From the category archives:

Foreclosures

The Fed’s Report Card in Real Estate

March 30, 2010

“Alas, all the Fed’s purchases and all the government’s men can’t put the residential real estate market together again.” – from a column by Caroline Baum in Business Week In yesterday’s blog, I covered the reasons the administration’s new modification program could make sense. Today, I want to look at the other side of the [...]

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New Modifications: Nonsense or Does It Make Sense?

March 29, 2010

Last week ended with a somewhat surprising announcement that the administration has decided to offer an addition to their modification program called Making Home Affordable Program Enhancements to Offer More Help for Homeowners. The new enhancements look to give relief to people who are unemployed and those approaching 20% negative equity in their homes. Why [...]

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Foreclosures Easing Up? Not Exactly

March 19, 2010

There has been much conversation about how distressed properties will impact home prices as we move into the second half of 2010. And it appears that no matter how much data is available, there still remains a feeling that the situation is improving. People look at the foreclosure filings and say things are in fact [...]

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Can Option ARMs Bear the Weight of Interest Rates?

March 11, 2010

In a previous post, we talked about our concerns regarding the number of families in 2010 that were going to have their Option ARM mortgages resetting or recasting. The term ‘reset’ deals with the change of interest rate. The term ‘recast’ deals with the actual change in the mortgage amount. In either case their mortgage payment could be affected. [...]

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Puzzled Banks Now Buying Time

March 3, 2010

Often I get asked why banks are not foreclosing on borrowers even after they do not make mortgage payments for many months. Actually, the answer is quite logical. To fully appreciate the banks position we must understand that the current housing market is like a Rubik’s cube. Every action the bank takes creates a challenge [...]

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I’m Fine, It’s My House That’s Drowning.

March 1, 2010

First American Core Logic just released their Fourth Quarter 2009 Negative Equity Data Report last week. Negative equity, often referred to as “underwater” or “upside down,” means that borrowers owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. The reason this report is so important is that studies have shown that there is a direct [...]

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Foreclosure and Delinquency Rates by State

February 26, 2010

There has been much talk recently about the number of foreclosures currently held by the banks and when they may be released to the market. The number has been estimated at approximately 1.7 million properties. I believe that the banks will be forced to bring them to market in the near future. Why will banks [...]

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Today’s Real Estate Headlines – True or False?

February 23, 2010

Almost every day, as I do my research, I come across a headline that grabs my attention. Many times it leads me to believe that there is a contrarian view to one that I currently hold on an issue in real estate. I immediately read the article only to find out that the headline and [...]

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Shadow Inventory: It’s Impact in 2010

February 19, 2010

We have often talked about a ‘shadow inventory’ of homes about to come to market. The two big questions are: What does this ‘shadow inventory’ actually consist of? How will it impact home values in 2010? Standard and Poors has just come out with a paper which sheds some light on these questions. Let’s look at the report. [...]

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Crazy Foreclosure Alternatives?

February 17, 2010

Homeowners can’t pay their mortgages and are being forced from their homes. Others can pay but decide to just ‘walk away’ instead. Both scenarios have created a flood of foreclosures that neither the government nor the banking industry can handle. The modification programs, though genuine in their effort, have failed. The banks can’t handle what [...]

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