Short Sale

California Foreclosures – 2010 into 2011

by Fred on January 14, 2011

California is one of 5 states which half of the country’s foreclosure activity tooke place in 2010. These five foreclosure states are: California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan. One in 45 households received a foreclosure notice last year. All together almost 1.5 million households receiving a foreclosure notice and more is expected in 2011 with the Pay Option Arm Mortgage Resets to occur.

Pay Option Arm Mortgage Resets will be a big problem for homeowners in 2011, since many loans will re-cast and mortgage payments will jump, making many of the ARM Mortgages unaffordable. California was a leading state for the Pay Option Arm Mortgages – Mortage Reset Central.

With the origination of the Option arm mortgages lender fraud was rampant. Most of these loan have serious violations in them, including RESPA and TILA violations that homeowners can use to their advantage when dealing with the lenders and servicers. With a forensic loan audit, the homeowner may use this to negotiate with the bank, or use as evidence in a class action lawsuit against the lender. Our clients find the forensic loan audit a great investment to fight back against the foreclosure.

Banks repossess 1 million U.S. homes in 2010
By Associated Press
Banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005, RealtyTrac said. And this year is expected to be even bleaker. “2011 is going to be the peak,” said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc. Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home’s value, industry analysts forecast. For December, 257,747 U.S. homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice. That was the lowest monthly total in 30 months. The number of notices fell 1.8 percent from November and 26.3 percent from December 2009, RealtyTrac said.

For 2010, one in 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, or a record high of 2.9 million homes. That’s up 1.67 percent from 2009. The pace slowed in the final two months of 2010 as banks reviewed their foreclosure processes after allegations surfaced in September that evictions were handled improperly. Under increased scrutiny by the government, lenders temporarily halted taking actions against borrowers severely behind on their payments. However, most banks have since resumed their eviction processes, and the first quarter will likely show a rebound in foreclosure activity, Sharga said.

Foreclosures are expected to remain elevated through the year as homeowners contend with stubbornly high unemployment, tougher credit standards for refinancing and falling home values. Sharga said he expects prices to dip another 5 percent nationally before finally bottoming out. The decline will push more borrowers underwater on their mortgages. Already, about one in five homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their home is worth.

The pain likely will be the most acute in states that have already been hit hard. That includes former housing boom states Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California, along with states that are suffering most from the economic downturn, including Michigan and Illinois.

Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in 2010 for the fourth straight year, despite a 5 percent decline in activity from the year before. One in every 11 households received a foreclosure filing last year in the state. In December, foreclosure activity increased 18 percent from November with a 71 percent spike in bank repossessions. Arizona and California also showed sharp December increases in the number of homes banks took back, at 52 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Arizona, along with Florida, finished the year at No. 2 and No. 3 for the highest foreclosure rates. One in every 17 Arizona households got a foreclosure filing last year, while one in 18 received a notice in Florida. California, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado rounded out the top ten states with the highest foreclosure rates. More than half of the country’s foreclosure activity came out of five states in 2010: California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan. Together, these states recorded almost 1.5 million households receiving a filing, despite year-over-year decreases in California, Florida and Arizona.

RealtyTrac tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions — warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.

Bank of America to Pay $3 Billion in Mortgage Settlement

by Fred on January 3, 2011

B of A – Bank of America Settles Lawsuit Worth $3 Billion in Mortgage Settlement

Bank of America Settles Lawsuit

While this does not directly benefit struggling homeowners, it is proof that banks can be held accountable for faulty mortgages. It is also evidence that Bank of America has not been acting honestly or ethically with the parties of interest – and this includes the homeowners. Recent conversation with a third party expert on forensic loan audits, stated that Bank of America or BofA pay option arm loans originated by Countrywide are some of the worst they have seen. Thousands of dollars were overcharged to homeowners. Join the Class Action Lawsuit against B of A – Bank of America and Countrywide. Class Action Lawsuit Video.

By Aaron Smith, staff writerJanuary 3, 2011: 11:42 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Bank of America has reached a $3 billion agreement with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to resolve a faulty mortgage loan dispute involving Countrywide Financial Corp.

Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) said that it paid nearly $1.3 billion to Freddie Mac and more than $1.3 billion to Fannie Mae on Dec. 31.

The purpose of this agreement is to settle an issue of bad mortgages sold by Countrywide to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac related to the housing crisis of 2008. The $2.6 billion worth of payments to Freddie and Fannie, combined with potential losses on future repurchases from government-sponsored enterprises, adds up to $3 billion in expenses, according to BofA. A Bank of America spokesman also said it expects to take an additional $2 billion charge to fourth-quarter results from the decline in the mortgage business, bringing the total impact to the company to $5 billion. “Our goals remain the same: put these issues behind us; focus on serving customers and clients; and continue to help distressed homeowners facing difficult times,” said Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan.

TARP Funds Used to Help Banks Rather Than Homeowners Revealed

by Fred on December 31, 2010

TARP Funds and Homeowners

If you ever thought the government was on our side – out to help us as homeowners, think again. Recent information revealed that TARP money requested to be used for homeowner assistance was not allowed to be used to help homeowners. Basically our treasury barred the use of TARP funds – and we set aside to help only banks out. If that TARP money had been applied to only helping homeowners, where would we be today? Probably in a lot better shape.

It just goes to say we cannot expect the government to help us – we need to help ourselves. Data shows that you are unlikely to get a loan modification, so your choices are either get out of the house using a short sale, or file a lawsuit against your lender for fraud (almost every loan since 2000 has fraud in it – but that’s another topic). Many are choosing a class action lawsuit - to sue your lender – rather than an individual lawsuit.

For assistance with your bad loan, give us a call at (619) 631-4545.

From NakedCapitalism:Thursday, December 9, 2010

Treasury Bars Use of TARP Funds to Help Borrowers Facing Foreclosure

If you had any doubts about whose side the Administration is on, this story should settle all doubts.

From the Nation:

Consider this: the recent Fed audit revealed over $3.3 trillion in emergency assistance to the banks and other corporate behemoths during the financial crisis–no strings attached…. Then consider the 19 states which are recipients of the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF)–a portion of TARP money set aside to help homeowners in states struggling with the highest unemployment rates and steepest declines in the housing market.

Some of those states, including Ohio, let Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner know as far back as this past spring that they wanted to use some of those funds to assist legal aid groups that help individual homeowners…. Treasury solicited the opinion of an outside law firm, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. Never mind that the firm’s clients include BB&T Corporation and payday lender CNG Financial Corp. The firm said, in essence–sorry, no can do on the legal aid. Not permitted under the TARP. Huh? Hold on a sec–is this the same TARP that granted the Treasury Secretary all those “extraordinary powers” to protect people’s home values, preserve home ownership, promote economic growth, etc.?

Yves here. The skepticism is well warranted. This isn’t an area in which a law firm would have much (any) liability on an opinion. Ergo, a combination of Treasury body language and selection of the firm would have determined the outcome. Besides, the TARP explicitly put the Treasury secretary above the law. So why is Treasury even getting an opinion? This is clearly an exercise in creating an excuse for an action it wanted to take.

The article also details actions by Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Sen. Sherrod Brown to reverse the Treasury action. Kaptur has introduced a bill (HR 5510) to amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to enable nonprofits, both counseling firms and law firms, to receive TARP funds to help single family homeowners to prevent foreclosures. Brown introduced a parallel measure (S 3979) in the Senate. Please contact your Senators and Representative and ask them to cosponsor these measures. And annoy Treasury by calling or e-mailing them (try the Domestic Finance and Economic Policy contacts) to tell them they are on the wrong side of this issue.

San Diego Home Foreclosures Up in 3rd Quarter – Failure of HAMP

by julie on December 29, 2010

San Diego Real Estate and other Real Estate Nationwide has seen an Increase in Foreclosures - Resulting from the Failure of the HAMP Program as well as Lender Fraud.

According to the report below the banks have “exhaused” their options – more likely they have place insurance policies against the delinquent homeowners, which will result in the lender/servicer getting a bigger paycheck if the house goes to sale rather than modifying the loan. Most lenders/servicers are stringing homeowners out for 8-12 months only to be denied the loan modification right before the foreclosure sale. By this time it is too late for the homeowner to do much else with the property. San Diego foreclosures will continue to increase.

The homeowners have several options:

Short Sale – sell the home
Take legal action – join a Class Action Lawsuit against your lender
Get a Forensic Loan Audit - then determine which course of action is best for you

Our team of experts can help guide you through this program. Call today: (619) 631-4546.

By Dave Clarke WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 29, 2010 4:44pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. home foreclosures jumped in the third quarter and banks’ efforts to keep borrowers in their homes dropped as the housing market continues to struggle, U.S. bank regulators said on Wednesday.

The regulators said one reason for the increase in foreclosures is that banks have “exhausted” options for keeping many delinquent borrowers in their homes through programs such as loan modifications. Newly-initiated foreclosures increased to 382,000 in the third quarter, a 31.2 percent jump over the previous quarter and a 3.7 percent rise from the same quarter a year ago, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) said in a quarterly mortgage report. The number of foreclosures in process increased to 1.2 million, a 4.5 percent increase from the second quarter and a 10.1 percent increase from a year ago, according to the regulators. They said during a briefing that the numbers could send “mixed signals” about the health of the U.S. housing market.

Regulators also said a possible reason for the foreclosure uptick in the quarter was that a large pool of borrowers who were being considered for home retention programs but did not qualify moved through the system.

”I think you’ll see more stabilization now,” said Bruce Krueger, a mortgage official at the OCC. Foreclosures have become a hot political topic and mortgage servicers have come under fire in recent months amid accusations they did not properly review documents before attempting to take borrowers’ homes.

These concerns prompted the country’s 50 state attorneys general to coordinate an investigation of lenders such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Ally Financial’s GMAC unit.

Some banks, including BofA, temporarily suspended foreclosure proceedings late in the third quarter to review procedures. Officials from the OCC and OTS declined to say what type of impact this might have on fourth-quarter foreclosure numbers.

BANKS LOOK OUTSIDE HAMP

State attorneys general and regulators have been pushing banks to perform more loan modifications and the report shows these efforts have had mixed results.

Overall home retention actions taken by banks dropped by 17 percent compared to the second quarter, but most of that was due to decreases in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the Obama administration’s leading foreclosure prevention effort. In the third quarter, HAMP loan modifications slid by almost 46 percent, according to the report.

Regulators said the drop in HAMP modifications is likely due to a few factors, including that a large pool of borrowers who were being considered for the program turned out not to be eligible once their qualifications were fully reviewed. Treasury launched HAMP to try to find a way to reduce mortgage payments for struggling homeowners who wanted to keep their homes but who were at imminent risk of foreclosure. But it is widely regarded as a flawed program, and the incoming Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Representative Darrell Issa, has called for it to be ended. Regulators pointed out that mortgage servicers are pursuing more modifications outside of HAMP and such efforts increased by 10 percent in the third quarter.

The report, which covers 33 million loans serviced by national banks and federally regulated thrifts, shows that the amount of borrowers making their mortgage payments on time remains steady at 87.4 percent.

The amount of seriously delinquent loans, those 60 days or more past due, dropped 6.4 percent from the second quarter. The amount of loans that were 30 to 59 days past due, however, increased 4.3 percent.

San Diego Homes Worth Less – Nationwide Home Inventory Up

by julie on December 28, 2010

San Diego Home prices continue to fall as a double dip recession is predicted. San Diego Short Sales on the Rise.

Unfortunately 2011 may not look any more promising for San Diego homeowners looking to sell their home. Seeing you equity drop to a point where there is negative equity means that you will need to short sale your home if you are in San Diego, or in other parts of California. For those having to move, or lost their income a San Diego short sale may be a good move for many. It allows the homeowner to get out from the debt, partcularly as home prices continue to fall, and move on with you life.

For those that have discovered that the lender/servicer has not been playing fair purusing legal means may be a good solution. Many homeowners are turning toward a class action lawsuit against their lender to save their home. A forensic loan audit may reveal fraud in your loan. Call (619) 631-4546 today.

By Les Christie, staff writerDecember 28, 2010: 11:24 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Home prices took a shockingly steep plunge on a monthly basis, an indication that the housing market could be on the verge of — if it’s not already in — a double-dip slump.

Prices in 20 key cities fell 1.3% in October from a month earlier, an annualized decline of 15%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Prices were down 0.8% from 12 months earlier.

Month-over-month prices dropped in all 20 metro areas covered by the index. Six markets reached their lowest levels since the housing bust first began in 2006 and 2007. They were Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Miami, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tampa, Fla.

“The double-dip is almost here,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “There is no good news in October’s report. Home prices across the country continue to fall.”

The report was far more dire than anticipated by industry experts, who had forecast an almost flat market in October. It followed weak September numbers.

“It was a bit of a surprise,” said real estate analyst Pat Newport of IHS Global Research. “I wasn’t expecting it to lag so badly in all 20 cities.”

He, along with many other experts, has been forecasting further price erosion over the next few months of 5% to 7%, but didn’t expect the price drop to hit so fast and so hard. It’s mostly attributable to the end of the tax credit for homebuyers, the effects of which started to vanish beginning in June.

“The trends we have seen over the past few months have not changed,” said Blitzer. “The tax incentives are over and the national economy remained lackluster in October, the month covered by these data.”

Sales volume continues to lag, off 25% even from last October, when markets could hardly be described as robust.

Why the housing bulls are wrong

The inventory of homes on the market is up about 50% compared with last year at this time, and there are millions of potential homes for sale waiting on the sideline for markets to improve.

Much of that “shadow inventory” is held as repossessed properties by banks, who will eventually have to release them back on the market.

Most (and least) affordable cities

Prices in Atlanta, down 2.9%, and Detroit, off 2.5%, took a particular beating in October. Las Vegas and Washington came out of the month only slightly bruised, down just 0.2%.

The report ran counter to what have been generally positive signs of economic recovery, according to Richard DeKaser, an independent housing market analyst and founder of Woodley Park Research.

“The market is not showing much improvement after the summer slump,” he said. “Housing is acting as a drag on recovery.”

The coming of the second of the double dip is icing on the cake for homebuyers, who already have benefited from prices not seen in years in most markets.

“Prices have already adjusted, and are probably undervalued in most cities,” said Newport. “This will make them even more undervalued.”

Home price plunge is widespread

Record plunge in foreclosures, thanks to robo-signers

Obama’s mortgage mod plan is still lacking

Bank of America to resume foreclosures

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