Mr. Romney on Foreclosures

Sales of New Homes Up in October, But Prices Fall
By The Associated Press, Nov. 28, 2011

Americans bought slightly more new homes in October, a hopeful sign for the troubled housing market. But the median sales price fell to its lowest level of the year, and the overall sales pace is trailing last year’s — the worst in half a century. New-home sales increased 1.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000, the Commerce Department said Monday.

When the Budget Calls for a Move Back Home
By Rachel Louise Ensign, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 27, 2011

The Thanksgiving festivities are over, but three generations of Cindy Ross Vogt's family are still sitting down to dinner together in Shasta Lake, Calif.  That's because Ms. Vogt's 37-year-old stepdaughter and 15-year-old step-grandson moved in with her and her husband in 2010, after the stepdaughter couldn't find a job and went back school to eventually become a nurse.

Mr. Romney on Foreclosures
By New York Times, EDITORIAL, Nov. 26, 2011

Since the housing bubble began to burst six years ago, prices nationwide have fallen by a third. Nearly $7 trillion of home equity has been wiped out. Currently, some 14.7 million homeowners owe $700 billion more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Going forward, prices are likely to fall further as banks put a backlog of foreclosed properties on the market. As home prices fall and more homeowners sink underwater, there will be more foreclosures and more price declines.

Foreclosure Law Firm That Mocked Victims Closing
By Susanna Kim, ABC News, Nov. 23, 2011

One of the major law firms handling foreclosures in the U.S. is closing its doors after being banned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from receiving new work from lenders and servicers. It's the same firm that threw a Halloween party last year where its employees dressed up as foreclosure victims, mocking people who had lost their homes.