“Not since the Great Depression has an economic downturn and the accompanying foreclosure crisis left so many lives in ruins. How can individuals and families find the resources and support they need to put their lives back in order?” asks A Resource Guide for Foreclosure Recovery, a 25-page handbook published by the Community Affairs division of the Federal Reserve Bank … Read More »

All loss mitigators are not created equal. The odds of curing a foreclosure and avoiding redefault are 1.7 times better for homeowners enrolled in the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program than for homeowners who do not receiving such counseling, according to the Urban Institute. The group released a report yesterday analyzing the NFMC program December 2009. NeighborWorks America is … Read More »

Mortgage fraud increased by more than 20 percent since the fraud rates reached their lowest point in early 2009, according to an update of CoreLogic’s Fraud Trends Report. Read More »

Among the many messages voters sent to Washington yesterday was: Get the government out of financing homes now and let the private sector do it. Read More »

Keeping Freddie and Fannie solvent has cost taxpayers six times as much as the homebuyer tax credit and, depending on the economy, could just about equal the cost of mortgage interest deduction over the next two years, according to projections released yesterday by the Federal Housing Finance Administration. Read More »

Though the Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is falling far short of its goal of helping three to four million homeowners, the program is succeeding at helping those who do make through the program are stay current on their payments and avoid re-default. Read More »

Distress sales, foreclosures and short sales will increase their market share during the fourth quarter as the tax-credit induced sales bump disappears and buyers return to bargain shopping. Read More »

Preliminary reports indicate that more existing homeowners than expected took advantage of the homebuyer tax credit to help buy a new home this year. Read More »

The consensus among the experts that home prices will fall farther before they hit bottom may become a self-fulfilling prophecy as the very buyers so desperately needed to buy up the excess inventory and stop the price slide will wait until they are absolutely sure that prices have reached their lowest point. Read More »

Just when it seemed that only one more negative housing report would be enough to rev up the bandwagon for a new federal homebuyer tax credit, today’s pending home sales index for August baffled prognosticators and restored hope the no more government stimulus would be needed to stabilize housing markets. Read More »