RealtyTrac, Foreclosures Made Up 31 Pct. of Home Sales in 2Q
Foreclosures Made Up 31 Pct. of Home Sales in 2Q
By Derek Kravitz, Associated Press, Aug. 25, 2011
Foreclosures made up roughly one-third of all home sales this spring. While that's a smaller share of sales from the previous quarter, it's six times the percentage of foreclosures in a healthy housing market. Foreclosure sales, which include homes purchased after they received a notice of default or that were repossessed by lenders, accounted for 31 percent of the market in the April-June quarter, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. Also see Bloomberg, Reuters, UPI, and MSN.com.
Obama Goes All Out For Dirty Banker Deal
By Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, Aug. 24, 2011
A power play is underway in the foreclosure arena, according to the New York Times. On the one side is Eric Schneiderman, the New York Attorney General, who is conducting his own investigation into the era of securitizations – the practice of chopping up assets like mortgages and converting them into saleable securities – that led up to the financial crisis of 2007-2008.On the other side is the Obama administration, the banks, and all the other state attorneys general.
‘MERS Morass’ is Hanging Up Negotiations on Foreclosure Settlement
By Brady Dennis, Washington Post, Aug. 25, 2011
State and federal officials negotiating a settlement with the nation’s biggest banks over shoddy foreclosure practices are hung up on how they should deal with a Reston-based company that has acted as a proxy for financial firms throughout the country for more than a decade. Some officials refer to the dilemma as the “MERS morass,” referring to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, whose vast but controversial registry contains roughly 65 million mortgages
Foreclosure Settlement: Spat Among the States
By Jennifer Liberto, CNN Money, Aug. 24, 2011
A deal to help victims of improper foreclosures has been slow going, in large part because of infighting among state attorneys general over giving banks a free pass from future lawsuits. The talks are between the attorneys general and federal agencies on one side, and the five largest mortgage servicers, which comprise nearly 60% of the market.
Midwestern States Stumble with Foreclosures and Job Losses
By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 23, 2011
Just about everyone who follows the news knows that California, Nevada and Florida are the pariah states of this recession, having experienced a housing boom and bust from which they are still recovering. But new economic data indicate that other states are beginning to stumble this summer, causing further trouble in the nation's economy.