Top 10 states for June foreclosure rates
July 16, 2010 — Inman News

Foreclosure-related filings fell 3 percent from May to June and were down 7 percent from a year ago, data aggregator RealtyTrac reported Thursday, with 313,841 homes subjected to a default notice, auction sale notice, or bank repossession.

Bill would shield homeowners' credit ratings
July 16, 2010 — San Francisco Chronicle

Struggling homeowners who get loan modifications to stave off foreclosure often discover that their credit score takes a big hit.

Extra credit checks required by Fannie make some lenders anxious
July 16, 2010 — Washington Post

People who applied for a mortgage as of June 1 might see their finances -- specifically their debt -- under renewed scrutiny days before they are scheduled to complete a home purchase.

Financial Overhaul Signals Shift on Deregulation
July 16, 2010 — New York Times

WASHINGTON — Congress approved a sweeping expansion of federal financial regulation on Thursday, reflecting a renewed mistrust of financial markets after decades in which Washington stood back from Wall Street with wide-eyed admiration.

CoreLogic Index Shows Continued Increases in Home Prices
July 13, 2010 — DSNews

Home prices in the United States increased again in May, marking the fourth consecutive month to post a year-over-year gain, according to the latest CoreLogic index released Tuesday.

New York Presses Banks on Foreclosures
July 13, 2010 — New York Times

Hoping to succeed where Washington has largely failed, New York City’s comptroller, John C. Liu, and six large unions plan to begin a campaign on Wednesday to press the biggest banks to do more to prevent foreclosures in the New York area.

Jumbo Mortgage Rates Plunge
July 14, 2010 — Wall Street Journal

Nearly two years after the credit crunch virtually froze mortgage markets, high-end borrowers are seeing some relief: Rates for "jumbo" mortgages on pricier homes are at their lowest since 2003.

Report: Consumer sentiment on the rise
July 14, 2010 — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Consumer sentiment is rising along with job creation, according to a new report by Consumers Union, the Yonkers, N.Y.-based publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. But foreclosures also are rising, suggesting that the economy is not out of the woods yet.

Economist Reports the Housing Market Double Dip is Beginning
July 14, 2010 — HousingWire

Toronto-based Capital Economics, an independent macroeconomic research firm, said Tuesday that a double dip in the United States housing market is now materializing.

Record Number of Foreclosures Cancelled in California
July 13, 2010 — DSNews

The number of foreclosure sales that were cancelled in California hit an all-time record in June, according to a report released Tuesday by ForeclosureRadar, a locally based company that tracks every foreclosure in the state and provides daily auction updates.

Los Angeles cracks down on banks and lenders who let foreclosure property fall into disrepair
Monday, July 12, 2010 — PropertyWire

Los Angeles is getting tough on the owners of foreclosed properties who leave them empty and let them fall into disrepair by increasing fines. In particular officials are cracking down on financial institutions such as banks and mortgage companies that seize properties and leave them to fall into a state of disrepair

Cleveland Fed Examines Link Between Foreclosure and Unemployment
Friday, July 9, 2010 — DSNews

According to an article released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland this week, much can be gleamed by studying the historic link between foreclosure and unemployment rates—including the fact that according to past patterns, we can expect the current high foreclosure rate to persist for some time.

Home builders buying up land, pushing up values
Friday, July 9, 2010 — Press-Enterprise

Homebuilders have been buying ready-to-build land in Riverside and San Bernardino counties at a fast clip, pushing land values sharply above what they were in 2009, according to a leading land brokerage firm.

Minority Borrowers Disproportionately Damaged by Foreclosure Crisis
Friday, July 9, 2010 — DSNews

Households across the nation have been negatively impacted by the foreclosure crisis, but African-American and Latino families have been hit the hardest, according to a report recently released by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL).

Some HOAs sue or foreclose to collect dues
Sunday, July 11, 2010 — Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When Helen Burgess fell behind on her bills after being diagnosed with cancer, she was able to work out payment plans on her mortgage, car note, credit card and tax obligations to the Internal Revenue Service.

Nevada Leads Country with 70% of Mortgages Underwater
Housing Wire, July 8, 2010

Roughly 70 percent of mortgages on the LendingTree network in Nevada are worth less than what is owed on the loan. LendingTree is an online lender exchange and personal finance resource for consumers. According to LendingTree, the average percentage of mortgages in negative equity for each state was 18.1 percent. The state with the lowest percentage was Oklahoma with 6 percent. New York was not far behind. There, 6.3 percent of all mortgages on the LendingTree network were underwater. But Nevada holds the worst at 69.9 percent. The next closest is Arizona with a negative equity ratio of 51.3 percent, followed by Florida at 47.8 percent.


LPS Division to Sell Foreclosed Homes through Online Auction
Housing Wire, July 8, 2010

Lender Processing Services, a provider of technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries, said its LPS Auction Solutions division will conduct an online auction of bank-foreclosed homes located nationwide. The bid deadline is Aug. 2. The portfolio includes single-family homes, multifamily homes and condominiums. It involves properties in 11 states, including Baltimore, Md.; Shreveport, La.; the Greater Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area; the St. Louis, Mo., area; the Richmond, Va., suburbs; and Greater Pittsburgh, Pa.


Wells Fargo Cuts 3,800 Jobs, Closes Sub-Prime Unit
Business Week, July 8, 2010

Wells Fargo & Co., the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, plans to eliminate 3,800 jobs, or about 1.4 percent of its total workforce, and close its consumer-finance branch network. The lender will take a charge of $185 million, with $137 million, or 2 cents a share, in the second quarter, according to a statement yesterday from the San Francisco-based company. Wells Fargo said it will close 638 independent consumer-finance branches and stop making nonprime home loans.


To Fix Sour Property Deals, Lenders 'Extend and Pretend'
Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2010

Some banks have a special technique for dealing with business borrowers who can't repay loans coming due: Give them more time, hoping things improve and they can repay later. Banks call it a wise strategy. Skeptics call it "extend and pretend." Banks are applying it, in particular, to commercial real-estate lending, where, during the boom, optimistic borrowers got in over their heads to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.  A big push by banks in recent months to modify such loans — by stretching out maturities or allowing below-market interest rates — has slowed a spike in defaults. It also has helped preserve banks' capital, by keeping some dicey loans classified as "performing" and thus minimizing the amount of cash banks must set aside in reserves for future losses.


Retail Market Suffers
Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 7, 2010

The retail market remains sluggish in Las Vegas as high unemployment and tight consumer spending hamper any chance of economic recovery, forcing businesses to close and driving up vacancy at shopping centers across the valley. Retail performance dipped again in the second quarter. Some 345,000 square feet of space — roughly the size of three or four Wal-Mart Supercenters — was returned to the market, Colliers International brokerage reported. Vacancy rose to 10.1 percent on 43.7 million square feet of retail space, compared with 7.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. Clark County posted a quarterly average of $82,583 in taxable sales per retail employee during the recession, down from $90,329 before the recession. The average dropped to $77,448 in the first quarter.

National Mortgage Delinquency Rate Swells to 9.2 Percent in May: LPS
Housing Wire, July 6, 2010

The national mortgage delinquency rate grew to 9.2 percent in May, up 2.3 percent from a month earlier and 7.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest report from mortgage performance data and analytics provider Lender Processing Services. As a result, Habitat, a Christian group founded 34 years ago in Americus, Ga., around a philosophy of constructing and rehabilitating homes for low-income families, was recently ranked as one of the nation's top 10 builders for the first time in a closely watched industry list compiled by Builder Magazine.


Charity Joins Top Home Builders' Ranks
Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2010

A dozen female volunteers gathered recently in this blue-collar Long Island town, enduring the heat to help form the entryway of an 1,100-square foot home for Cheri Sabolenko and her two young children. The Sabolenko house will soon join more than 5,000 other homes expected to be built, repaired and rehabilitated in the U.S. this year by a well-known addition to the upper echelon of America's largest home builders: the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity International.


Condo Prices Plunge
Las Vegas Business Press, July 6, 2010

Prices at the Trump International Hotel & Tower have quietly tumbled this year in an effort to revive sales and reflect market reality. According to records kept by the Clark County recorder, Trump closed on 23 condominium hotel units during the first half of this year, with 14 priced between $155,000 and $185,000. This marks a 65 percent to 70 percent decline from the lowest price before October -- $520,000.


Finding Gold in Them Thar Foreclosures
Associated Press, July 4, 2010

If we're going to search for gold in the wreckage of the mortgage crisis, then 6:57 a.m. in front of 1009 W. Juanita Ave. is as good a time and place as any to start. The Cooper Ranch subdivision, 25 minutes from downtown Phoenix, is just beginning to stir. But when Casey Doran pulls up to his first foreclosure of the day, the tan stucco house has already seen a steady trickle of visitors.


The Morning After
The Economist, June 24, 2010

The idea that debt is a shameful state to be avoided has been steadily eroding since the 1960s, when a generation whose first memories were of the Depression was superseded by one brought up during the 1950s consumer boom. People were already used to buying houses and motor cars on credit, but suddenly a whole range of durable goods—TVs, fridges, washing machines—could be had on easy terms. Credit cards and charge cards came into widespread use. Buyers no longer had to scrimp and save to get what they wanted; they could have it now. As the range of desirable products grew, from Nintendo Wiis to iPhones, the urge to buy first and find the money later increased. In the current recession some borrowers have given priority to their credit-card and car loans rather than their mortgages. After all, they can usually find a new home to rent. But without a car many of them cannot get to work and without a credit card they find it hard to shop.