Independent Foreclosure Review Coming to a Close
By Anna Cuevas, Huffington Post, June 28, 2012

Homeowners seeking a review on whether they have been unfairly foreclosed have been granted an extension, but the deadline is almost here. All review requests must be received on or before September 30, 2012, extended from the original date, granted by the OCC and Federal Reserve in an attempt to assist a greater number of foreclosed homeowners during the years 2009 and 2010. However, like the government's loan modification program, HAMP, the number of homeowners this program has assisted to date has been far less than expected.

Restricted REO Inventory Side Effects
By Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac Vice President, June 28, 2012

Although the foreclosure processing delays triggered by robo-signing are stalling any definitive real estate recovery, there are some side effects that may be positive for the overall housing market.

7 Best Banks for (Short) Short Sale Bargains
By RealtyTrac Staff, June 27, 2012

The process of buying a short sale and the discounts available can vary widely based on the lender/servicer/investor involved in approving the sale. Here are the 7 best banks for short sale bargains.

RealtyTrac Names 10 Best Beach Towns to Buy Foreclosures
By Esther Cho, DSNews, June 25, 2012

Looking for a beach home? Perhaps not, but according to a report released by RealtyTrac, certain beach towns offer sizeable discounts that make vacation dream homes seem a little bit more accessible. Using home sales prices for distressed properties in the first quarter of 2012, the real estate database company ranked the top 10 beach towns to buy foreclosures in its June 2012 Foreclosure News Report.

Why 25,000 Massachusetts Foreclosure Buyers Are Breathing Easier
By Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac Vice President, June 25, 2012

A ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Court last week may offer peace of mind for nearly 25,000 foreclosure buyers in the state. The court provided clarification on what paperwork and documentation lenders need to properly foreclose, but said its clarification does not apply retroactively. That should provide relief to the thousands of buyers who have purchased foreclosed homes over the past five years, reassuring them that those homes will not be taken back from them because of foreclosure processing documentation that does not meet the standards outlined by the court in its decision.

Short Sales Will Eclipse REO Sales in Las Vegas
By Octavio Nuiry, Staff Writer, June 25, 2012

For the first time since the foreclosure crisis struck Las Vegas five years ago, short sales are on track to eclipse bank-owned, foreclosure sales.

Why The New Wave Of Foreclosures Is Good News For Homeowners
By Morgan Brennan, Forbes, June 14, 2012

Today RealtyTrac released its May foreclosure report and the numbers aren’t great. Foreclosure filings — defined as default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions –  ticked up 9% from April. It’s the first nationwide increase in foreclosures in 28 months, after more than two years of consecutive declines. Currently one out of every 639 homes in the U.S. is now distressed.

Disposing of Distress Differently
By Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac Vice President, June 14, 2012

We noticed some interesting numbers that clearly demonstrate how lenders are changing the way they dispose of distressed properties — moving away from bank repossession and toward short sales. From January 2007 through March 2012, lenders have started the foreclosure process on more than 8.5 million U.S. properties. Of those 8.5 million foreclosure starts, 5.9 million (68 percent) have been disposed of either via pre-foreclosure sale — typically a short sale or a sale at the public foreclosure auction —or by bank repossession (REO). Those REOs eventually are re-sold by lenders to try to recover any losses on the loan.

April Settlement Brings May Foreclosures
By Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac Vice President, June 14, 2012

The most notable statistic in the RealtyTrac May 2012 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released today was the year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts following 27 months of annual declines.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley promises to fight foreclosures
By Jim Kinney, MassLive.com, June 12, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — The state’s housing market, and its economy in general, won’t fully recover until Massachusetts puts the mortgage foreclosure crisis in the rear view mirror, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield.

UC Irvine law students to help enforce foreclosure settlement
By E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2012

UC Irvine law students will travel California this summer to help determine if five giant banks are fulfilling the pledges they made in a $25-billion settlement of foreclosure-abuse investigations.

'Occupy' turns to housing
By Jessica Lewis, Alex Bennett and Saba Nazeer, the Baltimore Sun, June 12, 2012

Those who rely on mainstream media to tell them what's happening can be forgiven for coming to the same opinion as ex-Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who wrote in his recent column "Capitalism on trial" that the Occupy movement has disintegrated.

For distressed homeowners, short sales on the rise
By Jim Gallasher, stltoday.com, June 10, 2012

When J. D. Tucker and his domestic partner split up, the distress went beyond heartache.

Short Sale Bill Has Unintended Consequences: Part II
By Octavio Nuiry, Staff Writer, June 8, 2012

This is second post about Senate Bill 458, which became law last summer, but loopholes in the law are creating unintended consequences for some distressed borrowers, according to real estate experts.

REO Inventory Ballooning as Banks Hold Back Housing
By Octavio Nuiry, Staff Writer, June 11, 2012

In the May 2012 issue of the Foreclosure News Report, real estate attorney, investor, author and trainer William Bronchick argues that banks are “hoarding foreclosure inventory” and overvaluing their real estate owned (REO) properties in an attempt to squeeze more money out of their distressed portfolios.