Just Remember:The governing administration stated they will aid 3 to 4 million home-owners with the Obama Making Home Affordable Program.

An boost in foreclosures, merged with the recent decrease in real estate sales, could send property prices in a free fall again. Some 91,118 people in trial modifications were canceled in June, bringing the total to 520,814 since the program began within the spring of 2009. Far more than 60% of those who dropped out last month had been in trials for at the least half a year. Property owners normally are kicked out of the mortgage modification program because they do not make the required payments, meet the qualifications, or submit the needed paperwork. Once their trials are canceled, about 45% of property owners receive alternate modifications, frequently one from their loan servicer.

Some 8.9% had foreclosure proceedings started against them and 1.3% lost their household in foreclosure. Only 364,077 stressed borrowers remain in the trial phase, some 38,728 of whom entered the software in June. Nearly 166,000 have been in trials for at least six months. 51,205 troubled homeowners received long term mortgage modifications in June, bringing the total to 389,198. 8,823 homeowners had their “permanent” modifications terminated, 195 of whom paid off their loans. “I feel like a broken record, but HAMP continues to perform extremely poorly,” said John Taylor, head on the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an advocacy group. “The permanent modification numbers are simply way too low, while foreclosure filings continue above 300,000 for the 16th month in a row.”

That is 4,800,000 familes since Obama took office … is this “hope and change”?

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Today’s newest review by a Congressional Oversight Panel, stated only 168,708 homeowners have been offered a long-term mortgage modification as of February. This is just a tiny portion of the six million individuals with mortgages who are more than 60 days behind on their loans.

These numbers are horrible!

The homeowners who received assistance are LESS THAN 10% of what was initially claimed by the Obama administration. Why is it that Americans seem to consistently receive the short end of the Obama bail out stick?

Obama’s foreclosure prevention plan, at best, is likely to assist 1 million troubled borrowers, short of the administration’s original goal of up to 4 million homeowners.

The program is funded with $50 billion in Troubled Assets Relief, or TARP, funds, putting it under the panel’s grasp. “For every borrower who avoided foreclosure through HAMP last year, another 10 families lost their homes,” the panel said of the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program.

“It now seems painfully obvious that Treasury’s programs, even when they are fully operational, will not reach the overwhelming majority of homeowners in trouble.”

The panel’s report is the latest to slam the president’s foreclosure prevention efforts.

Last month two additional federal government watchdogs unveiled blistering studies that condemned the current administration for inadequate execution of the Home Affordable Modification Program and they also raised serious doubts that four million struggling homeowners could remain in their homes.

The panel lays out a number of issues, such as the continued sustainability of the modified home loans and the final price tag to the tax payers, as well as, the true objectives of the program.

The panel is also worried that the half dozen foreclosure avoidance programs introduced by Department of Treasury over the previous year has lead to much confusion and delays.

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According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), existing home sales fell in January but are above last year levels. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast that completed sales the previous month increased roughly 1% to a seasonally revised annual rate of 5.5 million, up from 5.45 million in December.

Existing real estate sales, together with single family, townhomes, condos and co-ops, dropped 7.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 5.05 million units in January from a modified 5.44 million in December, but continue to be 11.5% above the 4.53 million unit level in January 2009.

Total real estate stock at the end of January dropped 0.5% to 3.27 million current property available for sale, which represents a 7.8 month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 7.2 month supply in December.

Current unsold inventory is 9.6% below a year ago, and is at the lowest level since March 2006. The national median present real estate price for all housing types was $164,700 in January, unrevised from a year earlier.

Distressed property, which accounted for 38% of sales last month, continue to downwardly distort the average price because they typically are cheaper in comparison with standard real estate in the same area. On the other hand, this is a double edged sword., because the the vast majority of ‘troubled homeowners’ would not be looking to sell their houses if it were not for the terrible economic problems we are confronting in America today.

A parallel NAR practitioner survey demonstrates 1st time new home buyers acquired 40% of property in January, down from 43% in December. Investors accounted for 17% of deals in January, up from 15% in December; the outstanding sales were to repeat buyers. The survey also exhibits that buyer traffic increased 9.4% in January.

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Mortgage Delinquencies Still Going In Wrong Direction

According to TransUnion, a top rated credit reporting agency, 6.89% of mortgage payments were Sixty or more days past due in the Fourth Quarter of 2009, up from 4.58% in the final 3 months of 2008.

The prior record delinquency rate was 6.25% in the third quarter of 2009.

FJ Guarrera, vice president of TransUnion’s financial services business unit, says the fourth quarter boost was due in part to typical seasonal buying shifts. People are more inclined to have trouble paying bills during the last few months of the year as they run low on money because of holiday expenses. But he says that still accounting for normal season patterns, there is a lot of reason to be troubled about the speed of increase shifting higher. “To see continuing growth in the first quarter would certainly raise an eyebrow.”

TransUnion tracks mortgages that are two months past due as an indicator of likely foreclosure, because of the difficulty involved in hunting down three installment payments to bring an account present. The company said the delinquency rate stayed strongest in Nevada, at 16.2%, and Florida, at 14.9%. Arizona and California, the other 2 states hit hardest by the housing crisis, were third and fourth, at 11.3% and 11% respectively.

The greatest growth rates when compared with the third quarter were in the District of Columbia, Louisiana and Delaware.

Guarrera mentioned that many homeowners still have adjustable rate mortgages (ARM’s) made in late 2006 or early 2007 due to recast to higher rates in coming months and that could drive foreclosures even higher, especially where home prices have fallen to the point where values are lower than mortgages.

We’re not out of the woods yet.

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Incentive Part of Ongoing Effort to Stabilize Neighborhoods

WASHINGTON, DC — Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE) announced today that people purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned HomePath® property will receive up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price to be used toward closing cost assistance or their choice of appliances. The offer is available to any owner-occupant who closes on the purchase of a property listed on HomePath.com before May 1, 2010.

“Attracting qualified buyers to the market and reducing the inventory of vacant homes is critical to stabilizing neighborhoods and helping the market recover. Many families are taking advantage of the federal homebuyer tax credit to buy a new home so this is a great time for Fannie Mae to offer some additional help,” said Terry Edwards, Executive Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management. “Homebuyers have the option to choose between financial assistance toward closing costs or new appliances for their home.”

Properties eligible for this incentive are listed on HomePath.com and most listings include detailed property descriptions, photographs, community and school information and more. In addition, many Fannie Mae-owned properties are eligible for special HomePath Mortgage and HomePath Renovation Mortgage financing which offers homebuyers an opportunity to purchase with as little as 3 percent down.

You can call 1-888-577-8338 to qualify for a mortgage.

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It appears that HUD is trying to pilot a FHA Foreclosure Prevention but as simple as it appears, why has it taken so long?

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is starting a pilot program in Detroit to purchase Federal Housing Administration single family loans from lenders after all loss mitigation options have been exhausted and foreclosure is the next step.

“Under this program, we will create means for lenders or investors to sell their non-performing mortgages before foreclosure to HUD and a joint venture partner who will be responsible for servicing the loan and helping families stay in their homes,” HUD Secretary Steve Preston said.

HUD expects to purchase the FHA loans at a “significant discount” so the joint venture partner can modify the loans and make it more affordable for the homeowners.

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Foreclosure filings declined 3% in June but were still 51% higher than the level recorded a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.

The company’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report indicates that foreclosure of 252,363 filings that consist of default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions, were reported in June.

“June was the second straight month with more than a quarter million properties nationwide receiving foreclosure filings,” said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer.

“Foreclosure activity slipped 3% lower from the previous month, but the year over year increase of more than 50% indicates we have not yet reached the top of this foreclosure cycle”.

Bank repossessions continued to increase much faster than default notices or auction notices in June, he said.

The company reported that Nevada, California, and Arizona again recorded the highest foreclosure rates in June.

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A new reports says that homes in the Inland Empire are most likely to lose value.

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Massachusetts has some new tools to fight the foreclosure crisis. Twenty million, to be exact.

The state has just activated a 20 million dollar loan fund for community groups to buy foreclosed homes before they become neighborhood wrecking eyesores and worse.

Foreclosures are devastating both for individual homeowners and their families and also to communities.

The 20 million dollar fund will provide loans of 250 thousand to a million dollars to community groups.
That’s expected to buy 250 to 500 foreclosed homes and apartments, with the Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Lawrence, New Bedford, Springfield, and Worcester areas.

Notably, it doesn’t use any state money. 17 million comes from private lenders in the Massachusetts housing investment corporation, 2 million from the Boston foundation, and 1 million from the Hyams foundation in Chelsea.

IT’S A WONDERFUL example of people coming together to try to solve a problem

The fund is being launched as Massachusetts is facing what many housing officials call a crisis of foreclosures, banks and lending companies seizing homes from people who’ve stopped paying their mortgages.

The warren group reported Monday that foreclosure deeds — the final step in the foreclosure process — soared to over fourteen hundred in Massachusetts in may, 107 point five percent more than a year ago. Year to date, foreclosure deeds are up nearly a hundred and forty percent.

Why Chelsea Massachusetts? Well within five blocks of where the governor was speaking there are 44 homes in some stage of foreclosure.

Our goal is to acquire properties quickly, and then rehabilitate the property and return it back to great use 11 18 46 and so the fund will help us to really have a ready source of money

The big question … Is twenty million dollars more than a drop in the bucket?

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New foreclosure filings rose 4% in April and were nearly 65% higher than the level recorded a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.

The company’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report indicates that foreclosure filings, default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions were reported on 243,353 properties in April.

"The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we’ve seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer. "Although only about 2% of households nationwide are in foreclosure, these properties contribute to already-bloated inventories of homes for sale and put downward pressure on home values."

The company noted California, Florida, and Ohio recorded the highest foreclosure rates in April.

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Florida Home Resales Drop

Sales of existing single family homes in Florida totaled 8,106 in November, a decrease of 30% from the level recorded a year earlier, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

The median sales price of homes sold in November declined to $215,800, down 10% from $239,800 in November 2006, FAR reported.

Among the state’s larger markets, resales decreased 35% in the Orlando metropolitan statistical area and 59% in the Miami MSA, while median resale prices fell to $239,000 in Orlando, down 9% from $263,600 a year earlier, and to $359,300 in Miami, down 4% from $372,400 a year earlier, the trade group said.

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House Panel OKs Bankruptcy Bill

The House Judiciary Committee approved a narrowly targeted bankruptcy bill by a 17-15 vote 12/12/2007 that would give subprime and nontraditional mortgage borrowers facing foreclosure one last chance to get their mortgage restructured so they could stay in their homes.

Only homeowners who have received a foreclosure notice could seek a Chapter 13 restructuring under a compromise worked out between committee Democrats and Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio.

Under the bill, bankruptcy judges could waive prepayment penalties and reduce the mortgage amount to the fair market value and reduce the interest rate to a conventional rate plus a risk premium.

This restructuring would be limited to both subprime mortgages and nontraditional mortgages originated from 2000 through the date of enactment of the legislation.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association oppose the bill.

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Panel Slates Mark up of Bankruptcy Compromise

After several failed attempts, the House Judiciary Committee is slated to mark up a bankruptcy bill on Wednesday that would allow homeowners filing for Chapter 13 relief to get their mortgages restructured.

Committee Democrats have agreed to several changes to the bankruptcy bill (H.R. 3609) to secure the support of Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio.

As originally introduced by Reps. Brad Miller, D-N.C., and Linda Sanchez, D-Calif, H.R. 3609 would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce interest rates and the principal amount of a mortgage, which mortgage industry groups and several committee Republicans warned would scare off mortgage investors and damage the secondary market.

Under the proposed changes, the bill would cover both subprime mortgages and nontraditional mortgages that were originated after Jan. 1, 2000 up to the date of enactment of the legislation. The compromise also includes new criteria for homeowners who could qualify for bankruptcy relief.

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