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IN THE NEWS Seventh Person Pleads Guilty in Tax Lien Bid Rigging Scheme New Mexico New York rank: 13 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate RateRate march 2012 1.97%4.10% 7.2% year ago Custom Loss Mitigation Services 2.28%3.49% 7.5% percent point change Through an ongoing investigation into bid rigging, a former executive of a tax lien company has pleaded guilty for his role in rigging bids for tax liens auctioned by municipalities, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice. Stephen E. Hruby, who supervised the purchasing of municipal tax liens at auctions in New Jersey, was the seventh person to plead guilty from the investigation. A felony charge was filed against him in the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey. According to the felony charge, from as early as December 2002 until approximately February 2009, Hruby agreed to and directed others to assign liens for certain bidders to bid on. Hruby, and those under his supervision, submitted bids based on these assignments and bought tax liens at non-competitive interest rates. The department said the primary purpose of the conspiracy was to prevent competition and obtain selected municipal tax liens offered at public auctions at non-competitive rates. When the owner of a property fails to pay property taxes, the municipality where the property is located can attach a lien for the amount of the unpaid taxes. If the taxes remain unpaid after a waiting period, the lien may be sold at auction. By law, the bid opens at 18 percent interest and can be driven down to zero percent through the bidding process. If the property owner still does not pay the unpaid lien after a certain period, the investor who purchased the lien can begin foreclosure proceedings against the property with the lien. "Today's guilty plea demonstrates that the Antitrust Division will not tolerate illegal conduct that harms distressed homeowners," said Sharis A. Pozen, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. "The division will continue to prosecute the perpetrators of anticompetitive bid rigging schemes at municipal tax lien auctions in New Jersey and elsewhere." On August 24, 2011, three people pleaded guilty to one count of bid rigging at New Jersey auctions. On February. 23, 2012, two people pleaded guilty to one count of bid rigging. On March 27, 2012, one person pleaded guilty to one count of bid rigging in connection with the conspiracy. 102 -13.6%17.2% -4.0% Michael J. Wallace Top County TORRANCE COUNTY 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate march 2012 2.77%6.95% 516.319.1600 mjwallace@wallacerealestatesolutions.com WallaceRealEstateSolutions.com year ago 2.41%5.72% percent point change IN THE NEWS 15.1%21.5% Top Core-Based Statistical Area ALBUQUERQUE, NM 90+ Day Delinquency Rate march 2012 Foreclosure Rate 2.28%4.69% year ago 2.58%3.78% percent point change -11.7%24.1% note: The 90+ Day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are 90plus days delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the March 2012 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary March 2012 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of Lender Processing Services. New York rank: 5 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate RateRate march 2012 3.08%5.92% 8.5% year ago 3.60%4.91% 8.0% percent point change -14.3%20.6% 6.3% Top County SULLIVAN COUNTY 90+ Day Delinquency Rate march 2012 Foreclosure Rate 3.70%3.48% year ago 3.54%3.33% percent point change 4.4%4.6% Top Core-Based Statistical Area KINGSTON, NY 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate march 2012 4.39%8.19% year ago 5.21%6.23% percent point change -15.7%31.4% note: The 90+ Day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are 90plus days delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the March 2012 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary March 2012 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of Lender Processing Services. Schneiderman Awards $3M for Foreclosure Prevention Legal Services New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced in late April that his office awarded $3 million in foreclosure prevention services to aid New Yorkers struggling through the foreclosure crisis. In January, Schneiderman issued a Request for Applications (RFA) seeking bids from non-profit legal services and legal aid organizations to provide services directly to homeowners in foreclosure or at imminent risk of foreclosure. Thirty-one organizations across the state were awarded grants from the attorney general based on these submissions. The announcement of the funding for legal aid to fight foreclosures came just weeks after Attorney General Schneiderman designated a separate $15 million of the $132 million he secured from the national mortgage servicing settlement to be used for foreclosure prevention and other related services. Up to $9 million of that allocation will be used to support the state's Foreclosure Prevention Services Program, which was set to expire on April 1, and $6 million will go towards housing and community renewal activities statewide through not-for-profit communitybased housing organizations. "As our state faces tight budget times, we must be creative and aggressive in our efforts to support working families who are struggling to stay in their homes," said Attorney General Schneiderman. "Funding legal services is essential to bringing relief for the homeowners and communities that have been devastated by the crash of the housing market, and these grants will provide thousands of New Yorkers with the legal expertise they desperately need to defend their rights in court."

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