Foreclosures

Obama Names N.Y. Official To Housing Post — As housing commissioner, Shaun Donovan managed a $7.5 billion plan to help a half-million New Yorkers get affordable housing. Obama credited Donovan with keeping foreclosures down among the thousands of low- and moderate-income people who took part in his program.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us... [Tags: affordable housing, donovan, e mail, foreclosures, housing commissioner]

The Rise and Fall of the Southern California Housing Empire: Foreclosures, Bad Investments, and Psychological Deception. — Mighty kings rise and fall like the sun.  Southern California decided to take an ancient recipe from the books of history and followed in this time honored path.  Except our king came riding in on a pair of 24 inch spinning rims in a Cadillac Escalade.  The only problem is all of it was mortgaged […]Related Posts:■Foreclosures? Housing Bubble? In Southern California? Impossible!■Short Sale Report Volume 3: Another Week and Another Record. SoCal Short Sales up over 12,000.■Think Housing Can’t Go Down Significantly in Southern California?■Southern California Housing Report: New Housing Motto: Foreclosure Data is so Bad, it has to... [Tags: ancient recipe, cadillac escalade, consolation, dutch tulip, exuberance]

Can Selling Equity in Homes Prevent Foreclosures? — ... [Tags: foreclosures]

Squatters and Foreclosure: Who Lives Here? — Possession, they say, is nine-tenths of the law. Unfortunately, when the remaining tenth is a mortgage, both homeowners and renters can find themselves evicted as part of the foreclosure process. Results of an email survey of community and state homeless coalitions conducted by the National Coalition for the Homeless indicate that nearly 61 percent of respondents were already seeing an increase in homelessness before April 2008 when the report was published. More than 37 percent of those responding stated people were able to rent which researchers believe was an indication that they were former homeowners who had lost their... [Tags: attempts, authenticity, coalition for the homeless, corporation sole, foreclosed properties]

Ian Welsh: 7 Ways The Feds Could Help Homeowners — Bernanke seems to be slowly working his way to the conclusion that the economy and the finance crisis can't be fixed without helping homeowners. As usual, he's late to the party, but I suppose better late than never. His proposals, such as they are, are vague. Let's run through how it has to be done if it's going to be done right. 1) The face amount of the mortgage needs to be reduced by the long term value of the house, as if the housing bubble hadn't occured. This is both to reduce foreclosures and to help reset housing prices... [Tags: balloon payments, congress, consumer spending, economy, feds]

Bailout Efforts Now Focus On Main Street, Not Banks — Having thrown trillions of dollars at Wall Street, the Fed and Treasury now appear ready to do the same for Main Street by proposing help for the housing market.Bernanke: Act on ForeclosuresTreasury Weighs Mortgage Plan ... [Tags: bailout, banks, foreclosures, housing market, mortgage plan]

"Ultimate Handyman Special": The Under-$100k Club — No shocker here: the Bay Area, home to some of the most wallet-shocking real estate in California, now has a flood of sub-$100k homes. Yes, foreclosures have wreaked havoc on families everywhere, but one homeowner's tragedy is apparently another's ticket to the mildewy, broken-windowed big time. Check out the foreclosure capitals of Alameda, Contra Costa, and Solano counties for the over 600 sub-$100k listings in the Bay Area, all generally two-bedroom standalone houses. Houses that, at this point, could probably pass for shacks under the freeway -- but at 2 percent commission, houses that nonetheless really have to move. Plus,... [Tags: amp, big time, capitals, cubix, flood]

Real Homes of Genius: The Downey Twins. Properties that Reinforce a Long and Drawn out Recession. Smallest Home Ever. 364 Square Feet. — The catchphrase of the day seems to be capitulation.  Like the daily word on Sesame Street.  Things have gone from bad to worse in the matter of a few short and arduous weeks.  I’ve started getting messages from people that say we are nearing a bottom.  That is absolutely incorrect.  The worst is yet to […]Related Posts:■Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Santa Ana. 498 Square Feet for $440,000, What a Deal!■Real Homes of Genius: Today We Salute you Huntington Park. Tweedledum and Tweedledee of housing. $500,000 Homes in Wonderland.■Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Compton.... [Tags: bedrooms, capitulation, catchphrase, compton, daily word]

Public Works, The Inauguration and the next BailOut Scandal — In the big picture this is not a major suggestion. Think of it as something that can be done with no downside and long term benefit. I personally don’t think a stimulus package of checks or rebates to the consumer will work. I believe consumers are so beaten up and fearful of the future that they will put it in the bank.  Of course 20 years ago that would have been a good thing, These days banks don’t appear to be lending those deposits. So there is no primary or secondary stimulus impact. Instead, having the government spend money on... [Tags: bailout, balance sheet, big picture, capital investment, declines]

Foreclosures Revive Home-sharing — With the rise in foreclosures, many people are going back to an old-fashioned way to save on housing: sharing. One newly married couple decided to try the measure after one spouse was laid off. Vermont Public Radio's Nina Keck reports.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us... [Tags: e mail, foreclosures, keck, married couple, nina]

New foreclosures to hit retail — (CBS/AP) Black Friday's retail shoppers hunting for holiday bargains won't be enough to stave off what's likely to become the next economic crisis. Malls from Michigan to Georgia are entering foreclosure, commercial victims of the same events poisoning the housing market. Hotels in Tucson, Ariz., and Hilton Head, S.C., also are about to default on their mortgages.... [Tags: black friday, cbs, economic crisis, foreclosure, foreclosures]

Foreclosures Overwhelm Legal Aid Programs — Half of all poor people seeking help to stave off foreclosures "are being turned away at the door," an official with the National Legal Aid & Defender Association estimates. The programs, which offer free or low-cost counsel, don't have enough staff to meet demand.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us... [Tags: amp, defender association, e mail, foreclosures, legal aid programs]

Las Vegas Home Prices Hit 5-Year Low — Price slashing kept sales of existing single-family houses at more than double the year-ago pace, while foreclosures accounted for two-thirds of all resales.... [Tags: foreclosures, las vegas, pace, single family houses, two thirds]

Median home resale prices drop 11% in October from a year earlier — The National Assn. of Realtors says the nationwide median price fell to $183,000 last month. It blames foreclosures and distressed properties for a 'significant downward distortion' of prices. The median price for resale homes and condominiums nationwide slipped to $183,000 last month, down 11% from October 2007, the National Assn. of Realtors reported Monday.... [Tags: condominiums, distressed properties, foreclosures, median price, national assn]

Foreclosures, late payments skyrocket — More delinquent on car, truck loans; Job centers swell with people in need.... [Tags: car truck, foreclosures, job centers, late payments, truck loans]

Economy Not So Bad That People Won't Line Up To Buy A New Gadget — So, the economy is collapsing, consumer spending is way down, banks and auto companies are on the verge of going out of business, unemployment is up, foreclosures are up, and some might have you believe that we're heading back to Great Depression style bread and soup lines. Luckily, it looks like we're not quite there yet, as plenty of folks seemed willing to line up, not for some free grub, but to get the latest hot new phone, the Blackberry Storm. Apparently, we haven't quite entered Great Depression territory yet.Permalink | Comments | Email This Story... [Tags: auto companies, banks, blackberry, consumer spending, economy]

Foreclosures, delinquencies skyrocketing among 'prime' borrowers — Nationwide, 3.07% of prime mortgages were in foreclosure or at least 60 days late in the second quarter of this year, easily topping the previous record of 1.97% set in 1985. By this year, the bleeding housing market had drained the equity from Judy Jones' home in Murrieta, but her life still seemed secure. She had a government job, after all, and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.875%, unlike the shaky, variable-rate loans of many of her Inland Empire neighbors.... [Tags: 30 year fixed rate, 30 year fixed rate mortgage, borrowers, delinquencies, fixed rate mortgage]

FDIC Unveils Homeowner Help — A guest post from Frank Shump. Frank is a veteran from the financial services industry, and currently authors a blog called Thefinancecastle.com, which documents his thoughts on money matters and his adventures in self employment. I guess it’s not all that surprising given the increasing number of foreclosures across the nation over the past few months, but the FDIC officially came out with detailed plans as to how the government will come to the rescue of delinquent borrowers. The announcement was made earlier today by FDIC Chairwoman Shella Bair, and caught a number of experts off guard. Apparently, the... [Tags: bailout, bair, chairwoman, congress, delinquent borrowers]

FDIC Unveils Homeowner Help — A guest post from Frank Shump. Frank is a veteran from the financial services industry, and currently authors a blog called Thefinancecastle.com, which documents his thoughts on money matters and his adventures in self employment. I guess it’s not all that surprising given the increasing number of foreclosures across the nation over the past few months, but the FDIC officially came out with detailed plans as to how the government will come to the rescue of delinquent borrowers. The announcement was made earlier today by FDIC Chairwoman Shella Bair, and caught a number of experts off guard. Apparently, the... [Tags: bailout, bair, chairwoman, congress, delinquent borrowers]