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The Obama administration announced its latest plan to help troubled homeowners, enabling an estimated 3.5 million underwater mortgage holders to refinance at today’s historically-low interest rates. However, experts speculate the proposal—which is expected to cost up to $10 billion and would be paid for by imposing a fee on major banks—could have a difficult time [...]
Yesterday, the Justice Department and 49 out of 50 state Attorneys General announced a settlement agreement with 5 of the nation’s largest banks in the Robo-signing and Mortgage Service Fraud scandal that first came to light in late 2010. The settlement, worth $25 billion dollars, was the largest government negotiated industry settlement since the Tobacco [...]
There’s both good news and bad news on the foreclosure front. The good news? According to RealtyTrac’s Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, total U.S. foreclosure activity and the foreclosure rate were both at their lowest annual level since 2007. The bad news? Foreclosure levels were artificially lowered due to delays following the robo-signing scandal. [...]
On Jan. 4, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sent a letter and white paper to Congress outlining his insights and recommendations on restoring the health of the U.S. housing market. Among the key findings on current market conditions: Housing prices remain 33% below their early 2006 peak Currently, 1 in 5 mortgage holders are underwater [...]
(Photo courtesy of IowaPolitics.com) In a recent blog post, CNBC’s Diana Olick slams the Republican presidential candidates’ plans for solving the nation’s housing crisis. Political beliefs aside, Olick makes some astute observations regarding the bank’s preferences for short sales over foreclosures and the important role that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play in keeping [...]
SPECIAL REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY BROADCAST Exclusive Interview with the US Treasury’s Director of Policy for Homeownership Preservation Office, Laurie Maggiano! You and the Treasury Department Have the Same Goal … to Close More Short Sales in 2011! Join us for an exclusive interview with Laurie Maggiano, Director of Policy in the Office of Homeownership Preservation, [...]
that [the foreclosure scandal] is going to lead to a substantial number of foreclosures being permanently forgotten,” Rep. Barney Frank said during Congressional hearings yesterday [reported by the Washington Post]. Strong words from the outgoing chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and even stronger when paired with the new mortgage delinquency numbers. Following are the [...]
Some of the nation’s largest banks will appear before the Senate Banking Committee today to explain their actions regarding the “robo-signing” scandal in which lenders allegedly filed thousands of inaccurate documents in foreclosure cases. This scandal initially led to the recent foreclosure freezes by major lenders. A 125-page report just released by the Congressional Oversight [...]
concluded with a consensus that homeowners having difficulty paying their mortgages should contact an educated real estate agent. However, CEO Alex Charfen had to combat another guest’s misinformation on short sales and hopelessness about the market to get there. Following is a response from Alex, as well as a recording of the segment on CNBC: [...]
History would say, “Yes. I’ve seen this before.” Since 2008, talk of foreclosure moratoria has emerged in the fourth quarter around the holidays, only to be lifted part-way through the first quarter with record numbers of foreclosures flooding the market. This is then followed by an increase in short sales as banks and homeowners work [...]
We’ve seen tremendous short sale success over the past year, as indicated by the Second Quarter Mortgage Metrics Report released by US Treasury. Short sale volume for all mortgages (including both GSE and non-GSE loans) increased 42 percent over the first quarter, and an incredible 126 percent from a year ago. This great news is [...]
A few months ago, we posted that Freddie Mac reported its short sale volume was up 600%. Today, REOInsider reported that “short sale volume is up more than 150% from volume in 2Q09, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s second quarter government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) ‘Foreclosure Prevention & Refinance Report.’” We weren’t surprised at the [...]
Lee Bittinger, CDPE and top Michigan agent, brought to our attention a resource that agents can use to find help for troubled short sale cases: HelpWithMyBank.gov is administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (my hands cramped just writing that!) … even if you can’t remember the [...]
Speaking about short sales, strategic defaults and the current state of the real estate market, Distressed Property Institute CEO Alex Charfen appeared before a nationwide audience this morning on Fox & Friends, as well as the Fox Strategy Room. Here, Alex provides distressed homeowners with a better understanding of their situation, and his message is [...]
In support of the housing market and pending deals nationwide, the House and Senate have pushed through a three-month closing extension for the homebuyer tax credit. The bill now goes to President Obama to be signed. Here are some of the details as reported by Reuters late last night: Homebuyers with contracts signed by April [...]
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