Foreclosure Protections for All New Yorkers

Foreclosure Protections for All New Yorkers
November 30, New York Times

Last year, a new law was put into place in New York to help protect subprime mortgage borrowers from foreclosure. Now the state is on the verge of extending similar protections to prime borrowers, too. A bill passed by the State Legislature this month would require, among other things, that lenders give all borrowers 90 days’ warning before starting foreclosure proceedings and that they take part in settlement conferences with borrowers before proceeding with a foreclosure action. The bill also covers co-op owners. Gov. David A. Paterson is expected to sign the legislation; most of the measures would then take effect within two months.

Investors Buying up Las Vegas Foreclosure Homes
December 2, 2009, Las Vegas Sun

Investors made their biggest push yet to buy foreclosure homes in Las Vegas. San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a real estate information service, reported investors bought 41.2 percent of Las Vegas area homes in October, the highest amount for any month this decade. Buyers who used cash to purchase their homes accounted for 47.1 percent of sales, said DataQuick spokesman Andrew LePage. In addition to investors, first-time buyers continue to make up a large segment of the market, LePage said. Government-insured FHA loans, which are popular with those buyers, accounted for 53 percent of all purchases, he said.

U.S. Housing Market Meltdown Not Over Yet: Zandi
December 2, 2009, Reuters

The meltdown of the U.S. housing market is not over yet, and home prices will soon start trekking downward again as a flood of foreclosures looms, a well-known economist said on Wednesday. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said in an interview with Reuters home prices will resume their decline by early next year as foreclosure sales pick up again. "The housing crash is not over," he said.