>News</b>: Ghost The Musical, Pet Shop Boys, London's <b>...</b>
Firstly, no groans about the Christmas news, please. If we didn't tell you what London's brilliant theatres have planned for this December, what would you have to get excited about as the nights start drawing in? ...
Official Google Blog: Google <b>News</b> turns eight
Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...
robert shumake
Google New: It's Google <b>News</b> About New Google Stuff In One Place
In terms of blog networks, no one ever seems to talk about Google, but they actually have one of the biggest. The search giant has well over 100 blogs devoted to everything from general company news to niche things that only webmasters ...
Thursday Theatre <b>News</b>: Ghost The Musical, Pet Shop Boys, London's <b>...</b>
Firstly, no groans about the Christmas news, please. If we didn't tell you what London's brilliant theatres have planned for this December, what would you have to get excited about as the nights start drawing in? ...
Official Google Blog: Google <b>News</b> turns eight
Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...
From Barclays' Jasraj Vaidya, who states: "At this stage, we are unable to ascertain what that exact issue might
be. What is certain is that foreclosure timelines in those states for
GMAC loans will be extend further, potentially adversely affecting their
eventual severity" which echoes verbatim what Zero Hedge suggested a week ago on the Florida Judge news: "The implications for the REO and foreclosures track for banks could be
dire as a result of this ruling, as this could severely impact the
ongoing attempt by banks to hide as much excess inventory in their books
in the quietest way possible." Jasraj also notes: "Using publicly available data from HUD and RealtyTrac, we have created a list of judicial foreclosure states. These are states where judicial foreclosures are most common and in which the lender has to appear before a judge and obtain a court order before initiating foreclosure proceedings against the delinquent borrower. Such states tend to have much longer foreclosure timelines than non-judicial states. What is striking about the list of states in the GMAC announcement is that all but one (North Carolina) are judicial states. Also, all judicial states in the country but one (Delaware) are in the GMAC list. This would hint at some potential issues with judicial states that is driving the GMAC directive." In the meantime, class actions lawyers across the country will not be sleeping for days.
Full Barclays report:
It was reported on Bloomberg today that GMAC has sent a memo to all brokers suspending all foreclosure activity against delinquent borrowers in 23 states. Further action has also been frozen on all properties for which foreclosure has already been implemented. Any buyers of those properties face an extension of the closing date by 30 days and have the option to cancel the agreement to purchase.
Most likely an issue with judicial states
Using publicly available data from HUD and RealtyTrac, we have created a list of judicial foreclosure states. These are states where judicial foreclosures are most common and in which the lender has to appear before a judge and obtain a court order before initiating foreclosure proceedings against the delinquent borrower. Such states tend to have much longer foreclosure timelines than non-judicial states. What is striking about the list of states in the GMAC announcement is that all but one (North Carolina) are judicial states. Also, all judicial states in the country but one (Delaware) are in the GMAC list. This would hint at some potential issues with judicial states that is driving the GMAC directive.
A recent news report provided some hints at the type of issues with judicial foreclosures that servicers may look to avoid before it become a larger issue. The Florida Attorney General recently announced an investigation of the three largest foreclosure law firms in the state. These firms represent the lenders, and there have been question about claims of note ownership put forth by these firms during foreclosure proceedings. A clean record of note ownership is lost or hazy in many cases, due to multiple transfers of the notes. The moratorium can be an attempt on the part of RFC to ensure that the process does not have significant flaws that can leave it open to legal action in the future.
At this stage, we are unable to ascertain what that exact issue might be. What is certain is that foreclosure timelines in those states for GMAC loans will be extend further, potentially adversely affecting their eventual severity.
Can it also be a lawsuit in the making?
Given that the directive spans multiple states, and given previous experience with Countrywide, there is always the possibility of some multi-state settlement in the works for various disclosure issues with lending practices. However, we found some major omissions when we compared the list of states in the GMAC announcement with those involved in the Countrywide announcement. California, Nevada and Michigan - three states with significant mortgage volume, as well as distressed mortgages - are missing from the announcement. This makes us a little skeptical whether this is indeed a class action lawsuit in the making on the lines of the Countrywide one. On the other hand, the Countrywide list ballooned from 11 states initially to 42 states and DC finally, so one cannot yet rule out multi-state action. However, given greater evidence about judicial states, we still believe that to be the primary driver of this directive.
GMAC volumes in the non-agency securitized space
We used LoanPerformance to get a quick estimate of the volume of GMAC serviced loans in each of these states. Overall, we find that about 30% of the outstanding balance of GMAC-serviced loans falls within these 23 states. However, the share of delinquent loans within these states is higher: about 40% of GMAC delinquent loans falls within these states, with a higher concentration in alt-A and subprime.
Effect on housing
Implementation of this foreclosure moratorium, depending on its length and extent, could be a mild positive in the near term. A reduction in REO supply and foreclosure sales by GMAC would take out some distressed supply from the market. The effect of this announcement is similar to what we have earlier described for various loan modification efforts. It prevents more REOs from hitting the market and, thus, artificially skews the mix of distressed properties in the sales metrics. Reduction in the share of REO sales in overall sales has the effect of a stronger reading on the home price indices. However, this comes at the cost of a larger shadow inventory of non-performing loans, which continues to create pressure on home prices for an extended period.
No, we’re not talking about that David J. Stern, the lawyer turned NBA commissioner. We’re talking about David J. Stern of Plantation, Florida, a leading lawyer to banks and financial services companies in mortgage-related and foreclosure proceedings.
Over the holiday weekend, the New York Times ran a lengthy article, by Gretchen Morgenson and Geraldine Fabrikant, focused on Florida’s new foreclosures-only courts. Florida’s court system has been so overwhelmed by foreclosure proceedings that the state earlier this year set aside $9.6 million to establish foreclosures-focused courts around the state, presided over by retired judges.
One of the major players in the new court system is David J. Stern, whom the Times describes as “he lawyer most closely identified with Florida’s foreclosure morass.” And for his troubles, this “mystery man within the foreclosure world” has been richly rewarded — very richly rewarded.
Stern went to a fourth-tier law school, but financially he’s running circles around all those Stanford and NYU law grads who wound up as Biglaw partners. His inspiring story shows that, in the end, success in the law is not about where you went to school, but what you’re capable of doing.
Even if you graduated from a non-top-tier law school, if you’re aggressive and smart and entrepreneurial, you can do quite well for yourself. Let’s take a look at David Stern….
Like many a Morgenson article, the NYT piece about the Florida foreclosure courts may engender reactions of TL; DR. And, to be sure, it is long, and it very much fits the Morgenson mold (railing against perceived injustices in the world of business and finance — yawn). But buried deep within the article’s 3,000 plus words is some juicy dish about the powerful and mysterious Mr. Stern:
Operating out of a gleaming eight-story office building in Plantation, Fla., Mr. Stern, 50, has come a long way from the South Texas College of Law, from which he graduated in 1986. He spent his early career as a quality-control lawyer for Gerald Shapiro, a lawyer who represented mortgage lenders. He opened his own firm in 1994; Fannie Mae voted him attorney of the year in 1998.
Mr. Stern’s company, which now includes a law firm and ancillary foreclosure support businesses, employs more than 900 people. The firm filed 70,382 foreclosure cases last year.
Stern’s alma mater, South Texas Law, is a fourth-tier law school, according to the U.S. News rankings. Some say that you shouldn’t go to law school unless you can get into a first-tier institution. But if David Stern had followed that advice, he probably wouldn’t be where he is today.
And where is that, you ask? In the lap of luxury, earning many times more than those lame Harvard and Columbia law grads who are partners at large law firms:
Brian Foley, a compensation consultant in White Plains, concluded that Mr. Stern made $17.8 million in 2008, including $12.64 million in compensation and nonrecurring benefits of $4.36 million. In the deal with Chardan [in which he sold off a support-service part of his operation], Mr. Stern and his affiliates were paid $93.5 million: $58.5 million in cash and $35 million after the transaction closed, according to government filings. In addition, Mr. Stern got a promissory note for $52.49 million to be paid out over the next couple of years.
And David J. Stern, in true south Florida fashion, knows how to spend all those benjamins. Interested in Lawyerly Lairs? Stern has several:
In recent years, Mr. Stern and his wife, Jeanine, have bought nearly $60 million in real estate, mostly in Florida, property records show. Their Mediterranean-style home on Harborage Isle Drive, in a gated community in Fort Lauderdale, faces water on two sides and cost almost $14 million. Not far away, in Hillsboro Beach, the Sterns bought two waterfront properties for $17 million.
Mr. Stern also spent $6.8 million last year on a 9,273-square-foot apartment at the Castillo Grand Residences in Fort Lauderdale, part of a Ritz-Carlton complex. He and his wife own two homes in Beaver Creek, Colo.; one was purchased in 2001 for $4.975 million, and another bought in 2007 for $14.2 million.
He also has incredible cars, including “a 2008 Bugatti, multiple Ferraris, Porsches and Mercedes and a Cadillac.” His automobile collection may be worth as much as $3 million.
Being a foreclosure lawyer, Stern knows that people can lose their homes. No worries — in the unlikely event that he were to lose his (many) luxury homes, he can just repair to one of his boats:
Mr. Stern also collects boats. A 108-foot Mangusta yacht, Lady J, is for sale at $5.9 million, Web postings show. It was replaced by a 130-foot yacht that cost about $20 million, according to an acquaintance who requested anonymity over concerns about Mr. Stern’s influence in the community.
In a nod to his foreclosure work, according to the acquaintance, Mr. Stern mused about possibly naming the larger yacht Su Casa Es Mi Casa — “Your House Is My House.” But his wife and others cautioned against it, according to this acquaintance, and Mr. Stern named the boat “Misunderstood.” Mr. Stern denies that he considered the “Su Casa Es Mi Casa” name.
That’s too bad. We’d respect Stern more if he had had the guts to go with that delightfully obnoxious moniker.
There is also some stuff in the NYT article questioning the ethics of David J. Stern and his colleagues, identifying possible conflicts of interest, and discussing an investigation by Florida’s attorney general. But when a man is making this kind of bank, some player-hating is to be expected.
Anyhoo, if you care about all that ethics mumbo-jumbo, you can read the full article at the link below.
Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess [New York Times]
robert shumake
Google New: It's Google <b>News</b> About New Google Stuff In One Place
In terms of blog networks, no one ever seems to talk about Google, but they actually have one of the biggest. The search giant has well over 100 blogs devoted to everything from general company news to niche things that only webmasters ...
Thursday Theatre <b>News</b>: Ghost The Musical, Pet Shop Boys, London's <b>...</b>
Firstly, no groans about the Christmas news, please. If we didn't tell you what London's brilliant theatres have planned for this December, what would you have to get excited about as the nights start drawing in? ...
Official Google Blog: Google <b>News</b> turns eight
Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...
robert shumake
Google New: It's Google <b>News</b> About New Google Stuff In One Place
In terms of blog networks, no one ever seems to talk about Google, but they actually have one of the biggest. The search giant has well over 100 blogs devoted to everything from general company news to niche things that only webmasters ...
Thursday Theatre <b>News</b>: Ghost The Musical, Pet Shop Boys, London's <b>...</b>
Firstly, no groans about the Christmas news, please. If we didn't tell you what London's brilliant theatres have planned for this December, what would you have to get excited about as the nights start drawing in? ...
Official Google Blog: Google <b>News</b> turns eight
Today we celebrate the eighth birthday of Google News. Not long after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we started building and testing Google News with the aim of helping you find current events from a wide variety of global and ...
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