April 2010

BlackRock, a leading US bond investor, says banks will have to take their share of losses on distressed mortgages before it resumes large-scale purchases of new “private label” mortgage bonds, which are sold without government backing. The position taken by [...]

The Norris family story suggests those changes do not go far enough. Servicers make mistakes. Borrowers fall through administrative cracks that shouldn’t exist. Homeowners who lose their homes due to errors by loan servicers have no remedy. Fortunately, California state [...]

In addition to putting borrowers into default at will, they make vast untold sums of money before the property is foreclosed. And once they target you, they cannot be stopped. That unlocks a wealth of money-making opportunities. The real money, [...]

Public records show Mr. Hebert’s original mortgage was for $110,000 in September 2004. In January 2006–just before the show aired–he refinanced for $250,000. About a year later, came another refinance with Wells Fargo for $382,500. A notice of default was [...]

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is suing Asset Creation, accusing the company of consumer fraud. Goddard says homeowners should avoid loan modification companies with the following “red flags”:

“Mortgage insurers have staked out the position that there is no valid claim under the mortgage-insurance policy if a mortgage lender voluntarily offers a borrower loan forgiveness,” Berg wrote Monday. ‘Second look’ However, the updated HAMP has sparked concern that [...]

With millions of Americans possibly facing foreclosure, the demand for help is outstripping supply. The latest Treasury report on the government’s Making Home Affordable modification program notes, for instance, that only one-third of the modification trials in place for the [...]

A lot of blame for the housing crisis that helped drive our nation into a financial crisis has been heaped on “greedy” bankers and home buyers trying to live beyond their means. But there was another element that should not [...]

If all goes according to plan, the Obama administration’s new antiforeclosure effort will prevent many more foreclosures than its current one and do more to moderate the decline in home prices. That is a big if. One of the big [...]

The 5-foot alligator lurking in the algae-green waters of the community swimming pool was not the worst thing code-enforcement officers have found in recent years at AAA Apartments in Cocoa. Bathrooms infested with mold. Walls with gaping holes where air [...]

But that may be about to change, as new government guidelines for the short-sale process go into effect Monday. The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, or HAFA, is designed to streamline the short-sale process so banks are more responsive to [...]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — State and federal agents raided the largest loan modification company in Arizona Thursday. Authorities arrived at Discount Mortgage Relief in Scottsdale around eight in the morning.

He’s frustrated and he’s angry and that’s not a good place for the 30-year-old disabled Army veteran to be. After suffering a traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan in 2001, Scott Frazier and his wife, Jennifer, were just trying to get [...]

A federal jury Thursday convicted disbarred Bothell attorney Robert Ernest Brandt of conspiracy and four out of five wire-fraud charges in connection with a massive mortgage-fraud case that led to dozens of foreclosures and millions in losses to lenders.

LOS ANGELES — Wynn Bloch has always dutifully paid her bills and socked away money for retirement. But in December she defaulted on the mortgage on her Palm Desert home, even though she could afford the payments. Bloch paid $385,000 [...]

Fannie Mae (FNM: 1.02 -2.86%) servicers can no longer name MERS, the industry-wide loan tracking system administered by MERSCORP, as a plaintiff in nonjudicial foreclosure actions as of May 1, 2010. The new rule, announced in a servicing guide distributed [...]

Kirt has guided Bell to become Minnesota’s largest privately owned residential-mortgage company with regional offices in St. Louis Park, Edina and Phoenix. Despite this being the worst mortgage market in decades, Bell closed an impressive $1.35 billion in loans in [...]

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa is investigating a subsidiary of Lender Processing Services Inc. that processes mortgage documents for lenders. Jacksonville-based company (NYSE: LPS) stated in its 2009 annual report that the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District [...]

If you have a mortgage for an amount greater than the value of your property, what do you do? If you’re the owner of the largest residential property in Manhattan, you walk away, leave the mess to your creditors and [...]

The loan modification program, on the other hand, is the only part of the bailout that can’t be described as an investment. Even in the case of the auto bailout, taxpayers will get something back. Not so with this. The [...]

LOS ANGELES — Out of work for more than a year, Dale Ottley was relieved when she was able to sell her Woodland Hills condominium for $230,000 — even though it was a “short sale” on which she lost $200,000. [...]

The agreements detail how the five men submitted fraudulent loans for homes with inflated values, then pocket the extra money from the banks through wire transfers. Both Reese and Petrovich could face up to 30 years in prison.

“It turns out FHA does allow mortgages to borrowers who sell their current residence under short-sale provisions and then purchase a new home without the standard 3 year wait.  There are certain conditions that must be met–some of the conditions [...]

A new federal push to mop up bad loans aims to throw a life vest to underwater homeowners by using short sales. But critics say the plan is limited in scope and will force banks to take losses, denting their [...]