Foreclosures - St Louis Real Estate News

Is now a safe time to buy foreclosures?

By Dennis Norman, on October 18th, 2010

Dennis Norman

According to a report just released by RealtyTrac® foreclosures increased in the third quarter of 2010, although with a slowing rate of increase. There were 930,437 foreclosure filings in the third quarter, up almost 4 percent from the 2nd quarter but up only 1 percent from the year before. One in every 139 housing units in the U.S. received a foreclosure filing during 3rd quarter.

During the month of September alone, there were foreclosure filings reported on 347,420 U.S. properties, an increase of nearly 3 percent from the previous month and an increase of 1 percent Continue Reading →

Initial report shows increased mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure inventory in September

By Dennis Norman, on October 16th, 2010

Dennis Norman

A “first-look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows that things are not getting better on the “home-front”….The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (not including foreclosures) for September was 9.27 percent, a 0.6 percent increase from the month before, however it is a 7.8 percent decrease from the year before. The foreclosure rate for September was 3.84 percent, a 1.1 percent increase from the month before and a 3.6 percent increase from the year before.

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Wall Street Reform Emergency Homeowners Loan Program (EHLP) Update

By Dennis Norman, on October 12th, 2010

Dennis Norman

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Obama in July,called for HUD to administer and oversee a $1 billion Emergency Homeowners Loan Program (EHLP), to provide assistance, for up to 24 months, to homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure on their home as a result of a substantial reduction in income due to “involuntary unemployment, underemployment, or a medical condition”. This program will be available to borrowers in 32 states, those states that did not receive other funding under the Treasury Departments “Hardest Hit Housing Fund” program.

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Two-thirds of Americans less likely to buy a house due to poor economy

By Dennis Norman, on October 11th, 2010

Dennis Norman

According to a new survey released by FindLaw.com, nearly two-thirds of Americans say the current economic situation is making them less likely to buy a house.

The survey shows that sixty-three percent of American adults say they are less likely to buy a house because of the current state of the economy. So even with record-low interest rates, depressed home prices and plentiful inventory to choose from, only 8 percent of people say the current economic situation makes them more likely to buy a house. About a quarter of people – 28 percent – say they are Continue Reading →

Bank of America halts foreclosures in all 50 states

By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2010

Dennis Norman

Today Bank of America announced they will stop foreclosure sales in all fifty states until after they have completed their review of foreclosure documents.

This comes after Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co and GMAC deciding last week to stop foreclosure proceedings in states that require a judicial foreclosure process which was apparently the result of recent court decisions on lawsuits brought by homeowners that alleged lenders were abusing the foreclosure process.

Cities where home ownership is more affordable than rental

By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2010

Dennis Norman

Today, Trulia released it’s “Rent vs. Buy Index” which established a price-to-rent ratio for the 50 largest cities in America (by population), then, based upon that ratio, determined which cities it makes more sense (financially) to rent versus buy.

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Fannie Mae announces support for Military Homeowners

By News Desk, on September 28th, 2010

Surviving Spouses and Wounded Warriors Eligible for Special Forbearance

At an event yesterday at the Pentagon, Fannie Mae and the U.S. Army announced new initiatives to help service members who are struggling with their mortgage payments avoid foreclosure. The effort includes a mortgage payment forbearance of up to six months where the death or injury of a service member on active duty causes a hardship for impacted military families with a mortgage obligation.

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St. Louis foreclosures on the rise in July

By Dennis Norman, on September 28th, 2010

Dennis Norman

A report released by CoreLogic showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate in July of 1.48 percent up slightly from June’s rate of 1.43 percent and an increase of 27.6 percent from the year prior when the rate was 1.16 percent.

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New Incentives for Buyers of Fannie Mae Foreclosures; Over 700 Homes Available in St. Louis

By Dennis Norman, on September 24th, 2010

Dennis Norman

Fannie Mae is offering 3.5 percent in closing cost assistance and a $1,500 bonus to buyers’ real estate agent or broker for people purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned HomePath® property.

Fannie Mae is trying to entice buyers to buy one of their

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Mortgage delinquencies decline; foreclosure starts accelerate

By Dennis Norman, on September 24th, 2010

Dennis Norman

A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of August 2010 shows that mortgage delinquencies continue to decline however are still at very high levels versus historical norms. At the same time however, foreclosure starts continue to accelerate.

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New home construction continues to outpace new home sales; look for inventory to grow

By Dennis Norman, on September 21st, 2010

The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for August 2010 showing a decrease in single-family home building permits and an increase in new home starts compared to the month before.

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Owner-occupants get first shot to buy Fannie Mae foreclosures; Investors must wait

By Dennis Norman, on September 18th, 2010

Dennis Norman

Fannie Mae announced this week that it is expanding the Freddie Mac First Look Initiative so any home shopper can buy a HomeSteps® home as their primary residence during the first 15 days of the property’s listing without competition from investors. HomeSteps is the real estate sales unit of Freddie Mac and markets a nationwide selection of Freddie Mac-owned homes.

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One in five St Louis home sales are distressed sales; more ‘distress coming’

By Dennis Norman, on September 17th, 2010

Dennis Norman

A report by CoreLogic shows that in June 2010 almost one in five (19.3 percent) of the home sales in St. Louis are distressed home sales, such as foreclosure or a short sale. The report cautions that recent data showing improvements in negative equity, serious mortgage delinquency and a decrease in market share of short-sales, has been distorted as a result of the short-term boost in the “non-distressed” housing market by the homebuyer tax credit program, which recently ended.

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North Carolina Real Estate Speculator Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging in Real Estate Foreclosure Auctions

By News Desk, on September 11th, 2010

A Raleigh, N.C., real estate speculator pleaded guilty to conspiring to rig bids for public real estate foreclosure auctions held in multiple counties in eastern North Carolina, the Department of Justice announced today.

Christopher J. Deans pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Greenville, N.C., for participating in a conspiracy to rig bids during the real estate foreclosure auction process in eastern North Carolina from at least as early as April 2003 until at least April 2005. The primary purpose of the conspiracy was to suppress and eliminate competitive bidding on foreclosed properties and obtain selected real estate Continue Reading →

One Out of Four Renters Never Plan to Own a Home

By Dennis Norman, on September 10th, 2010

Survey reveals tenants are not rushing to buy a home…also shows the “McMansion” craze is over…

Dennis Norman

Trulia.com released the results of its recent “American Dream” survey on attitudes toward home ownership which, not surprisingly to me, shows interest in the “American Dream” of home-ownership has cooled a little. According to the survey, 27 percent of renters indicated that they do not plan to buy a home — ever. Of those renters who do plan to purchase someday, 68 percent said it would be more than two years before they do.

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Why do Short Sales Take so Long to Close?

By Daniel Manzano, on September 9th, 2010

Daniel Manzano

Many of us Real Estate industry professionals know that a Short Sale transaction can take months for it to be approved and closed. Nevertheless, we have had Short Sale approvals in less than 10 days. But, the reality is that Short Sales usually take three to four times as much as a regular sale to finally get to the closing.

From the time the Realtor actually gets the property under contract to the time the Lender approves, it could take anywhere from 30 days to 6 months, depending on how fast the Borrower provides critical information Continue Reading →

The Five Best Places to Find Foreclosure Bargains

By Dennis Norman, on September 7th, 2010

Dennis Norman

When I first entered the real estate business in 1979, at the age of 18 which seems so long ago) foreclosures were a mystery to most people and certainly no one looking for a home to live in looked to buy a foreclosure. Homes that were being foreclosed upon were advertised in legal newspapers that no one other than some speculators, attorneys and bankers subscribed to basically. Here in St. Louis I was one of a couple of handfuls of real estate investors that would do the research then go out and try to buy foreclosures Continue Reading →

Foreclosures in July are 4th highest on record; delinquencies continue to decline

By Dennis Norman, on September 2nd, 2010

Dennis Norman

A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of July 2010 shows that mortgage delinquencies continue to decline however are still at very high levels versus historical norms. At the same time however, foreclosure starts have increased to the fourth highest level on record.

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Dueling Economists: Home Prices Up or Down?

By Dennis Norman, on August 31st, 2010

Dennis Norman

Naturally, no sooner than I finish writing my post this morning about the Case-Shiller report on home prices in which I actually got to report somewhat “positive” news, my bubble is burst. RadarLogic, another company that has their own home price index that I like, came out with a report saying the Case-Shiller report was too optimistic and that their (RadaLogic) home price index was a better reflection of home values.

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Homeowners with negative equity declines for second consecutive quarter

By Dennis Norman, on August 26th, 2010

Dennis Norman

After a couple of days of writing about bad reports on the housing market (existing home sales and new home sales to name two) I’m excited that I actually get to write something today that is positive! According to newly released data from CoreLogic, the percentage of homeowners in the U.S. with negative equity in their homes declined slightly at the end of the second quarter of 2010 making it the second consecutive month of declines.

According to the CoreLogic report, 11 million, or 23 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity Continue Reading →

Help for unemployed homeowners facing foreclosure

By Dennis Norman, on August 24th, 2010

Dennis Norman

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced yet another new plan to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. This plan targets homeowners that are struggling with unemployment and offers two foreclosure-prevention programs to help them.

The first program will be through the existing Housing Finance Agency (HFA) Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (the Hardest Hit Fund). Through this program the U.S. Department of the Treasury will make $2 billion of additional assistance available for HFA programs for homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments due to unemployment.

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Is the housing market headed toward a ‘double-dip’?

By Dennis Norman, on August 20th, 2010

Dennis Norman

Just as we are talking more about home prices “stabilizing” there is yet another cause for concern as to just where the market is headed. Last week Celia Chen, senior director of the Moody’s Economy.com research staff, issued a report stating that the odds of a near-term “double-dip recession” have increased from about one in five to closer to in in four.

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Mortgage Delinquencies Fall for Second Consecutive Quarter

By Dennis Norman, on August 19th, 2010

Dennis Norman

For some time now I’ve been saying the precursor to the housing market recovering is for the mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates to fall from the present, near-record levels, down to closer to historical norms. The current mortgage loan delinquency report from TransUnion shows that, for the second consecutive quarter, things are headed the right direction. Granted the decline in loans that are 60 or more days past due declined only 1.48 percent to 6.67 percent but at least it is going the right diretion. The loan delinquency rate for the 2nd quarter of 6.67 percent Continue Reading →

Foreclosure Activity Increases In July; Down from a year ago

By Dennis Norman, on August 13th, 2010

Dennis Norman

I remember, not that long ago, when 300,000 foreclosures in a month would have seemed unreal. However, July now marks the 17th consecutive month that there have been foreclosure filings exceeding 300,000 for the month.

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U.S. Home Values Fall In 2nd Quarter; Negative Equity Declines Though

By Dennis Norman, on August 9th, 2010

Dennis Norman

A report just issued by Zillow shows that home values in the United States continued to decline in the second quarter of 2010, with the Zillow Home Value Index falling 3.2 percent year-over-year and 0.6 percent from the first quarter to $182,500. The national rate of decline decelerated from the first quarter, marking the second consecutive quarter of slowing declines.

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The Latest Data on the Home Affordable Modification Program

By Ted Gayer, on August 5th, 2010

Ted Gayer, Co-Director of Economic Studies, Brookings Institute

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development released June data for the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). HAMP is the foreclosure prevention program targeted at borrowers who are delinquent in their mortgage payment or facing imminent risk of default on their mortgage.

It has always been an open question whether HAMP would prevent foreclosures or whether it would just delay inevitable foreclosures. While those who qualify for HAMP receive reduced mortgage

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Mortgage Tips From a Pro; St. Louis Mortgage Watch

By Robert Fishel, on August 4th, 2010

A home mortgage is the largest debt of most consumers and is nothing to take lightly or approach without diligence and care.

Here are some tips to help guide you and help you avoid the pitfalls that are out there:

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Foreclosure and Mortgage Delinquency Rates Stabilizing

By Dennis Norman, on July 30th, 2010

Dennis Norman

A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of June 2010 shows some encouraging news; there are signs that the foreclosure and mortgage delinquency rates are stabilizing, albeit at very elevated levels.

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Housing Market Outlook and Forecast

By Dennis Norman, on July 29th, 2010

Dennis Norman

This week I attended an event at the St. Louis Association of REALTORS® in which Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of REALTORS® was the featured speaker and gave his take on the housing market as well as his housing market outlook.

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St. Louis Foreclosures Increase in June

By Dennis Norman, on July 28th, 2010

Dennis Norman

A report released by CoreLogic showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate in June of 1.48 percent up slightly from May’s rate of 1.46 percent and an increase of 28.7 percent from the year prior when the rate was 1.15 percent.

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