Archive | Foreclosure Situation RSS feed for this section

Mortgage Originations Decline 10 Percent but Quality Soars

By: editor; Fri, Jan 27, 2012

1 Comment

Mortgage originations plunged 10.1 percent from November to December, continuing a decline from 2011's September peak. At the same time, loans originated over the last two years have proved to be some of the best quality originations on record.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Approvals Handicap Buyers

By: editor; Mon, Jan 23, 2012

1 Comment

In another sign that buyers are having an increasingly difficult time getting mortgage financing, nearly one out of three home sales in December went to buyers paid all cash.

Continue reading...

Outlook 2012: Ingo Winzer Sees Tale of Two Cities

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 16, 2012

1 Comment

This year will be a tale of two cities. Local employment created by economic growth will drive housing market recoveries, and those markets that create more jobs will see property values and rents improve faster than others that don't.

Continue reading...

2011 Foreclosures Fell to Four-year Low; Nevada at a Standstill

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jan 12, 2012

1 Comment

Foreclosure activity and the national foreclosure rate last year both fell to their lowest annual level since 2007 and a new state law has brought foreclosure starts and sales to a virtual standstill in the state of Nevada, which has led the nation in foreclosures for the past five years.

Continue reading...

Atlanta Won’t Miss 2011

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jan 6, 2012

1 Comment

Home prices in Atlanta plummeted during the fourth quarter as a flood of foreclosures saturated the market, leaving economists across the nation scratching their heads and local homeowners hoping for a turnaround.

Continue reading...

Big Banks Created Foreclosure Boom

By: editor; Fri, Dec 23, 2011

1 Comment

The largest banks and federal savings associations created a 21.1 percent increase in new foreclosures during the third quarter when they lifted voluntary moratoria implemented in late 2010.

Continue reading...

Homeownership Counseling Helps Keep Modified Loans Current

By: editor; Thu, Dec 22, 2011

1 Comment

Just three weeks after Congress restored $40 million in its budget for homeownership counseling, a new study by the Urban Institute reports that counseling greatly increased the ability of homeowners to stay current once they cured a serious delinquency or foreclosure.

Continue reading...

Retiree Rentals and Foreign Owners: Is Florida the Future?

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 20, 2011

1 Comment

The Housing Crisis, which kicked off with the melt down of the Miami condo market in 2006, is changing Florida into a state where new properties are being exclusively marketed for foreign ownership and snow-state retirees who once were the lifeblood of the state's huge second home market now rent instead of buying.

Continue reading...

Nearly Half of all November Sales Were Distressed

By: editor; Tue, Dec 20, 2011

2 Comments

Despite solid demand for home purchases overall, a glut of distressed properties is continuing to put downward pressure on home prices, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

Continue reading...

Delinquency Rate Creeps Up

By: editor; Mon, Dec 19, 2011

1 Comment

As the year winds down, a growing number of homeowners are 30 days or more behind in their mortgage payments. Delinquency rates, which have been in decline for months, are creeping up again.

Continue reading...

November Foreclosures Down 14 Percent from 2010

By: editor; Thu, Dec 15, 2011

1 Comment

Foreclosure filings decreased 3 percent from October and 14 percent decrease from November 2010. One in every 579 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month, according to RealtyTrac's Foreclosure Market Report.

Continue reading...

Florida’s First in Mortgage Fraud

By: editor; Tue, Dec 13, 2011

1 Comment

While activity increased on mortgage fraud cases being prosecuted in California, New York also saw acceleration in fraud and fraud activity in Minnesota zoomed, Florida's mortgage fraud index topped the list for the Third-Quarter 2011 Mortgage Fraud Index from MortgageDaily.com.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Defaults are on the Road to Recovery

By: editor; Mon, Dec 12, 2011

2 Comments

The UFA Default Risk Index for the fourth quarter of 2011 edged lower to 131 from last quarter's revised 133, which has suggests that residential mortgage default and prepayment risks are continuing their return to normalcy.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Banks’ Profits on Originations Soar 377 Percent

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 9, 2011

1 Comment

Mortgage banks made an average profit of $1,263 on each loan they originated in the third quarter of 2011, up from $575 per loan in the second quarter of 2011 and $346 per loan in the first quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That's a 377 percent increase over a six month period.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Delinquencies Forecast to Fall in 2012

By: editor; Wed, Dec 7, 2011

3 Comments

After rising slightly to a rate of 6.02 percent in the first quarter, 60-day mortgage delinquencies will resume their decline, falling to about 5 percent of all performing mortgages by the end of next year

Continue reading...

Do REO Sales Threaten Homeownership?

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 7, 2011

7 Comments

During the boom, the only way first-time buyers, minorities and working families could afford to buy a home was through subprime and creative financing. Now that homeownership is affordable, new barriers to financing and competition with investors are locking them out of homeownership and changing the residential fabric of our communities from ownership to rental.

Continue reading...

Two-time Losers Flood Foreclosure Inventory

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 2, 2011

1 Comment

Nearly half, 45 percent, of October foreclosure starts were redefaults-mortgages which had previously defaulted and were modified unsuccessfully either by the lender or the federal government. About 105,000 redefaults increased total foreclosure starts in October to 232,865, 11.5 percent more than the level of a year ago.

Continue reading...

Excessive Rates Cripple Underwater Borrowers

By: editor; Tue, Nov 29, 2011

2 Comments

In a time of 4 percent mortgages and programs like HARP designed to help homeowners refinance at lower rates, more than 15 million homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages are paying rates higher than 5 percent.

Continue reading...

Delinquency Rate Hits Three-year Low as Boom Loans Improve

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Nov 18, 2011

1 Comment

The national delinquency rate for residential home loans fell to 7.99 percent in the third quarter, the lowest reading since the fourth quarter of 2008, and it represents a decline of 45 basis points from the second quarter of this year and a drop of 114 basis points from the third quarter of last year

Continue reading...

First Mortgage Defaults Rose in October

By: editor; Tue, Nov 15, 2011

1 Comment

In another sign that more foreclosures are on the way, defaults on first mortgages rose last month as defaults on other credit categories declined.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Defaults Are Rising Again

By: editor; Fri, Nov 11, 2011

1 Comment

Foreclosure default notices are on the rise as the economy continues to take its toll and lenders become more aggressive as they move past the processing problems that have plagued foreclosures for more than a year.

Continue reading...

Damaged Foreclosures Continue to Poison Prices

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Nov 2, 2011

5 Comments

Nearly half of all foreclosures listed for sale are so seriously damaged they need major repair before they are habitable, a percentage that has remained virtually unchanged over the past two years.

Continue reading...

Landlords Welcome Strategic Defaulters

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Oct 19, 2011

1 Comment

A new survey of former homeowners who have walked away from their homes found that their credit was good enough after foreclosure for the vast majority to rent new housing and few were required to make a larger than normal deposit.

Continue reading...

New York Foreclosures Take 3.2 Years

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 13, 2011

4 Comments

The average time to process a foreclosure in New York State in the third quarter is now 986 days, the longest of any state and a new record for New York.  When sales time is added, the time from default to a new owner closes is now 1179 days, or 3.2 years.

Continue reading...

Seriously Delinquent Mortgages Hit Three-year Low

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Oct 4, 2011

3 Comments

Of the approximately 4 million mortgages that are either 90 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure, the number that are delinquent 90 days or more days has shrunk to levels not seen since 2008.

Continue reading...

Bank Risk Managers Foresee Years of High Foreclosures, Low Prices

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 3, 2011

2 Comments

FICO's latest quarterly survey of bank risk professionals found that growing optimism of late 2010 and early 2011 has been replaced with a markedly pessimistic outlook for defaults and home prices.

Continue reading...

Shadow Inventory Joins Biggest Losers

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Sep 27, 2011

1 Comment

The so-called shadow inventory of foreclosures-properties that are seriously delinquent by not yet listed on multiple listing services for resale-is shrinking faster than a Weight Watchers spokesperson.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Lawsuits Soar

By: editor; Mon, Sep 26, 2011

0 Comments

Litigation over the foreclosure process reached its highest level in the second quarter than in any quarter since MortgageDaily.com's Mortgage Litigation Index was introduced in 2007.

Continue reading...

First-Time Buyers Losing Interest in Short Sales

By: editor; Mon, Sep 26, 2011

0 Comments

Processing delays have taken their toll on first-time homebuyer interest in short sales, which now account for more than one of every six house sales, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Delinquencies Resume Decline

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Sep 21, 2011

0 Comments

After two months of increases during and following the Congressional debate over the federal deficit last June, mortgage delinquencies may have resumed their decline.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Down One Third from 2010

By: editor; Thu, Sep 15, 2011

0 Comments

Foreclosure filings rose 7 percent in August, but they are still down nearly 33 percent from August 2010.  Foreclosure activity on a year over year basis now has been down for 11 straight months.

Continue reading...

Fannie Mae’s Defaults Sink to 2 Year Low

By: editor; Wed, Aug 31, 2011

0 Comments

The percentage of mortgages in default more than 60 days in Fannie Mae's portfolio have fallen to the lowest level in two years, another sign that defaults are slowly but steadily declining as more homeowners pay their mortgages on time.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Now Take 20 Months

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Aug 30, 2011

3 Comments

The average home entering the foreclosure process today won't house new owners until the next President has been inaugurated and in office for three months.

Continue reading...

Short Sales Soar 19 Percent in Second Quarter

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 25, 2011

0 Comments

Short sales of pre-foreclosure properties jumped 19 percent in the second quarter even as sales of bank-owned foreclosures declined and overall distressed sales were flat.

Continue reading...

Delinquencies Rise with Recession Fears

By: editor; Thu, Aug 25, 2011

0 Comments

It's official!  With the nation on the brink of a double dip recession, mortgage delinquency rates, especially 30-day delinquencies-- have shifted course and they are trending up again.

Continue reading...

Delinquency Decline Erases Foreclosure Inventory Rise

By: editor; Wed, Aug 17, 2011

1 Comment

Though the national delinquency rate is about percent below the level of a year ago, the inventory of foreclosures yet to be sold is about 10 percent higher.

Continue reading...

Despite Unemployment, Mortgage Default Rates Plunge

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Aug 16, 2011

0 Comments

First and second mortgage default rates in July fell to levels lower than three years at the onset of the recession three years ago  despite continued high unemployment levels.

Continue reading...

REOs Extend Foreclosure Pain

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Aug 12, 2011

1 Comment

Bank-owned foreclosures (REOs) are taking significantly longer to sell than foreclosures bought and resold by investors, extending the timeline for REO foreclosures even longer than the extraordinary delays for resulting from slower processing.

Continue reading...

TransUnion: Mortgage Delinquencies Plummeted in Second Quarter

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Aug 10, 2011

0 Comments

The national mortgage delinquency rate (the rate of borrowers 60 or more days past due) decreased for the sixth consecutive quarter, dropping to 5.82 percent at the end of the second quarter in 2011 according to a quarterly analysis of credit-active U.S. consumers by TransUnion.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Timeline Soars to 587 Days

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Aug 5, 2011

3 Comments

The average loan in foreclosure today has not seen a payment for 587 days, a new record and the total of loans in foreclosure or seriously delinquent now is 12.8 percent higher than last year.

Continue reading...

June “Normal” Home Prices Only 1.1 Percent Below 2010

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Aug 3, 2011

1 Comment

June prices of non-distress sale homes were down only 1.1 percent from Juje 2010, and improvement over May, when prices were 2.1 percent below the previous year.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Fall Across America

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jul 28, 2011

0 Comments

  Foreclosure activity decreased in 85 percent of nation's metropolitan areas in the first half of the year and all top 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates posted decreasing foreclosure activity.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Filings Fall Yet Processing Takes Longer

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jul 14, 2011

0 Comments

Foreclosure filings in the first half of this year fell 25 percent from the last six months of 2010 and are off 29 percent from the first half of 2010.

Continue reading...

New Foreclosure Study Finds the More that’s Owed, the Longer the Defaulter Can Stay

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jul 8, 2011

2 Comments

Homeowners living in houses worth over $417,000 can live in their homes mortgage-free without fear of foreclosure for more than a year, but those in the less valuable homes are getting thrown out in 300 days or less.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Sales Plummeted in May

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 29, 2011

0 Comments

There are significantly fewer foreclosure sales today than there were before foreclosure moratoria were put into place during the Robogate scandal last fall and foreclosure sales are declining.

Continue reading...

Shadow Inventory Slowly Fades

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 22, 2011

0 Comments

The so-called "shadow inventory" of foreclosures, properties in the foreclosure pipeline but not yet listed on multiple listings services, slowly shank over the pst year but still amount to five months' worth of home sales.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Defaults Hit Four-year Low

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jun 21, 2011

0 Comments

Default rates on first and second mortgages sank lower than they have been since 2007 and 2006 as more and more homeowners are meeting their mortgage obligations on time.

Continue reading...

Radian’s Mortgage Delinquencies Rose 8.6 Percent in May

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jun 10, 2011

0 Comments

New mortgage delinquencies reported by Radian Guaranty Inc., the mortgage insurance subsidiary of Radian Group Inc., rose 8.6 percent in May and the major mortgage insurer reported a slower pace of the decline in its delinquency inventory.

Continue reading...

Administration Rips Four Major Mortgage Lenders

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jun 10, 2011

0 Comments

Four of the nation's largest mortgage lenders are "in need of substantial improvement" to service homeowners applying for mortgage modifications  under the Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP).

Continue reading...

Negative Equity Ducks a Bullet

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jun 7, 2011

1 Comment

Despite double dipping to their lowest levels since 2009, housing prices in the first quarter failed to drive up the percentage of homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages.

Continue reading...

Fannie Finally Mandates Consistency

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jun 6, 2011

0 Comments

After more than 3.5 million families have lost their homes to foreclosure over the past five years, Fannie Mae has issued new standards requiring servicers to take a consistent approach for handling delinquent mortgages.

Continue reading...

Appraisals Are Still Killing Home Sales

By: Steve Cook; Wed, May 25, 2011

4 Comments

One out of ten Realtors (11 percent) report that low appraisals are killing home sales contracts and an addition 10 percent say they are delaying closings, according to an April NAR practitioners survey of Realtors.  Some 14 percent report that appraisals coming in under the purchase price are sending purchase deals back to the negotiating table.

Continue reading...

First-time Buyers Evaporate

By: Steve Cook; Fri, May 20, 2011

3 Comments

First-time buyer market share fell 18 percent below the level of a year ago, reducing absorption of distressed properties, which accounted for nearly half of all sales during the month.

Continue reading...

Negative Equity is “Stubbornly High”

By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 19, 2011

1 Comment

Negative equity, which remains "stubbornly high" as the economy slowly improves, is concentrated among lower valued properties in foreclosure and in properties valued between $100,000 and $200,000 reported CoreLogic in its monthly US Housing and Mortgage Trends Report.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Inventories Ebb But Still Outpace 2010

By: Steve Cook; Wed, May 18, 2011

2 Comments

The inventory of homes in foreclosure awaiting resale fell slightly in April, but they are still 12.7 percent higher than they were a year ago, according to Lender Processing Services April 2011 month-end mortgage performance statistics.

Continue reading...

Massive Backlog Freezes Foreclosures

By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 12, 2011

3 Comments

"Massive" delays in foreclosure processing brought the number of new foreclosures to a 40-year low in April, extending the average foreclosure timeline to 400 days but reached 900 days in some states.

Continue reading...

US: Deutsche Bank Fraud May Cost More than $1.5 Billion

By: Steve Cook; Wed, May 4, 2011

4 Comments

Yesterday the Justice Department sued Deutsche Bank AG, one of the world's 10 biggest banks by assets,  for at least $1 billion for defrauding taxpayers by "repeatedly" lying to a federal agency when securing taxpayer-backed insurance for thousands of mortgages.

Continue reading...

Banks Build Record Foreclosure Inventory

By: Steve Cook; Tue, May 3, 2011

0 Comments

  The pace of foreclosure starts increased by a third in March, building the national inventory of REO properties to an all-time high of 2.2 million at the end of the month.

Continue reading...

Nearly Half of Sales Now Distressed Properties

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Apr 25, 2011

0 Comments

  Sales of distressed properties rose to 48.6 percent in March - the second highest level seen in the past 12 months, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

Continue reading...

Delinquencies Fall After Negative Equity Rises

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Apr 20, 2011

0 Comments

Mortgages delinquent 30 days or more are continuing to decline steadily even though the number home owners who owe more on their homes rose slightly in the fourth quarter last year.

Continue reading...

Slow Processing Stretches Foreclosure Pain

By: Steve Cook; Sat, Apr 16, 2011

0 Comments

Reforms in the processing of foreclosures that have been put in place in the wake of the Robogate scandal are slowing the foreclosure timeline and extending the corrosive effects of large numbers of foreclosures on local markets.

Continue reading...

Get Ready for a Weak Recovery

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Apr 12, 2011

1 Comment

Some markets are stabilizing now and on the macro level, the housing recovery is not far away, according to Sam Khater, senior economist at CoreLogic.  But the long awaited recovery won't be much to get excited about, at least initially.

Continue reading...

Corelogic: Non-distressed Prices are Stabilizing

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Apr 8, 2011

1 Comment

Nationally home prices fell for the seventh month in a row in February according to the CoreLogic HPI, declining by 6.7 percent year over year after declining by 5.5 percent in January 2011 compared to January 2010.

Continue reading...

Shadow Inventory Shrinks

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Mar 30, 2011

0 Comments

  The inventory of unlisted properties that are in the foreclosure pipeline shrank slightly over the past year but remains at a nine months' supply.

Continue reading...

Homeowners Still Pay Credit Cards Before Mortgages

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Mar 30, 2011

2 Comments

Despite a steadily improving economy and declining mortgage delinquency rates over the past year, more homeowners still are paying credit card bills before their monthly mortgage payment, a three year old practice than roughly parallels the foreclosure era and the emergence of "strategic defaults," where mortgage holders walk away from their homes even though they can afford the mortgage payments

Continue reading...

Massive Foreclosure Inventory Overwhelms Sales

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 29, 2011

5 Comments

An enormous backlog of foreclosures dominates the foreclosure picture at every level, outpacing the monthly sales volume by a factor of thirty and promising to continue the Foreclosure Era for months and years to come.

Continue reading...

Delinquencies Fell Faster in January

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Mar 21, 2011

0 Comments

The delinquency rate on mortgages 30 days or more past due fell by more last month than it has in nearly a year, according to Lender Processor Services' Mortgage Monitor report to be released later this week.

Continue reading...

Default Risk Rises for Nonprime Mortgages

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Mar 18, 2011

0 Comments

The potential default risk on nonprime mortgages that were closed in the first quarter rose to the same level as loans closed last spring and fall after a drop in the fourth quarter, according to the UFA Default Risk Index, which measures the risk of default on newly originated nonprime mortgages.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Take a Dive

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Mar 10, 2011

1 Comment

Foreclosures hit their lowest level in three years in February, in part because of the continuing confusion and disruption caused by the Robogate scandal last fall and in part because delinquencies have fallen steadily for a year as the economy slowly recovers.

Continue reading...

New Delinquencies Continue to Fall, But So Do Foreclosure Sales

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Mar 2, 2011

0 Comments

New delinquencies and foreclosure starts continued to fall in January, but increases in foreclosure processing and sales were not enough to offset swelling foreclosure inventories or lengthening foreclosure timelines. In fact, the average loan in foreclosure has not made a payment in over 500 days, according to Lender Processor Services' February Mortgage Monitor report.

Continue reading...

Half of January Home Sales were Distressed Properties

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Feb 22, 2011

7 Comments

Almost half of the homes sold in January were foreclosures or short sales, the highest level of distressed sales in nearly a year, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

Continue reading...

Delinquency Rates Dip Downward Again

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Feb 18, 2011

2 Comments

  Delinquency rates (on mortgages 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure) have been the brightest light in the gloomy foreclosure picture over the past year.  Two new reports confirm that delinquencies are falling to pre-recession levels, a sign that the economy is steadily improving and the end of the foreclosure plague may be in sight.

Continue reading...

Is There Light at the End of the Foreclosure Tunnel?

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Feb 10, 2011

0 Comments

Not so long ago, foreclosures were rare and mortgage-backed securities were considered sleepy, conservative, super low risk investments.  In fact, there is reason to hope that the end of the multi-year foreclosure nightmare is finally in sight. The flow of future foreclosures has steadily slowed over the past year. Delinquency and default rates have been falling consistently.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Inventories are 7.8 Times above Normal and Rising

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Feb 8, 2011

3 Comments

A report by Lender Processing Services today confirms Fitch Ratings' analysis yesterday that the volume of defaulted loans moving to REO status has fallen to a trickle as a consequence of the Robo-gate scandal, contributing to a backlog of foreclosures that threatens to reverse the overall decrease in foreclosure inventory caused by the steady decline in new delinquencies last year.

Continue reading...

Robo-gate Will Haunt REO Inventory for Four Years

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Feb 7, 2011

3 Comments

Fall-out from the scandal known as "Robo-gate" will lengthen the time frame for clearing all the current non-agency inventory of distressed properties to four years, according to a new report today by Fitch Ratings.

Continue reading...

HAMP Cuts Re-default Rate

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Feb 4, 2011

1 Comment

Homeowners who modified their mortgages under government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) are staying current on their loans at a far better rate than critics expected and are outperforming industry modifications, according to the largest data from the Treasury Department.

Continue reading...

Challenges Face Luxury Homes

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jan 21, 2011

6 Comments

Things were looking up for luxury home sales during the tax credit boomlet last year.  However, the credit wasn't the primary reason; after all, $4000 isn't a compelling incentive to well-heeled move up buyers in the million dollar plus housing bracket.

Continue reading...

Fed Bid to Limit Rescission Rights Sparks Consumer Outrage

By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Tue, Jan 11, 2011

2 Comments

The Federal Reserve is moving ahead with plans to change the right-of-rescission rule as part of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) despite intense outcry from consumer advocates and top members of the Senate Banking Committee.

Continue reading...

FHA Steps Up Intervention for Seniors at Risk of Foreclosure

By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Wed, Jan 5, 2011

4 Comments

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) offers new guidance for homeowners and lenders for borrowers with reverse mortgages falling behind on property taxes and insurance premiums, placing them at risk of foreclosure. “We understand that some senior citizens have not paid their taxes or insurance for some time and may be at risk of losing their [...]

Continue reading...

Foreclosure: Crafting Graceful Exit Options and Recovery Strategies

By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Thu, Dec 23, 2010

3 Comments

“Not since the Great Depression has an economic downturn and the accompanying foreclosure crisis left so many lives in ruins. How can individuals and families find the resources and support they need to put their lives back in order?” asks A Resource Guide for Foreclosure Recovery, a 25-page handbook published by the Community Affairs division [...]

Continue reading...

More Homeowners Dodge Foreclosure Bullet with NFMC Counseling

By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Tue, Dec 21, 2010

6 Comments

All loss mitigators are not created equal.  The odds of curing a foreclosure and avoiding redefault are 1.7 times better for homeowners enrolled in the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program than for homeowners who do not receiving such counseling, according to the Urban Institute. The group released a report yesterday analyzing the NFMC program [...]

Continue reading...

IDAs Increase Down Payment Cash, Reduce Foreclosure Risk

By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Mon, Dec 20, 2010

2 Comments

Low-income homebuyers who participate in matched savings plans (IDAs) and financial education are three times less likely to lose their homes to foreclosure than other low-income buyers in the same locale.

Continue reading...

TransUnion Sees Double Digit Decline in Delinquencies Next Year

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 17, 2010

1 Comment

Mortgage delinquencies will drop nearly 20 percent by the end of 2011 to 4.98 percent of all mortgages from an expected 6.21 percent at the end of 2010, according to the latest forecast from TransUnion, one of the three top credit rating bureaus.

Continue reading...

Scottsdale Market Snapshot: Cash and Crash Indicators

By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Thu, Dec 16, 2010

0 Comments

The New York Times once described downtown Scottsdale as “a desert version of Miami’s South Beach” with “plenty of late night partying and a buzzing hotel scene.” Luxury marketer and builder Luetta Newnam of Casa Buena Realty LLC, is a second-generation Realtor who has watched the real estate market swing to dizzying heights and record equity [...]

Continue reading...

Poor Condition of REOs Depresses Home Values

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 10, 2010

2 Comments

The quality, as well as the quantity, of many bank-owned properties in the REO inventory is creating a drag on home values because they are difficult to sell in today's market, Scott Sambucci, vice president of Altos Research, said yesterday in a Webinar for investors.

Continue reading...

Rural Foreclosures: The Hidden Heartland Inventory

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Dec 6, 2010

6 Comments

You've heard of the Shadow Inventory?  The Heartland's foreclosure inventory isn't in a shadow.  It's totally hidden.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Discount Grows, Home Values Fall

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Dec 2, 2010

7 Comments

Not only did the number of foreclosures grow during the third quarter, so too did the "foreclosure discount," the difference between the average price of foreclosed properties and properties for sale that are not in foreclosure.

Continue reading...

Fitch Foreclosure Forecast Casts a Pall on Recovery Hopes

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Nov 2, 2010

1 Comment

Not until March 1, 2014 will the last of the seven million properties that are currently delinquent, in foreclosure, or bank-owned  finally return to life as homes or investments.

Continue reading...

Crisis Freezes Foreclosures as REO Inventories Rise

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 14, 2010

4 Comments

As investigations and multi-month delays in the foreclosure process begin, those who will suffer most are JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, according to a new survey of foreclosure exposure, and foreclosure suspensions are coming at a bad time, just as foreclosue sales are down and REO inventories are rising.

Continue reading...

ForeclosureGate Won’t Close til 2011

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Oct 13, 2010

1 Comment

Almost hourly the nightmare facing the housing industry worsens as the ramifications of what is being called ForeclosureGate become clearer.

Continue reading...

Fannie Confirms Delinquencies Declining

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 1, 2010

4 Comments

In its second quarter report, Fannie Mae confirmed what others have previously reported:  since the first of the year, serious mortgage delinquency rates have slowly but steadily declined.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Modifications are Sticking

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Sep 29, 2010

1 Comment

Though the Administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is falling far short of its goal of helping three to four million homeowners, the program is succeeding at helping those who do make through the program are stay current on their payments and avoid re-default.

Continue reading...

Though Foreclosures Rise, Delinquencies Wane

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Sep 24, 2010

5 Comments

While foreclosure starts remain high, the longer term foreclosure picture is improving as evidence mounts that delinquencies, though still very high, are declining, despite the economy.

Continue reading...

Straightening Out the MERS Mess

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Sep 23, 2010

8 Comments

Could 62 million homeowners be secure from the threat of  foreclosure because their mortgages are held by an industry-run electronic mortgage registry that a California bankruptcy court recently ruled cannot be used to establish ownership of the loans?

Continue reading...

Distress Sales Market Share to Rise

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Sep 17, 2010

0 Comments

Distress sales, foreclosures and short sales will increase their market share during the fourth quarter as the tax-credit induced sales bump disappears and buyers return to bargain shopping.

Continue reading...

Housing Faces the Fall

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Sep 6, 2010

2 Comments

The consensus among the experts that home prices will fall farther before they hit bottom may become a self-fulfilling prophecy as the very buyers so desperately needed to buy up the excess inventory and stop the price slide will wait until they are absolutely sure that prices have reached their lowest point.

Continue reading...

REOs Put New Pressure on Prices

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Sep 1, 2010

0 Comments

Rising numbers of real-estate owned properties (REOs) and delinquencies are creating excess supply in housing markets across the country.

Continue reading...

TransUnion Reports Delinquencies Fall for Second Straight Quarter

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Aug 17, 2010

50 Comments

Another provider of national credit data reported today that mortgage delinquencies have been falling during the first half of the year, suggesting that the housing sector is beginning to stabilize.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Report Stuns Wall Street

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 12, 2010

0 Comments

However, RealtyTrac;s news wasn't all bad.  In fact, it confirmed a trend of declining default, suggesting foreclosures will decline as well in the months to come

Continue reading...

Job Losses and Medical Bills Drive PA Foreclosures

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Aug 4, 2010

3 Comments

A new study by the Pennsylvania of Realtors provides new evidence that job losses and unexpected medical bills, not subprime mortgages, are the two leading causes of foreclosure in that state.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Move in Next Door

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jul 29, 2010

0 Comments

While foreclosures fell in nine out of the nation's ten highest foreclosure markets during the past six months, they are increasing almost everywhere else in the nation as the changing causes of mortgage defaults bring foreclosures home to hundreds of communities.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Picture Improves in First Half

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jul 15, 2010

1 Comment

Foreclosure filings fell 5 percent in the first half of the year but still exceed the first six months of 2009 by 8 percent, according to figures released today by RealtyTrac. One in 78 home0wners received a foreclosure notice in the first half.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Sales Fell 33 Percent in Q1; Discounts Rose

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 30, 2010

5 Comments

Sales of foreclosed properties fell by one third in the first quarter from a year ago and 14 percent from the last quarter of 2009, according to a new report released today by RealtyTrac, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

Continue reading...

Strategic Defaults May Have Peaked Last Year

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jun 28, 2010

0 Comments

Despite the recent publicity and current debate about homeowners who walk away from their mortgages even thought hey have the ability to pay; the phenomenon of "strategic default" may have peaked before it was identified.

Continue reading...

Supply is High as Shadow Inventory Looms

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 23, 2010

4 Comments

The inventory of unsold existing homes remained unnervingly high in May, raising questions about the price outlook for the balance of the year, especially in light of an immense backlog of foreclosed properties, known as the "shadow inventory," that will certainly have a depressing effect on prices as those homes begin to come on market.

Continue reading...

Most Modified Loans Will Re-default in 12 Months

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 16, 2010

3 Comments

Despite the extensive and lengthy process required to modify mortgages in default so that borrowers could afford their payments, most will default again in a year or less, according to Fitch Ratings.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Defaults Fell Seven Percent in May

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jun 10, 2010

4 Comments

Good news on the foreclosure front continues as defaults fell 7 percent in May. Overall foreclosure activity fell 3 percent during the month and is virtually unchanged from the level of a year ago, according to RealtyTrac's latest report.

Continue reading...

High Risk Delinquency Rates Turn the Corner

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jun 7, 2010

1 Comment

The worst looks to be over for the high risk loans that ignited the housing depression.  Alt-A delinquencies declined for the second consecutive month following a steady four-year increase and subprime delinquencies also fell for the third straight month, according to the latest performance metrics from Fitch Ratings.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Will Plague the Markets Until 2013

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 2, 2010

4 Comments

Processing of so many foreclosed properties has slowed down and the so-called “shadow inventory” has grow so large that it will take until 2013 to work them through the system.

Continue reading...

UFA Sees Mortgage Risks Rapidly Returning to Normal

By: Steve Cook; Sun, May 23, 2010

1 Comment

Default risk for nonprime mortgages fell during the first quarter.

Continue reading...

New Survey Reveals Shocking Increase in Strategic Defaulters

By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 20, 2010

10 Comments

 The Trulia-RealtyTrac survey produced the highest number yet of potential strategic defaulters.

Continue reading...

Shadow Inventory Reaches 4.3 Million Homes

By: Steve Cook; Wed, May 19, 2010

2 Comments

The large number of homes in serious delinquency, or in the foreclosure process, suggest that the so-called "shadow inventory" of properties owned by lenders but not yet on the market has reached 4.2 to 4.3 million homes, said Jay Brinkmann, MBA's chief economist.

Continue reading...

Strategic Defaults Outpace HAMP Modifications

By: Steve Cook; Tue, May 4, 2010

5 Comments

The percentage of foreclosures that were perceived to be strategic was 31 percent in March 2010, compared to 22 percent in March 2009.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Picture Improves Despite 7.39 Million Delinquent Loans

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Apr 29, 2010

2 Comments

The Mortgage Monitor report released today by Lender Processing Services, Inc., a leading provider of mortgage performance data and analytics, showed modest improvements in the number of loans curing to current and reductions in total new delinquencies.

Continue reading...

Bank Repossessions Hit All-time High

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Apr 15, 2010

15 Comments

Bank repossessions of homes (REOs) hit a record high in the first quarter.

Continue reading...

One Out of Ten Mortgages is Delinquent

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Apr 12, 2010

5 Comments

Despite a slight seasonal improvement over last month, mortgage delinquencies still hover near record highs, 21 percent above a year ago

Continue reading...

Fifteen Percent Say it’s OK to Walk Away

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Apr 6, 2010

2 Comments

When asked if financial distress makes stopping payments on an underwater mortgage acceptable, 15 percent of respondents said yes in Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey, a remarkable level of public acceptance for homeowners who walk away from their mortgages in light of the growing number of defaults in Fannie Mae's portfolio.

Continue reading...

Distressed Property Sales Soar

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Mar 22, 2010

1 Comment

The share of home purchase transactions involving distressed properties surged to almost half in February, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance Monthly Survey of Real Estate Market Conditions.

Continue reading...

Delinquencies Slow But They Exceed Modifications

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Mar 15, 2010

0 Comments

The February 2010 Mortgage Monitor report, released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. shows that while delinquency rates in the U.S. have risen to historic highs, the pace of deterioration has slowed. However, the nation's housing market remains far from a full recovery.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Fall, Optimism Rises

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Mar 11, 2010

0 Comments

For the second time in three weeks, a major national report on foreclosures and delinquent mortgages suggest that the flood of foreclosures that washed over the housing markets in 2009 is ebbing and may even be at an end.

Continue reading...

Where Did the Shadow go?

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Mar 10, 2010

2 Comments

With the year nearly one quarter over, inventories give no sign of a large "shadow inventory" of foreclosed homes being kept off the market.

Continue reading...

Delinquency Rate Falls Below Ten Percent

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Feb 19, 2010

3 Comments

 The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties fell to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.47 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2009.

Continue reading...

Negative Equity Drives Foreclosures into the Heartland

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Feb 11, 2010

1 Comment

The trend suggests that no locality is immune from what has become the leading cause of mortgage defaults, negative equity.

Continue reading...

“The Federal Government Has Become the Mortgage Market”

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Feb 9, 2010

0 Comments

Federal programs now stretch from origination to guarantor to securitization and finally to domination of mortgage backed securities markets.

Continue reading...

Ten Percent of Prime Jumbo Loans Are Delinquent

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Feb 9, 2010

16 Comments

The higher end of the US housing market continued to weaken in January.

Continue reading...

’09 Foreclosure Binge to Produce Hangover in ‘10

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jan 14, 2010

0 Comments

So many properties are in the pipeline that huge numbers of delinquent properties won't come to market until this year or later.

Continue reading...

Recasting Mortgages Worth $47 Billion Will Increase Defaults

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 11, 2010

0 Comments

Thousands of homeowners who have been making payments on interest only mortgages are in for a rude shock this year

Continue reading...

Foreclosed Fowl Forfeit Roost

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 11, 2010

2 Comments

At first, all was well at the new location until a neighbor reported the chickens to the county's nuisance line last month.

Continue reading...

Crime Falls in Foreclosure Hotbeds

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jan 7, 2010

0 Comments

Crime rates fell in nearly every one of the nation's leading foreclosure markets last year, exceeding a decline in the national crime rate in many cases, despite the widespread belief that foreclosures spawn crime.

Continue reading...

Prediction: Foreclosure Mills Will Prosper

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 4, 2010

0 Comments

To a small group of legal professionals who have figured out how to made foreclosures their pot of gold, the Foreclosure Era continues to be a time of prosperity and profit.

Continue reading...

Speculator Sticks Ten Banks with 20 Mortgages Worth $6.4 Million

By: Steve Cook; Sun, Dec 27, 2009

1 Comment

A New York speculator convinced ten different banks to give him 20 separate mortgages to buy 10 homes with no money down and he defaulted on every one.

Continue reading...

One of Five Modified Loans Fails in 90 Days

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 22, 2009

0 Comments

That's the good and bad news from the latest Mortgage Metrics Report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Continue reading...

God Bless ‘Em Every One

By: Steve Cook; Sat, Dec 19, 2009

0 Comments

Unwilling to appear Scroogy a week before Christmas, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and OneWest Bank joined Citigroup, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in postponing foreclosure evictions through January 3.

Continue reading...

Shadow Inventory Rises 54 Percent

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 18, 2009

3 Comments

The 1.7 million homes currently in the "shadow inventory" significantly increases calculations of the inventory of homes for sale, according to a new report from First American CoreLogic.

Continue reading...

Some Foreclosure Evictions Break for the Holidays

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 18, 2009

0 Comments

 Not only were Fannie and Freddie 27 days later this year than last announcing their moratorium, they're giving families facing foreclosures only 15 days of holiday peace, from December to January 3, 2010.

Continue reading...

Bargains Get Tougher for Investors

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 16, 2009

0 Comments

Recent industry studies suggest factors are at work that will make bargains harder to find and profit margins slimmer.

Continue reading...

Poll Finds 2 Million Unemployed Lost Their Homes

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 15, 2009

0 Comments

Some 4 million would be at risk of losing their homes and 2 million would have lost them, if the survey's findings proved to be true on a national level.   Total foreclosures in 2009 are expected to exceed 3.5 million, according to RealtyTrac.

Continue reading...

HAMP Credited with 40 Percent Rise in California Foreclosure Cancellations

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 15, 2009

1 Comment

"While many have predicted a wave of foreclosures and REO's, I believe we are instead likely to see a wave of foreclosure cancellations as the Administration kicks off their conversion drive to make more modifications permanent, said ForeclosureRadar CEO Sean O'Toole.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Bring Out the Bugs

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Dec 14, 2009

0 Comments

In the San Francisco Bay region, where foreclosures reached record levels this year, rats and bugs are moving into abandoned houses as quickly as humans depart.

Continue reading...

Florida HOAs See Foreclosures Worsening

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Dec 14, 2009

0 Comments

Some 86 percent of Florida condominium and homeowners associations expect foreclosures and delinquencies to stay the same or increase next year, creating additional revenue shortfalls for their associations.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Activity Falls Eight Percent

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Dec 10, 2009

0 Comments

Foreclosure filings fell nearly eight percent from October and were down 15 percent from the July peak.

Continue reading...

Fed Governor Says Lenders Flee Foreclosures in Devastated Neighborhoods

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 9, 2009

1 Comment

Rather than foreclosing on defaulted mortgages in neighborhoods devastated by the economy, lenders are abandoning them because the cost of proceeding with foreclosure is greater than their value.

Continue reading...

Farmer Sues Wells Fargo to Feed Foreclosed Animals

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 9, 2009

0 Comments

"I would have tried to place the animals somewhere safe," the farmer said. "Apparently they're not animal people at all."

Continue reading...

Ten Percent of Homeowners Would Walk Away

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 8, 2009

1 Comment

Nearly one out of ten homeowners, 9.2 percent or 7.4 million homeowners, say they would likely walk away from their homes, default on their mortgages and suffer the consequences to their credit if they felt financially vulnerable and owed more on their homes than they are worth, according to a new national survey released today.

Continue reading...

Wild Parties Trash San Diego Foreclosures

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 4, 2009

0 Comments

In San Diego, one person's pain is another's...place to party.

Continue reading...

Mortgage Deterioration Rate Exceeds 3:1

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 2, 2009

2 Comments

Of home loans that were current as of December 2008, more than two million, or 4.02 percent, were delinquent or in foreclosure by the end of October 2009.

Continue reading...

Are Foreclosures Igniting a Firestorm of Arson?

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 2, 2009

0 Comments

A year ago fire safety organizations and insurance companies warned that desperate homeowners and business owners facing foreclosure would be burning their property to collect insurance money and avoid the stigma of foreclosure.

Continue reading...

Judge Wipes Out Mortgage, Shocks Lending Industry

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Nov 27, 2009

2 Comments

Last week’s ruling by a Suffolk County, New York judge wiping out $525,000 in mortgage debt has sent shudders throughout the lending industry.

Continue reading...

Real Estate Investors Walk Away Before Homeowners

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Nov 25, 2009

0 Comments

When they owe more on a property than it is worth, investors are more likely to stop paying on their mortgage and default than owners living in a primary residence.

Continue reading...

Freddie Mac’s Delinquency Rate Rises for 30th Month

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Nov 24, 2009

1 Comment

Freddie Mac's mortgage delinquency rate for its single family mortgages past due by 90 days or more rose for the 30th straight month in October, reaching a record 3.54 percent of its portfolio.

Continue reading...

Unemployment Drives Record Mortgage Delinquencies

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Nov 19, 2009

0 Comments

Fourteen percent of all American mortgages are either delinquent or in the process of foreclosure.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Overwhelm Rural Communities

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Nov 18, 2009

0 Comments

 Like suburban areas, rural communities also are suffering the devastating impact of negative equity on their housing markets.

Continue reading...

Hot Refi Checks Leave Illinois Homeowners in the Cold

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 16, 2009

0 Comments

Last month a process server drove up to his Mokena, Ill. home and handed Franson papers notifying him he owed  his old lender $93,702.51 and they were foreclosing on his home.

Continue reading...

Low Priced Foreclosures and High Hopes for Appreciation Draw Investors Back to Real Estate

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Nov 12, 2009

0 Comments

The number of consumers interested in investing in real estate has doubled since March 2009.

Continue reading...

Delinquent Mortgages and Foreclosures Soared in September

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 9, 2009

0 Comments

Today one out of every eight American homeowners with a mortgage (12.49 percent) is either in foreclosure or delinquent in their payments.

Continue reading...

Tidal Wave of New Defaults Arrives

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 9, 2009

2 Comments

The first wavelets of a long-dreaded tsunami of new defaults are washing up on the shores of California, Nevada and other markets where prices soared during the housing boom.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Hot Spots Spread to Idaho and Utah

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 30, 2009

0 Comments

Foreclosures fell in five of the top ten markets for distressed sales during the third quarter, but new foreclosure hot spots cropped up in unlikely Western markets.

Continue reading...

Homeowners Accused of Torturing Loan Modification Agents

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 29, 2009

0 Comments

A Los Angeles-area couple and three partners were charged last week with torturing two employees of a loan modification company who they believed had defrauded them and reneged on a promise to help save their home in a Los Angeles suburb.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Drove September Prices Up Six Percent

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 19, 2009

1 Comment

Real estate agents participating in the Inside Mortgage Finance Monthly Survey of Real Estate Market Conditions report that residential property values rose 6 percent from August to September.

Continue reading...

More Churches Face Foreclosure

By: Steve Cook; Sun, Oct 18, 2009

0 Comments

Churches, parsonages, church schools and other properties are becoming victims of the same sour national economy that has devastated secular real estate.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Seen Declining in 2010

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 16, 2009

1 Comment

After reaching an all-time high in 2009, foreclosure starts will to decline after the first of the new year, according to a new forecast from UFA LLC.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Reach All-Time High

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 15, 2009

0 Comments

Nearly one million homes received some form of foreclosure notice during the third quarter, setting an all-time high for foreclosure filings reported by RealtyTrac.

Continue reading...

Nevada Suit Could Halt Thousands of Foreclosures

By: Steve Cook; Sun, Oct 4, 2009

0 Comments

A Reno law firm is preparing a class action lawsuit on behalf of Nevada homeowners who face foreclosure by a surrogate company that represents thousands of mortgage owners but doesn't actually own the loans themselves.

Continue reading...

“Marinstock” to Help Families Facing Foreclosure

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 2, 2009

0 Comments

A day of music, children's entertainment, food and a healing sanctuary begin at 10 AM tomorrow in Novato, California's Hamilton Amphitheater to raise money to help nearly 80 families from Marin and Sonoma counties who are facing losing their homes to foreclosure

Continue reading...

Fannie Mae’s Delinquent Loans Soar

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Sep 29, 2009

2 Comments

Nearly one out of twenty mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae was seriously delinquent in July, according to the latest data released today from the Congressionally-chartered company.

Continue reading...

ASPCA Says Abandoned Animals are Starving in Foreclosed Homes

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Sep 24, 2009

0 Comments

Owners may abandon as many as a million or more animals in foreclosed homes this year and many could possibly starve to death before they are discovered, a senior official of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said today.

Continue reading...

State Foreclosure Programs Stuck in Neutral

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Sep 23, 2009

1 Comment

State and local programs to help troubled homeowners stave off foreclosure through mediation have yet to make much difference to date, according to a new report from the National Consumer Law Center.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Will Overwhelm Government Efforts

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Sep 11, 2009

2 Comments

Even if the disappointingly slow Federal foreclosure program achieves the goals for which it was designed, the foreclosure crisis could be as bad in three years as it is today.  A flood of new foreclosures generated by the double whammy of unemployment and resetting exotic loans will overwhelm the government efforts and impede recovery.

Continue reading...

Waves of Resets Promise a New Foreclosure Flood

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Sep 9, 2009

2 Comments

Two reports out yesterday revived fears that waves of new foreclosures will come crashing down on residential real estate markets as borrowers default on exotic adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) that will reset over the next three years.

Continue reading...

Underwater Owners are Failing to Cure

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Aug 25, 2009

0 Comments

"Cure rates," the percentage of borrowers who recover on their own after falling delinquent on their mortgages, may not be as great as previously assumed, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings.

Continue reading...

Delinquencies Soar Nine Percent in Second Quarter

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 20, 2009

0 Comments

Just when you think the foreclosure picture can't get any worse, it does. MBA's quarterly delinquency survey set another distressing record today.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures Set a New Record–Again

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 13, 2009

0 Comments

Foreclosure filings for July rose 32 percent over a year ago and seven percent over June, according to RealtyTrac.  One in every 355 US homes received a default notice, was scheduled for auction or was repossessed by a bank last month

Continue reading...

Report from Connect: Prepared for the Real Estate Recovery?

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Aug 7, 2009

1 Comment

Like a bride preparing for her wedding, the residential real estate industry is slimming down, primping up, and generally working hard to reinvent itself in anticipation of the day when long-absent consumers will return to the marketplace.

Continue reading...

Minorities and Foreclosures

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Aug 3, 2009

0 Comments

Increasing minority homeownership has been a national policy of both Republican and Democratic Administrations for decades, and for good reason.  Traditionally, homeownership has been the path most families have taken to establish financial security.  Moreover, homeownership has long been associated with such positive factors as safer neighborhoods and better neighborhood schools.

Continue reading...

This Schizophrenic Market is a Long Way from Healing

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jul 27, 2009

0 Comments

Like black markets that spring up in ravaged cities during wartime, there's something inherently unhealthy about the existence of a two-tiered housing market, one for "normal" sales and one for "distressed" sales.

Continue reading...

Inventories Fall Despite Record Foreclosures

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jul 24, 2009

0 Comments

The best news in this week's June existing home sales report was not the increase in sales in the face of rising interest rates, which was certainly welcome news, but the fact that inventories declined despite record foreclosures during the first half of the year.

Continue reading...

One-third of Mortgage Defaulters Don’t Need Help

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jul 22, 2009

1 Comment

Nearly one third of all homeowners who seriously default on their mortgages end up paying what they owe and don't need to renegotiate their loans, according to a new, massive study by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Continue reading...

Foreclosures: Time for Heat or Light?

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jul 17, 2009

1 Comment

As long as Americans have owned homes and records have been kept, never have more families lost more homes to foreclosure than in the first six months of this year. The raw numbers in RealtyTrac's latest report are startling.

Continue reading...

Take This House and Shove it

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jul 15, 2009

0 Comments

  Just what is the world coming to?

Continue reading...

Reality Check for the Obama Foreclosure Plan

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jul 10, 2009

0 Comments

Five months and 1,1 million foreclosures after President Obama announced the Making Home Affordable programs, the Administration has yet to identify a single borrower who has closed on a modified loan under the program, though at least one servicer reports approving 87,100 mods.

Continue reading...

Why They Walk Away…

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jul 7, 2009

2 Comments

A recent study conducted by researchers from the graduate schools of business at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University found that one out of four homeowners who default on their mortgages make a strategic decision to clear out their belongings and walk away from their homes-even if they can afford to pay their mortgages.

Continue reading...

S&P Counts the Dead Bodies

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jul 7, 2009

0 Comments

Standard & Poor's latest report on the cost of mortgage losses to the financial sector does a good job of totaling up the dying bodies to date killed by securities backed by tainted, exotic loans. The tally is frightening, but what may be scarier are the good old fashioned foreclosures yet to come.

Continue reading...

It’s the Economy, Stupid

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jul 6, 2009

1 Comment

Last week's report that the economy lost 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent, the highest rate since August 1983, was not just bad news for Wall Street. It was also terrible news for the war against foreclosures.

Continue reading...

Real Progress on the Foreclosure Front

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jul 1, 2009

0 Comments

With the raging recession killing jobs, falling prices driving even more homeowners underwater, and thousands of loans that should never have been made resetting, reports of record foreclosures have become the norm.

Continue reading...

HUD Secretary Shoots for Millions of Loan Mods

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jun 18, 2009

0 Comments

The Administration's loan modification program is aiming for millions of mods over its three year lifespan, HUD Secretary Shawn Donovan told a conference of real estate journalists today and there are 200,000 trial modifications in process right now, 40,000 were added in the last week alone .

Continue reading...

Does the Shadow REALLY Know?

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 17, 2009

0 Comments

For a year or so, rumors of a "shadow inventory" of foreclosed homes have captivated the real estate industry.

Continue reading...

Take Another Look at May Foreclosures

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jun 12, 2009

3 Comments

The May foreclosure numbers from Realty Trac show a six percent decrease in Foreclosure filings—default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions—over April and several media outlets decided the report was good news.

Continue reading...

The Delinquency Catch-22

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jun 2, 2009

1 Comment

What was suggested strongly by the latest MBA quarterly delinquency survey (see Delinquencies: Trading One Nightmare for Another) has been confirmed by a new report from TransUnion.

Continue reading...

Delinquencies: Trading One Nightmare for Another

By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 28, 2009

8 Comments

If there is any slight comfort to be taken from today's record-breaking mortgage delinquency numbers from the Mortgage Bankers Association, it's that there are early signs that the option ARM nightmare may not be as bad as many feared.

Continue reading...

What One Hand Giveth…

By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 14, 2009

0 Comments

Families struggling to stay in their homes and working through loan modifications with their lenders are being targeted with the following message broadcast by the National Taxpayer Advocate.

Continue reading...

Is a Flood of New Foreclosures Coming to Market?

By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 14, 2009

0 Comments

For the past three months, the number of homes possessed by lenders (REOs) has fallen, reaching the lowest level in a year in April, even though the total level of foreclosure filings has risen to a record high.

Continue reading...

Foreclosure Filings Rise

By: Steve Cook; Sun, Apr 26, 2009

0 Comments

Foreclosure filings surge in March to an all-time record as banks lifted moratoria on filings. Five states accounted for nearly 60 percent of foreclosures in the first quarter of the year.

Continue reading...

Moratoria Mask Foreclosures

By: Steve Cook; Sat, Apr 25, 2009

0 Comments

For real estate market watchers anxious to see the end of the foreclosure plague that has poisoned property values across the nation...

Continue reading...

REO Discounts Drive Down Values

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 24, 2009

0 Comments

Last year the gap between sales prices of REO properties and non-foreclosed homes grew dramatically in a number of the nation’s leading residential markets, suggesting that REO properties are increasingly discounting their prices and driving down home values at a faster rate.

Continue reading...

The Economics of Foreclosure

By: David Lereah; Tue, Mar 17, 2009

0 Comments

The Obama foreclosure mitigation plan offers hope for the future but the present foreclosure situation illustrates the magnitude of the problem it faces. Foreclosure filings in February were 290,000, up 6 percent from a month earlier and up nearly 30 percent from a year earlier. With the economy contracting and shedding a large number of jobs on a monthly basis, it is likely that the grim foreclosure situation will continue throughout the remaining months of this year

Continue reading...

What’s Up With Foreclosures?

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 17, 2009

0 Comments

Foreclosures in February soared 30 percent in 12 months, increasing 6 percent over January. The rise cannot be blamed on the lifting of moratoria on foreclosures alone because moratoria instituted in January by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and leading lenders remain in effect to allow defaulting borrowers to participate in the Administration’s new foreclosure prevention program.

Continue reading...

Delinquencies Set a Record, Moratoria Create Artificial Spike

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 10, 2009

0 Comments

In the fourth quarter of last year, more homeowners—nearly 8 percent—were delinquent on their mortgages than 1972, when records were first kept. Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s chief economist and senior vice president for research and economics attributed the increase in delinquencies to factors that had nothing to do with the economy.

Continue reading...