finance industry: Government’s New Foreclosure Prevention Plan - 03/31/10 10:55 PM
The Obama Administration revealed on Friday a new plan to stem foreclosure. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Herbert M. Allison contends that the nature of the foreclosure crisis has shifted from one of sub-prime mortgages to one of helping the unemployed and under-water to survive bad times.
For loans above 115% of market value mortgage write-downs will be considered in order to bring the homeowner’s payment to 31% of income. In response to concerns that the mortgage write-down program would encourage people to default who might have otherwise continued to pay, the government has held firm that this program will impact … (1 comments)

finance industry: NODs Up 20% in California - 03/26/10 07:32 AM
Despite the news from some quarters that delinquency rates may be starting to slow down, California is initiating more notices of default starting in February than in previous months. NODs jumped by 19.7% in February after a four month decline. While properties scheduled for foreclosure continued at a record pace, actual sales back to the bank or to third parties declined in February in California by 11.9%, according to a tracking site, ForeclosureRadar.
The editors of ForeclosureRadar blame government efforts to increase fairness and oversight of the process without really curing the problem of under water mortgages. ForeclosureRadar said that despite … (0 comments)

finance industry: Senate Introduces Financial Reform Bill - 03/26/10 06:22 AM
The Senate has introduced a Financial Reform Bill, introduced by Banking Committee Chairman, Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut).
If the bill is passed it will create a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to watchdog unfair, abusive and predatory financial services and products. It will be housed within the Federal Reserve. Banks and credit unions with assets over $10 billion will be monitored by this new agency, as will mortgage brokers and servicers, debt collectors and consumer reporting agencies.
The bill also includes a council that oversees systemic financial instruments and practices in an effort to avoid the kinds of exotic products that led to … (2 comments)

finance industry: Delinquencies Appear to be on a Downward Trend, maybe.... - 03/24/10 11:29 PM
The pace of new delinquencies has slowed during the winter months, according to a report by the valuation company, Lender Processing Services (LPS). The company believes that the trend is a reflection of the slowed pace of foreclosures due to HAMP and private loan modification programs.
With 7.5 million loans still in some stage of delinquency, we are far from economic recovery, even though the pace of new defaults seems to be slowing.
Further, the pipeline appears to be clogged as Lenders try to work out alternatives to foreclosure and deal with a growing number of delinquencies. Of loans delinquent for … (0 comments)

finance industry: Heat Turns Up on Second Lien Write-downs - 03/17/10 10:29 PM
Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has called for second mortgage holders to write down these loans in order to relieve pressure on the problem of underwater mortgages. Once second mortgages are written down it becomes possible for more first mortgages to be restructured into safer conventional plans at current market value.
Frank’s letter of concern has gone to the major second mortgage underwriters, Bank of America, JPMorganChase, CitiGroup, and Wells Fargo. Frank argues that homeowners are often eager to save their homes, but complex negotiations between mortgage holders often lead to frustration and failure. The result is … (2 comments)

finance industry: Jumbo Loan Default Rate Escalates - 03/16/10 10:42 PM
Serious delinquencies of jumbo loans ($417,000 in most areas and $729,750 in certain high-priced markets) were higher for the 32nd month as of January according to Fitch Ratings, a credit rating organization. These 60 day+ late loans jumped to 9.6% of the residential mortgage-backed securities market compared to 9.2% in December. This trend has been in place since 2007 and nearly tripled in 2009.
In California, which holds 44% of the jumbo loans, the delinquency rate was 11.3% in January and expected to climb. Jumbo prime loan delinquency rates also rose in Florida, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. Fitch officials … (0 comments)

finance industry: Thinking about foreclosures, but don't know where to find them? - 03/11/10 09:12 PM
Here’s a list of the free websites that can be used to locate bank-owned property:
American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc https://re.ahmsi3.com/staticBroker/rePropertiesNew.jsp
Bank of America (including Countrywide) http://bankofamerica.reo.com/search/propertysearch.aspx
BB&T http://www.bbt.com/applications/specialassets/search.asp
Chase http://mortgage.chase.com/pages/other/co_properties_landing.jsp
Citi http://www.citimortgage.com/Mortgage/Oreo/SearchListing.do
Compass Bank https://www.compassbank.com/appforms/properties/index.jsp
GMAC and CapMark- Now Berkadia http://www.berkadia.com/Berkadia/REOProperties.aspx
HomePath by Fannie Mae http://www.homepath.com/
HomeSteps by Freddie Mac http://www.homesteps.com/hm01_1featuresearch.htm
HSBC http://www.banking.us.hsbc.com/HICServlet?cmd_PropertySearchDefault=cmd_PropertySearchDefault
HUD - Housing and Urban Development Listings http://www.hud.gov/homes/index.cfm
IndyMac (now OneWestBank) http://apps.indymacbank.com/individuals/realestate/Search.asp
M&T http://services.mandtbank.com/personal/bank_owned_prop.cfm
Ocwen www.ocwen.com/ Regions Bank http://realestate.regions.com/servlet/Ore/ForeclosedPropertySearch.jsp
SunTrust http://suntrust.res.net/
Wachovia http://reo.wachovia.com/
 
Top Negative Equity States and Cities
Last week we mentioned First American CoreLogic's 4th Quarter 2009 negative equity report. Here’s a list from … (2 comments)

finance industry: Administration Considers Halt to Foreclosures - 03/07/10 09:29 PM
The Obama Administration is considering further sanctions against Lenders who foreclosure before all Home Affordable Modification Program options have been explored. The HAMP guidelines strongly urge Lenders to look at all options before foreclosing, but falls short of requiring Lenders to examine every severely delinquent account one by one before sending out a Notice of Default. If the more stringent requirement is enacted Lenders would need to contact all borrowers who are 60 days or more late in order to determine eligibility for a HAMP modification or HAFA short sale.
The change would also require Lenders to stop all foreclosure activity … (2 comments)

finance industry: Don't Count the Dollar Out - 02/09/10 09:23 PM
According to Ben Levisohn in a Bloomberg.com article,stories of the dollar's demise are more myth than reality. In fact, the dollar is gaining against a group of 10 nations who are its trading partners. The dollar has gained 6% since November after a 12% loss during the first 11 months of 2009. Both Barclay's Capital and Morgan Stanley are bullish on the U.S. chances for growth during 2011 compared to other developed countries, especially compared to Greece, Spain, Portugal and Japan.
There is great demand right now, including from foreign sources, for U.S. Treasury notes. Many are seeking refuge against a … (2 comments)

finance industry: Should Realtors be Loan Officers too? - 08/06/07 09:40 AM
I hope I don’t step on too many toes with this topic, but I say yes! 
Too many new and experienced Realtors are clueless about pre-qualifying, assessing whether or not their buyer (client?) is being offered the best range of products; have no idea when or how to pinpoint that the loan is going down the tubes until it’s too late and then are ineffectual in helping to pick up the pieces. Too many Realtors are absolutely dependent on loan officers for understanding when a client is qualified for a particular type of financing and don't know when their  client … (12 comments)