Preforeclosure Notices Help Target Outreach

More than 57,256 90-day preforeclosure notices were sent to New York homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments since Feb. 13, 2010, according to the New York State Banking Department. The five counties with the highest total number of preforeclosure filings on owner-occupied, one-to-for family properties in the state are Suffolk with 8,293, Queens with 6,267, Nassau with 5,755 filings, Kings (Brooklyn) with 4,485 and Erie with 2,917. The data was based on filings from almost 200 mortgage loan servicers between Feb. 13 and May 31, 2010, in accordance with the state's 2009 Mortgage Foreclosure Law. The new law requires all servicers of New York residential mortgages to provide the department with key information from the 90-day preforeclosure notices sent to homeowners. More than half, or 30,182, of the preforeclosure notices were sent on mortgages or refinances originated between 2005 and 2007. Throughout the state, more than 31% of the notices were on loan amounts under $100,000, which suggests that economic issues are at the root of current defaults as such loan amounts are significantly less than home values. More than half, or 31,044, were on mortgages that were less than 60 days delinquent. "We are well past the point of this being a subprime or predatory loan crisis," said Richard Neiman, superintendent of banks for New York State. "The recession and job losses, as well as the overall decline of the housing market, have led to the current situation of responsible homeowners who may have had a good loan being overwhelmed by temporary economic hardships."