Rate of New Foreclosures Shows Decline
The national foreclosure rate is moderating with the number of foreclosures in February rising 6 percent compared to February 2009, the lowest year-over-year increase in four years.
Foreclosure filings, including default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions, were reported on 308,524 U.S. properties during February, a 2 percent decrease compared to January, RealtyTrac also reports.
“The 6 percent year-over-year increase we saw in February was the smallest annual increase we’ve seen since January 2006, when we began calculating year-over-year increases, but it still marked the 50th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity,” said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio.
Saccacio said it was too early to call this the beginning of the end of the foreclosure crisis because of the number of homes in limbo due to government programs and other delays.
The 10 states with the higher foreclosure rates are Nevada, Arizona, Florida, California, Michigan, Utah, Idaho, Illinois, Georgia and Maryland.
Six states account for more than 60 percent of the national total: California, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona and Texas.
Source: RealtyTrac (03/11/2010)
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Obama Takes Licks From HAMP Critics
Congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle took potshots at the Obama administration’s latest efforts to fix the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
President Obama announced last week that he was allotting $1.5 billion to assist local housing finance agencies in the states with the most foreclosures: California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan.
Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio said this week that the program might be “doomed to failure” and added that having the Treasury Department run the program doesn’t make sense because Treasury doesn’t have any housing expertise.
Another skeptic: Democratic U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on domestic policy. He told Treasury representatives, “You’re going to have to do more. This is a wake-up call.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Judith Burns, and Reuters News, Corbett B. Daly (02/25/2010)
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Fannie to Offer Closing Cost Aid on Foreclosures
Fannie Mae, the largest provider of residential home funding in the United States, announced Friday that it would pay the closing costs on purchases of foreclosed homes in its inventory.
The government-controlled company said buyers of qualified properties will get up to 3.5 percent in closing costs, or an equivalent amount for the purchase of new appliances.
The goal of Fannie is to clear out the nearly 50,000 properties it has in inventory— listed on HomePath.com, the Web site created by Fannie Mae last year to sell the growing number of foreclosed homes.
“Attracting qualified buyers to the market and reducing inventory of vacant homes is critical to stabilizing neighborhoods and helping the market recover,” said Terry Edwards, executive vice president for credit portfolio management, in a statement.
Source: Reuters News, Al Yoon (01/28//2010)
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Record Number of Foreclosures in 2009
Total foreclosures in 2009 reached 2.8 million, a 21 percent increase over 2008 and a 120 percent rise compared to 2007, according to foreclosure sales Web site RealtyTrac in a year-end report released Wednesday.
RealtyTrac also reported that fourth quarter foreclosures decreased 7 percent from the third quarter, although they were up 18 percent compared to 2008. December 2009 foreclosures were up 14 percent over December 2008.
The 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates in 2009 were: Nevada, Arizona, Florida, California, Utah, Idaho, Georgia, Michigan, Illinois, and Colorado.
California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois account for 50 percent of the foreclosures. The other 10 states with the largest numbers of foreclosures are Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, Ohio, Texas, and New Jersey.
“A massive supply of delinquent loans continues to loom over the housing market, and many of those delinquencies will end up in the foreclosure process in 2010 and beyond as lenders gradually work their way through the backlog,” says RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio.
Source: The Associated Press (01/14/2010)
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Principal Cuts May Prevent Foreclosures
At least 7 million borrowers will lose their homes this year and next unless there is a broad increase in property values or lenders become much more willing to cut the principal on mortgage loans, an analyst with Amherst Securities Group told the U.S. House Financial Services Committee last month.
That testimony has motivated Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Sheila Blair to consider incentives for lenders to cut principal on $45 billion in mortgages her agency has acquired from seized banks.
“We’re looking now at whether we should provide some further loss-sharing for principal write downs,” says Bair. “Now you’re in a situation where even the good mortgages are going bad because people are losing their jobs.”
While principal reductions are rare, some banks are doing them. In the third quarter of 2009, about 21,000 home loans were modified by reducing the principal, according to Mortgage Metrics, a government publication.
Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, suggests that banks receive a federal match of $1 for every $2 in principal reductions they offer to home owners.
“You’re not going to wipe out all the borrowers’ negative equity,” he says. “This just gives them enough hope to get them committed again.”
Source: Bloomberg, John Gittelsohn and Prashant Gopal (01/07/2010)
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Coming Soon: More Foreclosures
More than 1.7 million homeowners were verging on foreclosure this fall, making it likely that these houses will soon end up on the market one way or the other, driving down overall housing values.
“We’re going to be dealing with high levels of distressed (sales) in the marketplace for at least a couple of years,” says Mark Fleming, chief economist of researcher First American CoreLogic, which has been studying the problem.
Some real estate practitioners say they fear that this onslaught is coming.
“We’ve been in recovery mode for most of the year. How many foreclosures do they have to dump on the market to affect that? I don’t know,” says Deborah Farmer, owner of StarLight Realty in Tampa, Fla. “Any house priced under $225,000 will be affected by a large increase in foreclosures in this market.”
Source: Associated Press, Alan Zibel (12/17/2009)
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Defaults Could End Up Being a Boon
The increasing willingness to abandon home ownership in favor of renting could, in a counterintuitive way, be an important step in the economic recovery, some analysts say.
The U.S. home ownership rate has declined to 67.6 percent as of September, down from its peak of 69.2 percent in 2004. Much of the reason for this decline is the number of foreclosures.
Deutsche Bank Securities expects 21 million U.S. households to be underwater by the end of 2010. If 20 percent of these homeowners default, loses to banks and investors could exceed $400 billion.
While these losses are definitely bad for banks, relief from paying a mortgage makes more money available—an estimated $5 billion a month—for consumers to purchase other things.
“It’s a stealth stimulus,” says Christopher Thornberg of Beacon Economics, a consulting firm specializing in real estate. “The quicker these people shed their debts, the faster the economy is going to heal and move forward again.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Mark Whitehouse (12/10/2009)
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Foreclosures Decline for Fourth-Straight Month
Foreclosures declined 8 percent in November compared with October, but were still up 18 percent from November 2008.
This was the fourth-straight month that U.S. foreclosures have declined since hitting an all-time high in July, according to online foreclosure marketer RealtyTrac.
Default notices, an indicator of coming foreclosures, also were down 8 percent from October, but up 22 percent from November 2008. Bank repossessions were flat from the previous month and down 2 percent from November 2008.
“We don’t really believe the underlying problems have been resolved,” said Rick Sharga, senior vice president for RealtyTrac. Many borrowers, he told the Associated Press, “simply aren’t going to qualify” for government and mortgage servicer help.
States with the highest foreclosure rates are:
* Nevada
* Florida
* California
* Arizona
* Idaho
* Michigan
* Illinois
* Utah
* Maryland
* New Jersey
Four states account for more than 50 percent of actual foreclosures: California, Florida, Illinois, and Michigan.
Source: RealtyTrac, (12/10/2009)
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Increasing Volume of Foreclosures in Pipeline
An additional seven million properties are headed for foreclosure, according to a study in September by Amherst Securities Group.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, concurs with high estimates of potential foreclosures, anticipating 2.4 million homes in foreclosure in 2010, compared with 2 million in 2009.
Experts say the onslaught is the result of moratoriums lifting, banks overwhelmed by the demand for modifications, and the sheer volume of late payers. Banks also are trying to spread asset write-downs over several reporting periods to maintain a better profit picture.
Source: USA Today, Stephanie Armour (11/19/2009)
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Foreclosures Tricks and Treats
HGTV’s real estate Web site Frontdoor.com has identified what it calls the “tricks and treats” of buying a foreclosure:
Tricks to avoid:
* Just because a foreclosure has a low price tag doesn’t mean it’s a bargain. Many need lots of expensive repairs.
* Buying a foreclosure property isn’t for amateurs. Buyers need a knowledgeable real estate practitioner to guide them through the process.
Foreclosure treats:
* Well-maintained foreclosures priced at 50 percent or less of their market value make homeownership very affordable.
* Building a relationship with a lender’s REO (real estate owned) department can help when it’s time to make a deal.
Source: Frontdoor.com (10/29/2009)
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Foreclosures: Down But Still Elevated
Mortgage foreclosure filings declined in September for the second-straight month, but September was still the third-highest monthly total behind July and August since real estate data firm RealtyTrac began keeping count in January 2005.
September filings were down 4 percent from August, according to a report released Thursday, but they were up 29 percent compared to August 2008. Third-quarter filings were 5 percent higher than the second quarter.
One in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the third quarter. “Bank repossessions, or REOs, jumped 21 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter, corresponding to jumps in defaults and scheduled auctions in the previous two quarters,” James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.
Nevada’s foreclosure rate led the nation, followed by Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado, and Illinois.
Unemployed homeowners are driving the increase.
Source: Reuters News, Julie Haviv (10/15/2009)
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Renewed Attention to Halting Foreclosures
With foreclosures continuing to rise, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) hopes to spark interest in a bill that would give borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth new FHA mortgages.
The Homeownership Vesting Plan Act—which received little attention when first introduced in March—would pay original lenders the difference between the old and new loans over the next five years, and pay mortgage servicers $1,000 for each loans they agree to convert, while borrowers would get a lower rate on a smaller loan.
Crafted to reduce foreclosures and help keep home prices from sinking further, the legislation seeks to pay for the $50 billion initiative largely with unused TARP money that was set aside for less successful home-loan workout programs.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, Joseph N. DiStefano (10/16/09)
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Distressed Properties: Still More Pain Than Gain?
Foreclosures and other distressed property might look like a good deal, but some buyers are discovering that they just don’t have the stomach for the problems that come with it.
Buyers of distressed property often must deal with severe vandalism, unpaid water bills and homeowner-association dues, hidden second mortgages, and mechanics liens.
Lenders are trying to make these purchases go more smoothly. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has twice as many employees as before handling short sales, while Bank of America Corp. now allows real estate practitioners to submit short-sale documents online. The U.S. Treasury Department is expected to soon issue streamlined guidelines to lenders on short sales.
An experienced real estate practitioner with training in selling foreclosures and short sales can make a big difference, but in the long run, buyers who don’t have much cash or aptitude for home repairs should think hard before trying to buy a distressed property.
As Jerrold Horning, a homebuyer in El Cajon, Calif., said, “I don’t think it’s worth the hassles.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal, M.P. McQueen
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Florida Panel Urges Mediation on Foreclosures
A panel chaired by the Florida judiciary is recommending strategies to clear out the backlog of foreclosed properties in the state, including mediation for primary homes and a fast-track plan for vacant and abandoned properties.
The 15-member panel chaired by Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey of Miami agreed that managed mediation should be required for primary homes in foreclosure unless both the borrower and the bank agree to opt out.
Opponents to the plan said mandatory mediation would slow the process.
Source: The Associated Press
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Receivers Take on Foreclosure Hassles
Some banks tired of the headaches involved with foreclosures are turning properties over to receivers, which for steep fees keep the banks’ names off the properties, pay all the costs and taxes, and handle the maintenance.
It’s hard to track down exactly how frequently this is happening, but membership in the California Receivers Forum, a trade group, has gone from 300 in 2007 to 550 today.
Beyond not having to deal with the minutia of property management, the advantage for the banks is avoiding local and state governments that increasingly are fining owners and managers of properties for code violations. In some areas, the fees are a punishing $1,000 per day.
Also, in the case of a newly developed property, avoiding taking title on a property allows banks to avoid liability for construction defects and injuries on unsecured construction sites.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, David A. Graham (07/29/2009)
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Investors Drive Foreclose Prices Up
Home shoppers in parts of the country with lots of foreclosures are finding it increasingly difficult to buy. Investors are bidding up prices thousands above the original asking price.
Federal legislation slowing the number of foreclosures is adding to the problem by reducing the number of homes on the market. For instance, in Las Vegas, one of the areas where the bidding problem is greatest, home inventories are down 10 percent since March, according to the Las Vegas Association of REALTORS®.
When a bidding war erupts, the problem is particularly difficult for traditional buyers because investors are usually cash purchasers. They can bid up a property without concern whether the appraisal will prevent them from getting a loan.
Experts say the problem is not unlike the situation at the height of the housing bubble. “This market is about as abnormal as the hypermarket that we came out of a few years ago,” says Jay Butler, director of the Realty Studies program at Arizona State University.
Source: The Associated Press, Jonathan J. Cooper (07/20/2009)
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Faulty Appraisals Harming Housing and the Economy
Twenty-six percent of builders are seeing signed sales contracts fall through the cracks because appraisals on their homes are coming in below the contract sales price, according to a nationwide survey conducted by NAHB.
“Home builders are increasingly concerned that inappropriate appraisal practices are needlessly driving down home values. This, in turn, is slowing new home sales, causing more workers to lose their jobs and putting a drag on the economic recovery,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson.
The survey showed that nearly 60% of the builders are reporting that inadequate appraisals are causing serious problems in the market, with the biggest problem being comparables of new single-family homes that are too often based on foreclosures and distressed sales.
“Lost home sales are killing jobs, deepening the housing slump and hurting local economic activity,” said Robson, who noted that construction of 100 single-family homes generates 324 local jobs, $21.1 million in local income and $2.2 million in taxes and other revenue for local governments in the first year.
Of those who are reporting appraisal problems, 54% said that the appraisal amount was actually less than the cost of building the home. Full Story.
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Strapped Condo Boards Initiating Foreclosures
Strapped condo boards are foreclosing on units whose owners have failed to pay monthly assessments.
Because banks that hold defaulted mortgages don’t owe condo dues until they actually take title of the property, many condos are facing serious shortfalls and as a result face difficulty paying operating expenses.
Condos and the attorneys who represent them say banks are deliberately slowing foreclosure proceedings to avoid paying monthly assessments.
“It’s become common practice to delay foreclosure,” says Eric Glazer, a condo-association lawyer in Hallandale Beach, Fla., which is between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. “Banks are forcing the associations to take them the distance.”
To combat this, condo boards, which can attach liens just like banks do, are stepping up and forcing foreclosure sales. After collecting back assessments, they pay out what’s remaining to the bank and rent out the unit until the bank gets around to deciding what to do next.
Lenders say they aren’t deliberately slowing foreclosure sales, but are facing political pressure to allow time for loans to be modified. “There’s no generalized delay in foreclosure on either condominiums or anything else. Unfortunately, the courts are clogged with these things,” says Thomas Cardwell, general counsel for the Florida Bankers Association.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (06/18/2009)
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Low-Ball Appraisals Cause Problems
Real estate practitioners in Nevada, one of the areas hit hardest by foreclosures, say low-ball appraisals are slowing sales and preventing recovery.
Mark Stark, CEO of Prudential Americana Group in Las Vegas, says he thinks appraisers are too focused on projecting how much prices could fall rather than reflecting what values really are.
“The appraisers are being very conservative,” Stark says. “They are trying to cover themselves.”
Mark Madsen, communications director for Raintree Mortgage Services, says appraisers are just doing what they’ve been told. “I think appraisers are scared to get blacklisted,” he explains. “If the appraisals are too high, then banks may no longer accept appraisals from that person.”
Source: Brian Wargo, Las Vegas Sun (06/05/09)
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More Buyers Lured to Foreclosed Properties
Many households say that foreclosures are a bargain and are increasingly eager to buy them, according to a Harris Interactive survey conducted for Trulia.com and RealtyTrac.
The survey found that 55 percent of U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to consider purchasing a foreclosed home, up from 47 percent who answered the same question in November 2008.
But buyers aren’t naïve about the hassles involved with purchasing foreclosed property. About 85 percent said that they could identify negative aspects, up from 80 percent who felt the same way last November.
* 71 percent were concerned about hidden costs;
* 46 percent believe the process is risky;
* 31 percent fear the property will lose value.
Buyers of foreclosures also expect hefty discounts – at least 25 percent.
Source: RealtyTrac.com and Trulia.com (05/20/2009)
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Mortgage fraud reports up 26 percent!
WASHINGTON – The mortgage industry, applying far more scrutiny after a tidal wave of defaults, reported a record number of mortgage fraud incidents last year, with Rhode Island making its first appearance as the nation’s top fraud hot spot.
The number of mortgage fraud reports among loans made last year grew 26 percent from a year earlier, according to a study released Monday by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute.
The increase came as lenders dramatically tightened their standards, making it more difficult for borrowers to qualify for home loans without large down payments, solid credit and proof of their incomes. With credit far tighter, about $1.4 trillion in home loans were made last year, down about a third from a year earlier, according to trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance.
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‘Produce the note’ has not had big local impact.
It’s almost one of those things that’s too easy to be true – staving off home foreclosure by simply demanding that your lender produce the original note.
As the economy goes down foreclosures go up. Hard-working people are finding themselves being forced out of their home when they can’t make their mortgage payments. But one simple request to a lender has in many cases slowed down the foreclosure process and given some homeowners a little breathing room.
It’s a little trick that goes back to the heart of how this whole banking mess got started.
During the real estate frenzy of the past decade, mortgages were sold and resold, bundled into securities and peddled to investors. In many cases, the original note signed by the homeowner was lost, stored away in a distant warehouse or destroyed, according to the Associated Press. Full Story.
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Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan: Key Components.
1. The Home Affordable Refinance Program. Under this program, eligible borrowers may refinance loans that Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (the government sponsored enterprises, or GSEs) own or guarantee. The program can help homeowner-occupants who are current in making loan payments and have loan-to-value ratios (LTVs) above 80 percent but not more than 105 percent. Cash out refinancings are not permitted. The program ends in June 2010.
2. The Home Affordable Modification Program. This is a $75 billion program with lender, servicer, investor, and borrower incentives to make it work. The program is limited to homeowner-occupants who are at risk of default or already in default and who have loans at or below the maximum GSE conforming loan limit of $729,750 (or higher for 2-, 3-, and 4-unit properties). Loan modifications under the program may be made until December 31, 2012.
Gov’t expands national program to buy foreclosures.
Tucked into the economic stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama last week was $2 billion to expand a nascent and controversial program to help cities and states buy and fix up foreclosed homes.
Last month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development signed off on hundreds of grants to all 50 states totaling almost $4 billion. The Neighborhood Stabilization Program, as it’s known, was passed last year as part of a housing rescue plan that was regarded at the time as the most significant housing legislation in a generation. Full story.
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Obama’s foreclosure fix on the way.
The president is set Wednesday to unveil plans to stem foreclosures and stabilize housing. Loan modifications and help for those near default are expected.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Obama administration officials are hammering out the details of a $50 billion foreclosure prevention program that the president is set to unveil Wednesday in Arizona, sources said.
Details remain scarce, but officials are looking to help homeowners who are in danger of defaulting on their mortgages, as well as those already behind, according to sources close to the discussions. Until now, most government and industry efforts have centered only on the delinquent. Full Story.
Steps to take to prevent Forclosure!
One of their educator’s Cindy Tesch says there are some steps you should take if you fall behind on your mortgage – most importantly you need to devise a payment plan. But to do that Tesch says you have to confront your problem and that means confronting your mortgage company.
“Most consumers are scared or afraid because they don’t know what their mortgage company is going to tell them. So you want to stay in contact with the mortgage company,” Tesch said.
Tesch says mortgage companies are very willing to work with you. Something that’s really important to keep in mind — once your payment plan is set up you must make cuts to your budget because each month you will be paying your regular mortgage plus your back mortgage.
“If you really want to keep the home, look at the budget, see what is absolutely necessity and then cut out what isn’t. For just the time so you can get caught up on that mortgage,” Tesch said.
You may even consider selling certain assets — like a car if your family has two cars but can survive on one.
“If you really want to keep the home, look at the budget, see what is absolutely necessity and then cut out what isn’t. For just the time so you can get caught up on that mortgage,” Tesch said.
You may even consider selling certain assets — like a car if your family has two cars but can survive on one.
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Obama pledges mortgage help.
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — U.S. President Barack Obama promised Saturday to help lower Americans’ mortgage costs with a new plan, coming soon, that would revive the financial system and “get credit flowing again.”
Obama, who has made fighting the country’s economic and financial crises the top priority of his young administration, called on the U.S. Senate to approve an economic stimulus bill that the House of Representatives passed this week. Full story.
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3 things sellers must know about Short sales.
Underwater on your mortgage? A short sale may be an option, but you first have to convince the bank to erase part of your debt – and your credit will still suffer.
1. You have to prove hardship.
To get the lender to forgive the balance of your mortgage, you’ll have to prove that you [...]
Fed moves to help distressed homeowners.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With home foreclosures spiking, the Federal Reserve is taking steps to try to keep some distressed borrowers in their homes.
Under the program, the Fed has a number of options to provide relief, including lowering the amount the homeowner owes on the mortgage, reducing the interest rate or lengthening the term of the loan. Full story
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Fannie Mae won’t evict renters in foreclosures Will sign new leases with tenants while properties are up for sale
WASHINGTON – Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said Tuesday it has adopted a policy allowing renters to remain in their homes even if their landlord enters foreclosure.
Full story.
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Foreclosures up a record 81% in 2008
Filings continued to soar through the end of the year – and there’s no relief in sight for 2009. more
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Could it happen to me??
CNNMoney: Protecting your home’s value
Foreclosures can affect the value of your property even if you’ve been paying your mortgage faithfully. Here are some ways you can protect your home’s worth if your area is hit hard by foreclosures.
