Below the Line: Estimates of Negative Equity among Nonprime Mortgage Borrowers
The boom in nonprime mortgage lending that occurred in the United States between 2004 and 2006 was quickly followed by rapid increases in the rate of delinquencies and foreclosures on these loans. This pronounced deterioration alarmed investors, the public, and policymakers.
Significantly, uncertainty about the source of the decline in loan quality has played a key role in the credit crunch that began in mid-2007.
Nonprime loan originations rose sharply after 2003, and these loans became delinquent far more quickly than had earlier vintages. Indeed, loans originated in 2004 performed poorly compared with earlier vintages, and the 2005 and 2006 vintages became seriously delinquent within a year of origination at rates that the 2003 vintage took twenty and thirty months to reach, respectively.
Full Story here
More than $3 Trillion Worth of Property at Risk of Default
More than 15.2 million U.S. mortgages, or 32.2 percent of all mortgaged properties, were in negative equity position as of June 30, 2009 according to newly released data from First American CoreLogic. June’s negative equity share was slightly lower than the 32.5 percent as of the end of March 2009 and it reflects the recent flattening of monthly home price changes.
As of June 2009, there were an additional 2.5 million mortgaged properties that were approaching negative equity. Negative equity and near negative equity mortgages combined account for nearly 38 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide.
Full Story here
Showing posts with label foreclosure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foreclosure. Show all posts
Ten Things You MUST Measure on Your Website
Investing more in your website without measuring how well it's working is simply gambling. You may as well be flipping a coin. How should you measure online success? Here are the ten things you must measure in order to validate your investment.
1. How Fast Is It?
2. How Often Does It Spit Up or Fall Over?
3. How Many People Show Up?
4. Which Are the Most Popular Pages?
5. Which Way Did They Go?
6. What Are They Looking For?
7. How Did They Get Here?
8. Did We Achieve Our Goals?
9. Are They Happy About Their Visit?
10. Are We Using Our Own Metrics?
Set goals. Make changes. Track results, Repeat. Those are the instructions for a bigger, better, faster, stronger website. Full Article
In the News
NAR Foresees Increase in Home, Condo Sales by Summer as a Result of Very Favorable Buying Conditions; Inventory is Almost Back to Normal
Washington, D.C.--Existing-home sales declined in January with some buyers waiting to see how details of the economic stimulus package would affect them, according to the National Association of Realtors. At the same time, inventories fell to a two-year low.
NLIHC Study Highlights Plight of Renters in Market Going Through High Number of Foreclosures
Washington, D.C.--While there has been ample coverage on foreclosures and how they are affecting buyers, the impact of foreclosed homes on renters is often ignored.
What's in the Stimulus for You?
Companies, industries, and individuals in the U.S. are wondering how the stimulus package will affect their bottom line, market, and wallet.
HUD Allocates More Than $10 Billion of Recovery Act Funding One Week After Bill Signing
1. How Fast Is It?
2. How Often Does It Spit Up or Fall Over?
3. How Many People Show Up?
4. Which Are the Most Popular Pages?
5. Which Way Did They Go?
6. What Are They Looking For?
7. How Did They Get Here?
8. Did We Achieve Our Goals?
9. Are They Happy About Their Visit?
10. Are We Using Our Own Metrics?
Set goals. Make changes. Track results, Repeat. Those are the instructions for a bigger, better, faster, stronger website. Full Article
In the News
NAR Foresees Increase in Home, Condo Sales by Summer as a Result of Very Favorable Buying Conditions; Inventory is Almost Back to Normal
Washington, D.C.--Existing-home sales declined in January with some buyers waiting to see how details of the economic stimulus package would affect them, according to the National Association of Realtors. At the same time, inventories fell to a two-year low.
NLIHC Study Highlights Plight of Renters in Market Going Through High Number of Foreclosures
Washington, D.C.--While there has been ample coverage on foreclosures and how they are affecting buyers, the impact of foreclosed homes on renters is often ignored.
What's in the Stimulus for You?
Companies, industries, and individuals in the U.S. are wondering how the stimulus package will affect their bottom line, market, and wallet.
HUD Allocates More Than $10 Billion of Recovery Act Funding One Week After Bill Signing
Housing Bill Won't 'Perform Miracles'
Senate Approves Measure, but Critics Say Law Unlikely to Prevent Most Foreclosures
By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 27, 2008; Page A01
Even as a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate voted yesterday to send a sprawling housing bill to the White House, economists, consumer advocates and other analysts said the package of programs for struggling homeowners and shaken mortgage lenders is unlikely to relieve the foreclosure crisis that is driving the nation toward recession.
"This is not the end of the housing crunch," said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. "Housing prices have already fallen 15 percent and they need to fall 10 percent more. This bill isn't going to change that equation."
By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 27, 2008; Page A01
Even as a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate voted yesterday to send a sprawling housing bill to the White House, economists, consumer advocates and other analysts said the package of programs for struggling homeowners and shaken mortgage lenders is unlikely to relieve the foreclosure crisis that is driving the nation toward recession.
"This is not the end of the housing crunch," said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. "Housing prices have already fallen 15 percent and they need to fall 10 percent more. This bill isn't going to change that equation."
Some Judges Stiffen Foreclosure Standards (WSJ)
WSJJuly 26, 2008; Page A3
A cadre of state-court judges scrutinizing foreclosure actions in a string of recent rulings have discovered flaws in documents that borrowers may be able to use to keep their homes.
The rulings show the critical role that judges are beginning to play as foreclosures mount in the most severe housing crisis since the Great Depression. The recent decisions build upon widely circulated opinions issued last fall by federal judges in Ohio who found trusts that hold the mortgages regularly begin foreclosure proceedings before they obtain the legal right to do so.
WSJ Law Blog
July 25, 2008
Subprime Legal: Judges Scrutinize Mortgage Docs, Deny Foreclosures
It’s been about nine months since several federal judges in Ohio issued the widely-read foreclosure dismissals that shined a light on sloppy paperwork done by companies that specialize in handling foreclosures.
Since then, the WSJ reports tonight, other judges across the country have caught on and are carefully scrutinizing mortgage documents filed as part of foreclosures and dismissing cases based on mistakes they’re finding, which borrowers might be able to exploit when facing foreclosure. (For another good read on judges and lawyers working to staunch foreclosure, click here for a recent NLJ story.)
The Forgotten Victims-Housing Crisis
Tenants of foreclosed properties can face intimidation, bribes, and jacked-up rent to force relocation.
By Wendy Patterson-January 2, 2008
Tina Marie Williams For Tina Marie Williams, it all started one day in late August: "A black SUV pulled up and a guy got out," she recalled. "He looked around for about thirty minutes then taped a piece of paper on my mailbox. That's how I found out the property was going to be auctioned on September 2 at 12 p.m."
Williams is now fighting eviction, the last hold-out renter in a dreary fourplex on 90th Avenue in East Oakland. As the sub-prime mortgage debacle and foreclosures dominate the headlines, less visible is the plight of such renters. When buildings are put up for auction or banks repossess, tenants like Williams are often caught in limbo — abandoned by their landlords, threatened or bribed by Realtors to leave, and faced with the challenge of finding new housing.
East Bay housing organizations are reporting marked increases in calls from desperate renters living in properties facing foreclosure. The East Bay Community Law Center's Housing Specialist Gracie Jones said they got 24 calls in one day recently. On average, they receive about thirty a week.
Often the first tenants hear of a problem is when they get a notice saying the property has been repossessed or is now owned by someone who bought it in auction. Other times, their utilities are turned off because the owner has stopped paying the bills.
Banks, which are often outside of the area, hire local property managers or Realtors to negotiate. But tenant advocates say they often threaten tenants and pressure them to move out.
Berkeley, Hayward, and Oakland have ordinances to protect tenants from being evicted without "just cause." But tenants who don't know their rights can feel frightened by the notices they receive. Some take "cash for keys" offers, even though it may be impossible for them to find a comparable rental.
In Contra Costa County, however, a tenant can be evicted with only thirty days notice following the sale of a property, said Claudia Johnson, managing attorney for Bay Area Legal Aid in Oakland. Johnson said Legal Aid is getting hundreds of calls from all over the Bay Area by tenants in distress. "Tenants are telling us of owners at risk of foreclosure who are really stressed out and they are taking it out on their tenants by being really mean. They are desperate and are not going through a legal process. And these tenants are often the most vulnerable: the disabled, the elderly, single moms."
In Williams' case, she said her landlord, Sunday John, told her nothing was wrong after the notice was posted. So she continued to pay the $950 monthly rent for her two-bedroom apartment. "He just lied all the way," Williams says. John could not be reached for comment.
For complete article, click here
Pets becoming casualty of foreclosure
"People are losing their homes, and animals are the fallout of that," said Cecily Tippery, a Coldwell Banker agent who specializes in foreclosed properties, and now also in rescuing pets left behind.
Although local animal control officers say there's no evidence of a big spike in abandoned pets, stories of often starving animals left behind in foreclosed houses have begun to crop up across the country.
No one has documented the number of pets turning up after foreclosures, but there is anecdotal evidence of a statewide problem, said Paul Bruce, regional program coordinator for the Sacramento regional office of the Humane Society of the United States.
Foreclosures are "leaving the cities with all of the problems, including animals that have been left behind," said Bruce.
Realtors speculate that many of the animals were abandoned by former homeowners who turn to rental housing where the landlords bar pets.
One Contra Costa County animal control official said the law requires the banks, or whoever owns the home, to tend to the abandoned animals. Lt. Joe Decosta said he expects more forsaken pets as the wave of foreclosures and the economic fallout washes away more homeowners.
For complete article, click here
By Wendy Patterson-January 2, 2008
Tina Marie Williams For Tina Marie Williams, it all started one day in late August: "A black SUV pulled up and a guy got out," she recalled. "He looked around for about thirty minutes then taped a piece of paper on my mailbox. That's how I found out the property was going to be auctioned on September 2 at 12 p.m."
Williams is now fighting eviction, the last hold-out renter in a dreary fourplex on 90th Avenue in East Oakland. As the sub-prime mortgage debacle and foreclosures dominate the headlines, less visible is the plight of such renters. When buildings are put up for auction or banks repossess, tenants like Williams are often caught in limbo — abandoned by their landlords, threatened or bribed by Realtors to leave, and faced with the challenge of finding new housing.
East Bay housing organizations are reporting marked increases in calls from desperate renters living in properties facing foreclosure. The East Bay Community Law Center's Housing Specialist Gracie Jones said they got 24 calls in one day recently. On average, they receive about thirty a week.
Often the first tenants hear of a problem is when they get a notice saying the property has been repossessed or is now owned by someone who bought it in auction. Other times, their utilities are turned off because the owner has stopped paying the bills.
Banks, which are often outside of the area, hire local property managers or Realtors to negotiate. But tenant advocates say they often threaten tenants and pressure them to move out.
Berkeley, Hayward, and Oakland have ordinances to protect tenants from being evicted without "just cause." But tenants who don't know their rights can feel frightened by the notices they receive. Some take "cash for keys" offers, even though it may be impossible for them to find a comparable rental.
In Contra Costa County, however, a tenant can be evicted with only thirty days notice following the sale of a property, said Claudia Johnson, managing attorney for Bay Area Legal Aid in Oakland. Johnson said Legal Aid is getting hundreds of calls from all over the Bay Area by tenants in distress. "Tenants are telling us of owners at risk of foreclosure who are really stressed out and they are taking it out on their tenants by being really mean. They are desperate and are not going through a legal process. And these tenants are often the most vulnerable: the disabled, the elderly, single moms."
In Williams' case, she said her landlord, Sunday John, told her nothing was wrong after the notice was posted. So she continued to pay the $950 monthly rent for her two-bedroom apartment. "He just lied all the way," Williams says. John could not be reached for comment.
For complete article, click here
Pets becoming casualty of foreclosure
"People are losing their homes, and animals are the fallout of that," said Cecily Tippery, a Coldwell Banker agent who specializes in foreclosed properties, and now also in rescuing pets left behind.
Although local animal control officers say there's no evidence of a big spike in abandoned pets, stories of often starving animals left behind in foreclosed houses have begun to crop up across the country.
No one has documented the number of pets turning up after foreclosures, but there is anecdotal evidence of a statewide problem, said Paul Bruce, regional program coordinator for the Sacramento regional office of the Humane Society of the United States.
Foreclosures are "leaving the cities with all of the problems, including animals that have been left behind," said Bruce.
Realtors speculate that many of the animals were abandoned by former homeowners who turn to rental housing where the landlords bar pets.
One Contra Costa County animal control official said the law requires the banks, or whoever owns the home, to tend to the abandoned animals. Lt. Joe Decosta said he expects more forsaken pets as the wave of foreclosures and the economic fallout washes away more homeowners.
For complete article, click here
Senate not giving borrowers much help
Small group blocking bill that would aid high-cost markets
Kenneth Harney
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Thousands of Americans may be losing their homes to foreclosure or facing hefty mortgage payment increases, but Congress appears to be in no rush to offer help.
While the House has passed several major housing-relief measures in recent weeks, the Senate hasn't managed to pass even one. On the eve of the two-week Thanksgiving recess, the House approved by a bipartisan vote the most sweeping reforms of the national mortgage system in more than two decades.
Meanwhile, the Senate stalled legislation that would strengthen the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage programs - a key resource for people who need to refinance out of adjustable-rate loans with rapidly escalating monthly payments into affordable fixed-rate mortgages.
-more-
Kenneth Harney
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Thousands of Americans may be losing their homes to foreclosure or facing hefty mortgage payment increases, but Congress appears to be in no rush to offer help.
While the House has passed several major housing-relief measures in recent weeks, the Senate hasn't managed to pass even one. On the eve of the two-week Thanksgiving recess, the House approved by a bipartisan vote the most sweeping reforms of the national mortgage system in more than two decades.
Meanwhile, the Senate stalled legislation that would strengthen the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage programs - a key resource for people who need to refinance out of adjustable-rate loans with rapidly escalating monthly payments into affordable fixed-rate mortgages.
-more-
Bills Would Let Judges Remake Mortgages
Bankruptcy Legislation Aims To Prevent Foreclosures
By Dina ElBoghdady Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 20, 2007; Page D01
Congress is considering legislation that would allow bankruptcy court judges to rewrite loan terms for people at risk of losing their homes, a change that supporters say could save half a million borrowers from foreclosure through early 2009.
Under this plan, judges could lower the interest rate of a mortgage on a primary home, extend the life of the loan or forgive part of the debt -- as they currently can for vacation homes, farms and investment properties. Doing so could reduce by a quarter the 2 million foreclosures expected in the next 18 months, according to Moody's Economy.com.
Of all the legislative proposals aimed at helping at-risk borrowers, this one is thought by consumer advocates to offer the most wide-reaching and immediate relief. The House has held two hearings on a bill introduced by Democratic members, Brad Miller of North Carolina and Linda T. Sanchez of California. Similar legislation has been offered in the Senate. -more-
By Dina ElBoghdady Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 20, 2007; Page D01
Congress is considering legislation that would allow bankruptcy court judges to rewrite loan terms for people at risk of losing their homes, a change that supporters say could save half a million borrowers from foreclosure through early 2009.
Under this plan, judges could lower the interest rate of a mortgage on a primary home, extend the life of the loan or forgive part of the debt -- as they currently can for vacation homes, farms and investment properties. Doing so could reduce by a quarter the 2 million foreclosures expected in the next 18 months, according to Moody's Economy.com.
Of all the legislative proposals aimed at helping at-risk borrowers, this one is thought by consumer advocates to offer the most wide-reaching and immediate relief. The House has held two hearings on a bill introduced by Democratic members, Brad Miller of North Carolina and Linda T. Sanchez of California. Similar legislation has been offered in the Senate. -more-
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