Occupy Petaluma to Urge County to Conduct Audit of Foreclosed Properties

Vice Mayor Tiffany Renee and members of Occupy Petaluma are meeting with the Sonoma County Recorder-Assessor Tuesday to urge the office to conduct an audit of foreclosed residential properties which they hope will keep local families from losing their homes.

Recently, San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting ordered an audit of mortgages of all foreclosed properties in his county. That report, released last week, found that 80 percent of loan applications were missing owners’ signatures or showed that lenders had not contacted borrowers to discuss their options before issuing a notice of default, as required by law.

It also found that information the county recorders’ office had on file differed from what was listed on Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) for the majority of the loans reviewed. MERS is a company that maintains a database that tracks the transfer of titles.

Renee said an audit of titles would help provide legal documentation for an ongoing investigation by California Attorney General Kamala Harris into mortgage fraud, and provide more insight into how to tighten loopholes of the industry.

“We want to start that conversation with the assessor and determine if it’s something she can do or would need the Board of Supervisors to give direction on that,” Renee said.

Occupy Petaluma has zeroed in on foreclosures in recent months and worked to set up meetings with local banks to help Petaluma homeowners stay in their homes. Starting last weekend, the group began holding weekly foreclosure vigils at Walnut Park to raise attention to the problem. About 30 people came out to the group’s event on Saturday, according to organizer Tim Nonn.