“We are excited to have Mark rejoin the Real Estate Department”

His practice includes leasing, acquisitions and dispositions, financing,
development, and joint venture formation, as well as loan enforcement
and loan foreclosures. Mark’s realty property acquisitions and
dispositions practice includes complex purchase, sale and 1031 exchange
transactions. His leasing practice includes the representation of both
landlords and tenants in leases of office, industrial and retail space
located throughout the United States. His financing experience includes
representing borrowers and lenders on the origination of real property
secured loans and mezzanine loans and loan servicing matters.

Mark has extensive experience in the restructuring of distressed loans,
enforcing defaulted loans and the California foreclosure process. He has
also represented both developers and investors in the structuring and
formation of complex joint ventures (using LLC’s, partnerships, and TIC
structures) as well as the negotiation and preparation of development
agreements, construction contracts, completion guaranties, CCRs,
easements, and management agreements.

“We are excited to have Mark rejoin the Real Estate Department,” said
David Osias, Managing Partner of Allen Matkins. “Mark’s expertise,
energy and commitment to his clients makes him an easy fit with our
other San Francisco based real estate attorneys. His reputation and
stature in the real estate community and his pragmatic, results oriented
approach to practicing real estate law will provide great value to his
clients and existing clients of Allen Matkins.”

Prior to rejoining Allen Matkins, Mark was a partner at Seyfarth Shaw
from 2006 through 2012. Before his first stint at Allen Matkins from
2004-2006, he worked for Pillsbury Winthrop for five years.

Mark received his Masters of Law in Real Property Development from the
University of Miami, his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oregon
School of Law, and his Bachelor of Science, with honors from the
University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a board member of San
Francisco Bay Area NAIOP and serves on both local and national
legislative committees for NAIOP advocating for the interests of real
estate owners and operators.

ABOUT ALLEN MATKINS

Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory Natsis LLP, founded in 1977, is a
California-based law firm with approximately 220 attorneys with offices
in four major metropolitan areas of California: Los Angeles, Orange
County, San Francisco and San Diego. The firm’s core specialties include
real estate, real estate finance, construction, land use, natural
resources, environmental, corporate and securities, intellectual
property, joint ventures, taxation, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights,
employment and labor law, and dispute resolution and litigation in all
these matters. For 35 years, Allen Matkins has helped clients turn
opportunity and challenge into success by providing practical advice,
innovative solutions and valuable business opportunities.

Article source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120620006770/en/Mark-Mengelberg-Joins-Allen-Matkins%E2%80%99-San-Francisco

Yesterday a lot of folks, including myself, were slightly incensed at the announcement by mortgage insurer PMI that it is launching a pilot program offering cash bonuses to borrowers who stay current on their mortgage payments.

I went on a tirade about how ridiculous it is to pay people to meet their legal, contractual obligations, how it enables bad behavior. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe that.

Today, however, I learned something that made me understand a bit more why the mortgage insurers, and the lenders and investors participating in a similar bonus program, are running so scared:

Between 12 and 24 percent of always performing loans, depending on the asset type, exhibit LTVs (loan to value ratios) that are higher and have risen more steeply than those of defaulted loans, raising the specter of a renewed increase in strategic defaults should previous default trends hold true—Moody’s ResiLandscape

Researchers at Moody’s say that a loan’s LTV is a “strong predictor of its propensity to default,” and if history serves as a model, the higher the LTV, the more risk of default.

After the end of the home buyer tax credit, the average home price for always-performing loans originated since 2005 began falling again, according to Moody’s, which consequently turned falling LTVs around, pushing them up as borrowers lost more equity in their homes.

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Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43728831?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS