May 2010

They took the money up front, but did nothing to stop the banks from foreclosing. As the recession spread, the real estate world was teeming with such scams. Most victims would just move on, too embarrassed or defeated to fight [...]

NEWARK — A former board member with the Licking County Save Our Homes Task Force has been indicted after authorities say she stole about $1,000 from the group. Chris Savage, 62, last known address 611 Granville St., Newark, was charged [...]

“Foreign investors are really one of the major reasons that there hasn’t been a problem since the Fed stepped away,” said Scott Wede, managing director and head of pass-through, CMO and ARM trading at Barclays Capital. U.S. government backing has [...]

The Senior Law Project will hold a seminar on the program today in Reno and Saturday May 20 to inform struggling homeowners about the process. The class will start today at 4:00 PM and also on Saturday from 9:00 AM-Noon [...]

Nationwide, about one in four home mortgages are now underwater, meaning borrowers owe more than their places are worth. No surprise, California and other bubbly states — Nevada, Arizona, and Florida — lead the nation. While a bevy of new [...]

The federal Making Home Affordable program hasn’t played out quite as intended. “Looking at the numbers, the amount of foreclosures is certainly not slowing down — last year was a record year for foreclosures, and the numbers are on track [...]

More than 125 apartment buildings in Chicago on average went into foreclosure each week of 2009, affecting tenants living in almost 21,000 rental units, according to a new report. The study, by the nonprofit Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, found [...]

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — With a record number of new foreclosures expected this year, more and more homeowners are becoming desperate to get a loan modification. So, more and more companies that charge big fees are springing up to offer [...]

Reynolds told us “We can’t sell it, we can’t refinance it, all the equity in it is now gone.” A recent letter from the Butler County Auditor confirmed his worst fears. Reynolds discovered “We owe $52,000 more than the county [...]

The Bank of Montreal is suing hundreds of people in Alberta, including lawyers, mortgage brokers and four of its own employees, in what is one of the largest alleged cases of mortgage fraud in Canadian history. Legal documents obtained exclusively [...]

San Clemente code enforcement officials took back a house Monday that had been seized in a scheme by an Anaheim businessman who collects rents on properties he does not own. The two-story home at 205 Avenida Valencia was nearing completion, [...]

Here are key parts of Arizona’s 25-page proposal for the Help for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets fund. The Save My Home AZ Program has three parts. • Permanent modifications to help homeowners, who are usually underwater on their mortgages. [...]

NEW YORK – Court records show that the suspect in the failed Times Square bombing defaulted on a $200,000 mortgage on his Connecticut home and that the property is in foreclosure. Records obtained by The Associated Press show that Chase [...]

Eighty mortgage loan employees at HSBC Mortgage Corp. in Depew are being let go at the end of the month. The bank told employees April 26 about the job cuts, HSBC spokesperson Kate Durham said. It is eliminating the mortgage [...]

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the central bank, if it were to start selling mortgage securities later this year, could start the process with “little impact” on markets by using a “reverse taper” approach to [...]

Carey and Tracie Kinghorn were content with their adjustable-rate mortgage, but they were pleased when the Texas-based servicer that had bought their loan offered them a modification to lower their monthly payment by about $500. The change cost them $11,000 [...]

Financial institutions have little incentive to extend loans with unemployment hovering at about 10 percent and the difference between the rate on overnight loans between banks and 10-year Treasuries yields at about 3.5 percentage points. That’s more than double the [...]

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) A bill extending the life of program that helps Connecticut homeowners facing foreclosure has passed the House of Representatives. Proponents of the bill said Monday the Foreclosure Medication Program, originally established in 2008 and operated by the [...]

Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, said in a release that not properly researching mortgages could have “catastrophic consequences.” Even sadder, the amount of time spent researching a loan has gone unchanged since 2008, despite the foreclosure crisis gripping the nation.

“There was a lot of preying on the immigrant community, with the feeling of patriotism, camaraderie and family and all of these things,” said Rey Lopez-Calderon, a South Side community organizer familiar with Protecta’s transactions. “If you’ve looked at his [...]

The workshop is set for 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, May 15, Parkway Heights Middle School, 650 Sunset Drive, South San Francisco. The event is free and open to everyone. For more information, call (650) 363-4526 or visit the [...]

Los Angeles – Tough economic times are forcing more homeowners into trying to modify their loans to avoid foreclosure…But for some it has turned into a nightmare. Leticia Mena and Kevin Cassidy had high hopes when they first heard about [...]