November 2010

The housing market just earned a much-needed moral victory. Although more than 4 percent of loans held by Fannie Mae are still delinquent, the rate declined recently as banks and the government refined their foreclosure prevention programs, Fannie’s monthly housing [...]

Former mortgage broker Brett Howard pleaded guilty Monday to one count of aggravated identify theft and 19 counts of bank fraud for using customers’ stolen credit card numbers on a spending spree that included luxury purchases.

Those anticipating a “fire sale” of distressed assets in the commercial real estate market may have to keep on waiting, according to Vivek Seth, managing director and head of the Raymond James Real Estate Investment Banking Group. In a video [...]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing growing resistance as they attempt to push failed home loans off their books and onto the balance sheets of banks including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

This week the Sentinel reported on the story of Clare Sheaffer, a former St. Cloud City Council member who applied to her bank, Chase Home Lending, to modify the terms of her home loan after she was laid off. The [...]

Patrick Lee went from homeowner to home renter this year.

Image via Wikipedia Wow, I just got an email from a lawer for the realtor cartel telling me that I may not criticise them by name! Doesn’t the first ammendment to the consitution protect my right to speak freely? Here’s [...]

Many real-estate agents say banks have largely ignored the program and that they are applying it unevenly. “Banks are initiating the HAFA transaction and then after three weeks they say, ‘Naw, sorry, you didn’t qualify,’” says Greg Markov, a Phoenix [...]

The Dispatch reviewed 547 foreclosure cases filed in Franklin County by the country’s four largest lenders. Between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15, Bank of America and its mortgage-servicing arm BAC Home Loans, Chase, Citimortgage and Wells Fargo foreclosed on 15 [...]

Concerned about making future house payments, they contacted Chase, which told them they needed to be at least three months behind on payments before the company could help them. The Millers went into default and ended up making a temporary [...]

Tim and Jenny Lawson say they were three months behind on their $390,000 mortgage when they received a letter from a company called U.S. Loan Auditors offering help. “Your lender … is currently under investigation for predatory lending. Based on [...]

PHOENIX — Some former homeowners who went through short sales to avoid foreclosure are finding they are still in debt to their lenders.

But a growing number of former homeowners in metro Phoenix are receiving unwelcome calls and letters from lenders or collection agencies telling them they still owe on mortgages for houses they no longer own.

Answer: I suspect you are referring to the headline, “When it’s smart to walk away from a mortgage” (see article linked above). I don’t write the headlines, therefore, I never said it was “smart” to walk. But it sometimes can [...]

To say the least, I was wading into a nasty swamp. In my search for George, I found he had left a trail of business names, legal problems and angry customers. But he hadn’t been caught. Officials at the attorney [...]