Housing Market May Be Healing Itself
Forbes.com

Just as the Obama administration's efforts to help troubled borrowers begin to kick in, the ailing U.S. housing market may be on the mend on its own.

According to Chris Mayer, senior vice dean at Columbia Business School, the foreclosure crisis may be near its peak. Following a springtime burst of bank repossessions--mainly due to the expiration of government moratoriums--seizures are likely to begin tapering off in the summer, he says.

Realtors' median incomes fall by 13% in 2008
Dallas Morning News

The recession has taken a bite out of real estate agents' median incomes, which fell more than 13 percent last year nationwide.

The median number of sales handled by agents also dropped – from four in 2007 to 3.5 transactions a year, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday, and their median sales volume last year was $1.2 million, down from $1.6 million in 2007.

Obama administration to expand housing plan
Associated Press

WASHINGTON  — The Obama administration is expected to expand its mortgage aid program on Thursday, announcing new measures that would help homeowners avoid a blemished credit record even if they don't qualify for other assistance.

The new initiatives Thursday are expected to include ways to allow borrowers to avoid foreclosure by selling their properties or giving them back to lenders, according to people briefed on the plan who declined to be identified because it has yet to be announced.

More Homeowners Getting Aid, but Demand Keeps Rising
The Washington Post

In the two months since it launched, the Obama administration's foreclosure prevention plan has outperformed the government's previous attempts, offering more than 50,000 homeowners lower-cost mortgages.

Yet the $75 billion program, known as Making Home Affordable, has been implemented unevenly by lenders, leaving some homeowners frustrated and bewildered.

Fed To Institute Anti-Predatory Regulation Changes
DSnews

The Federal Reserve’s new Regulation Z requirements under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) are set to take effect on October 1, 2009. The changes will require institutions to comply with several new rules tied to a new class of mortgages the Fed identifies as “higher-priced.”

Mortgage lending practices have come under fire as being a primary contributor to the nation's economic downturn. With home loan products and underwriting procedures under the microscope, regulators and Congress have gone on the offensive to reform the mortgage industry. The Federal Reserve's amendments to Regulation Z broaden the scope of mortgage loans subject to HOEPA by adjusting the price triggers used to determine coverage under the act. The rate-based trigger is lowered by two percentage points for first-lien mortgage loans. The fee-based trigger is revised to include the cost of optional credit insurance and similar debt protection products paid at closing.

Hard-hit states key to housing rebound
Inman News

WASHINGTON -- Prominent real estate and policy experts sounded unanimous yet guarded optimism during a session this week at the National Association of Realtors annual midyear conference.

The states now in deepest trouble -- notably Florida, Nevada and California, which led the collapse -- may yet lead the nation's housing market back to prosperity, according to some members of the 16-member panel that was featured during a Real Estate Summit on Tuesday here at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

Signs of a turnaround on a troubled street
Boston Globe

A Dorchester street that has been the epicenter of foreclosures in Boston got a lift yesterday.

A crew from the PBS home improvement series "This Old House" filmed renovations at a house on Hendry Street, where Mayor Thomas M. Menino stopped by for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

U.S. Projects Aid Tally for Mortgage Giants
The Washington Post

The Obama administration has clarified what it expects the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to cost taxpayers: $171.1 billion.

Budget details released by the administration yesterday project that the companies are likely to need $92.2 billion more to cover losses on mortgage-related investments. The administration didn't give a timetable for this taxpayer assistance but the spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget said it is anticipated sometime before Sept. 30, 2011.

We’re Dull, Small Banks Say, but Have Profits
The New York Times

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s unlikely that any group of professionals is happier to highlight the dullness of their work than small-town bankers.

At a recent conference held here by the Indiana Bankers Association, attendees said it over and over: our business is plodding and boring and we would not have it any other way.

Goldman Settles Subprime Inquiry
The Wall Street Journal

BOSTON -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to provide about $50 million in relief to Massachusetts subprime-mortgage holders and pay an additional $10 million to the state to end an investigation of the company.

The state attorney general's office said it appears to be the first time a subprime-mortgage securitizer such as an investment bank has settled a state investigation with a payment.

Despite Housing Bust, Homeownership Among Immigrants Remains Steady
The Washington Post

The rate of homeownership in the United States is holding up better among immigrants than it is for native-born Americans, according to a study released this morning.

The study by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington analyzes housing, economic and demographic data from various government agencies and private sources. It found that although immigrants are far less likely than their native-born counterparts to own a home, the rate of homeownership for immigrants during the years of the housing bust has declined at a much slower pace than it has for those born in this country.

Bernanke Defends Stress Test, Dollar
The Wall Street Journal

JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended Monday the central bank's recent stress tests of the nation's most important banks, and mounted an unusual defense of the U.S. dollar.

Late last week, the Fed released the result of the so-called stress tests of the nation's 19 largest banks. The exercise was designed to determine if the institutions had enough capital to weather a significant worsening in the economic and financial environment.

Geithner's Revelation
The Wall Street Journal

The Earth stood still, the seas parted and a member of the U.S. political class admitted last week that the Federal Reserve helped to cause the financial meltdown. OK, only the last of those happened, but it's a welcome miracle nonetheless.

The revelation came from Timothy Geithner last Wednesday with PBS's Charlie Rose, who asked the Treasury Secretary: "Looking back, what are the mistakes and what should you have done more of? Where were your instincts right, but you didn't go far enough?"

Indio's foreclosure ordinance drawing national attention
Mydesert.com

Indio is at the forefront of battling the foreclosure fallout and the nation is taking notice.
More than a year ago, the valley's largest city was plagued with eyesores.
Abandoned, foreclosed homes with overgrown lawns and dirty pools peppered the community.

First-time buyers benefit from housing slump
Msnbc.com

Kostas Kalaitzidis wanted to buy a home when he moved to Phoenix in 2008, but between his modest salary and the expensive market, he couldn’t swing it.

What a difference a year makes.

Lies a new tool in foreclosure
HeraldTribune

Foreclosure lawyers want to take back property as fast as possible, and sometimes they do not let the facts slow them down.

In case after case, lawyers representing banks are giving false statements in court about who owns mortgages, or whether the homeowner is willing to negotiate, or whether they have completed all the legal steps to put a foreclosed house back on the market.

Banks Announce Plans for New Common Stock
The Washington Post

Three large banks, including Capital One of McLean, said this morning that they would issue new common stock and use the money toward repaying federal investments.

Capital One and the other banks, BB&T of North Carolina and U.S. Bancorp of Minnesota, all passed the federal stress tests announced last week; regulators determined the banks have sufficient capital to weather the recession. But the companies still must convince regulators they would remain in good shape after repaying the government's money.

Official: HOAs don't want foreclosures
Reviewjournal.com

Rick Worth keeps a manicured yard at his home in the Palm Hills community near Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson, much nicer than the foreclosures on his block.

That's why he's upset at his homeowners association for initiating foreclosure on his home for unpaid fines that accumulated when he converted his lawn from grass to desert landscape.

Data show many shore foreclosures on second homes
PressofAtlanticCity.com

Southern New Jersey hasn't been spared from the wave of foreclosures in the U.S.

But the character of foreclosures might be a little different here compared with those elsewhere because a significant number of properties are second homes.

Home loan quagmire
Boston Herald

Bad debt at the Federal Housing Administration could send the nation’s already wobbly economy into yet another tailspin, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch told the Herald in an interview late last week.

“Problems at the FHA could upset the little recovery that we now have,” said Lynch, who is drafting legislation that would require the sprawling government agency to provide Congress with a financial status report twice a year.

Washington Report: Appraisal System
RealtyTimes

Last week saw the official kickoff of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's mandatory new system of appraisals nationwide, and some mortgage and appraisal groups are up in arms over sharply higher costs for consumers.

The so-called "home valuation code of conduct" imposed by Fannie and Freddie puts most appraisal assignments in the hands of management companies, some of whom are owned by major lenders such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Biggest Mortgage Lenders
Sun Herald

DALLAS, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- As residential originations have soared, one mortgage lender was able to leverage an acquisition from last year to grab a bigger share of the market, according to a MortgageDaily.com lending analysis. Meanwhile, another acquisition in 2009 enabled MetLife Bank to become a top-10 originator.
U.S. mortgage lenders saw production increase 73% from the fourth quarter, based on first-quarter earnings data analyzed by MortgageDaily.com. Compared to a year earlier, however, fundings fell 9%.

Many readers are interested in buying a foreclosed home
DailyHerald

It's usually best to purchase a foreclosed property directly from a bank rather than on the courthouse steps.

Q. Our local newspaper says that there a lot of foreclosed homes in our neighborhood, and we would like to buy one or two of them now because we think that local home prices have finally bottomed out. But how can we find homes that are in foreclosure if we don't have a real estate license?

The long and short of a short sale
Inman News

Dear Editor:

I sold a house on a short sale when this whole epidemic first started. I had a ready and willing buyer for my house, which had a note of $1.05 million at the time -- this was spring 2007.

I had lost my job and had no way of keeping my home, so we listed it at the price owed and didn't get any action for about six months.

Bank Stress Tests Show Some Banks Need More Funds

Associated Press

Some of the nation's largest banks will be scrambling to demonstrate that they can raise capital after results of government stress tests leaked out, showing many need more funds. The Treasury Department will officially release results later Thursday. The tests were designed to gauge whether any of the nation's 19 largest banks would need more capital to survive a deeper recession. It turns out many of the banks do: Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. all need billions more, regulators have told them.

Small Banks Face Hits on Commercial Real Estate

Wall Street Journal

Thursday's "stress-test" results will bring fresh scrutiny to the nation's biggest banks. They also are likely to highlight the woes from commercial real-estate loans that are piling up at large and small banks alike. In the worst-case scenario, federal regulators examining the 19 largest U.S. banks are projecting losses of up to 12% on commercial real-estate loans over two years. While regulators have indicated they won't allow the 19 stress-tested banks to fail, that group doesn't include more than 500 banks with assets of less than $1 billion that have too much exposure to commercial real estate and are at the most risk of failing

New Jersey, Utah Banks Shut Down

DS News

Two more community banks – in New Jersey and Utah – have buckled under the pressure of the nation's economic crisis, bringing the total number of failed institutions for the year to 32. Already the number of closings in 2009 has outpaced the 25 banks that were shut down in all of 2008.

Foreclosure Looms for McAfee Mansion in Colorado Springs

Denver Post

One of the Pikes Peak region's most star-studded home sales in recent years — the purchase of the sprawling mountain estate built by software pioneer John McAfee — is in danger of becoming one of its highest-profile foreclosures. Jeffrey "Patrick" Wu, a Chicago commodities trader who bought the property from McAfee at an on-site auction in May 2007, still owes about $3.2 million on a loan he took out to finance the $5.72 million purchase, according to a published notice by the Teller County Public Trustee's Office.  A June 3 sale of the 280-acre compound, near Woodland Park, has been scheduled by the Trustee's Office in Cripple Creek, according to the notice.

No Sale: Bank Wrecks New Houses

Wall Street Journal

A Texas bank is about done demolishing 16 new and partially built houses acquired in Southern California through foreclosure, figuring it was better to knock them down than to try selling them in the depressed housing market. Guaranty Bank of Austin is wrecking the structures to provide a "safe environment" for neighbors of the abandoned housing tract in Victorville, a high-desert city about 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles, a bank spokesman said.

Foreclosure Trouble Spreads to Those Who Bet the Farm

Wall Street Journal

The home-foreclosure crisis, which began in cities and suburbs, has spread to rural America. When the mortgage mess erupted, some economists believed that rural America wouldn't be heavily affected. Farms were prospering. The housing boom largely bypassed small rural towns. And exotic, new mortgages at first were seen as an urban and suburban phenomenon.

But rural homeowners, it turns out, were just as susceptible to subprime loans and easy lending as the rest of the country, often refinancing existing mortgages to take out cash or pay off debts.

Where Home Prices Crashed Early, Signs of a Rebound

New York Times

Is this what a bottom looks like? This city was among the first in the nation to fall victim to the real estate collapse. Now it seems to be in the earliest stages of a recovery, a hopeful sign for an economy mired in trouble and anxiety.  Investors and first-time buyers, the traditional harbingers of a housing rebound, are out in force here, competing for bargain-price foreclosures. With sales up 45 percent from last year, the vast backlog of inventory has diminished.

Despite Signs to the Contrary, Real Estate Will Get Worse

Time Magazine

Except for low home prices and very low mortgage rates, all of the elements for a recover in housing are missing. Those two things should be enough, but balanced against them are shrinking access to credit, an inability of Americans to get higher wages, and crippling unemployment.

Bernanke Expects Economic Growth by Year's End

Washington Post

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said today that the nation's rate of economic contraction may be slowing and that he expects growth to resume later this year, but he also suggested that the economy could perform well below its potential for years to come.