Arbitration & Mediation

No Need to Fear Foreclosure Mediation in New York Courts

By Victoria Pynchon

A word to the wise about foreclosure mediation from the Buffalo News Business Today article, Fear stymies mediation.  Excerpt below. 

Timothy Walker has one message for all the homeowners facing foreclosure in Western New York: If you get a letter inviting you to come to court, don't be afraid. Just show up.

Walker, acting Supreme Court justice, oversees the state-mandated settlement conferences locally that are designed to bring defaulting homeowners and lenders together one last time to find a solution before ordering a foreclosure sale.

His job at these one-on-one meetings isn't to take away someone's house. Rather, his mission is to encourage both sides to sit down and make every effort to keep borrowers in their homes.

Since the process began, Walker and his staff have convened more than 341 meetings, with nearly 100 homes saved from foreclosure by getting lenders to modify loans to make them affordable. That's about three times the success rate downstate.

Full post as published by Settle It Now Negotiation Blog on November 30, 2009 (boomark / email).