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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 81 our ability to generate strong returns for our shareholders." New Residential, which is based in New York, was formed in 2013 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Newcastle Investment Corp. e company primarily targets invest- ments in mortgage servicing-related assets and other related investments. HLSS was formed to acquire mortgage servicing assets. Its principal offices are located in the Cayman Islands. e acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015 pending the HLSS shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions. It has been approved by each company's board of directors. e CEO of HLSS, John Van Vlack, said New Residential provided HLSS with the most attractive offer. "I am pleased that this transaction offers our investors cash equivalent to the book value of their shares and addresses the uncer- tainty associated with our future financing obligations," Vlack said. "Of the strategic proposals received, New Residential's was the most attractive for a variety of reasons including valuation and certainty of execu- tion. We believe that New Residential is well positioned to provide support and act as a strategic financing party to Ocwen over the long-term." New York AG Proposes New Expanded Bill to Reduce Zombie Properties New York Attorney General Eric Schnei- derman announced in mid-February that he plans to introduce an expanded version of the bill he proposed last year to reduce the number of zombie properties in the state. e goal of Schneiderman's new proposed Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act is to cut down on the increasing number of residential properties that fall into disrepair when they are abandoned by owners during the foreclosure process and subsequently not maintained by mortgagees. Such properties are often referred to as "zombie properties." Speaking at the New York State As- sociation of Towns' 2015 Training School and Annual Meeting in February, where he announced his intention to introduce the expanded legislation, Schneiderman said the number of zombie properties in New York increased by almost 50 percent in 2014 compared to 2013, which amounted to about 16,700 zombie properties. In the 10 counties in New York with the most zombie properties, approximately 42 percent of properties in foreclosure are aban- doned before the lengthy process is finished, Schneiderman explained. When banks fail to maintain these properties, they fall into dis- repair, which in turn lowers property values of surrounding houses and invites vandalism and violent crime. "Leaving zombie properties to rot is unfair to municipalities and unfair to neighbors, who pay their taxes and maintain their homes," Schneiderman said. "In the next two weeks, my office will resubmit to the Leg- islature our bill that would require banks to take responsibility for maintaining properties much earlier in the foreclosure process, take that burden off of towns and cities, and allow local governments to more easily identify the mortgagees of these properties to make sure they maintain them. And as my office enforces the requirement that banks take responsibility for these properties, any fines we levy will go into a fund to help towns and cities hire more code enforcement officers." e proposed Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act addresses the problem of homeowners who may be un- aware of their legal rights, abandoning their homes once they receive a foreclosure notice. e new bill requires mortgagees to provide homeowners with early notice that they are legally allowed to remain in their homes until a court orders them to leave. Also as part of the new bill, mortgagees are required to identify, secure, and maintain vacant proper- ties soon after they are abandoned rather than at the end of the foreclosure process. e bill requires mortgagees and their loan servic- ing agents to periodically inspect properties with delinquent mortgages to ensure they are occupied. e bill also makes it unlawful for a mortgagee or anyone acting on the mort- gagee's behalf to enter an occupied property and intimidate, harass, or coerce a lawful occupant into vacating the property. "Many vacant and abandoned properties are a significant source of blight, magnets for criminal activity, negatively impact property values, and detract from residents overall quality of life," Binghamton Mayor Richard C. David said. "is issue impacts cities across the nation, and the Attorney General's proposal to hold mortgage lenders more ac- countable and provide a strategy to keep these properties from deteriorating will ultimately protect homeowners and improve the integ- rity of our neighborhoods." e Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act is part of Schneiderman's broader strategy to help New York homeowners and communities recover from the fore- closure crisis, according to Schneiderman's announcement. His other actions toward obtaining this strategy include securing $2 billion in a National Mortgage Settlement to help financially struggling families and dedicating $100 million of that money to the Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP), which provides housing counseling and free foreclosure prevention legal services to strug- gling homeowners in New York. According to Schneiderman's office, HOPP has helped 39,000 families in the state as of December 2014. Pennsylvania RANK: 14 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 2.57% 2.03% 4.8 YEAR AGO 2.84% 2.74% 6.8 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -9.7% -25.9% -2 Top County MONROE COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 4.88% 7.67% YEAR AGO 5.47% 10.93% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -10.8% -29.8% Top Core-Based Statistical Area EAST STROUDSBURG, PA 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate NOVEMBER 2014 4.88% 7.67% YEAR AGO 5.47% 10.93% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -10.8% -29.8% 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 November 2014 foreclosure rate. All fi gures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate refl ects preliminary November 2014 fi gures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. New York ranked fourth among states in percentage of residential mortgage loans that were non-current with 10.39 percent in January 2015, according to Black Knight Financial Services. KNOW THIS

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