Thursday, December 17, 2009

More on the Nevada Foreclosure Prject

The Mercury News is reporting that the Nevada Supreme Court swore in 75 new mediators as part of its Foreclosure Mediation Program.

The Nevada Supreme Court's website shows that more than 3,400 homeowners have requested mediation. 372 mediations have been conducted. 1,401 cases have been assigned to mediators.

We've blogged about the Nevada program before. One of the important questions, to me, is how is a successful mediation and program outcome defined?

If a mediation results in a modified loan, but the homeowner defaults a few months down the road, is that a success? I'll be interested to know the general parameters of the settlements that are reached, what percentage of homeowners and mortgage companies participate, and the satisfaction levels of the mortgage companies and the homeowners immediately after the mediation and 6 months after the mediation.

Holiday Conflict Resolution

Ah, the holidays. Times where families get together after not seeing each other for months, perhaps. Food. Football. Conflict.

Yep, lots of conflict happens during this most wonderful time of year. Here's a great story from phillyburbs.com about "Holiday conflict resolution." It's worth a read. The story is based upon a post from PhillyHealthInfor.org.

The articles list nine ways to resolve family conflicts. They are:

1. Respect everyone's ideas and needs.
2. Focus on the problem not the person.
3. Build power with, not over others.
4. Express feelings without blaming others (use “I” messages).
5. Own your part of the conflict.
6. Strategize to reach mutually agreeable solutions.
7. Create options ... having only one way always creates losers.
8. Listen so people will talk and talk so people will listen.
9. Solve the problem and build the relationship.

What do you think about this list? How would you use these principles in resolving conflict during this season?