Forums: Foreclosure

New RealtyTrac numbers show that in April there were well over 300,000 foreclosures and the figure in on track to be higher in 2010 than in 2009. Several research firms say that underwater mortgages have moved above 11 million. The National Association of Realtors found that “in the first quarter, 91 out of 152 metropolitan statistical areas showed higher median existing single-family home prices in comparison with the first quarter of 2009.” But some cities posted double-digit drops for the period. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the NAR data for the first quarter along with Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment levels...

WASHINGTON – One in 10 American households with a mortgage was at risk of foreclosure this summer as the government's efforts to help have had little impact stemming the housing crisis. About 9.9 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment as of June 30, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.

When a new family moved into the mansion on South Goddard Road in south DeKalb County, residents just assumed they were “city folks” too busy to meet neighbors.(snip) The only time Goddard saw her next-door neighbors was when they were being led off in handcuffs. Prosecutors say the $1 million brick home next to the Goddards’ farmhouse is one of at least 19 properties that have been taken over by a sect of anti-government extremists involved in criminal behavior.

Loans taken out by Hispanics in California have been more likely to end in foreclosure than most other groups, according to a study released Tuesday by a nonprofit group that called for renewed efforts to keep troubled borrowers from losing their homes. The Center For Responsible Lending said in its analysis of data from government agencies and mortgage servicers that almost half of all the state's foreclosures between October 2006 and November 2009 involved Hispanic borrowers. Hispanics, however, comprised less than a third of the state's borrowers between 2004 and 2008, when those loans are likely to have originated.

Michele McBeth was not behind on her house payments and never had been. But money was tight for the Norfolk elementary school teacher in 2009. She hadn't seen a raise in years, and her son would soon be starting college. McBeth was looking for any way to relieve some of the strain on her budget, so she contacted her mortgage company to see whether it could lower her payments. The company offered help through the U.S. Treasury Department's Making Home Affordable program, and McBeth signed on to a trial loan modification. Now, almost a year later, McBeth is facing foreclosure.

[snip] The problem starts with a skewed financial incentive at the heart of HAMP. The government paid Fannie bonuses for trial modifications that lasted three months, but apparently provided no incentive to move those homeowners into permanent modifications. Under pressure to show that they could turn a profit after the massive bailouts of 2008 and continuing bailouts in 2009, Fannie Mae execs focused like a laser on earning the bonus payments:

The mortgage foreclosure crisis has claimed an unlikely victim: Carl R. Greene, executive director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). Wells Fargo Bank has foreclosed on Greene's $615,035 condominium in the upscale Naval Square development in the city's Schuylkill section. In a lawsuit filed July 27, Wells Fargo said the amount in dispute was $386,685.22. Greene, 53, runs the nation's fourth-largest public housing agency and is one of the highest-paid public officials in the city. His salary is $306,370, and last year he got a $44,188 bonus. Kirk Dorn, a spokesman for Greene, confirmed Thursday that the housing chief was...