Obama’s Housing Relief Plans for Service members and FHA Borrowers

President Obama is announcing two steps that will be taken to assist service members and FHA borrowers, the administration stated in a release today. For the first full news conference of the year, Obama’s agenda includes details on how support will be provided for those currently in and who previously served in the military. One provision will have servicemen who were foreclosed upon since 2006 reviewed, and if any are found to have been wrongfully foreclosed upon, they can receive compensation equal to a minimum of lost equity, plus interest and $116,785. Read More..

Do Servicers Really Show Improvement?

Servicers participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program or HAMP are performing well in evaluating homeowners for the program, according to the Treasury Department. They have shown improvement even in assessing borrower income to determine program eligibility and calculate the amount of their modified payments the Treasury reported. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

Foreclosure Sales Outpace Modifications for January

During January, 73,767 homeowners received permanent loan modifications from mortgage servicers, according to modification data released by HOPE NOW, a voluntary, private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers and non-profit counselors. While the January numbers are a decrease compared to the previous two months, it was a record-breaking month for foreclosure sales. Read More..

The Mortgage Settlement Seen Through Wells’ Eyes

Wells Fargo was the first servicer to present its end of the $25 billion federal-state settlement which can be found within the 233 pages of its 2011 annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As far as we could see into the document, fist-lien principal reductions carry the most weight in terms of credit towards each servicer’s financial obligation under the agreement. Read More..

COMMERCIAL

Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT I threatened with foreclosure

Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT I Inc. has received an ultimatum to remedy a default on four loans to fend off a potential start of the foreclosure process, as the theater loan has matured $4.7 million for the mixed-use development.The four loans totaling $44.1 million came due January 28., but the due date was previously extended with six months. The theater loan matures July 28. Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – AUSTIN AREA

Developer changes its original plans on Sessom properties

There was a legal fight between the developer and residents over Darren Casey’s Sessom Drive development. The proposed plan of 420 apartments and 17,000 square-feet of retail space in an upscale complex – which would cost $63 million – was met with gales of opposition, from homeowners in the area. Read More..

Renewable Energy Park land sales to get approval

Pflugerville’s Renewable Energy Park will step forward next week as the City Council approved the park’s first land sales. The Community Development Corp. voted Thursday to approve land deals for the 167-acre triangular space near Texas 130, The Statesman informs.  Read More..

Central Texas home sales are up 11% in December

Central Texas housing market is on the right way to recovery as sales of existing homes were up 11% in December compared to a year prior, and the region closed 2011 sales numbers up 7% over 2010, as the latest statistics show. Read More..

AG for Hardest Hit State Outlines Homeowner Bill of Rights

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris outlined the six parts in the proposed California Homeowner Bill of Rights during a press conference on Wednesday. The first part of the bill the California AG announced was the Foreclosure Reduction Act of 2012, which will address dual tracking issues. Dual tracking is when a homeowner is pursuing a modification while also in the foreclosure process. Read More..

Kamala Harris Is Calling GSEs to Halt Foreclosures in California

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is asking GSEs for a “good-faith pause” on foreclosures in her strong belief in principal reductions as the best line of defense in loss mitigation. She is asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to halt foreclosures in California while the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) considers whether principal reductions are an appropriate strategy for the two mortgage giants. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

Foreclosure-Related Sales in 2011 = 907,138

Pre-foreclosure short sales and sales of foreclosed REOs totaled 907,138 for the 2011 calendar year, RealtyTrac reported Thursday. These foreclosure-related transactions made up 23 percent of all residential sales in the U.S. last year, with short sales accounting for 9 percent and REOs accounting for 14 percent of 2011 home sales. Read More..

How Many Homeowners Were Foreclosed Improperly?

This was the question HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan was facing during a Senate subcommittee hearing, as he was there to present the result of the agency’s investigation over wrongful foreclosures.  But it seems like there were almost null home losses, at least according to Donovan’s findings. What the Senate has learned during the hearing is that the organization has no methods to measure the exact impact of the foreclosure crisis and there were only a few folks, who actually lost their homes. Read More..

COMMERCIAL

Victory Park Condos developed by Starck sold at foreclosure auction

One of Dallas’ luxury condo towers was pushed through the foreclosure pipeline. HSH Nordbank AG., the project’s lender has hold a foreclosure auction to sell the unsold units of the 28-story House condo tower located on the north edge of downtown.The auction took place Tuesday and targeted the 112 vacant residential luxury units. As the real estate scheduled to be sold at the foreclosure auction represented interest for many investors, the unsold units didn’t go back to the lender. The luxury units were sold for less than half of the $79.8 million in debt on the project. Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – NEW YORK AREA

Fannie Mae director puts lists his luxury home on the market

The most expensive deal of last week was definitely an Upper West Side townhouse. As The Real Deal has learned, the owner of the luxury property listed is a Fannie Mae director, Jonathan Plutzik and his wife and business partner in various ventures, Lesley Goldwasser. Read More..

Katy Perry’s Tribeca penthouse hits the market

Pop star Katy Perry decided to unload her luxury Tribeca penthouse apartment she purchased just a year and a half ago. Read More..

New York foreclosures rise

Although New York State’s delinquency rate was down in the fourth quarter, foreclosures are up, according to a report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The percentage of delinquent mortgage loans on residential properties hardly hit 7.98%, down from 8.12% at the end of the third quarter of 2011. Read More..

Obama’s budget targets with Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee

Republican lawmakers question Obama’s budget proposal, which specifically targets banks through a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee, through which the President intends to raise $61 billion (sic!) from the nation’s largest banks. According to Obama, the money is intended to “compensate the American people for the extraordinary assistance they provided to Wall Street, as well as the discourage excessive risk-taking.” Read More..

Former Bank President and Developer Face Mortgage Fraud Charges

It was hard to find some of the heads that heavily contributed to the mortgage crisis, but it seems like the FBI and SIGTARP are finally trying to do their job: heads began to fall.  According to recent information, an ex-bank-president and real estate developer face charges in a one count bill of information for conspiracy to commit mortgage bank fraud. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

Principal reductions, this is the way, Treasury says”

According to the latest Supplemental Directive the Treasury increases incentives for second lien investors when loans receive principal reductions. The new incentives apply to permanent HAMP modifications with principal reductions through the government’s PRA (Principal Reduction Alternative) which start their trial period March 1 or later. The incentives are also available when second liens are completely or partially eliminated through the Second Lien Modification Program (2MP) on loans modified starting June 1, DsNews informs. Read More..

FHA Aims to Attract Private Investors to Weaken the GSE’S Position

According to a three-part goal released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency on Tuesday, the agency aims to phase out the dominant role of the GSEs to make place for more private investors into the mortgage industry.  The first step involves building a new infrastructure to allow the private sector to participate in the secondary market, which is aimed to be built by creating national standards for the mortgage securitization process that Congress and participants can use to develop the mortgage market, the FHFA letter writes. Read More..

COMMERCIAL

Tallest tower in the Southeast scheduled for foreclosure auction

The foreclosure crisis has new hit even the tallest building of Southeast. The 55-story Bank of America plaza is heading to a foreclosure auction that will be held tomorrow on the steps of the Fulton Country Courthouse. This is the result of the high price BentleyForbes paid at the height of the housing bubble when it purchased the building for $346 million from Bank of America and Cousins Properties Inc. It was the city’s biggest deal at the time. Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – NAPLES AREA

Talbott hit with another foreclosure lawsuit

This year won’t bring too much foreclosure relief in the commercial real estate sector. Banks are moving forward with foreclosure and the list of targeted developers is pretty long. Read More..

Naples area inventory drops to 5 year low

Naples Area Board of Realtors found that the housing inventory dropped to a 5 year low. There are now 7,581 homes and condominiums on the market, 17% less than a year ago, when the housing inventory counted 9,145 homes. Read More..

Fort Myers area home prices are up

According to the latest numbers covering the Greater Forty Myers area housing market, home prices are up. The Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Inc. published its latest report which highlights the increase of the median price. Read More..

The new incentives apply to permanent HAMP modifications with principal reductions through the government’s PRA (Principal Reduction Alternative) which start their trial period March 1 or later.

The incentives are also available when second liens are completely or partially eliminated through the Second Lien Modification Program (2MP) on loans modified starting June 1, DsNews informs.

According to information supplied by the online newspaper the Treasury targets loans no more than six month delinquent over the previous 12 months. Its proposal looks like this: investors may receive $0.63 per dollar of written down principal between 105% and 115% market-to-market loan-to-value ratios (MTMLTVs) or $0.45 per dollar of written down principal between 115% and 140% MTMLTVs.

“For loans that have been more than six months delinquent sometime in the previous 12 months, investors may receive $0.18 per dollar of written down principal, irrespective of MTMLTV ratio.”

Furthermore, investors can receive $0.12 per dollar of unpaid principal balance eliminated on second liens if the second lien modified through 2MP have not been more than a half a year delinquent in the previous 12 months.

“This guidance does not apply to mortgage loans that are owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, insured or guaranteed by the Veterans Administration or the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service or insured by the Federal Housing Administration,” the directive states.

According to Obama, the money is intended to “compensate the American people for the extraordinary assistance they provided to Wall Street, as well as the discourage excessive risk-taking.”

As we have used to hear from Mr. Obama, the money goes for a mass refinance program, outlined in his State of the Union address. The fee would be collected from banks with over $50 billion in assets and would be paid over a $10-year period.

“The Administration continues to actively implement ongoing Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) activities targeted to assist homeowners threatened by foreclosure, including unemployed homeowners and those with negative home equity,” Obama stated in the budget proposal.

Obama’s new refi program joins the line of the other ones he initiated during his presidency. What needs to mentioned though that all of them failed short of their initial  goal. The latest proposal needs to analyzed with this in mind.

Just a quick example: HAMP was proposed to reach from 3 million to 4 million distressed homeowners. The recent numbers published by the Treasury are still below the 1 million milestone, as HAMP helped only 910,000 homeowners in distress to obtain permanent mods.

“Unfortunately, aspects of the President’s proposals to increase revenue would harm American job creators as well,” states the Financial Executives International president and CEO, Marie Hollein.

“FEI observes with concern that the budget proposes roughly $450 billion in tax increases on American businesses over the next 10 years,” states a press release from Financial Executives International, an industry organization for senior-level financial executives.

11 million homeowners underwater, 10 million likely to default

Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray said the other day that as many as 10 million homeowners are at risk of default. Looking back to the housing bubble, Cordray calls that period “the wild West of lending”, as time when consumers were steered into high-priced mortgages, first time buyers opted for balloon loans without understanding the risks, and lenders with little regard for a borrowers ability to keep the mortgage current. Read More..

Foreclosures as Affordable Properties – A New Jersey Bill

There is a way to both shrink the foreclosure inventory and revitalize the real estate market. Two New Jersey lawmakers have proposed a bill which can help by reducing the foreclosure inventory by creating an entity to buy foreclosures and resell them as affordable housing units. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

The foreclosure fraud settlement term sheet is “coming soon”

We are more than 72 hours removed from the robo-signing settlement and the terms have not been made public. According to the American Banker the terms will not be released before the filing of the settlement in federal court. And there is only one explanation for this: the terms does not exist. Yet. What we get is just some statements, coming from all media, suggesting that the foreclosure settlement was finally signed. My question is: who saw the signed paper? I didn’t. Did you?  Read More..

HUD Could Need another Bailout from the Treasury

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is likely to announce smaller settlements with mortgage servicers and additional premium increases as its budget has a $688 million hole at the Federal Housing Administration.  The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published its 2013 budget projection and it isn’t bright for the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance fund, as it could see the red line in the upcoming year and could need a possible $688 bailout from the Treasury Department.  Read More..

COMMERCIAL

Colonial Golf and County Club scheduled for foreclosure auction

Colonial Golf and County Club ends its more than a decade financial and political struggle by closing its doors. Tony Manzella, who purchased the 88-acre property two years ago announced that after exploring all available option to develop a plan to retire the club’s debt he closes the club’s doors January 31, three weeks before the scheduled foreclosure auction. Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – MIAMI AREA

Boynton Waters project slipped into foreclosure

The troubled Boynton Water project now faces foreclosure. The project owners face two separate, yet related foreclosure lawsuits target the 120 home lots in the community on the west side of South Jog Road at Lakeside Boulevard in Boynton Beach. Read More..

Waterside at Boynton short sale

The Waterside at Boynton was scheduled for foreclosure sale, but short sale saved the property from foreclosure, the South Florida Business Journal reports. Read More..

Church halts foreclosure auction by filing for bankruptcy

A Missionary Baptist Church in Solid Rock is hoping to stop foreclosure and solve its financials after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 19. The church, which itself it is a nonprofit institution faced harsh times lately specially with its financials, and it was set to lose its 25,647 square-feet facility that sits on 4.4 acres at 19000 SW 112th Avenue. Read More..

Looking back to the housing bubble, Cordray calls that period “the wild West of lending”, as time when consumers were steered into high-priced mortgages, first time buyers opted for balloon loans without understanding the risks, and lenders with little regard for a borrowers ability to keep the mortgage current.

Cordray says the tragic error was that during the wild West time of lending there was no sheriff to make sure everything is alright. In other words, the lack of rules, no supervision pushed the housing bubble to its heights.

Now the agency he directs aims to focus on the mortgage market, although its charges are to oversee all consumer-facing financial products and services.

In his argument he said the mortgage market was a house of cards that crashed our economy and caused so much pain for millions of Americans. In addition to the 10 million he sees likely to default, there are another 4 million who are already behind on their payments by more than 90 days, and nearly 25% of all mortgage borrowers are underwater.

“There is much that needs to be fixed in this broken market – from the moment a prospective homeowner starts shopping for a loan all the way until the loan is finally terminated, which for too many people these days comes about through foreclosure,” Cordray said.

“For the first time, the federal government will have the authority to look into the entire mortgage servicing market,” Cordray said. “This is a critical improvement: We will be able to monitor all players to make sure they abide by federal consumer financial laws.”

Cordray’s plans – through the CFPB – are to issue a rule that requires lenders to issue clear information to the consumers in their billing statement. The agency already made the first step: a prototype of that kind of statement can be found on their website.

In addition the agency will also issue new consumers protections around force-placed insurance.

This would bring consumers notifications of interest rate adjustments months ahead of happening, and they will receive a good-faith estimate of their new monthly payment, along with a list of alternatives.

More than 40 states consider signing the robo-signing settlement

The robo-signing settlement is imminent as the deadline for signing the paper that will bring relief for banks is Monday. Last Monday the deadline was set to Friday, but it was later postponed to Monday. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and the committee it lead already has the papers with the participating states. And surprises are to come, maybe for Valentine’s Day. Read More..

New York Attorney General Is Likely To Sign Onto the Foreclosure Settlement

Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General is one of the key figures that everybody is looking at, as the foreclosure settlement question becomes hot. He is the man holding the cards, as the deadline has been extended once again from Monday to Thursday. This means one thing: negotiations could still fall through. Read More..

LENDERS & SERVICERS

California Expected To Join the Robo-Signing Settlement

Kamala Harris, California Attorney General is likely to sign into the mortgage settlement with the top five mortgage servicers, sources familiar with the matter reported. Both Eric Schneiderman and Kamala Harris have been the two biggest hold outs on the proposed settlement, which was backed up by the second deadline – which was Monday evening – by 40 states. Now California AG is ready to put her signature on that paper. Read More..

COMMERCIAL

Tallest tower in the Southeast scheduled for foreclosure auction

The foreclosure crisis has new hit even the tallest building of Southeast. The 55-story Bank of America plaza is heading to a foreclosure auction that will be held tomorrow on the steps of the Fulton Country Courthouse. This is the result of the high price BentleyForbes paid at the height of the housing bubble when it purchased the building for $346 million from Bank of America and Cousins Properties Inc. It was the city’s biggest deal at the time. Read More..

MARKET UPDATE – SAN FRANCISCO AREA

Existing homes sales are up in San Francisco

The San Francisco housing is giving positive signs that lead us to think it is on its way to recovery. The latest numbers published by DataQuick show recorded home sales up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis in December with 499 recorded sales compared to 491 sales in December 2010. Read More..

250 King Street sold with a 16% discount

The 250 King Street luxury property was once purchased for $841,500 and that happened six years ago, as Socketsite reports. After buying the property the fresh homeowners invested a significant amount of money by giving a facelift, and upgrading their real estate with hand milled woodwork, built-ins and flooring. Read More..

Hillsborough mansion hits the market with a $29 million price tag

A 20-room, 35,000 square-feet mansion located in Hillsborough and known as the Tobin Clark Estate, hit the market last week with a $29 million price tag. The announcement came from the owner of the property, Sam Bamieh, who is the founder and former Chairman of the American Intertrade Group Inc. from San Mateo. Read More..

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and the committee it lead already has the papers with the participating states. And surprises are to come, maybe for Valentine’s Day.

Late Monday evening, Tom Miller issued a statement saying more than 40 states have agreed to participate in the settlement.

“This enables us to move forward into the very final stages of remaining work,” Miller said. “Federal and state officials, as well as representatives from the banks, continue to address matters that they must complete before finalizing any settlement.”

Miller declined to reveal other important information that concerns every American citizen with a mortgage. What we know is from the rumors which have been circulating through the media. Sources say the key number of the settlement is $25 billion. That’s the amount Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fago, Citigroup and Ally Financial would pay for a clean slate regarding the robo-signing misdeed of the past. In other words: the re-written history.

CNBC reports that the $25 billion would be distributed in three ways: $17 billion for the principal reductions, $3 billion for homeowners whose homes have been foreclosed, and $5 billion for state and federal foreclosure programs.

In addition, CNBC has found that $17 billion aims to bring principal reductions to 1 million homeowners in distress and about 750,000 homeowners who have lost their homes to foreclosure would receive about $2,000.

Although each source underscores the $25 billion, the amount still depends on the number  of participating states. This means both California and New York are under pressure and they might join the states who sign onto the settlement.

In other words, California AG, Kamala Harris, who said the foreclosure settlement is inadequate is possible to put her signature on the paper that brings relief for banks.

Furthermore, the Eric Schneiderman has recently stated that he sees the current settlement more favorable than in the past, so it is likely to see him too put a signature there.

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..

COMMERCIAL

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..