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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 87 owner-occupant homebuyers are emerging to keep demand strong in the face of a dimin- ished investor presence in the market." e statewide inventory of active listings for single-family homes rose 13 percent an- nually in August. Based on the current sales pace, Florida Realtors reported inventory was at a 5.5 months' supply. HUD OIG Audit Finds Florida-Based Lender in Violation of FHA's Short-Sale Program HUD's Office of Inspector General (HUD OIG) has recommended Jacksonville, Florida-based EverBank reimburse HUD more than $1.5 million for violating the terms of the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA's) Preforeclosure Sale (PFS) Program. HUD OIG issued the findings of a recently conducted audit of EverBank's FHA short sales in a 57-page report last month. In it, the inspector general states the audit re- vealed EverBank "did not properly determine that mortgagors were eligible to participate in FHA's Preforeclosure Sale Program in ac- cordance with HUD requirements." e audit showed EverBank failed to properly evaluate mortgagors' financial state, which includes determining whether the default was due to an adverse or unavoidable financial situation, determining whether or not the mortgagors could pay the FHA loan, and substantiating whether the cause of default was related to the mortgagors' need to vacate the property. "is condition occurred because EverBank's interpretation of the program requirements that it adopted to qualify the mortgagors for the program was not in accor- dance with HUD requirements," the report said. "As a result, the FHA insurance fund paid nearly $1.6 million in improper claims for 11 preforeclosure sales, including lender and mortgagors incentives." e inspector general made two recom- mendations for the deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing to require EverBank to: (1) reimburse HUD for the 11 ineligible claims totaling $1,567,518 and (2) implement policies and procedures in accordance with HUD requirements in order to properly determine whether mortgagors are eligible for the PSF Program. According to HUD OIG, EverBank was audited because it "had the highest Florida preforeclosure sale claims of all servicing lenders located in Florida." With more than $12.9 million paid from 2011 to 2013, more than 50 percent of EverBank's FHA claims in Florida came from preforeclosure sales. Florida Has Nation's Top Foreclosure Rate for 11th Straight Month For the 11th consecutive month, Florida was the state that owned the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for August. RealtyTrac reported one foreclosure filing for every 400 housing units in the Sunshine State in August, which was almost three times the national average of one in every 1,126 properties. Foreclosure was started on 6,468 Florida properties in August, a leap of 74 percent from July and 24 percent from August 2013. Florida's year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts during August ended a string of 17 consecutive months of annual decreases, according to RealtyTrac. After Florida, the states with the next highest foreclosure rates in August were Nevada (one in every 524 housing units), Maryland (1:532), New Jersey (1:553), and Georgia (1:582). Of the 10 metro areas with a population of more than 200,000 that had the highest foreclosure rates in the nation in August, seven of them were located in Florida, ac- cording to RealtyTrac. e top two were Macon, Georgia (1:154), and Atlantic City, New Jersey (1:292), and the remaining eight of the top 10 were in Florida. In the No. 3 spot was Orlando (1:294), followed by Jacksonville (1:300), Miami (1:359), Palm Bay-Melbourne- Titusville (1:368), Tampa (1:407), Pensacola (1:426), Cape Coral-Fort Myers (1:430), and Lakeland (1:441). In all of these top 10 markets except for two, foreclosure activity increased year-over- year in August, RealtyTrac reported. e only two outliers were Miami and Tampa, with declines of 10 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Georgia RANK: 34 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate AUGUST 2014 2.84% 1.00% 8.1 YEAR AGO 3.30% 1.47% 8.2 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -13.9% -32.3% -0.1 Top County CHARLTON COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate AUGUST 2014 3.51% 2.97% YEAR AGO 4.19% 1.64% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -16.2% 81.7% Top Core-Based Statistical Area THOMASTON, GA 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate AUGUST 2014 4.69% 2.11% YEAR AGO 4.35% 2.41% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 7.7% -12.5% 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 August 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary August 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. 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 Florida had the most total foreclosure filings of any state in Q3 2014 with 58,589, according to RealtyTrac. KNOW THIS REO activity increased by 11 percent in Georgia year-over-year in Q3 2014, the fourth highest increase in the nation, according to RealtyTrac. KNOW THIS

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