The number of foreclosures in Maryland dropped in October for the third consecutive month, according to data released Thursday.
Filings last month dropped more than 50 percent from a year ago, according to data from RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks and markets foreclosed properties. In Virginia, the number of filings ticked up by 4.45 percent in October. Foreclosures increased 14 percent in the District.
In Maryland, October marked the third straight month that filings, which include default notices, auctions and bank-owned sales, declined from the same period the previous year.
In the first half of 2010, filings in Maryland jumped 56 percent over the first half of 2009. But they began to decline after July when a new state law took effect requiring mortgage lenders to offer mediation before foreclosing.
“I certainly think that that’s slowing down the process,” Joanne Freeman, president of the Prince George’s County Association of Realtors, said of the new law.
State officials hope mediation will help some homeowners escape foreclosure entirely, she said.
“I think the mediation is having a big impact in Maryland, at least in the short term,” said Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman.
Nationally, the number of filings in October was basically unchanged from a year ago at about 332,000. The numbers probably would have been higher, said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, were it not for the fallout from the recent “robo-signing” controversy, when it came to light that mortgage lenders may have signed foreclosure documents en masse without reviewing them.
After a surge in foreclosures, all 50 states and the District began investigating whether mortgage lenders were using robo-signing to rush people out of their homes. Bank of America, a large local lender, placed a nationwide moratorium on foreclosure sales last month before partially lifting it.
“I think we do see more impact from the robo-signing controversy month-over-month,” Blomquist said.
Virginia, for example, saw a 21 percent drop in properties that had been foreclosed or repurchased by a bank from September to October.
Last month, the Maryland Court of Appeals also approved a new rule allowing judges to require anyone who submits written statements in foreclosure proceedings — including lawyers, banking officials and borrowers — to testify in court.
