Massive amounts of foreclosures clogging county's civil courts

Massive amounts of foreclosures clogging county's civil courts
Miami Herald

Most everyone involved in a foreclosure says they never wanted to go through the process in the first place: Not the homeowners at risk of losing their houses, not the banks that loaned them the money, not the judges who must rule on the cases.

Still, court clerks say more than 135,000 foreclosures could be filed in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties this year -- compared to a tri-county total of about 17,500 in 2006.

FHA Digging Out After Loans Sour
The Wall Street Journal

Last fall, as the financial system was teetering and the biggest banks were tightening credit, Karen DeForte couldn't find a lender to refinance the two mortgages on her New York home, until she received a phone call from Lend America.

Most banks rejected Ms. DeForte because her debt level was too high and her credit score too low. But Lend America put Ms. DeForte into a $402,000 loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration, a New Deal-era agency that Washington and Wall Street were relying upon to pick up the slack in the mortgage market as private lenders pulled back. Ms. DeForte fell behind on payments six months later and is seeking a loan modification. Taking the loan was "a stupid mistake," the 46-year-old office manager said.

Congress Poised to Keep Homebuyers’ Tax Credit
The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Senate and House are poised to agree on a compromise measure to extend unemployment benefits that also would expand a popular $8,000 tax credit for homebuyers, despite a recent government report on extensive mistakes and suspected fraud in the program.

The Senate might pass its version as early as Wednesday, and aides to Congressional leaders say the House could accept it this week, sending the bill to President Obama to sign into law. After weeks of partisan delay in the Senate, Democrats are eager to show progress before Friday, when the October jobless report is again expected to show high unemployment.

Foreclosures double in Washington area
The Washington Post

The number of Washington area homeowners in foreclosure has more that doubled in the past year, according to a report to be released Wednesday that shows the problem remains most acute in a few counties and could get worse as more borrowers fall behind on their payments.

About 2.7 percent of local borrowers are in the foreclosure process, meaning that the bank has started the legal process to take back the property, according to the report by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit policy research group based in Washington. That was slightly below the national average of 2.9 percent.

Homestead deals with aftermath of boom
Miami Herald

Alexandra and Waldo Cruz moved from their Kendall apartment to Homestead, seduced by a yellow house with white trim, three bedrooms, two baths and a small yard in the back.

Four years later, their house, their first home together, is in foreclosure. They have until April to find another place to live with their four children, aged three months to 15 years old.