A foreclosure mediation program that began at Marquette University is looking for new mediators – especially those with legal or real estate experience – as the program expands statewide. With funds from the National Mortgage Settlement, the Wisconsin Department of Justice is expanding the effort, now called the Wisconsin Foreclosure Mediation Network, beyond Milwaukee and linking up with mediators in Oshkosh, Green Bay and other cities. Milwaukee’s program, now run out of County Clerk of Circuit Court John Barrett’s office, attempts to broker loan modifications for defendants in foreclosure suits to prevent their homes from going to a sheriff’s sale.
State funding will run through at least 2013 and possibly through 2015, according to the network. About half of the cases taken on by the program are resolved, allowing homeowners to resume payments. Foreclosure rates have continued to fall in southeastern Wisconsin in recent months. An economics professor from UW-Whitewater told the Journal Sentinel the decline amounts to an “amazing turnaround.”
A training event for aspiring mediators will be held in Madison on April 18. More info here. Each case taken on pays $400.
