Foreclosures - St Louis Real Estate News

Obama administrations loan modification program ‘destined to fail’

By Dennis Norman, on December 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Laurie Goodman, the Senior Managing Director at Amherst Securities, testified today before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on “The Private Sector and Government Response to the Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis“. Amherst Securities specializes in the trading of residential mortgage backed securities and charges Goodman with keeping them and their customers abreast of trends in the market.

Today, in her testimony, Goodman told the committee she hoped to make two primary points in her testimony: “The housing market is fundamentally in very bad shape. The single largest problem is negative equity.” “The current modication program does not address Continue Reading →

Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA) Launched

By Dennis Norman, on December 4th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Last week the Treasury Department announced the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA), the latest program under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), designed to offer alternatives to homeowners facing foreclosure.

THE HAFA PROGRAM:

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program provides financial incentives to loan servicers as well as borrowers who do a short-sale or a deed-in-lieu to avoid foreclosure on an eligible loan under HAMP. Both of these foreclosure alternatives help the lender out by avoiding the

Continue Reading →

Pending home sales rise for ninth consecutive month

By Dennis Norman, on December 1st, 2009

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR

Is the increase real or have the tax-credits created an “artificial” market that cannot be sustained?

Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for October showing pending sales in the U.S. rose again for the ninth consecutive month – marking the longest streak since since NAR began the pending home sale index in 2001.

As I have expressed previously, I’m somewhat cautious about getting too excited about these recent encouraging reports on the housing market as I feel we still have many challenges out there.

Continue Reading →

Owner occupants get first shot at Fannie Mae foreclosures under ‘First Look’ initiative

By Dennis Norman, on November 30th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Fannie Mae just announced their new “First Look” initiative which is aimed at supporting neighborhood stabilization and promoting home purchases by owner occupants by providing owner occupants an advantage in purchasing Fannie-Mae-owned foreclosed properties.

Under the First Look program only offers from owner occupants and buyers using public funds are considered during the first 15 days a property is on the market. Offers from investors will be considered only after the first 15 days have passed. Continue Reading →

The Cost of Not Walking Away From An Underwater Mortgage

By Debi Averett, on November 27th, 2009

In the ongoing debate about whether one should walk away from an underwater mortgage or not, one University of Arizona professor speaks out strongly in favor of taking a hike. According to Brent T. White, an associate professor of law at the University of Arizona:

A failure to grasp the true economics of the situation is holding back many Americans whose home values have dropped far below the amount they owe and who would be better off renting, Mr. White says. Fear, shame and guilt also are preventing rational decisions, he believes. And, he says, those “emotional constraints” are encouraged Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate News: Over 15 percent of St Louis homeowners with a mortgage are underwater

By Dennis Norman, on November 24th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a report released today by First American CoreLogic nearly 10.7 million U.S. mortgages, or 23 percent of all mortgaged properties, are in a negative equity position meaning the borrowers owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth as of September 30, 2009.

Here in St. Louis, as of September 30, 2009, there were 87,557 homeowners in St. Louis that were “underwater” on their mortgage, meaning they owe more than their home is worth. This works out to 15.14 percent of the homeowners in St. Louis with a mortgage, Continue Reading →

President of Metropolitan Money Store Sentenced to Over 12 Years in Prison for $37 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme

By News Desk, on November 21st, 2009

Joy Jackson Personally Responsible for Over $16 Million in Losses to Mortgage Lenders; Used Over $800,000 of Fraudulently Obtained Proceeds to Pay for Her Wedding

U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced the president of the Metropolitan Money Store, Joy Jackson, age 41, of Fort Washington, Maryland, today to 151 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that falsely promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes and repair their damaged credit, announced United States Attorney Continue Reading →

Almost 1 in 8 Missourians are delinquent on mortgage payments according to MBA report

By Dennis Norman, on November 20th, 2009

Missouri ranks 21st in delinquencies and 30th in foreclosures

According to a report just issued by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the mortgage delinquency rate on one-to-four-unit residential properties in the U.S. rose to a new record rate of 9.64 percent. Here in Missouri, the delinquency rate is slightly lower at 9.41 percent.

Included in the MBA’s report as a “delinquency” are loans that are at least one payment past due, but does NOT include loans somewhere in the process of foreclosure. At the end of third quarter 2.05 percent of mortgage loans in Missouri were in the foreclosure process. Therefore Continue Reading →

Fannie Mae launches new HomePath Site in Spanish

By Dennis Norman, on November 19th, 2009

New Site Aimed at Helping More Hispanics Buy Homes

FannieMae announced the company launched a Spanish version of its HomePath.com website designed to help more potential homeowners who speak Spanish purchase Fannie Mae-owned properties.

The new website in Spanish mirrors the English version of HomePath.com featuring an interactive search tool of Fannie Mae-owned properties nationwide, details about HomePath® financing, a mortgage payment calculator, property alerts, as well as information on foreclosure prevention and the Making Home AffordableSM program.

Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate News; St Louis home prices fall in September but projected to increase 2.4 percent in next twelve months

By Dennis Norman, on November 19th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a report issued by First American CoreLogic national home prices continue to decline with their HPI (Loan Performance Home Price Index) declining by 9.8 percent in September 2009 compared with the year before. If you take the distressed sales out (foreclosures, short sales, etc) the nation decline in HIP for the same period was 6.2 percent.

St. Louis home prices did better according to the report with the HPI declining 3.85 percent in Sepetember 2009 from the year before. This is an improvement over August which was down 4.09 percent from the year before. Continue Reading →

Mortgage Loan Delinquencies on track to set record in 2009

By Dennis Norman, on November 16th, 2009

Dennis Norman

TransUnion released the results of its analysis of trends in the mortgage industry for the third quarter of 2009 and the associated impact on the U.S. consumer.

Part of this report focused on delinquencies on mortgages and the rate of mortgage delinquency. The report showed that mortgage loan delinquency (the ratio of borrowers 60 or more days past due) increased for the eleventh straight quarter, hitting an all-time national average high of 6.25 percent for the third quarter of 2009, a 7.57 percent increase from the record-setting second quarter rate.

Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate News: Foreclosures in the St Louis metro area decrease over 29 percent in October

By Dennis Norman, on November 12th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Monroe and Jefferson County saw sharp increases however.

RealtyTrac® released its Foreclosure Market Reporttmfor October showing that foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) were down 3.3 percent in October from the month before in the US and up 18.86 percent from the year before.

Here in St Louis, overall the picture is much better. For the 16 counties and 1 city included in the RealtyTrac® report for the St Louis metro area foreclosure filings in October were down 29.47 percent from the month before and down 30.39 percent from the year before. Included Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate News: St. Louis foreclosure rate increases, again

By Dennis Norman, on November 10th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Foreclosure rates in St. Louis increased for the month of September over the same period last year according to a report released by First American CoreLogic. The report showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate of 1.26 percent in September, up just slightly from August’s rate of 1.24 percent, but up over 59 percent from a year ago when the rate was 0.79 percent.

The national foreclosure rate for September was over double the rate of St. Louis at 2.93 percent and was an increase of 75 percent from a year Continue Reading →

Fewer home owners are underwater on their homes according to Zillow report

By Dennis Norman, on November 9th, 2009

Dennis Norman

The percent of American home owners with mortgages in a negative equity position fell to 21 percent in the third quarter of this year, down from 23 percent in the second quarter, as home values stabilized in the short term and more underwater homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure, according to the third quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

Year-over-year home values in the U.S. declined for the 11th consecutive quarter, falling 6.9 percent to a Zillow Home Value Index of $190,400. However, the rate of year-over-year decline shrank for the third quarter in a row, meaning Continue Reading →

Mortgage Fraud Surge Investigation Nets More Than 100 Individuals Throughout Middle District of Florida

By News Desk, on November 8th, 2009

Department of Justice Press Release

TAMPA—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton today announced the results of a nine-month-long Mortgage Fraud Surge investigation that has resulted in charges against more than 100 defendants and involves allegations concerning more than $400 million in loans procured by fraud and more than 700 properties. U.S. Attorney Albritton is holding events throughout the district this week to highlight the announcement.

There are currently mortgage fraud-related charges pending against approximately 500 defendants in federal mortgage fraud cases around the nation. The cases concern both mortgage schemes designed to defraud mortgage lenders and “foreclosure rescue Continue Reading →

New alternative for some homeowners facing foreclosure; Deed for Lease

By Dennis Norman, on November 6th, 2009

Dennis Norman

If you are a homeowner facing losing your home in foreclosure but you do not qualify for or have not been able to sustain other loan-workout solutions, such as a modification, you may have another alternative: The Deed for Lease program announced yesterday by Fannie Mae for homeowners with loans insured by Fannie Mae.

“The Deed for Lease Program provides an additional option for qualifying homeowners who are facing foreclosure and are not eligible for modifications,” said Jay Ryan, Vice President of Fannie Mae. “This new program helps eliminate some of the uncertainty of foreclosure, keeps Continue Reading →

Setting Up the Next Leg Down in Housing

By Charles Hugh Smith, on November 4th, 2009

Loose lending standards in government-backed mortgages is setting up the next wave of defaults and sharp declines in housing prices.

Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds

Beneath the hype that housing has bottomed is an ugly little scenario: lending standards are still loose and the low-down payment, high-risk loans being guaranteed by government agencies are setting up the next giant wave of defaults and foreclosures.

You might have thought that the near-demise of risky-mortgage mills Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have cooled the supply of highly leveraged Continue Reading →

Pending home sales in midwest rise 8.1 percent in September

By Dennis Norman, on November 2nd, 2009

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR

Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for September showing pending sales in the U.S. rose again for the eighth consecutive month – marking the longest streak since since NAR began the pending home sale index in 2001. The pending home sales index for the US rose 6.1 percent from August. Here in the Midwest the pending home sales index rose 8.1 percent from August marking the third month in a row the index in the Midwest increased.

As I have expressed previously, I’m somewhat cautious about Continue Reading →

HAMP loan modifications up 40 percent in September; Serious mortgage delinquencies up 147 percent in past year

By Dennis Norman, on October 20th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s trial mortgage loan modifications under the Obama Administrations Home Affordable Modification Plan (HAMP) were up more than 40 percent in September 2009 from the previous month. According to the report, mortgage loans that are 60-plus-days delinquent increased to 1,401,000 borrowers in July, up a whopping 147 percent from July, 2008 when there were 566,000 borrowers 60 plus days delinquent.

Here are highlights from the report (all the data, unless noted otherwise is from July 31, 2009):

Continue Reading →

Foreclosure Rate in St. Louis Increases

By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By Dennis Norman

Foreclosure rates in St. Louis increased for the month of August over the same period last year according to a report released today by First American CoreLogic. The report showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate of 1.24 percent in August, up just slightly from July’s rate of 1.20 percent, but up over 63 percent from a year ago when the rate was 0.76 percent.

As bad as the foreclosure rate for St. Louis sounds we are still doing better than the national rate of 2.86 percent for Continue Reading →

Mortgage Programs Fall Short in Keeping Homeowners out of Foreclosure

By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2009

To alleviate some suffering by homeowners, the Obama Administration introduced the “Making Homes Affordable” plan last March. Unfortunately, the plan has not yet had the intended effect.

Article by the Grand Law Firm

Economists debate whether or not the country is actually currently in a recession. Some say that there are positive signs that we have reached the bottom and the economy is turning around. Others, however, suggest that the country still has a long way to go and it may be years yet before we truly reach financial recovery. Regardless of who is right though, one thing is clear: Continue Reading →

Dept of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program expanded to help people

By Dennis Norman, on October 2nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP)was established back in 1966 to give some monetary relief to eligible service members and federal employees who suffer financial loss on the sale of their primary residence when a base closure or realignment announcement cause a decline in the residential real estate market and they are not able to sell their homes under reasonable terms or conditions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) temporarily expands the HAP program to assist service members and Department of Defense employees who are wounded, injured or become ill when deployed, Continue Reading →

Freddie Mac offers loan modification “room service” to help borrowers

By Dennis Norman, on September 30th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

In an effort to help delinquent borrowers obtain Loan Modifications under the Affordable Refinance Program of the Making Home Affordable Program Freddie Mac has hired a company to come to borrowers homes and help them put together the documents and complete other actions needed to begin their three-month trial payment periods under the Affordable Refinance Program.

The company hired by Freddie Mac, Titanium Solutions, will target late-paying borrowers with Freddie-Mac owned mortgages who have not responded to letters or phone calls from their lenders or those who have responded but need to provide additional Continue Reading →

Average home prices across US are about where they were six years ago

By Dennis Norman, on September 29th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices in July declined 12.8 percent from a year ago in their 10-city composite and 13.3 percent in their 20-city composite. On a positive note, all 20 metro areas showed an improvement in the annual rates of decline when comparing July to June.

Continue Reading →

US Home Prices show modest 0.3 percent increase from June to July according to Federal Housing Finance Agency

By Dennis Norman, on September 22nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that U.S. home prices rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from June to July and are down 4.2 percent for the past year. Missouri is included by the FHFA in the West North Central division which was right on target with the US with an increase of 0.3 percent from June to July. Our region was only down 1.5 percent from last year according the report.

Many of the reports I’ve seen in the press on this are saying this is a sign of the Continue Reading →

Has the real estate market bottomed out? Is this the recovery? I don’t think so…

By Dennis Norman, on September 21st, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Doing what all normal people do at 4:30 am on a Monday, I was scouring the Internet reading real estate news when I ran across an interesting article by Richard Stoyeck titled “Is Real Estate Coming Back Now?”

I’ll cut through the chase and give you Stoyeck’s answer to the question posed in the title of his story; “It will be in our opinion several years before we can get back to a vibrant real estate market.” If you have been reading this blog for a while then you know I have concerns Continue Reading →

FDIC Launches Foreclosure Prevention Initiative

By Dennis Norman, on September 17th, 2009

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is launching an initiative to help consumers and the banking industry avoid unnecessary foreclosures and stop foreclosure “rescue” scams that promise false hope to consumers at risk of losing their homes.

This initiative includes outreach, referral services, and an information tool kit. Arming consumers with information will heighten consumers’ awareness of foreclosure “rescue” scams and give them more confidence in knowing they are working with legitimate counselors and servicers to obtain a loan modification that could help them avoid foreclosure.

Continue Reading →

Fed’s Loan Modification Program resulting in savings of $120 per month for borrowers

By Dennis Norman, on September 16th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a study conducted by First American CoreLogicentitled “How the U.S. Consumer Has Benefited from Mortgage Finance Programs in 2009”, projections are there will be $2.3 billion in mortgages refinanced as a result of the Fed’s “Making Home Affordable” plan. According to the study, the median individual monthly savings was $120.

“ The quantitative easing policies of the Federal Reserve and refinance activity made possible by the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) have allowed more than 2 million consumers to reduce their monthly mortgage debt obligations and put more money in their pockets,” said Mark Fleming Continue Reading →

Fed’s plan to modify loans to prevent foreclosure shows progress; but only for 12 percent of those eligible

By Dennis Norman, on September 14th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Included in the “Making Home Affordable” program from the Obama administration is the “Home Affordable Modification Plan” (HAMP) designed to help 3 to 4 million home owners by modifying their existing loans to help them be more affordable. Last week, Michael S. Barr, the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, testified before a congressional sub-committee on the status of these programs. In his testimony Mr. Barr said that weakness in the US housing market developed over many years and that during this period “inadequate regulation of lending and securitization practices, including lax underwriting standards, helped cause widespread over-leveraging Continue Reading →

Foreclosures in St. Louis Increase 50 Percent in July from a Year Ago; Mortgage Delinquencies Follow Suit

By Dennis Norman, on September 10th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Anyone that follows any of my posts on various real estate blogs may well be getting tired of hearing me talk about foreclosure and mortgage delinquency rates. This is no doubt especially true when I am doing it in the context of trying to “chill” the excitement over recent “good” news on the housing market. However, there is good reason for this; these two issues are real problems, including right here in St. Louis, and they are not going away anytime soon.

This was evidenced in a report released today by First American Continue Reading →