Regulators Shut Down Banks in Five States

High-End Homes Frozen Out of Budding Housing Rebound
Wall Street Journal

Housing is fast dividing into two markets: Sales of low- and moderately priced homes are picking up and values have stopped falling in some parts of the nation. But on the upper end, sales remain mired in a deep slump and price declines are expected to accelerate. Signs of the divide are visible across the country, including in suburban Chicago. In middle-class Schaumburg, Ill., which had a median income of $65,000 in 2007, sales were up 41% in June from the depressed level of a year earlier and bidding wars have broken out on some properties. "I can't even tell you how many I've been in over the last two months," says Joe Stacy, a local real-estate agent. But 25 miles away in the affluent town of Kenilworth, with a median income of $230,000, home sales have stalled. While there are 65 homes on the market, just 13 have sold this year. "We're extremely oversupplied," says Sherry Molitor, a local real-estate agent. "Sellers are struggling to realize that we're back to 2001-02 prices."

New Law Trouble for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure
YumaSun.com

A new Arizona law is stirring up controversy among homeowners and real-estate agents. The law, which goes into effect on September 30, weakens legal protection for property owners after foreclosures by imposing new eligibility requirements for protections against lawsuits from lenders. An amendment to the state’s foreclosure law (SB 1271) now makes some homeowners in foreclosure liable for the difference between their mortgage and what the lender can get when reselling the home. The lending agency can now sue the homeowners for the balance due.

Regulators Shut Down Banks in Five States
The Associated Press

Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Illinois, boosting to 69 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year amid the pressures of the weak economy and mounting loan defaults. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the five banks. The agency shut down Integrity Bank of Jupiter, Fla., with $119 million in assets and $102 million in deposits, and First BankAmericano, based in Elizabeth, N.J., with $166 million in assets and $157 million in deposits.Also closed were Peoples Community Bank, West Chester, Ohio, with $705.8 million in assets and $598.2 million in deposits; First State Bank of Altus, in Altus, Okla., with $103.4 million in assets and $98.2 million in deposits; and Mutual Bank of Harvey, Ill., with $1.6 billion in assets and $1.6 billion in deposits.

California's Default Rate Soars to 9.5%
Los Angeles Times

About 1 in 10 Californians with a home loan is now in default, and there's growing evidence that the mortgage meltdown is spreading to commercial real estate. The home mortgage delinquency rate -- the percentage of borrowers who have missed several payments and are in the first stage of foreclosure -- climbed in June to 9.5% in California and 9.9% in Los Angeles County, according to First American CoreLogic. The staggering number of home mortgage defaults probably will lead to large numbers of foreclosures through at least this year, housing experts say.