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WEEK OF MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2016
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A Publication of The Warren Group
CREInsider
FORECLOSURES ON THE RISE
The
SOME FORECLOSURES ARE OLD DEFAULTS, BUT MANY ARE NEW
A SUPPLEMENT TO BANKER & TRADESMAN
MADE IN MASSACHUSETTS
Co-Working Model Spreads To Manufacturing “We’re scared to death to stop paying our mortgage. We agreed to pay it, but they also said they’d help us refinance in a year. They didn’t know the market was going to tank, but it’s disingenuous of them to not work with families who are trying to do the right thing. If we go into foreclosure, we will absolutely challenge it.”
Borrowers Still Stuck In Bad Loans Despite Improved Economy BY JIM MORRISON | BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
T
he refrain is the same, month after month: the pickup in foreclosure starts in Massachusetts is just “a paperwork problem.” But after almost two years, the same refrain starts to sound a little stale. And in fact, Banker & Tradesman has found, those new foreclosures aren’t all old defaults. The oft-heard industry explanation is that when foreclosures were peaking in 2011 and 2012, mortgage servicing companies were busy processing so many foreclosures – indeed, thousands each month – that they made a lot of mistakes, some of which resulted in foreclosures being reversed in court. Because of that, and the fact that housing prices hadn’t recovered enough for lenders to break even at auction, foreclosures all but stopped until the second half of 2013, when they picked up again and have Continued on Page 8
FORECLOSURES THROUGH THE YEARS
massachusetts
Grants Revive Industrial Flavor Of Gateway Cities BY STEVE ADAMS BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
C
o-working spaces give fledgling tech companies access to low-cost, low-commitment real estate while they develop products and seek expansion funding. The success of the co-working model isn’t lost on state economic development officials seeking to revive entrepreneurialism in Massachusetts’ 26 economically struggling Gateway Cities. The shared space model, they hope, can launch the careers of artisans recolonizing former mills and theater troupes rehearsing in once-vacant storefronts. MassDevelopment’s award of $850,000 to support co-working expansion in Gateway Cities in 2015 is starting to bear fruit. Performing arts and makerspaces are scheduled to open this spring in Chelsea and Lowell after using grant funds to renovate commercial properties, attracting growing communities of creative types with a hands-on approach.
— Margaret, a Worcester County homeowner about to default on an interest only mortgage
Continued on Page B6 BRIDLING THE STALLION
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Banking In The Age Of Big Data
2015
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Few Pioneers In The Intersection Of Big Data And Finance
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BY LAURA ALIX BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
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CONTENTS Commercial & Industrial ������������������������������������������ 3
In Person ������������������������������������������������������������������ 7
Classified Sections ������������������������������������������������� 10
Points ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 4
Residential �������������������������������������������������������������� 8
CRE Insider ������������������������������������������������������������ B1
By The Numbers ������������������������������������������������������� 6
Banking & Lending �������������������������������������������������� 9
Records Section ������������������������������������������������������ C1
anks and other financial services companies sit atop vast and potentially valuable stores of data, but most struggle with harnessing that data such that it can tell them something about their customer base, let alone sell them something. But that hasn’t stopped a few companies from experimenting with it anyway. The credit reporting bureau TransUnion announced recently that it will launch a new platform in April that gives lending institutions access to more than 350 billion rows of data representing seven years of trade line history on Continued on Page 9