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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 85 experienced large drops in purchase activity (between 45 and 49 percent), but not nearly as large as Florida," the report said. e Urban Institute comments that fewer individuals will be able to become home- owners at the exact moment when it is most advantageous to do so, thus losing a valuable opportunity to build wealth. "ere is an urgent need to expand the credit box to improve opportunities for households to build wealth and strengthen the economic recovery," the report said. Florida's Statute of Limitations: All Is Not Lost After 5 Years Florida courts have been very aggressive in moving the foreclosure cases pending on their dockets, especially the aged cases. e courts' tool of choice to obtain file movement is the case management conference (CMC). At the court-ordered CMC, the court will hear and decide all pending motions and, if the case is at issue, set the case for a trial to be held within a 45-to-60-day time frame. If a case is court-set for trial, plaintiff will have two options on trial day: proceed to trial or voluntarily dismiss the case. Any decision to dismiss a case rather than proceed to trial will depend on many fac- tors, but one of the most important factors to take into account is whether or not a new action can be refiled with the court and the timing of the refiling. e five-year limitation period begins to run on the earlier of (1) the date the loan is accelerated or (2) the loan's natural maturity date. In most cases, the acceleration date will be the filing date of the foreclosure complaint since servicers rarely send borrowers separate acceleration letters after the 30-day cure period that must be given prior to acceleration under the terms of the mortgage. e defaults at issue will normally be those payments not made prior to the com- mencement of the foreclosure action. Despite earlier concerns to the contrary amongst some in the default industry, the right to foreclose the mortgage does not cease to exist in the event the limitations period has run at the time of dismissal. Rather, the loan will need to re-breached for a payment default not at issue in the prior action. "While it is true that a foreclosure action and an acceleration of the balance due based upon the same default may bar a subsequent action on that default, an acceleration and foreclosure predicated upon subsequent and different defaults present a separate and distinct issue .… We can find no valid basis for barring mortgagees from challenging subsequent defaults on a mortgage and note solely because they did not prevail in a previous attempted foreclosure based upon a separate alleged default .… In this case, the subsequent and separate alleged default created a new and independent right in the mortgagee to accelerate payment on the note in a subsequent foreclosure action," according to Singleton v. Greymar Associates, 882 So.2d 1004 (Fla. 2004) . Homebuilding Boosts Florida's Economy e Sunshine State is adding jobs at a pace well ahead of the nation, and one sector in particular is spurring the surprising rate of job growth: homebuilding. Florida's unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points in January to 6.1, according to a report from the Wells Fargo Economics Group. e state's unemployment level has fallen below the national rate, dropping 1.9 percent- age points over the past year and is currently at its lowest level since June 2008, according to the group's report. Although posting gains in the state's all-important leisure and tourism sector, an increase in construction makes a more poignant statement with respect to the state's recovery. "One big reason Florida's recovery has gained momentum is that construction activ- ity has clearly turned the corner. Homebuild- ing has picked up across the state, which helped boost construction payrolls at an even faster rate than initially reported," the report said. Additionally, hiring has picked up in nearly every major metropolitan area. Non- farm employment rose 2.9 percent over the last year, producing a net gain of 214,400 jobs. e report comments, "Year-to-year growth in overall nonfarm payrolls has been greater than or equal to the nation's growth every month since March 2012." Statewide, the largest gains were in Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, which added 36,400 jobs. e Miami-Miami Beach-Ken- dall area was also strong, adding 30,500 more jobs, and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater posted an additional 29,400 jobs. Georgia Marc Oppenheimer Associate Broker, CDPE / BPOR Serving REO Since 1987 5920 Roswell Rd Suite B-118 Atlanta,Ga. 30328 Phone: (770) 668-0063 Cell: (678) 296-6550 oppy@atlantareo.com www.atlantareo.com Georgia RANK: 34 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate JANUARY 2014 3.40% 1.21% 1.21% YEAR AGO 4.05% 2.03% 2.03% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -16.0% -40.6% -40.6% Top County EVANS COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JANUARY 2014 2.54% 3.34% YEAR AGO 5.41% 1.85% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -53.0% 80.7% Top Core-Based Statistical Area CEDARTOWN, GA 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JANUARY 2014 5.39% 2.19% YEAR AGO 5.30% 2.77% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 1.6% -20.9% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the January 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary January 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Distressed discount percentage in residential sales in Georgia. Source: RealtyTrac STAT INSIGHT 36%

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