A Look at Case-Shiller, by Metro Area
November 30, 2010, Wall Street Journal

The S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index, which is released on a quarterly basis, posted a 2% decline from the previous quarter and are 1.5% below year-earlier levels. On a monthly basis, 18 cities notched declines from August, compared to 15 month-on-month drops in August and just eight the July report. Seasonal variations can distort month-on-month comparisons. Based on a seasonal adjustment calculated by S&P, no city posted a monthly home-price increase in September.


Fannie and Freddie Give Green Light to Resume Sales of Foreclosures
November 29, 2010, Housing Wire

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gave real estate agents the green light to resume selling foreclosed homes, after suspending the process as the robo-signing debacle unfolded the past two months. Freddie told agents in a memo last week to "resume all normal sales activity," as the government-sponsored enterprise will "resume marketing, sales and disposing of assets previously placed 'on hold.'"


Collier Home Flipper Contacted About ‘Foreclosures in Paradise’ Show
November 29, 2010, Naples News

In 2009, Glenn Vereen started off as a one-man show. He began bidding at public foreclosure auctions held at the Collier County courthouse off U.S. 41 East. As the foreclosure crisis has grown, so has his business of buying, fixing up and selling troubled homes.


The Fed and Foreclosures
November 28-, 2010, New York Times

There are two sides to every delinquent loan — a lender who made a bad lending decision and a borrower who cannot repay. Yet, banks have never acted as if they bear responsibility for the mortgage mess. They have pursued foreclosures in violation of borrowers’ rights to due process, as revealed by the recent robo-signing scandal. And, despite having been bailed out for their mistakes, they have pursued their self-interest, not the public interest, when it comes to modifying bad loans.

Hearing brings more censure for handling of foreclosures
USA Today — November 19, 2010

Bankers, housing regulators and members of Congress agreed on this much in the week's second congressional hearing on foreclosure problems: The system needs fixing.

Aggressive lobbying defends mortgage-trading system
The Washington Post — November 19, 2010

The financial services industry has launched an aggressive campaign on Capitol Hill to bolster the legality of the way companies have turned mortgages into securities and traded them across the globe in recent years.

Fewer Fall Delinquent in Paying Mortgages
The New York Times — November 18, 2010

Even as the fight over foreclosures continues, the high tide of delinquency among homeowners has begun to recede.

Distressed Sales, Federal Programs Drive 20% Jump in Mortgage Fraud
DSNews — November 18, 2010

Mortgage fraud has increased by more than 20 percent since fraud rates reached their lowest point in early 2009, according to CoreLogic.

Washington DC creates "quasi-judicial" foreclosure process
HousingWire — November 18, 2010

Washington D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty ratified a provision this week with the aim of bringing a more judicial-type framework to the nonjudicial foreclosure system in the nation's capital. However, enforcement of the mandate is likely to add confusion to the federal district's mortgage industry.

Obama administration committed to preventing 'avoidable foreclosures'
HousingWire — November 18, 2010

Recovery in the housing market remains fragile but the Obama administration is committed to preventing "avoidable foreclosures and stabilizing" the market.

Florida has the second highest foreclosure rate in the nation, registering nearly 57,000 foreclosure filings in October, according to RealtyTrac. Last year, the Florida legislature approved $9.6 million to hire retired judges to clear out the backlog of nearly 500,000 foreclosure cases. The goal was to process 62 percent of the outstanding cases.

But critics call it a “rocket docket” that favors banks over borrowers and makes a mockery of the state’s courts and personal property rights.

A few weeks ago, Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi visited Jacksonville and sat in on one of Florida’s “rocket docket” courts, where Senior Judge A.C. Soud presides over the Fourth Circuit Court. What he witnessed shocked him.

In an article titled “Courts Helping Banks Screw Over Homeowners,” Taibbi accused Florida judges of ramming foreclosure files through the courts with little regard for the rule of law. He argues that the makeshift courts are a closed-door assembly line where judges sign off on 25 cases an hour, reviewing each case in only two minutes each. He adds:

“It exists to launder the crime and bury the evidence by speeding thousands of fraudulent and predatory loans to the ends of their life cycles, so that the houses attached to them can be sold again with clean paperwork. The judges, in fact, openly admit that their primary mission is not justice but speed. One Jacksonville judge, the Honorable A.C. Soud, even told a local newspaper that his goal is to resolve 25 cases per hour. Given the way the system is rigged, that means His Honor could well be throwing one ass on the street every 2.4 minutes.”

It’s a familiar theme that Taibbi covers in his new book on the financial crisis “Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America,” which was published last week by Random House. Taibbi discovers far worse than sloppy paperwork on the part of banks. Not only are the banks manufacturing phony documents, argues Taibbi, the geriatric judges are heavily skewed to favor the banks.

“No one might think that after a bank makes multiple attempts to push phony documents through a courtroom, a judge might be pissed off enough to simply rule against that plaintiff for good. As I witness in court all morning, the defense never gets more than one chance to screw up. But the banks get to keep filing their foreclosures over and over again, no matter how atrocious and deceitful their paperwork is.”

Rolling Stone ended the polemic this way:

“This is the dirty secret of the rocket docket: The whole system is set up to enable lenders to commit fraud over and over again, until they figure out a way to reduce the stink enough so some judge like Soud can sign off on the scam. "If the court finds for the defendant, the plaintiffs just refile," says Parker, the local attorney. "The only way for the caseload to get reduced is to give it to the plaintiff. The entire process is designed with that result in mind.”

Taibbi is not the only reporter to cover the “rocket docket.” CNN reporter Poppy Harlow also went to Jacksonville and filed this story about the robo-judges.

Is this a fair portrait of the banks and the Florida judicial system? Or is there more to the story than this?

Bank of America Home Loan Head Says No Homes Improperly Seized
Bloomberg — November 15, 2010

Flaws in Bank of America Corp.’s foreclosure paperwork haven’t caused the bank to seize any homes improperly, the president of the company’s home-loan division said in testimony prepared for Congress today.

Congressional Oversight Panel Examines "Robo-Signed" Foreclosures and Other Mortgage Irregularities
COP News Release — November 16, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Congressional Oversight Panel today released its November oversight report, "Examining the Consequences of Mortgage Irregularities for Financial Stability and Foreclosure Mitigation." The Panel reviewed allegations that companies servicing $6.4 trillion in American mortgages may in some cases have bypassed legally required steps to foreclose on a home. The implications of these irregularities remain unclear, but it is possible that "robo-signing" may have concealed deeper problems in the mortgage market that could potentially threaten financial stability and undermine foreclosure prevention efforts.

Banks, AGs to square off in Senate over foreclosures
HousingWire — November 15, 2010

The Senate Banking Committee will hear testimony Tuesday from both sides of recent foreclosure problems at the major banks.

U.S. Homebuilder Confidence Index Increased to 16
The Washington Post — November 16, 2010

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders improved for a second month in November, a sign residential construction may hold at depressed levels.

NAR Survey Finds Half of Homebuyers to be First-Time Purchasers
DSNews — November 15, 2010

First-time homebuyers purchased half of all homes that were sold from July 2009 to June 2010, according to an annual survey of buyers and sellers conducted by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Stable Home Prices, Low Mortgage Rates Could Gas Economy
November 11, 2010, USA TODAY

Mortgage rates are hitting another record low just as home prices are firming in more parts of the country, two trends that could help boost the economy. Potential recovery fuel: Rates on 30-year fixed loans averaged 4.17 percent, down from 4.24 percent a week ago, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. They've been below 5 percent since early May. Median home prices in the third quarter were up from last year's third period in 77 of 155 metro areas, the National Association of Realtors reports. In 2009's third quarter, only 30 areas showed year-over-year growth.


US Consumer Sentiment Rises
 November 11, 2010, Reuters

U.S. consumer sentiment rose more than expected in early November, helped by a slightly better economic outlook and early holiday sales, a survey released Friday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary November reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 69.3, up from 67.7 in October and slightly higher than the median forecast of 69.0 among economists polled by Reuters.


Coming Next: Foreclosure-Free Zones 
November 11, 2010, Boston Herald

One month ago, the city of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs of Cook County became a foreclosure-free zone. It wasn't the banks or judges that instituted the moratorium, because they were still moving cases forward at a rapid clip. The holdup was elsewhere: at the sheriff's office. Sheriff Thomas J. Dart, whose office is responsible for physically evicting delinquent homeowners, announced Oct. 19 that his deputies would "no longer be doing the banks' work for them anymore."


Million-Dollar Homes: Massive Discounts
November 11, 2010, CNNMoney.com

Million-dollar homes are the most affordable they've been in years. In fact, $600,000 is the new $1 million, according to Alex Villacorta, senior statistician for Clear Capital. Here are 7 smoking deals from around the country.


Nicolas Cage's Bel-Air Home Goes to New Owner for $10.5 Million
November 11, 2010, Los Angeles Times

The sale of Nicolas Cage's onetime Bel-Air estate, which the actor lost to foreclosure this year, has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster. There was hubris, bad taste and a dizzying fall from financial grace. The closing scene played out this week when a new owner picked up the sprawling mansion for $10.5 million, a relative bargain for a trophy home that had been listed several years ago at more than three times that amount. The buyer was identified only as a limited liability company, a common cloaking device in high-profile real estate transactions.