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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 79 Massachusetts RANK: 28 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate JULY 2014 3.44% 1.37% 5.8 YEAR AGO 3.40% 2.23% 7.2 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 1.2% -38.3% -1.4 Top County FRANKLIN COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JULY 2014 5.28% 2.84% YEAR AGO 5.26% 3.56% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 0.4% -20.1% Top Core-Based Statistical Area 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate JULY 2014 YEAR AGO YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 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 July 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary July 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. IN THE NEWS Massachusetts Foreclosure Petitions Skyrocket According to a recently released report from the Warren Group, the number of fore- closure petitions in the state of Massachusetts shot up by 72.5 percent in July from the same month a year ago. A foreclosure petition, often called a foreclosure start, is the first step in the fore- closure process. is past July, lenders filed 702 foreclosure petitions in the Bay State, up from 407 in July 2013, according to the report. Year-to-date (the period ending July 31), fore- closure filings have increased by 20.2 percent in Massachusetts from the same period of 2013 (3,966 in the first seven months of 2014, compared to 3,300 filed from January to July 2013), according to the Warren Group. Cassidy Murphy, editorial director of the Warren Group, said that lenders were generally reluctant to file foreclosure petitions in 2013 due to the amount of uncertainty in the foreclosure industry, resulting in a low number of petitions filed for the year. With the uncertainty gone in 2014, the number of petitions filed is back up, she said. "It is important to note that foreclosures are up year-over-year but down compared with the year-over-year increase posted in June 2014," Murphy said. "2013 was an unusu- al year in the foreclosure world, as foreclosure procedures and legislation underwent revi- sions. Now that most of that has been settled, lenders are more comfortable moving forward with foreclosures from a legal standpoint." is July was the fifth consecutive month in which foreclosure petition filings increased year-over-year in Massachusetts, according to the Warren Group. But while foreclosure starts were way up that month, foreclosure completions, also known as foreclosure deeds, were way down in the Bay State. Foreclosure deeds fell off by 41 percent in July year-over- year (177 compared with 298 a year ago). Foreclosure deeds year-to-date as of July 31 declined by 17.3 percent from the first seven months of 2013 (1,552 in 2014 compared to 1,876 in 2013), the report said. "Petitions are the leading edge. A petition doesn't necessarily result in a deed, so there are always more petitions than deeds at any given time," Murphy said. "Deeds are later in the process, and they are the result of petitions that were filed months or even years earlier. ere will be more deeds because of the way things fall, but not as many (as petitions)." Foreclosure auction announcements increased by 5 percent from July 2013 to July 2014. A total of 552 auctions were announced in July 2014, compared to 526 for the same month last year, according to the Warren Group. e number of auction announce- ments recorded year-to-date, however, declined by 10.9 percent. For the first seven months of 2014, 2,758 auctions were an- nounced, compared to 3,094 for January through July 2013. Massachusetts Court Affirms MERS' Ability to Assign Title Massachusetts became the latest state to award victory to MERSCORP Hold- ings, Inc., in a series of lawsuits challenging MERS' authority to assign titles. MERS announced recently that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Superior Court issued a ruling in Gardner v. Mort- gage Electronic Registration System, Inc., that MERS could act as the mortgagee even though it is not the holder of the note. e lawsuit alleged that MERS, acting as the original lender's nominee and not the holder of the note, did not have the authority to transfer the note, making the transfer invalid. e lawsuit further alleged fraudulent re- cording and execution assignment of the note after foreclosure on the property began. In issuing the Massachusetts ruling, Justice Edward J. McDonough cited several legal precedents, including Culhane v. Aurora Loan Services of Nebraska and Mills v. U.S. Bank National Association. Justice Mc- Donough stated that "[MERS] may validly serve both as the holder of 'bare legal title as mortgagee of record' and as 'nominee for the member-noteholder.'" He further said that MERS did not need to be the holder of the note to be the mortgagee or hold any interest in order to have the authority to assign the title. "Massachusetts courts are ruling consis- tently that MERS may validly serve as both the mortgagee of record and the nominee for MERS System member noteholders," MERSCORP Holdings VP for corporate communications Janis Smith said. All over the country, homeowners facing foreclosure have been challenging MERS' authority to assign their mortgages and trans- fer titles, and courts have repeatedly ruled in MERS' favor in these cases. In recent months, MERS has won victories in similar lawsuits in Texas, Georgia, and California, as well as in the U.S. Fifth, 10th, and 11th circuit courts of appeals. Earlier this year, courts in Ohio, New Hampshire, Montana, Rhode Island, Idaho, and Arkansas all confirmed that MERS did in fact possess the authority to assign mortgages. "MERS has a valid interest in security instruments and the authority to assign that interest. is has been a consistent holding in courts in both in Georgia and across the country," Smith said in a statement issued by MERS after the Georgia decision. Massachusetts Bill Limits Time Allowed to Challenge Foreclosure Improper foreclosures conducted by some financial institutions are part of the legacy left by the financial crisis. A foreclosure that is not conducted in accordance to state law

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