Observers: Not Clear What Next Governor Can Do for Foreclosure Crisis
September 19, 2010 — TheLedger.com

LAKELAND | Carla Rollins hasn't been keeping up with the Florida governor's race.

Expected rise in home sales may show a stabilizing market
September 20, 2010 — Bloomberg News

Home sales probably increased in August, a sign the U.S. real estate market is stabilizing after the expiration of a tax credit might have caused demand to plunge, economists said before reports on the housing market this week.

House Bill Would Force Lenders to Decide on Short Sales in 45 Days
September 17, 2010 — DSNews

Distressed homeowners looking for a way out of their mortgage that doesn’t involve foreclosure may find relief is on the way from a new bill introduced in the U.S. House. The legislation would impose a deadline on lenders to respond to short sale requests, requiring them to return an answer to the borrower within 45 days.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner talks economy
September 20, 2010 — USA Today

If anyone has a good handle on how long it will take to solve the U.S. unemployment problem, it's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Foreclosure crisis: Second wave coming?
September 20, 2010 — ABC15.com

PHOENIX - As the number of foreclosures rises, and buyers dwindle, some predict a second wave in a devastating housing crisis.

10 Reasons To Buy a Home
September 16, 2010, Wall Street Journal

Enough with the doom and gloom about homeownership. Sure, maybe there's more pain to come in the housing market. But when Time magazine starts running covers that declare "Owning a home may no longer make economic sense," it's time to say: Enough is enough. This is what "capitulation" looks like. Everyone has given up. After all, at the peak of the bubble five years ago, Time had a different take. "Home Sweet Home," declared its cover then, as it celebrated the boom and asked: "Will your house make you rich?"


Reluctant Realtors: Fannie, Freddie
September 16, 2010, Wall Street Journal

Two years after they were taken over by the federal government, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face a new challenge: The mortgage-finance giants are becoming two of the nation's largest home sellers at a time when the housing market shows new signs of softening. Fannie and Freddie have already taken back nearly as many homes in the first half of the year as they did all of last year. They owned more than 191,000 homes at the end of June, double the year-earlier total. That number will grow because they are taking back homes faster than they sell them.


SoCal Home Sales Fell 14% in August
September 15, 2010, Orange County Register

Southern California’s housing market continued to suffer from a post-tax credit hangover in August, the second consecutive month for falling home sales and the third in a row for month-to-month price drops, according to MDA DataQuick. Sales had been up from year-before levels in 23 of the past 26 months, with increases averaging 23%. After federal tax credits expired, however, Southern California home sales fell 21% in July. Sales were down almost 14% in August.


Recession Raises Poverty Rate to a 15-Year High
September 16, 2010, New York Times

The percentage of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was the highest it has been in 15 years, the Census Bureau reported Thursday, and interviews with poverty experts and aid groups said the increase appeared to be continuing this year. With the country in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, four million additional Americans found themselves in poverty in 2009, with the total reaching 44 million, or one in seven residents. Millions more were surviving only because of expanded unemployment insurance and other assistance.


Allure of Home Ownership Dims, Fannie Mae Survey Shows
September 16, 2010, Wall Street Journal

The American dream of owning a home has lost some of its allure after years of falling home prices and owners facing financial ruin. A new survey by Fannie Mae shows the number of people who say they consider housing a safe investment continues to decline, falling to 67% in July from 70% in January and 83% in 2003.  More Americans believe home prices are nearing a bottom—70% said it's a good time to buy, up from 64% in January—but the number of households that say they are more likely to rent than to buy a home rose to 33%, from 30% in January.


Pew: 36% of Public Approves Strategic Default as an Option
September 15, 2010, HousingWire

According to a Pew Research Center survey, 36% of Americans said it is acceptable to stop making mortgage payments, even if it is affordable. Pew surveyed more than 2,900 adults on the subject of strategic default. More than one-in-five, 21%, said they owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. These underwater borrowers are at the highest risk of strategically defaulting, because they lack the incentive to make the payments. According to Deutche Bank, 14 million borrowers were underwater as of the first quarter of 2010, but with another 10.8% decline in house prices expected, another 6 million could slip into negative equity as well.

US Homes Lost to Foreclosure Up 25% on Year
September 16, 2010, Associated Press

Lenders took back more homes in August than in any month since the start of the U.S. mortgage crisis. The increase in home repossessions came even as the number of properties entering the foreclosure process slowed for the seventh month in a row, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. In all, banks repossessed 95,364 properties last month, up 3 percent from July and an increase of 25 percent from August 2009, RealtyTrac said. NPR said. And Bloomberg added.


Banks Take Over Record Number of US Homes in August
September 16, 2010, Reuters

New default notices decreased at the same time, suggesting that lenders managed the flow of troubled loans and foreclosed properties hitting the market to limit price declines, the company said. Root problems of high unemployment, wage cuts, negative home equity and restrictive lending practices persist, however, pointing to lingering housing market pain.


Why Housing Will Come Back
September 14, 2010, Forbes blog (Scroll down to read article)

Few icons of the American way of life have suffered more in recent years than homeownership. Since the bursting of the housing bubble, there has been a steady drumbeat from the factories of futurist punditry that the notion of owning a home will, and, more importantly, should become out of reach for most Americans.

Man of Steel Stops a Housing Foreclosure
September 14, 2010, AOL News

Superman is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but who knew that he had an even greater power: being able to stop bank foreclosures. Yep, he's doing that too. Well, at least one of his comic books is. Oh, but what a comic it is: It's a vintage copy of Action Comics, No. 1, dating from 1939, that represents the Man of Steel's very first appearance and the debut of the superhero genre in general.


Median Price For Orlando Homes Below $100K
September 13, 2010, WFTV.com

For the first time in more than a decade, the median price for a home in Orlando dropped below the $100,000 mark. Short sales and foreclosures are dropping the prices. Owner-occupied homes aren't nearly that low. Prices for homes haven't been this low since 1998. One home in foreclosure was put on the market a few months ago for $300,000. The bank now has it listed for $180,000.

Will There Ever Be a ‘Tidal Wave’ of REO Listings?
September 13, 2010, Wall Street Journal

Today’s Outlook column looks at how bank-owned foreclosures and other involuntary home sales will govern the pace of home price declines over the coming months. Banks and other companies that sell REO, or real-estate owned, properties are typically faster to reduce prices than traditional sellers, so they tend to speed along any price correction. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the share of distressed sales—including foreclosures and short sales, where banks approve a sale for less than the amount owed.


Second Homes: Las Vegas Condos are on Sale
September 13, 2010, USA TODAY

The Las Vegas residential real estate market has been among the hardest-hit in the country, and second-home bargains are rampant compared with previous highs. TopTenRealEstateDeals.com recently surveyed condo sales managers and Realtors and concluded that condo prices citywide were down 70% from the highs of 2005-2006. TopTen's Bob Walsh cites examples from some of the city's most prominent buildings, such as condos at Trump Las Vegas, which have dropped from "around $600,000 to $167,000." Prices have fallen at Turnberry Towers from "$550,000 to the mid-$200s," he says.


Some Lawyers Profit Off Foreclosure Fears, Loan Modifications
September 13, 2010, Chicago Tribune

A loophole in state and federal laws has made it easy for some attorneys to take advantage of Illinois residents struggling to keep their homes. Attorneys are among the few professionals who can legally charge upfront fees to help homeowners modify their mortgages. But instead of negotiating with a lender, some attorneys or the companies they work for just keep the cash and don't complete the job. Homeowners are often unaware until it's too late and their homes are in or near foreclosure


Where Do You Put Your Money in This Economy?
September 13, 2010, San Diego Union-Tribune

Jittery about the economy and leery of the zig-zagging stock market, investors have spent much of the past year running for cover — seeking out such traditional havens as bonds or gold. The exodus has pushed the price of gold so high that many analysts warn it’s in bubble territory and ready to pop. At the same time, the flood of investments into the bond markets has driven yields so low that many securities are little better than stuffing money under the mattress — or potentially worse, given the taxes and fees that are attached to some purchases.

RealtyTrac last month added 2.5 million recently sold properties to its website, allowing users to search these properties alongside the 2 million foreclosures and 1.5 million MLS properties already on the website. How will this help users? Well, there are many slightly different applications for different types of users, from buyers to investors to homeowners to real estate agents, but the bottom line is that the recently sold properties will give all users insight into the true value of property -- based on what buyers are actually agreeing to pay -- in any given neighborhood nationwide.

Here's a video that shows how it works.