Foreclosure Nation

When the Senate passed the Wall Street reform package last week, it included a provision that uses $3 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to reduce mortgage payments for those homeowners who have lost their job as a result of the nation’s recession. The same measure already...

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According to a new online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults conducted in May by Harris Interactive and commissioned by the Arlington, Virginia-based National Apartment Association (NAA), 76 percent of consumers deemed renting to be the more favorable option to owning a home in the current real e...

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The Madison, New Jersey-based analytics firm MacroMarkets LLC, founded by Robert Shiller, real estate sage and father of the closely-watched Case-Shiller Home Price Index, polled the group of housing market experts and strategists from the likes of Alliance Bernstein, Columbia Business School, Deuts...

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Numbers released today indicte that home prices year over year are up. But prices month over month are down (which means eventually year over year numbers will reflect this decrease as well). The uptick in sales reflected by the home sales numbers a few days ago appear to have not translated to...

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The number of insured financial institutions on the FDIC’s so-called “problem list” has risen to 775, up from 702 at the end of 2009. The total assets of problem banks have increased from $403 billion at the close of last year to $431 billion. The FDIC says both the number and assets of problem...

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A survey released Thursday by Trulia.com and RealtyTrac shows that only 1 percent of homeowners with a mortgage say walking away would be their first choice if they were unable to make their payments. If their mortgage were to go underwater – meaning the property value drops below the amount sti...

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Some housing experts are predicting what one calls a “saw-tooth bottom” to the housing market driven by a shadow inventory that may include up to 4.5 million properties. This issue isn’t just bank-owned homes that aren’t yet on the market, but sellers who would like to sell but fear they can’t. "...

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With home loans going bad at a still-staggering pace and losses mounting for the GSEs, the nation’s two largest mortgage financiers are pursuing several avenues to recover money, including returning poorly underwrittenloans to lenders. During the first three months of this year, Fannie Mae and Fredd...

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The FBI reports that equity stripping and property flipping are common. 80% involves collaboration or collusion by industry insiders. ...

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We expect that house prices will continue to decline because the pipeline of distressed mortgages is substantial and because the price discounts for distress sales weaken all house prices,” the forecasting and credit risk unit of Moody’s Analytics wrote. While the overall housing market has larg...

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Commercial prices were down 5% in March, Almost 30% from March of 2009. And almost 50% from the peak....

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Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 932,234 properties in the first quarter, a 7 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 16 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009. One in every 138 U.S. housing units received a foreclo...

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The Bureau of Justice Assistance recently brought together experts from around the country to examine possible solutions to the crisis challenges. The outcome, a report title A Full Response to an Empty House: Public Safety Strategies for Addressing Mortgage Fraud and the Foreclosure Crisis, is ...

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A recent study, The Foreclosure Crisis: Did Wall Street Practice Predatory Lending or Did Households Overreach?, found the latter to be true, adding there is plenty of blame to go around for the financial crisis. Both banks and consumers overreached. Banks extended too much credit to households,...

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In light of the economic crisis, consumers are taking financial matters into their own hands by implementing proactive spending habits and mortgage management strategies, according to findings from the Western Union Global Business Payments Money Mindset Index, a national survey of 3,000 consumers c...

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Like a ripple effect, the recent recession will impact Americans for years to come, according to a study released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Conducted by Professor Joe Peek, Gatton Endowed Chair in international banking and financial economics at the University of Kentuck...

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One in every 387 homes in the United States was in some stage of foreclosure last month, RealtyTrac reported Thursday. The company’s data shows that foreclosure filings – including default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions – were issued on 333,837 properties in April. While sti...

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Announcement SEL-2010-05 April 14, 2010 Underwriting Borrowers with a Prior Preforeclosure Sale or Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure To support overall market stability and reinforce the importance of borrowers working with their servicers when they have difficulty repaying their debt, Fannie Mae is upd...

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On April 30, 2010, Fannie Mae released Announcement SEL-2010-06 to tighten underwriting for certain types of mortgages. To further limit payment shock for a borrower with an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) that adjusts during the first five years of the loan, borrowers must be qualified at the higher...

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Fannie Mae has extended its 3.5 percent incentive for buyers who close on Fannie-Mae-owned homes listed on www.HomePath.com by June 30, 2010. The incentive of up to 3.5 percent of the sales price may be used for (1) closing costs, (2) the purchase of a new Whirlpool® appliance, or (3) a combination....

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While the financial crisis led to significantly reduced access to mortgage credit for all borrowers, communities of color were hit the hardest by the dramatic decrease in low-cost home loans, according to a report released Thursday by a multi-state collaboration of regional research, policy, and adv...

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The U.S. Treasury has issued a new Supplemental Directive introducing its payment relief program for homeowners who have lost their jobs. The Home Affordable Unemployment Program (UP), initially announced by the administration in March, becomes effective July 1, 2010, and offers eligible unemplo...

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April data shows 299,092 permanent modifications, an increase of 68,000/almost 13% over March, have been initiated. 3,744, out of about 300,000 permanent loan modifications given, cancelled or re-defaulted. So far, trail modification offers have been extended to 1.4 million of the 1.7 million el...

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REO inventories are expected to to grow over the next couple of years, as foreclosure alternatives are exhausted. According to Barclays as of 2/10, there were 480,000 REOs and REOs are predicted to peak 1/12 at 536,000. Even if HAMP and other programs dont end up keeping folks in their homes the...

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FNMA's May 2010 report, reflects new and existing home sales posted robust increases in March, probably due to the tax credit. Indicators predict rising sales in the near future, but, declines in Q3. Hopefully improvements in employment will help sales pick up again before the year is over. Overall...

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According to Clear Capital home prices slipped 5.0% in April compared to 3 months earlier, a 1.1% decline on top of the quarterly decline reported last month. But at least the decline seems to be slowing. Between February and March the drop was 3.9%. And year-over-year values show a 5.1% gain. ...

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According to Clear Capital home prices slipped 5.0% in April compared to 3 months earlier, a 1.1% decline on top of the quarterly decline reported last month. But at least the decline seems to be slowing. Between February and March the drop was 3.9%. And year-over-year values show a 5.1% gain. ...

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A recent case regarding the service and filing of evidence in a Florida foreclosure matter relied upon in a Motion for Summary Judgment. The Second DCA held that Rule 1.510(c), which requires all evidence to be served (and possibly even filed with the Court) at least 20 days before the hearing,...

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The percentage of foreclosures thought to be strategic was 31% in March 2010, compared to 22% in March 2009. One likely reason is the increasing perception that lenders are not going after borrowers who walk away. 54% of those surveyed thought their lender would pursue them. Strategic defaul...

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Two House Democrats have introduced a bill to create a “right to rent” for homeowners facing foreclosure. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Arizona) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), would allow a family receiving a foreclosure notice to petition a judge to stay in their home as renters ...

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FLORIDA: Florida Housing Finance Corporation (Florida Housing) is slated to receive $418 million, pending the approval of its proposal. In its proposal, which is currently being reviewed by the Treasury Department, Florida Housing outlined two strategies that will help homeowners either stay in th...

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The latest market data from RealtyTrac, showed that foreclosure activity nationwide rose by 19 percent in March, setting a new monthly record of 367,000 filings. RealtyTrac also found that for the first three months of 2010, foreclosures are up by 60 percent compared to 2009 and roughly 6 million m...

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The latest numbers confirm a large pool of 7.39 million non-current and REO loans. Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is making a dent in the industry’s delinquency numbers, as evidenced in the improved level of loan cure rates as trial modifications are converted to official loan restruc...

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The administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) just isn’t doing enough to keep pace with the nation’s mortgage problems. Between February and March, the number of people who received assistance through HAMP but subsequently became delinquent again nearly doubled from 1,499 to 2,879...

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Happily we’re seeing more and more efforts to help folks from the state level where problems can be clearly identified and solutions crafted more appropriately for the local issues. The White House, allocated $1.5 billion for Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada state housing financ...

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