OPB | March 13, 2013 12:58 p.m
David Nogueras
The number of home foreclosures processed in Oregon courtrooms continued to rise last month. Filings for court foreclosures were up 67 pecent compared to January.
That’s according to numbers compiled by Eugene-based Gorilla Capital. That’s a firm that invests in and tracks distressed properties.
John Helmick is the company’s CEO. He says beginning last summer loan servicers slowly started backing away from what, at the time was the more common practice of non-judicial foreclosures. Helmick says since then judicial foreclosures have come to account for about 94% of all foreclosure filings.
“A year ago it was just the opposite – 94% non-judicial and only 6% were going through the courts,” says Helmick.
Helmick and most other industry watchers attribute the shift to two events. First, a decision from Oregon Court of Appeals calling into question the legal standing of the mortgage industry’s Mortgage Electronic Registration System – or MERS.
The second was the implementation of the Oregon homeowner mediation program.
State lawmakers are considering changes to that program. Meanwhile, the MERS decision is under review by the Oregon Supreme Court.
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