Rating Agencies Should Rate Foreclosure Timelines

Source: Forbes — 

When Wall Street turns real estate mortgages into commercial mortgage-backed securities, those securities must first be given a rating. To do that, rating agencies scrutinize an exhaustive list of data points for each loan included in the transaction. That review includes, among many other things, the loan documentation, the collateral, valuation, estimated likelihood of default, sponsorship, and whether the borrower structure adequately protects the loan from bankruptcy risks. For anyone trying to close a securitization, the rating agency process can feel like an extended and very detailed proctological exam.