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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 89 homeowners face-to-face to "explore options to make their mortgages more affordable through sustainable loan modifications." "We understand the pride and gratification derived from owning a home and the devastat- ing consequences of losing it to foreclosure," said Ray Carlisle, President of NID. "e fore- closure process does not just harm borrowers, but entire families and communities." e event will offer assistance with prepar- ing Request for Mortgage Assistance (RMA) packages; information on borrower eligibil- ity for state and federal foreclosure assistance programs; counseling on possible mortgage solutions tailored to fit their unique situations; and information on free follow-up housing counseling and education with NID. Worries about California's housing crisis have been growing over the last year or so. e state was hit hard by the recession, but bounced back to being a market of swift sales and rapidly escalating house prices. e downside to that growth has been limited inventory and increased competition that is especially daunt- ing to younger buyers. Last year, the Los Angeles Daily News reported on the growing problem millennials are having trying to crack Califor- nia's housing market, and in February, Forbes named Riverside as one of the five overvalued markets (by 17 percent) that could be ground zero for the next housing bubble—and pop. NID claims it has worked with approxi- mately 1,250 homeowners annually over the last eight years, with an average balance of $135,000 among its clients, translating to more than $168 million in home value designed to keep wealth concentrations within local neighborhoods and mitigate against destabilization. Ocwen, which is still grappling with the $30 million fallout revolving around accusations that accused the company of falsely certifying its compliance with federal mortgage programs services more than 265,000 mortgages in California during the recession, claims to have helped more than 625,000 families avoid fore- closure. In California alone, Ocwen has granted more than 80,000 loan modifications, of which 51 percent received a principal reduction. TENNESSEE Declining Trend Continues for Bankruptcy Filings Nationwide bankruptcy filings were about 5 percent lower in June 2016 compared with a year earlier, continuing an ongoing trend of decline, according to June 2016 AACER bankruptcy data reported by Epiq Systems. Bankruptcy filings totaled 66,284 in June, which was actually a slight increase from May's total of 66,094, but was nearly 5 percent lower than June 2015's total of 69,772 (a decline of 3,488). Year-to- date, there have been 398,495 bankruptcy filings nationwide for the first half of 2016 (about 66,415 per month), down from 2015's year-to- date total through the end of June of 422,782 (about 70,463 per month). e average number of filings per day in June 2016 was 3,012 over 22 days, which is a decline from May's daily average of 3,147 over 21 days. e extra filing day in June compared to May accounts for the slight increase in the number of filings in June; had June featured 21 filing days, there would have been nearly 3,000 fewer filings during the month than in May. Bankruptcy filings have averaged 3,162 for the first six months of 2016 over a period of 126 filing days. June's total of 66,284 bankruptcy filings was less than half of the peak total for the month of June recorded in 2010 (134,797). e state with the most cumulative filings for the first six months of 2016 was again California with 37,248 after adding about 6,200 more in June. As has been the trend, Illinois was second in year-to- date filings with 27,680, after adding another 4,200 in June. e same three states ranked third through fifth in June as they did in May: Florida (23,234), Georgia (22,841), and Ohio (18,827). Tennessee and Alabama continued to rank first and second among states in bank- ruptcy filings per capita for June with 5.63 and 5.37 for every 10,000 people, respectively. ose numbers were virtually the same as May's numbers. e national average of fil- ings per capita in June 2016 held steady over- the- month at 2.56, though it has increased by more than 50 basis points since January 2016's average of 2.02 percent. THE LEADER IN DEFAULT SERVICING NEWS Help shape the next issue of DS News. Drop us a line at Editor@DSNews.com. Tennessee home values have gone up 5.5 percent over the past year and are predicted to rise 4.2 percent within the next year, according to Zillow. KNOW THIS

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