U.S. Considering Changes Before Foreclosures
February 25, 2010, New York Times

The Obama administration, under intense pressure to help millions of people in danger of losing their homes, is considering a ban on foreclosures unless they have first been examined for potential modification, according to a set of draft proposals. That would raise the stakes from the current practice, which strongly encourages lenders to evaluate defaulting borrowers for a modification but does not make it mandatory. Meg Reilly, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, said Thursday that the proposed foreclosure ban was “one of the many ideas under consideration in the administration’s ongoing housing stabilization efforts.” The proposal was first reported by Bloomberg News.

January Home Sales Fall 7.2 Percent
February 26, 2010, The Associated Press

Sales of previously occupied homes took a large drop for the second straight month in January, falling to the lowest level since summer. It was another sign the housing market's recovery is faltering. The National Association of Realtors says sales fell 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million from a downwardly revised pace of 5.44 million in December. The results were far worse than forecast. Economists expected a slight increase to a rate of 5.5 million.

Lawmakers Question Obama Loan Help Effort
February 25, 2010, The Associated Press

Lawmakers are taking aim at the Obama administration's struggling mortgage assistance program, with Republicans calling it a worthless exercise and Democrats saying it doesn't go far enough. In a report Thursday, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., called the program a misuse of taxpayer money. Though $75 billion has been set aside for the program, so far only $15 million has been spent. They also said it distorts the housing market by keeping people in their homes who would be better renting.

Cash Deals Make Up Half of Las Vegas Home Sales
February 24, 2010, Las Vegas Sun

Cash continues to be king when it comes to buying a home in Las Vegas. Research firm MDA DataQuick reported that cash buyers accounted for 50 percent of all home purchases in January, up from 39 percent in January 2009. Investors and second-home buyers comprised 43 percent of the home purchases in January, up from 34 percent in January 2009, the firm reported. The median price paid in the all-cash deals in January was $96,000.

Number of Banks in Danger of Failure Hits Highest Level Since 1993
February 23, 2010, Los Angeles Times

The number of banks in danger of failing shot up to 702 at the end of last year, the highest level since 1993, as the industry continues to struggle in its recovery from the so-called Great Recession, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday. The large number of "problem institutions" — up from 552 at the end of September — comes after 140 banks failed in 2009, a level not seen since the savings and loan crisis in 1990. Not all banks on the problem list fail, and FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair noted that the vast majority of the approximately 8,000 banks with insured deposits are healthy.

Homeowners associations face lawsuit
Feb. 22, 2010 — Las Vegas Business Press

A group of disgruntled investors has hit Southern Nevada homeowner associations with a class action lawsuit.

Proposal Calls for Fannie, Freddie to Be U.S.-Owned Nonprofits
Feb. 23, 2010 — The Wall Street Journal

An influential real-estate trade group is calling for the government to convert Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into federally owned nonprofit corporations that would largely leave the mortgage-finance giants intact.

Despite a Price Gain in December, Signs of Worry on Housing
Feb. 23, 2010 — The New York Times

The wobbly state of the housing market was made clear on Tuesday with the release of data showing that home prices managed a modest increase in December even as many more Americans owed more on their properties than they were worth.

Troubled banking industry sharply reduced lending in 2009
Feb. 24, 2010 — The Washington Post

Lending by the banking industry fell by $587 billion, or 7.5 percent, in 2009, the largest annual decline since the 1940s, as the number of troubled financial institutions rose sharply, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported Tuesday.

New home sales hit record low in January
Feb. 24, 2010 — Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Sales of new homes plunged to a record low in January, underscoring the formidable challenges facing the housing industry as it tries to recover from the worst slump in decades.

A Look at Case-Shiller, by Metro Area
February 23, 2010, Wall Street Journal

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index, a closely watched gauge of U.S. home prices, was mostly flat in December from a month earlier. The index declined 3.1% from a year earlier. On a month-to-month basis prices fell 0.2% in December from November, but adjusted for seasonal factors the 20-city index was 0.3% higher. On a seasonally adjusted basis, just five cities posted month-to-month declines. Unadjusted, 15 regions experienced home-price drops. The housing market is particularly sensitive to seasonal factors, especially in December as the holidays depress activity. Los Angeles posted the largest jump in prices, while Chicago posted the biggest drop

Short Sales at New Peak in January
February 23, 2010, Inman News

Short sales jumped to 15.9 percent of home purchase transactions last month, according to a monthly survey by Washington, D.C.-based business research firm Campbell Surveys and mortgage industry publication Inside Mortgage Finance. That's the highest percentage of short sales since the survey first launched in July of last year, when short sales made up 12.5 percent of transactions. Before January, the peak had been 15.1 percent in October. That figure fell to 12.6 percent in November and rose to 13.7 percent in December. REO transactions were higher at 27.2 percent. Sales of damaged real estate owned (REO) properties and move-in ready REO properties made up 13.4 percent and 13.8 percent of January home purchase transactions, respectively. Also, read this DSNews.com story on short sales.

Ohio Man Bulldozes $350K Home to Avoid Foreclosure
February 23, 2010, Washington Post

An Ohio man says he bulldozed his $350,000 home to keep a bank from foreclosing on it. Terry Hoskins says he has struggled with the RiverHills Bank over his home in Moscow for years and had problems with the Internal Revenue Service. He says the IRS placed liens on his carpet store and commercial property and the bank claimed his house as collateral.

Vegas House Bargains Dry Up
February 23, 2010, Wall Street Journal

Jonathan Griffin, Michael Pawlak and Chris Iuso all are chasing bargains on foreclosed homes here. It should be easy. Las Vegas is one of the foreclosure capitals of the U.S., with about one in four households behind on house payments or in mortgage foreclosure. Yet all three of these shoppers—a professional real-estate investor, a county official with federal funds designated for stabilizing neighborhoods and an installer of security systems who needs a new place to live—are frustrated.

Equity Lenders Using Newfound Leverage in 'Short Sales'
February 23, 2010, North County Times

Completing a "short sale" was hard enough in 2009, but since the New Year, some lenders have begun making last-minute demands for more money, real estate agents and analysts say.As the housing crisis has matured from sour milk to stinky cheese, the market for homes has been shifting from a heavy dose of foreclosed properties to a higher percentage of short sales, in which a borrower sells a property for less than is owed on the mortgage But many of these short sellers have multiple loans on their property. Growing demand for short sales in recent months has allowed holders of second loans to become more aggressive in their demands and put the deals at risk

Fewer People Falling Behind on Home Loans
February19, 2010, Los Angeles Times

The number of borrowers falling behind on their mortgage payments dropped sharply at the end of last year, a sign the foreclosure crisis is beginning to ebb. The Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday that the percentage of borrowers who missed just one payment on their home loans fell to 3.6 percent in the October to December quarter, down from 3.8 percent in the third quarter. The decline was even more remarkable because delinquencies usually rise at that time of year due to higher heating bills and holiday spending. However, more than 15 percent of homeowners with a mortgage had missed at least one payment or were in foreclosure, a record for the 10th straight quarter.

In Nevada, Obama Pushes for More U.S. Housing Help
February19, 2010, Reuters

President Barack Obama will use a campaign stop for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday to announce a new initiative to help support homeowners in five states hit hardest by the U.S. housing crisis. A senior administration official said Obama would announce he is designating $1.5 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to fund programs at local Housing Finance Agencies in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan.

Double Dip In Housing Prices Seen As Risk, Seller Nightmare
February18, 2010, Investors Business Daily

Double dip is only a positive description for ice cream cones, not housing prices or the economy. Yet several housing forecasters are now predicting housing prices will slip again in 2010, after signs of revival in late 2009.A double dip threatens to make it tougher for home sellers to get the price they want, and harder to figure an ideal listing price. Many sellers have had to cut prices to draw buyers. Everyone is watching lenders' foreclosure inventory, which is growing and could pressure prices downward. And home sales could stall if a federal tax credit for home buying expires as planned at the end of April.

In D.C., Commercial Real Estate Headed for Foreclosure Crisis
February19, 2010, Washington Post

A mortgage crisis like the one that has devastated homeowners is enveloping the nation's office and retail buildings, and few places are likely to be hit as hard as Washington. The foreclosure wave is likely to swamp many smaller community banks across the country, and many well-known properties, including Washington's Mayflower Hotel and the Boulevard at the

Collateral Damage: Innocent Victims of the Mortgage Crisis 
February14, 2010, WFFA.com

Someone's got to take care of foreclosed homes. Gary Lacy and dozens of other entrepreneurs stepped up to the job, but haven't been paid for their work.

State Supreme Court Makes it Tougher for Lenders to Foreclose
February16, 2010,

The Florida Supreme Court continues to make it more difficult for lenders to foreclose in the Sunshine State. The court says lenders are now required to verify they own loans before they file a foreclosure lawsuit. And, according to the court order, lenders can no longer charge the homeowner for that investigation.

New Wave of Foreclosures by End of 2010 is Feared
February16, 2010, Los Angeles Times

About 4 million U.S. homeowners are 90 days or more delinquent on their loans or in foreclosure proceedings, Moody's Economy.com says. A federal loan modification program is helping a relative few. Experts fear that a new wave of foreclosures will hit this year as prolonged unemployment makes it difficult for millions of homeowners to pay their mortgages -- and many of them aren't likely to get much help from a federal program aimed at keeping them in their houses. Banks participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program, announced a year ago this week by President Obama, have been slow to turn temporarily reduced mortgage payments into permanent ones.

Foreclosure ‘Overhang’ Will Cause Home-Price Decline, S&P Says
February16, 2010, Business Week

Foreclosures will cause U.S. home prices to fall this year as lenders buck federal pressure to modify loans, according to a report from Standard & Poor’s Financial Services. “The mortgage crisis may be far from over,” Diane Westerback, a managing director at the New York-based firm, wrote in today’s report. “The overhang of homes heading toward liquidation suggests more delinquencies and lower home prices are to come.”

U.S. Homebuilder Confidence Rises
February17, 2010, Business Week

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders rose in February to a three-month high, a sign that the housing market is stabilizing amid government support. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence increased to 17, higher than anticipated, from 15 the prior month, the Washington-based group said today. Readings below 50 mean most respondents view conditions as poor.

Colorado Bill Would Let Foreclosure Bidders Buy Junior Liens
February16, 2010, Denver Business Journal

Senate Bill 93, a state measure related to Colorado foreclosure law, was to be heard in the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee on Monday. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, would give the successful bidder for a home at foreclosure auction the right to buy out lesser holders of liens against the property, or junior lienholders, such as those with mechanic’s liens. The junior lienholders would have to accept the payment from the bidder and release the lien, according to the bill.