Administration reforms HAMP

After seeing that HAMP failed to reach the targeted homeowners, the Obama administration announced the extension of the program to bring relief to a larger share of struggling homeowners as well as renters. Principal reduction is one of the key adjustments the modification centers around. HAMP currently includes an option for servicers to provide underwater homeowners who are struggling with their payments with a modification that includes principal write-down. Read More..

Investors Will Need To Pre-Qualify For REO-To-Rental Sales

The FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) encouraged investors interested in buying government-owned REOs in bulk for use as rental properties to register with Fannie Mae. They practically pre-qualify for purchase as an eligible bidder. The agency announced that the pilot transaction will take place in near term which is vague enough to keep investors in the line for registering. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

Illinois Attorney General filed lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued Standard & Poor’s (S&P) last week, alleging the ratings agency used deceptive practices by inflating ratings of MBS (mortgage-backed securities) investments. Madigan strongly believes this was one of the main cause of the financial crisis that hit not just the country but the globe. Read More..

Friday Is the Day: The Robo-Signing Settlement Counts the Participating States

After more than 15 months of back and forth, the controversial robo-signing settlement is ready to be signed. According to Wall Street Journal’s Ruth Simon, state attorneys general have a couple of days left to sign on to the settlement draft proposed last Monday. The settlement is aimed to resolve claims against the nation’s top five mortgage servicers surrounding documentation errors in foreclosure processing. Read More..

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Glens Falls Rogers Building scheduled for foreclosure auction

The housing crisis affected many prominent buildings across the country. Glen Falls’ Roger Building is yet another prominent building that is no scheduled to be sold at foreclosure auction due to foreclosure. The property that sits vacant for a couple years now it is located at 21 Bay St., across from City Park and Crandall Public library.Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – PALM SPRINGS AREA

Palm Springs reported 13% drop in foreclosure filings

Foreclosures were down 13% across the Coachella Valley in the last month of 2011 compared to the same month a year ago, the most recent report issued by RealtyTrac highlights. Read More..

Mortgage defaults on the rise in Coachella Valley

Good times are past now, as the Coachella Valley housing market is facing another flood of foreclosures. The data published by Irvine-based real estate data provider, RealtyTrac shows that foreclosures are up 6% across the area in November, compared to the same period a year ago. This ends the seven sunny months of double-digit declines. Read More..

Bay Area foreclosures drop sharply

Coachella Valley foreclosures are up 6% compared to a year prior, ending a seven-month trend of double digit drops. The numbers provided by RealtyTrac put the total mortgage default notices and bank repossessions to 1,123, while there were 1,062 a year ago. Read More..

The lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court, and it relies on internal email from within the ratings agency as evidence of the company’s misrepresentations of risk.

According to the court filing, an employee said “an investment could be restructures by cows and we would rate it”, which is outrageous considering the importance of S&P in the financial industry.

Madigan also used references from a former director at S&P, stating “profits are running the show.”

Illinois Attorney General’s lawsuit highlights what really happened before the financial crisis and the main cause. “S&P consistently misrepresented the risk of mortgage-backed securities, assigning these securities its highest seal of approval – or AAA rating,” Lisa Madigan’s office stated.

“Publically, S&P took every opportunity to proclaim their analyses and ratings as independent, objective and free from its desire for revenue,” Madigan said. “Yet privately, S&P abandoned its principles and instead used every trick possible to give deals high ratings in order to retain clients and generate revenue.”

This resulted the housing bubble that burst soon as the investments began defaulting, triggering the current situation we are facing.

“The mortgage-backed securities that helped our market soar and ultimately crash – could not have been purchased by most investors without S&P’s seal of approval”.

The other side, S&P is washing its hands, denying an culpability. “The case is without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” said an S&P spokesperson.

Principal reduction is one of the key adjustments the modification centers around. HAMP currently includes an option for servicers to provide underwater homeowners who are struggling with their payments with a modification that includes principal writedown.

The Treasury comes to back up the administration’s plan by tripling the incentives for such restructurings, paying from 18 to 63 cents on the dollar depending on the degree of change in the LTV (loan-to-value) ratio.

The FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) ordered GSEs to stop employing HAMP’s principal reducing option and the Treasury notified the FHFA that it will pay these same principal reductions incentives to the GSEs if they allow servicers to forgive principal in conjunction with a HAMP modification.

As a response the FHFA issued a statement which says it analyzed the principal reduction offer, but it does not offer any greater benefits than the tools already in use.

However, it will reassess the investor incentives now being offered, taking into consideration the number of eligible loans, operational costs to implement such changes, and the potential effects of incentivizing borrowers to remain current,DsNews cited.

Another change that targets HAMP, is offered for borrowers underwater, with second lien and medical bills. These borrowers will be eligible for an alternative program evaluation with more flexible debt-to-income criteria.

Furthermore, Treasury is ready to expand availability to include investor properties that are currently occupied by a tenant as well as vacant properties for rental use.

In addition, the deadline for HAMP is now December 31, 2013, not 2012 as originally planned.

According to numbers published by the Treasury, HAMP has already helped approximately  (sic!) 900,000 struggling homeowners by offering permanent modification, providing them a median savings of more than $500 a month.

“In addition to foreclosure prevention initiatives such as HAMP, the federal government plans to focus on transitioning foreclosed properties into rental housing, making it possible for responsible homeowners to refinance, and providing hard-hit states with resources to develop targeted relief programs” Tim Massad, Treasury’, assistant secretary added.

The foreclosure settlement draft reached the final stage

The first announcement came from HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who said last week that the state attorneys general are ready to sign the settlement with the nation’s largest servicers in just a few week. Now DsNews reports that a spokesperson for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s office is corroborating the claim, saying that the settlement draft is already available and it is in the hands of the AGs for review. Read More..

Obama Proposes Mortgage Fraud Task Force

In the year of presidential elections President Obama has come up with new programs helping homeowners in distress. During his State of the Union address Tuesday he said that he already has a program ready for submission to Congress that gives responsible homeowners the chance to refinance and even save about $3,000 in 12 months on their mortgage. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

Oregon Attorney General warns of foreclosure review scam

John Kroger, Oregon Attorney General has issued a public warning to consumers in the state –but this warning can be set public nationwide – to be prepared for scammers showing up offering independent foreclosure reviews as part of the mandate to major mortgage servicers issued by the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) and the Federal Reserve. Read More..

Officials Working On a Program to Crack Down Fraudulent Companies That Scam Military Members

The Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the New York Attorney General are working together on a database that will record information on companies and individuals who scam military personnel.  The database will carry the name of Repeat Offenders against Military Database and it works hand in hand, it enhances the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network, which gathers consumer complaints from across the country, packing them into the database for review. Read More..

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York’s Keasarge house sold for $1.1 million

Keasarge House LLC and the Atlantic Keasarge Parking Lot LLC in York Beach were sold Thursday for $1.1 million as creditors have formed a queue for recovering debt. Kearsarge House LLC, 6 Railroad Ave., and the parking lot at 4 Main St., across the street from Kearsarge House, were sold to Kearsarge Acquisition Company LLC, according to attorney Peter Carey of Mittelasen LLC in Portland. The parking lot includes a small retail shop. Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – BAY  AREA

Bay Area homes sales struggle for recovery in 2012

Across the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area last year was a puzzle with contrary trends, but the main trend was declining home prices for single-family houses and large areas of depressed sales. Read More..

Bay Area home prices will stabilize this year

After they went down the drain, Bay Area housing prices will go up in some parts of the nine-county area, a new forecast coming from Clear Capital says. A healthy real estate market means stabile prices, even when homeowners face different challenges, such as tight credit, and low sales. Read More..

Bay Area foreclosures drop sharply

The San Francisco Bay Area has joined the line of the states with dropping foreclosure filings. Although the reason behind the drop can be the holiday foreclosure seizure, it is still encouraging. Read More..

Now DsNews reports that a spokesperson for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s office is corroborating the claim, saying that the settlement draft is already available and it is in the hands of the AGs for review.

The Associated Press came out with an update yesterday stating that the settlement terms require as much as $25 billion from the 14 banks participating in the settlement.

The draft also lays down the number of distressed homeowners who will receive about $1,800: 750,000 individuals will be the lucky ones to get this amount from the banks.

Another important point of the settlement is that 1 million homeowners may receive principal reductions.

Although there were rumors suggesting President Barack Obama will announce the successful settlement during his State of the Union today, Miller stated yesterday that the committee did not reach an agreement with five of the nation’s largest servicers, so it will be no official settlement announcement anytime this week.

The more the settlement terms get known, and get wider publicity the more concerns are expressed even among officials: last week Ohio AG Sherrod Brown expressed his concerns the proposed settlement may be too easy on banks.

“A settlement must provide meaningful, widespread relief to Ohio homeowners. Unfortunately, the numbers reported in various media accounts fail to meet this test,” Sherrod wrote. “The proposed principal reduction program must focus on banks settling with their own money, rather than shifting their financial liability to Private Label Securities (PLS) trusts,” he added.

Reuters reported that Brown reiterated his concerns Monday .“Instead of criminal prosecutions, we are talking about not much more than a slap on the wrist,” Brown said. “In many ways, Wall Street isn’t just too big to fail, it’s also too big to jail.”

The independent foreclosure review targets millions of troubled homeowners who faced foreclosure between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010, as a result of enforcement actions imposed by the regulators against 14 servicers. This is one direct result of the robo-signing scandal, that surfaced in the fall of 2010.

The OCC already mailed multiple million emails to potential borrowers, but if they did not receive an email with this information, borrowers involved in a foreclosure action during the above mentioned period can request a case review by an independent consultant to determine whether if they suffered financial injury as a result of deficiencies in the foreclosure process.

The mailing process started in November, and eligible borrowers should have received a letter by the end of last year with the details of the process.

What Oregon AG highlights once again is that there is no cost associated with the review program.

Unfortunately, scammers already took the scene and began mailing their own letters to Oregon consumers and offering to conduct “an independent foreclosure home loan review” for a certain fee.

Oregon AG warn state consumers to beware anyone who wants payment to conduct this independent foreclosure review of any other foreclosure prevention program.

“If you receive a letter suggesting that you qualify for compensation or received a grant without having requested an independent review from the federal government, it is a scam,” according to the warning issued by Kroger’s office.

The FED and the Congress disagree over the best path to economic recovery

While the Congress and the Fed have a common goal: the economic recovery, which relies on the housing market recovery, they seem to disagree when it comes to make action, because they have different action plans achieving their goals. Last week Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke submitted a white paper to Congress providing “a framework for thinking about directions policymakers might take to help the housing market,” expressing his support for an REO rental program. Read More..

Banks Repossessed 804,423 Homes In 2011

The latest report offering a cross-view of the distressed housing market on a national scale is coming from RealtyTrac. The real estate tracking company released its year-end report last week, highlighting a scary number of troubled households. In 2011 a total number of 1,887,777 properties received foreclosure filings in the country. Of that total REOs accounted 804,423 homes. While the nearly 2 million properties with foreclosure filings is quite much, it is still 34% below the number of household hit with foreclosure in 2009 and 19% below the 2008 total. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

Failed HAMP trials ending up in foreclosure show a significant increase

The number of failed Home Affordable Modification Program trials put into foreclosure is rising, according to Treasury Department’s recent data released last week. Canceled HAMP trials, that hit 615,000 last year are likely to end up in foreclosure and the percentage of failed trials pushed through foreclosure doubled compared to last year, by reaching 10.6% of the total failed trials. The Treasury data shows that in 2010 forecloses accounted only 4.4% of the total failed HAMP trials. Read More..

Latest Rule Now Requires Banks to Draft Living Wills

The FDIC or Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. finalized a rule yesterday that requires the biggest financial industry players to draft “living wills” to serve as blueprints in case of failure.
According to the statement issued by the entity the resolution plans will describe how the FDIC as receiver would win down the institution ensuring depositors access to their accounts within 24 hours and minimize losses to the bank’s creditors. Read More..

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Ridpath Hotel seized by RiverBank

A Spokane Bank is now the owner of large pieces of the troubled Ridpath Hotel in a move that can lead to its clear its ownership problem surrounding the iconic downtown hotel. Furthermore, some voices say this takeover can lead to its restoration and even opening. A public foreclosure auction was held Friday in the lobby of the Spokane County Courthouse, but it failed to bring any bids above the opening bid of $865,000 and $125,000 for two upper floors. This is how RiverBank became the owners of these two Ridpath floors. Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – SAN ANTONIO AREA

San Antonio housing market has seen the light at the end of the tunnel

After spending a couple years in the doldrums, San Antonio home builders see the light at the end of the tunnel,as they area expected to start at least 10% more homes compared to last year. This is the first double-digit bump for the industry since the housing market peak recorded in 2006. Read More..

San Antonio home sales and prices trend upwards

The San Antonio housing market has a bright outlook for 2012, as sales prices and home sales are expected to trend upwards. However, the rise will not be huge, the San Antonio Board of Realtors anticipates a 1 or 2% increase for this year. Read More..

San Antonio housing market update

The San Antonio housing market seen through the statistics compiled by the San Antonio Board of Realtors is showing a decrease in activity. Read More..

Canceled HAMP trials, that hit 615,000 last year are likely to end up in foreclosure and the percentage of failed trials pushed through foreclosure doubled compared to last year, by reaching 10.6% of the total failed trials. The Treasury data shows that in 2010 forecloses accounted only 4.4% of the total failed HAMP trials.

With foreclosures trending upwards, alternative modification on these loans are exactly the opposite: of the canceled HAMP trials 39.7% went through the bank’s own private programs, down from 45.4% over the same 11 month period, from January to November.

Another highlight of the Treasury report is foreclosure completion of borrowers never accepted into HAMP. The research conducted by the Treasury shows they also trend upwards, as of the 1.8 million seriously delinquent borrowers denied a HAMP trial, 7.6% completed foreclosure, compared to 5% a year prior.

This isn’t particular to any specific servicing company, they all saw jump in foreclosures. For instance CitiGroup had 71,808 HAMP trials canceled, and pushed roughly 13.5% through the foreclosure process as of November 1, up from 3.1% reported in 2010.

Ally Financial reported a 6.4% increase compared to 2010, with its 12.8% recorded last year. At JPMorgan Chase the increase went to 11.3% from 6.2%, while Bank of America reported 9.3% of failed HAMP trials put into foreclosure compared to just 1.9% a year prior.

According to the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) 17% of the 108,000 HAMP modifications began in the second quarter of  2010 went 60 or more days delinquent within one year, compared to 31% redefault rate for other private programs, HousingWire reported citing from the report.

Last week Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke submitted a white paper to Congress  providing “a framework for thinking about directions policymakers might take to help the housing market,” expressing his support for an REO rental program. Furthermore he stressed the importance of accessible credits, that would boost the housing market, just like it did before the housing collapse.

Bernanke stated that “some actions that cause greater losses to be sustained by the GSEs in the near term might be in the interest of taxpayers to pursue if those actions result in a quicker and more vigorous economic recovery.” In addition other Fed members have expressed their support for Bernanke’s white paper.

The recipient of the white paper, the Congress on the other hand has started to make action based on its own scenario that will trigger the housing recovery: it uses funding from the GSEs to fuel it.

The action plan involves the extensions of the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut, which calls on the Federal Housing Finance Agency to raise the GSEs guarantee fees.

However, some Congress members have different views about Bernanke’s status to define directions. Sen. Orrin Hatch wrote a reply to Bernanke saying that the Fed Chairman has overstepped his bounds with his white paper.

“I believe that your recent housing white paper, and recent advocacy by Federal Reserve officials for further taxpayer-funded government intervention in housing and mortgage markets, intrudes too far into fiscal policy advice and advocacy.”

It s unclear at this time which side has the winning card, but until a proper scenario is just a dream, the economic recovery will remain a dream too. And eats dust from the fight between the Congress and the Fed? The taxpayer, of course.

HAMP loan modifications pass 900,000 as we enter into the election year

According to the Treasury Department’s report released Monday the Home Affordable Modification Program or HAMP is a great success (sic) as nearly 910,000 homeowners have received permanent loan modification to date through the federal program. The numbers are amazing: the Treasury said these loan mods saved an estimated $9.9 billion in monthly mortgage payments. Read More..

Justice Department Issued Report In Support Of Foreclosure Mediation

The US Department of Justice has just released a report on a foreclosure intervention method which seems to gain popularity in the country: mediation. The 69-page document, released yesterday is titled Foreclosure Mediation: Emerging Research and Evaluation Practices is the direct result of a March 7, 2011 workshop put on by the Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative, established two years ago to ensure transparency and availability to anyone who wants to access the justice system. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

Freddie Mac announces that it extends forbearance for unemployed

It came as a relief for unemployed: Freddie Mac extended forbearance for its clients without jobs, which means starting now some unemployed troubled homeowners can receive up to 1 year forbearance. The announcement came Friday, right after the US Department of Labor stated that the nation’s unemployment rate trends down. Read More..

Fewer Loan Modifications Done In 2011

Mortgage servicers are expected to modify fewer loans last year than in 2010, according to the latest data published by Hope Now, an alliance formed by mortgage industry players.
The numbers show that through November there were roughly 969,000 loan modification through both private and HAMP initiatives. Read More..

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Hewitt building in the heart of Lakeville slips into foreclosure

The financial crisis has hit hard commercial property owners and Lakeville is not an exception. Recently a downtown Lakeville business owner received a foreclosure notice on his building that houses Holly’s Centre Stage Dance, according to the Dakota County Tribune. The building is located at 20721 Holyoke Ave. and it had trouble keeping tenants since it was built in 2008. It was the place where you could find Kazolly’s Sweet Shop and Game Time, but these businesses moved out of the building. Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – HOUSTON AREA

Houston housing market attractive for foreign investors

According to a study released recently by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, the Houston housing market is on the top ten list of the favored US cities. Read More..

Houston housing market reaching healthy level of inventory

Houston-area single-family home inventory dropped to its lowest level since January 2010, according to Houston Association of Realtors’ latest report. Read More..

Hess Tower sold for non-crisis price

Houston recorded its highest paying real estate transaction: the Hess Tower located in the heart of the city was sold for $442.5 million, or the highest price per square foot for an office building. Read More..