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Foreclosures Fall, Optimism Rises
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.
Where Did the Shadow go?
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Mar 10, 2010
With the year nearly one quarter over, inventories give no sign of a large "shadow inventory" of foreclosed homes being kept off the market.
Delinquency Rate Falls Below Ten Percent
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Feb 19, 2010
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.
Negative Equity Drives Foreclosures into the Heartland
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Feb 11, 2010
The trend suggests that no locality is immune from what has become the leading cause of mortgage defaults, negative equity.
“The Federal Government Has Become the Mortgage Market”
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Feb 9, 2010
Federal programs now stretch from origination to guarantor to securitization and finally to domination of mortgage backed securities markets.
Ten Percent of Prime Jumbo Loans Are Delinquent
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Feb 9, 2010
The higher end of the US housing market continued to weaken in January.
’09 Foreclosure Binge to Produce Hangover in ‘10
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jan 14, 2010
So many properties are in the pipeline that huge numbers of delinquent properties won't come to market until this year or later.
Recasting Mortgages Worth $47 Billion Will Increase Defaults
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 11, 2010
Thousands of homeowners who have been making payments on interest only mortgages are in for a rude shock this year
Foreclosed Fowl Forfeit Roost
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 11, 2010
At first, all was well at the new location until a neighbor reported the chickens to the county's nuisance line last month.
Crime Falls in Foreclosure Hotbeds
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jan 7, 2010
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.
Prediction: Foreclosure Mills Will Prosper
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 4, 2010
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.
Speculator Sticks Ten Banks with 20 Mortgages Worth $6.4 Million
By: Steve Cook; Sun, Dec 27, 2009
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.
One of Five Modified Loans Fails in 90 Days
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 22, 2009
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.
God Bless ‘Em Every One
By: Steve Cook; Sat, Dec 19, 2009
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.
Shadow Inventory Rises 54 Percent
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 18, 2009
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.
Some Foreclosure Evictions Break for the Holidays
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 18, 2009
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.
Bargains Get Tougher for Investors
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 16, 2009
Recent industry studies suggest factors are at work that will make bargains harder to find and profit margins slimmer.
Poll Finds 2 Million Unemployed Lost Their Homes
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 15, 2009
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.
HAMP Credited with 40 Percent Rise in California Foreclosure Cancellations
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 15, 2009
"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.
Foreclosures Bring Out the Bugs
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Dec 14, 2009
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.
Florida HOAs See Foreclosures Worsening
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Dec 14, 2009
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.
Foreclosure Activity Falls Eight Percent
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Dec 10, 2009
Foreclosure filings fell nearly eight percent from October and were down 15 percent from the July peak.
Fed Governor Says Lenders Flee Foreclosures in Devastated Neighborhoods
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 9, 2009
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.
Farmer Sues Wells Fargo to Feed Foreclosed Animals
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 9, 2009
"I would have tried to place the animals somewhere safe," the farmer said. "Apparently they're not animal people at all."
Ten Percent of Homeowners Would Walk Away
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 8, 2009
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.
Wild Parties Trash San Diego Foreclosures
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 4, 2009
In San Diego, one person's pain is another's...place to party.
Mortgage Deterioration Rate Exceeds 3:1
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 2, 2009
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.
Are Foreclosures Igniting a Firestorm of Arson?
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Dec 2, 2009
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.
Judge Wipes Out Mortgage, Shocks Lending Industry
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Nov 27, 2009
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.
Real Estate Investors Walk Away Before Homeowners
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Nov 25, 2009
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.
Freddie Mac’s Delinquency Rate Rises for 30th Month
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Nov 24, 2009
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.
Unemployment Drives Record Mortgage Delinquencies
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Nov 19, 2009
Fourteen percent of all American mortgages are either delinquent or in the process of foreclosure.
Foreclosures Overwhelm Rural Communities
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Nov 18, 2009
Like suburban areas, rural communities also are suffering the devastating impact of negative equity on their housing markets.
Hot Refi Checks Leave Illinois Homeowners in the Cold
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 16, 2009
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.
Low Priced Foreclosures and High Hopes for Appreciation Draw Investors Back to Real Estate
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Nov 12, 2009
The number of consumers interested in investing in real estate has doubled since March 2009.
Delinquent Mortgages and Foreclosures Soared in September
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 9, 2009
Today one out of every eight American homeowners with a mortgage (12.49 percent) is either in foreclosure or delinquent in their payments.
Tidal Wave of New Defaults Arrives
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 9, 2009
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.
Foreclosure Hot Spots Spread to Idaho and Utah
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 30, 2009
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.
Homeowners Accused of Torturing Loan Modification Agents
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 29, 2009
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.
Foreclosures Drove September Prices Up Six Percent
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 19, 2009
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.
More Churches Face Foreclosure
By: Steve Cook; Sun, Oct 18, 2009
Churches, parsonages, church schools and other properties are becoming victims of the same sour national economy that has devastated secular real estate.
Foreclosures Seen Declining in 2010
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 16, 2009
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.
Foreclosures Reach All-Time High
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 15, 2009
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.
Nevada Suit Could Halt Thousands of Foreclosures
By: Steve Cook; Sun, Oct 4, 2009
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.
“Marinstock” to Help Families Facing Foreclosure
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 2, 2009
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
Fannie Mae’s Delinquent Loans Soar
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Sep 29, 2009
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.
ASPCA Says Abandoned Animals are Starving in Foreclosed Homes
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Sep 24, 2009
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.
State Foreclosure Programs Stuck in Neutral
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Sep 23, 2009
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.
Foreclosures Will Overwhelm Government Efforts
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Sep 11, 2009
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.
Waves of Resets Promise a New Foreclosure Flood
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Sep 9, 2009
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.
Underwater Owners are Failing to Cure
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Aug 25, 2009
"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.
Delinquencies Soar Nine Percent in Second Quarter
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 20, 2009
Just when you think the foreclosure picture can't get any worse, it does. MBA's quarterly delinquency survey set another distressing record today.
Foreclosures Set a New Record–Again
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 13, 2009
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
Report from Connect: Prepared for the Real Estate Recovery?
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Aug 7, 2009
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.
Minorities and Foreclosures
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Aug 3, 2009
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.
This Schizophrenic Market is a Long Way from Healing
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jul 27, 2009
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.
Inventories Fall Despite Record Foreclosures
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jul 24, 2009
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.
One-third of Mortgage Defaulters Don’t Need Help
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jul 22, 2009
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.
Foreclosures: Time for Heat or Light?
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jul 17, 2009
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.
Reality Check for the Obama Foreclosure Plan
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jul 10, 2009
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.
Why They Walk Away…
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jul 7, 2009
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.
S&P Counts the Dead Bodies
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jul 7, 2009
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.
It’s the Economy, Stupid
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jul 6, 2009
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.
Real Progress on the Foreclosure Front
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jul 1, 2009
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.
HUD Secretary Shoots for Millions of Loan Mods
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Jun 18, 2009
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 .
Does the Shadow REALLY Know?
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jun 17, 2009
For a year or so, rumors of a "shadow inventory" of foreclosed homes have captivated the real estate industry.
Take Another Look at May Foreclosures
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jun 12, 2009
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.
The Delinquency Catch-22
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jun 2, 2009
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.
Delinquencies: Trading One Nightmare for Another
By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 28, 2009
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.
What One Hand Giveth…
By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 14, 2009
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.
Is a Flood of New Foreclosures Coming to Market?
By: Steve Cook; Thu, May 14, 2009
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.
Foreclosure Filings Rise
By: Steve Cook; Sun, Apr 26, 2009
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.
Moratoria Mask Foreclosures
By: Steve Cook; Sat, Apr 25, 2009
For real estate market watchers anxious to see the end of the foreclosure plague that has poisoned property values across the nation...
The Bad News in the Latest Re-default Numbers
By: Steve Cook; Sat, Apr 4, 2009
The headlines from the first joint Mortgage Metrics Report for Fourth Quarter 2008 by two of the Federal agencies that regulate banks and thrifts are a shocker.
REO Discounts Drive Down Values
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 24, 2009
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.
The Economics of Foreclosure
By: David Lereah; Tue, Mar 17, 2009
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
What’s Up With Foreclosures?
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 17, 2009
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.
Delinquencies Set a Record, Moratoria Create Artificial Spike
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Mar 10, 2009
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.
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