July recording statistics

Here are the statistics for this July compared to the same month in 2012:

Deeds were up 16%, rising from 510 to 667
Mortgages were up 3%, rising from 1223 to 1263
Foreclosure deeds were down 58%, dropping from 33 to 14
Orders of Notice were down 75%, dropping from 85 to 21

For the year deeds are down 19%, mortgages 7%, foreclosure deeds are down 56%, and orders of notice 50%.

Foreclosure Timeline

Fortunately the number of foreclosures we're seeing are down considerably but there are still plenty of them.  Someone recently asked in an email about the timing of the Order of Notice in the process so I thought that would be a topic for today's blog post:

The Order of Notice is part of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.  When a lender seeks to foreclose on a mortgage, the lender first files a complaint under that act in Land Court.  The sole issue in this proceeding is whether anyone with an interest in the home being foreclosed is serving in the military.  If yes, there are special protections but if not, the case is resolved quickly.  To resolve the case, the Land Court issues an order of notice to the lender (now the plaintiff in this lawsuit) with instructions on providing notice to the homeowner/debtor.  There are three methods used: the order of notice must be (1) served on the homeowner/debtor by the sheriff or by certified mail; (2) published once in the newspaper; and (3) recorded at the registry of deeds.  The order of notice identifies a “return date” which is the date by which the homeowner/debtor must file an answer if he’s eligible for the protection of the servicemembers statute (and a fairly recent SJC case held the only issue that can be raised in this proceeding is military status so other issues like robosigning and the like are not allowed in this forum).  Assuming no answer is filed by the return date, the court issues judgment in favor of the plaintiff/lender and this proceeding ends.  The lender can then schedule the foreclosure.

Using a recently recorded foreclosure deed as an example, here's one timeline:

• June 28, 2006 - mortgage recorded
• May 1, 2012 - Land Court judge signs the order of notice setting the "return date" at June 18, 2012
• May 14, 2012 - plaintiff records order of notice at registry of deeds
• June 18, 2012 - return date (and no one is eligible for Servicemember's protection)
• June 19, 2012 - plaintiff's motion for judgment is allowed by court
• June 25, 2012 - Land Court judgment issues
• July 23, 2012 - first Notice of Sale published in newspaper (others on July 30 and August 6)
• August 20, 2012 - foreclosure auction held at the property
• July 10, 2013 - foreclosure deed recorded

Lowell sales, week of July 22, 2013

July 22, 2013 (Monday)

1070 Middlesex St for $215,000

607 Chelmsford St for $182,000

July 23, 2013 (Tuesday)

94 Carlisle St for $184,500 (prior in 1978 for $34,000)

July 24, 2013 (Wednesday)

40 Bradley St for $223,000 (prior in 2000 for $169,000)

30 Monadnock Ave for $461,500 (prior in 1992 for $206,000)

120 Fowler Rd for $315,000 (prior in 2013 for $235,000)

July 25, 2013 (Thursday)

25-27 Seventeenth St for $290,000 (prior in 1973 for $27,000)

26 Butterfield St for $96,299 (prior in 2013 - Foreclosure Deed - for $83,000)

20 Angle St Unit 12 for $132,000 (prior in 2005 for $189,000)

July 26, 2013 (Friday)

16 Cheney Place for $132,500 (prior in 2011 for $74,900)

30-32 Barker St for $197,000 (prior in 2008 for $142,000)

83 Seventeenth St for $273,900 (prior in 2003 for $309,900)

50-52 Third St for $175,000 (prior in 2001 for $180,000)

93 Whipple St for $255,000 (prior in 2012 for $155,000)

200 Rogers St Unit 12 for $190,000 (new unit)

498 Fletcher St for $90,000 (prior sale in 1962)

32 Fairview St for $345,000 (prior sale in 1946)

211 Mt Hope St for $185,000 (prior sale in 1970)

Problems with mortgage modification program

An article in today's New York Times describes ongoing problems with the Federal home mortgage modification program.  Not only have far fewer people than expected (or hoped) gotten involved with the program, many of those who have become beneficiaries of the program are now defaulting on their new, modified rates.  That might be a function of the modifications being inadequate or it could indicate that some who fell behind on their loans have other money problems that weren't necessarily caused by the size of the mortgage.

Here's a link to the article. 

Registry of Deeds Commission meets tomorrow

The Registry of Deeds Modernization and Efficiency Commission that was established by Section 124 of Chapter 165 of the Acts of 2012 meets tomorrow at the State House.  The agenda is as follows:

1. Election of a Chair
2. Approval of minutes of April 24, 2013 meeting
3. Current System Capabilities
4. Potential Future Capabilities
5. Timetable for Electronic Filings
6. Technology Fund in Perpetuity
7. Public Comments
8. Next Meeting Date

Last week's Lowell sales with previous sales info

July 15, 2013 (Monday)

16 Merrimack St Unit 4D for $90,000 (prior sale in 2009 for $75,000)

29 School St Unit 29 for $174,500 (prior in 2011 for $98,000)

13 Wiltshire Cir for $189,000 (prior in 2004 for $245,000)

356 Wentworth Ave for $285,000 (prior in 2003 for $175,000)

July 16, 2013 (Tuesday)

9 Clinton Ave for $110,000 (prior in 2007 for $134,000)

65 Kelley Cir for $325,000 (prior in 2009 for $372,000)

227 Nesmith St Unit D for $105,500 (prior in 2010 for $109,900)

43 Wannalancit St for $345,000 (prior in 2013 - foreclosure deed - for $269,755)

July 17, 2013 (Wednesday)

313 Central St for $120,000 (prior sale in 1981 for $37,000)

July 18, 2013 (Thursday)

262 Pleasant St for $125,199 (prior sale in 2011 - foreclosure deed - for $167,000)

61 Mt. Washington St for $250,000 (prior in 1964 - price unknown)

July 19, 2013 (Friday)

122 Parker St for $225,000 (prior in 2011 for $140,900)

43 Cedar St for $225,000 (prior in 1954 for unknown price)

235 Stackpole St Unit A for $195,000 (prior in 2008 for $199,900)

2000 Skyline Dr Unit 1 for $105,500 (prior in 2009 for $111,000)

18 Shedd St for $83,000 (prior in 2013 - foreclosure deed - for $232,082)

435 Lincoln St for $210,000 (prior in 2004 for $372,300)

July recordings: First three weeks

We've had some unusually busy days recently.  Last Friday and this Monday saw a lot of documents recorded and today had many closings even though it is mid-month.  This prompted me to look at document totals for the first three weeks of July in both 2012 and 2013.

During the first three weeks of July:

In 2012, there were 292 deeds recorded; in 2013 there were 416
In 2012, there were 704 mortgages recorded; in 2013 there were 769
In 2012, there were 36 orders of notice recorded; in 2013 there were 10
In 2012, there were 19 foreclosure deeds recorded; in 2013 there were 10 

Totals for all document types show positive trends.

We're having a heat wave

The Middlesex Superior Couthouse in Lowell is an old building (1848 and 1894) but there are ample window air conditioners to keep the temperature tolerable inside on days that are especially warm which is exactly what we have today.  In fact, with the outside temperature now above 90 degrees, we are officially in the middle of a heat wave (three or more consecutive days with temperatures above 90 degrees).  Since the forecast for the weekend calls for like temperatures through Sunday, we should have at least a five-day heat wave. 

WBZ-TV weather person Barry Burbank shared some historical information about Boston heat waves:

Boston’s longest heat wave of 9 days lasted from July 3-11 in 1912. The next 3 on the list are all 8 days long. August 11-18, 2002 was the most recent followed by July 19-26, 1994 then August 10-17, 1944. August 1988 was also brutal with a 4-day heat wave from the 3rd through the 6th followed by a 7-day heat wave on the 9th through the 15th.  It was the hottest August in 118 years featuring 11 days over 90 degrees bringing the 1988 total to 25 days which is double the average number.  More recently, July 2011 was the 2nd hottest July on record but, surprisingly, there was only 1 heat wave lasting 4 days. During that spell, there was a new record set on the 22nd of the month at 103 degrees! July 2010 was the third hottest July on record with two-3 day heat waves.  The longer the heat lingers, the greater the impact because it is accumulative and increasingly stressful to the human body.

Electronic Recording Statistics

With 2013 half done, we'll take a day to look at statistics, particularly those related to electronic recording.  Of the 35,682 documents we have recorded thus far this year, 13,916 were recorded electronically.  That's 39% which is a pretty consistent month-to-month average for 2013.

Here are the monthly numbers of documents recorded electronically/the total number of documents recorded that month/the percentage of all documents that were recorded electronically:

• January - 2499 / 6064 / 41%
• February - 2084 / 5218 / 40%
• March - 2357 / 5842 / 40%
• April - 2368 / 6025 / 39%
• May - 2392 / 6137 / 39%
• June - 2219 / 6396 / 35%

On a daily basis, we averaged 288 documents of which 112 were recorded electronically.  Of the electronically recorded documents, the average distribution was: 44 discharges, 8 deeds, 32 mortgages, and 30 documents of other types.

Finally, the total number of documents we recorded for the first half of 2013 - 35,682 - slightly exceeds the total recorded for the first half of last year which was 33,174. 

End of June and Half Year Recording Statistics

Now that June is finished we can look at recording statistics for the month and for the first half of 2013 (comparing both to the same time period in 2012):

In June of 2013:

•  there were 637 deeds recorded, a 7% increase from the 593 recorded in the same month in 2012;
• there were 1220 mortgages recorded, a 1% decrease from the 1238 recorded in June 2012;
• there were 17 foreclosure deeds; a 50% decrease from the 34 recorded in June 2012
• there were 15 orders of notice, a 71% decrease from the 52 recorded in June 2012.

For the first six month of 2013:

• there were 3313 deeds recorded, a 20% increase from the 2759 recorded in 2012;
• there were 7623 mortgages, a 9% increase from the 7001 recorded in 2012;
• there were 85 foreclosure deeds, a 59% decrease from the 209 recorded in 2012
• there were 207 orders of notice, a 42% decrease from the 354 recorded in 2012