Investment and Vacation Home Sales Soar in 2011
 By Les Christie, CNN Money, March 29, 2012

Sales of investment properties and vacation homes soared last year as investors snapped up homes that were selling at beaten down prices. Homes purchased by investors skyrocketed 64.5 percent to 1.23 million in 2011, up from 749,000 the year before, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Consumers More Optimistic About Homeownership
By Leslie Berkman, Press-Enterprise, March 28, 2012

A national poll released this month by Prudential Real Estate found that Americans are significantly more optimistic about homeownership than they were a year ago. The telephone poll was conducted online in February by Palisades Media Ventures and Penn Shoen Berland with interviews of 1,251 people aged 25 to 64 with a household income of at least $50,000 and who recently bought or sold a home or are considering doing so.

Forecast Upbeat on Housing Recovery
By Stefanos Chen, Wall Street Journal, March 28, 2012

The housing market may finally be on the path to a sustainable recovery, according to a new report, but it’s not the cork-popping celebration many under-water homeowners may have hoped for. The Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit land-use think tank, released on Wednesday its real-estate forecast for the next three years, which shows some encouraging trends in both the residential and commercial sectors through 2014.

Grim Housing Data Shows We Have Not Hit Bottom
By Michelle Hirsch, Fiscal Times, March 29, 2012

A new string of grim housing data confirms what economists and analysts have long predicted: the housing market has yet to hit bottom, and once it does, it will be a long slog back to health and stability.

Reality TV Star Kristin Cavallari's Home Foreclosed
By Kelle Hart Kehler, Orange County Register, March 28, 2012

The Laguna Beach family home of reality TV star Kristin Cavallari was foreclosed on about a month ago, according to public records. Sitting high atop the hillside in South Laguna's gated Three Arch Bay community, the property at 96 Vista Del Sol sold to OneWest Bank Feb. 27 for $6.11 million, records show.

Housing Pundit Thomas Lawler and the Genesis of Lawlessness
By Michael Olenick, Calculated Risk, March 30, 2012

While researching a HUD database for clues on Thomas Lawler, the frequently-cited foreclosure and heavy-metal loving “housing economist” often cited by the business media, and a favorite of Calculated Risk, I came across background information that raises more questions than it answers.

The term shadow inventory has become quite a buzz word over the past couple years, representing all that is uncertain and scary in this housing market. But shedding light on that shadow inventory is what is needed to face the true scope of the problem and remove all the uncertainty surrounding it.  I was honored to help shed a little light on shadow inventory in the March 2012 issue of Cityscape, a journal of policy development and research published by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD).

The article I wrote, titled Chasing Shadow Inventory: Sloppy Foreclosures and Unintended Consequences, was part of a new feature in the publication called Point of Contention, in which several experts provide their viewpoint on a specific issue. Other viewpoints on the shadow inventory issue came from Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic, and Eric Rosenblatt and Vincent Yao of Fannie Mae

Generally speaking, shadow inventory refers to properties that likely should be listed for sale, but for different reasons are not listed for sale. The majority of this shadow inventory is made up of distressed properties, including delinquencies, properties in the foreclosure process and properties that have completed the foreclosure process but have not yet been listed for sale by the foreclosing lender. This last segment is also known as bank-owned, or REO. RealtyTrac seen a decline in the inventory of those last two segments over the past year and a half, as illustrated in the graphic below. That's good news, although we are expecting a short-term increase in that inventory in 2012 as banks push through some of the delayed foreclosures caused by paperwork and processing problems triggered by the robo-signing controversy.

Banks Ranked by Best Foreclosure Deals
By Leslie Berkman, Press-Enterprise, March 26, 2012

In anticipation that the $25 billion settlement to remedy the robo-signing scandal will grease the foreclosure process, it would behoove prospective buyers of bank-repossessed homes to know where to find the best deals. So RealtyTrac, which keeps a close eye on the foreclosure market, published in its March newsletter a ranking of the banks, looking at how quickly their foreclosed houses sell and at how great a discount a buyer can expect compared to estimated market value.

U.S. Home Prices Down for Fifth Straight Month
By The Associated Press, March 27, 2012

Home prices fell in January for a fifth straight month in most major U.S. cities, as modest sales increases have yet to boost prices. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index shows prices dropped in January from December in 16 of 19 cities tracked. The steepest declines were in San Francisco, Atlanta and Portland. Prices increased in Miami, Phoenix and Washington.

Could Rising Foreclosures Hurt Obama in 2012?
By Suzy Khimm, Washington Post, March 26, 2012

After declining in 2011, foreclosures in many states are likely to spike this year, just as President Obama is facing reelection. Since the beginning of 2012, foreclosures have already risen in 21 states. That’s largely because of February’s mortgage fraud settlement that clarified which foreclosure procedures by banks are unacceptable, allowing backlogged foreclosures to move forward.

Lawler: On Possible Fannie and Freddie Principal Reductions
By Tom Lawler, Calculated Risk, March 26, 2012

Several media stories, including one from NPR/ProPublica, suggest that new analysis by folks at Fannie and Freddie indicate that engaging in some principal reduction modifications may be cost effective to the GSEs.

DeMarco: Obama’s Favorite Scapegoat for His Failed Housing Policies
By Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, March 26, 2012

There’s been an interesting contretemps over an article by Gretchen Morgenson over the weekend, “A Bailout by Another Name.” Morgenson made the hardly-controversial observation that writing down Fannie and Freddie first mortgages without wiping out any relate second is a back door bailout.

BofA Tests an Option to Foreclosure
By Nick Timiraos, The Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2012

Bank of America Corp is launching a pilot program that will allow homeowners at risk of foreclosure to hand over deeds to their houses and sign leases that will let them rent the houses back from the bank at a market rate.

The housing crisis blame game
By Leonard Pitts, Jr., Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2012

When it comes to the housing and foreclosure crisis, there's plenty of blame to go around.

Rangel Introduces Bill To Help Americans Losing Their Homes
By Evan Bedard, LoanSafe.org, March 22, 2012

Washington D.C. – Congressman Charles Rangel introduced the Mortgage Cancellation Relief Act of 2012, H.R. 4202 in the House of Representatives this week. The bill extends for two years the tax provision that prevents struggling homeowners from a federal income tax liability as a result of mortgage debt forgiveness from a financial institution. Rangel originally introduced the provision in 2007.

NY firm that had foreclosure costume party settles
By Carolyn Thompson, BloombergBusinessweek, March 22, 2012

A New York law firm that was harshly criticized after pictures surfaced from a company Halloween party where people dressed as homeless has agreed to pay $4 million in a settlement with the state over some of the tens of thousands of foreclosures it filed, attorneys said Thursday.

Radar Logic: 2011 Home Bargains May Continue This Year
By Krista Franks Brock, DSNews, March 22, 2012

Last year was a good year for home bargain-hunters, according to the latest data from Radar Logic. The firm’s January report revealed a 5.42 percent decline in prices from January 2011 to January 2012 and a simultaneous 7.7 percent increase in transactions.

Lynn Szymoniak, Foreclosure Activist, Says $18 Million Doesn't Make Up For Homeowners' Harms
By Zach Carter, Huffington Post, March 20, 2012

The last four years have not been easy for Lynn Szymoniak. Since early 2008, she has waged a seemingly endless series of legal battles against some of the nation's biggest banks in an effort to save her Palm Beach County, Fla., home from foreclosure. But Szymoniak is about to get some help -- a check for $18 million for her role in uncovering evidence of massive bank fraud.

After slowing last year, Louisville foreclosures may ramp up again
By Chris Otts, The Courier-Journal, March 20, 2012

It’s been almost a year and a half since CitiMortgage filed for foreclosure against Roy Willock and Sally Kessinger.

Latest foreclosure ruling sides with Utah homeowners
By Tom Harvey, The Salt Lake Tribune, March 20, 2012

Contrary to the findings of two other federal judges in Utah, U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins has ruled that Bank of America must follow state law when it forecloses on homeowners in this state.

Existing Home Sales Dip in February as Prices Rise, Inventories Increase
By Mark Lieberman, DSNews, March 21, 2012

Existing-home sales fell in February from an upwardly revised January sales pace, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Wednesday

N.J. legislature hellbent on growing government with 'N.J. Residential Foreclosure Act'
 By Rob Eichmann, newjerseynewsroom.com, March 20, 2012

Quietly moving through the New Jersey legislature are two bills that will destroy every neighborhood in our state, humiliate taxpaying citizens who have the unfortunate experience of being foreclosed upon, and greatly expand the size of our government - while doing absolutely nothing to return New Jersey to prosperity.