September 2010

Like thousands of South Florida residents, when the economy took a dive, they could no longer afford it. They’ve gotten three short sale offers, all rejected by the bank. “They turned all the offers down and now we have to [...]

The moving truck pulled away from the curb, loaded with Wallace Farmer’s possessions. He locked the front door for the last time and left town — clutched by a long-simmering anger that finally gave way to relief. Farmer didn’t sell [...]

By Jim Wasserman of the Sacremnto Bee – “All the things you normally expect are suspended,” Joyce says of changes sweeping across Sacramento’s distressed housing market. “There’s a new set of rules that apply here.”

By DAVID STREITFELD of the NY Times -  Over the last 18 months, the administration has rolled out just about every program it could think of to prop up the ailing housing market, using tax credits, mortgage modification programs, low [...]

By Sanjay Bhatt of the Seattle Times – When he tried to change the terms of his home loan, Michael Guzman was rejected because the bank didn’t consider his joblessness a long-term hardship. Kamie Kahlo’s bank offered her a modified [...]

by Catherine Reagor of The Arizona Republic – A year and a half after it began, the federal government’s loan-modification program is helping fewer homeowners facing foreclosure than hoped.

Your erstwhile Editor-at-large was roaming the streets of New York, when she happened upon this lovely couple from CA. They are among the 11 million households with negative equity in their homes. Unfortunately, they didn’t qualify for mortgage modification, so [...]

Harder to Find Loan Modification Help Banking industry rejects bill that would help homeowners save their homes. Source: ABC

State regulators and Clay County sheriff’s deputies executed search warrants Thursday, Sept. 2, at the offices two Clay County-based mortgage companies. The state Office of Financial Regulation also issued cease and desist orders against Global Equity Solutions and Hope Financial [...]

Erin Kennedy-Florez was 10 months into a one-year lease on a Richmond, Calif., home when she found a notice on the door saying that her landlord’s lender was foreclosing on the property. She called the landlord, who told her he [...]

A Mint Hill man has pleaded guilty in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme that involved kickbacks to a homebuilder, according to documents filed Wednesday in federal court in Charlotte. Mike Foley, a former real estate agent, pleaded guilty to [...]

“We know there are other victims out there,” San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney James Lewis said Wednesday. “We are receiving additional complaints.” The three defendants are Juan Casas, 26, of Stockton; Tristan Mireles, 29, of Stockton; and Caleb Pascua, [...]

Image via Wikipedia Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke said officials should stabilize communities wracked by the housing crisis by promoting the rental of homes owned by financial institutions after undergoing foreclosure. “It is not sufficient, given current economic conditions and [...]

Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB), the largest provider of funding for U.S. residential mortgages, will begin demanding compensation from mortgage servicing companies that fail to properly handle troubled mortgage loans, the company announced late on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — Major mortgage lenders will now give state and local governments the right to buy foreclosed properties before they go on the market, giving them “a leg up” on speculators who have often thwarted local redevelopment efforts, Housing Secretary [...]

Last week, I received a news release from the state Attorney General’s Office on how it and a group of other state attorneys general and banking regulators say they’ve seen improvements in programs designed to help homeowners. Washington Attorney General [...]

Recently, Tampa Bay Realtor Christine Hensley’s $153,000, 1800-square-foot ten-year old short sale cancelled unexpectedly. The seller allegedly could not get comfortable with what he would really owe the lender after the closing.

NORTH HIGHLANDS, CA – The employee parking lot at HomEq Servicing in North Highlands was emptying out Wednesday morning as 924 employees learned they would be losing their jobs in a new owner consolidation move. HomEq Servicing is a loan [...]

Critics blame the banks, saying lenders often ask borrowers to send the same documents over and over again, explaining that they have been lost. After four months, the information becomes so dated that the entire process has to start over [...]

The Youngstown Mortgage Fraud Task Force and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio are investigating a $7.5 million mortgage fraud scheme involving 48 properties in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.