There’s a regular ritual that the mainstream press, news and policy makers engage in. Private companies release press releases that suggest DRAMATIC TRENDS IN REAL ESTATE IN…..(PICK YOUR MARKET)! It works like this:
FORECLOSURES IN TAMPA INCREASED 2139% IN JUNE 2012!
HOME PRICES SURGE 456% IN FIRST QUARTER 2012!
MARK ZANDI SAYS EVERYONE IN AMERICA SHOULD BUY REAL ESTATE NOW!
FORECLOSURE CRISIS IN AMERICA IS OVER!
FORECLOSURE CRISIS IN AMERICA IS GETTING MUCH WORSE!
These press releases are picked up by newspapers all across America where lazy reporters and sloppy editors fail to analyze the data and fail to cross check the assertions made in the press releases. No time anymore to engage in the difficult and time consuming process of actually taking all the data apart and understand exactly what it means….much less determine whether the data is accurate.
The problem is, the headlines do not accurately capture what is really happening out in neighborhoods all across America….but who cares…after all…
THERE’S HEADLINES TO WRITE, PUBLIC OPINION TO SHAPE, POLICY TO MAKE!
And while it’s frustrating enough to see bad reporting, it’s positively terrifying to see this data make its way into public policy and legislative debates. Laws made based flawed data produced by industry insiders….what could possibly be wrong with that?
Well, understand where this data comes from and understand, the data is what it is…the problem is how it is reported and used…..
While no piece of research is without even a minor flaw, the second part of the equation is where the foreclosure rate calculation may be problematic.
The total number of housing units in a certain area come from the U.S. Census Bureau, and Thursday’s report was based off of the agency’s 2010 estimates.
Other than the fact that the property count is two years old, the other issue is using the number of all standing homes.
If every single-family home in an area had a mortgage, then RealtyTrac’s calculations would be a very accurate depiction of foreclosure activity in an area.
But especially given the number of distressed homes that have been, and continue to be, snatched up by investors who generally pay in cash, the RealtyTrac report’s accuracy must be called into question.
PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL
Matt,
We are still looking at this crises as if the loans were legal loans. We get off center so many times it is hard to focus on the loan itself. No one recleive a loan and the documents do not describe the loans they purportely received.
And as to refinances, there were no satisfaction of mortgage / deed of trust filed in the county records and no original loan documents were ever returned to the refinanced borrower.
And there has still yet to see one Securitization that was a legal transfer of the loan documents into the Trust.
Let’s tell the whole truth about what is going on in this fraud being perpertrated against the American people…whether or not they are paying as agreed or chosing not to pay. I chose not to pay.
Mortgage Fraud Examiner
mortgagefraud@examineremail.com
john
As a professional I’ve known for a long time Realty Trac’s data is skewed, and don’t use it. They track defaults for 3 months, and then it goes off the radar. Since homes are in default for 1-4 years, this is limited information. Realty Trac told me, for my professional needs, I should use another source. I never understood why they are so widely quoted in the press.
The NAR (National Association of Realtors) is another unreliable source of data, & is used by the Federal Government to make policy. It was little surprise when they disclosed their sales data was off for five years by as much as 20%. I’ve used a disclaimer when using MLS data for years because I see bias and figures don’t jive with my own. NAR has a strong self-serving agenda, and why the Feds would rely on them for housing data without some outside verification is hard to understand. See:
https://commercialrealtors.net/nar-sales-data-continues-to-be-wrong-4/
My experience with First American is they use ” blended” data, which can’t possibly be verified; expensive data that would never hold up in court for my use.
We keep our own local data base ““ decade’s worth ““ and have to use experience and caution when using outside sources. Few journalists know much about the subjects they cover and like many of their readers have attention spans of gnats.
Thank You for all you do.
Recently I wrote to Neil garfield and the AG in Delaware. I told them I personally destroyed hundreds, possibly thousands of mortgages-liens and notes- after the paperwork was rendered to computer disc.
I am confident that all the lenders used scanners to circumvent the requirements of storage and handling of mortgage documentation. The problem is: how do we prove it?
It seems to me all lenders should be forced to provide a detailed account of note storage and preservation during the time the loan was on premises. Moreover, if scanning was involved what protocols were in place to segregate, transport, preserve and secure the note as apart from the lien portion of mortgage package?
If lenders claim scanners were not used to relieve their burden, where are the storage facilities? What were protocols for same and how were notes handled during change in assignment etc?
Some of these outfits were quite extensive. They should be forced to exhibit training videos and literature pertaining to same.
It also seems that logs must exist pertaining to shredders and to content and volume for same. Follow the money: What do the accounts payable claim?
I hope I haven’t wasted your time. Good luck with all that you do.
Duh it’s much easier to stir action when you depict some form of a crisis, or heck, even throw a few strong punctuation marks in a title headline and create chaos. The sad thing like this people will always fall for these kind of marketing ploys, and sham on us all for falling for them. The future of real estate is going to change dramatically thank to the internet. Whether the change is positive or not, I have no clue. Sorry!