June 2011 Entries
"As I sit here, less than 24 hours from the next release of the
much-followed monthly S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index, I'm
confronted with all kinds of varying data and hypotheses on the
future track of home prices. Particularly interesting to me is a
new breakdown, by Capital Economics (which watches our market
from Toronto, Canada), on how prices are falling faster at the
low end than the high end. At face value I thought this was a
no-brainer. Of course the low end is falling faster because
that's where the bulk of the foreclosures are, thanks to the
subprime mortgage debacle, which of course targeted first-time
and low-income buyers...
"Delays in foreclosure proceedings and a new push by big banks
and servicers to find foreclosure alternatives are drawing a new,
albeit still troubling picture of the nation's real estate
market. New notices of default, the first step toward
foreclosure, fell to a level in May not seen since the end of
2006, according to a new report by online foreclosure site
RealtyTrac. Bank repossessions, or REO, the final stage of
foreclosure, also fell on a monthly basis for the second straight
month. That pushed total foreclosure activity down 33% from a
year ago. 'I really wish I could say that looking at a 42-month
low in foreclosures action means...
CitiMortgage, the mortgage servicing arm of Citigroup is paying
borrowers an average $12,000 after completing a short sale this
year. Justin Rand, the senior vice president of loss mitigation
at the bank, said servicers are putting more of an emphasis on
streamlining the process and pursuing a short sale ahead of
foreclosure. The short sale process in 2009 took an average 120
days from listing to close. But by reaching out to borrowers
instead of waiting for them to ask the bank, short sales now take
an average 83 days to complete, Rand said at a panel for the REO
Expo Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier this week. ...
What???? You heard right. A Florida homeowner foreclosed on Bank of America for non payment. Are we still on planet Earth?
Not a New York story but interesting nonetheless. Check out the video.
Time
By TARA-NICHOLLE NELSON
Mon Jun 6, 4:50 pm ET
In a modern-day evocation of David's slingshot triumph over Goliath, a couple of foreclosed homeowners in Naples, Florida reportedly foreclosed on a Bank of America branch last week, their attorney actually having moving trucks pull up in front of a Naples branch to execute a foreclosure judgment against the bank.
What must have seemed to observers like a scene out of a parallel...