Find Foreclosure Properties Articles

The two mortgage GSEs, Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) have announced that it will suspend sales of foreclosure properties and eviction from foreclosed homes from November 26, 2008 to January 9, 2009. This move will keep troubled homeowners stay in their homes for the holidays without the fear of being kicked out or evicted from their homes.

These companies that are controlled by the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) have ordered mortgage servicers and attorneys handling foreclosures to prohibit eviction and sales of single-family or multiple-unit properties with mortgages that are owned by these GSEs. These companies have been making headway in preventing foreclosures for at least three out of five beleaguered homeowners and would like to provide families in trouble of losing their homes some assurance at least during the holidays.

Servicers of mortgages owned by these two entities are working with troubled homeowners to find options for them to stay in their homes. Activities include a review of their mortgages and financial capabilities, and possibilities on restructuring the mortgage to make payments current.

With 140,000 mortgages still delinquent, the brief suspension will provide ample time for these servicers to finalize details of the Streamlined Modification mortgage program with borrowers and ultimately avoid foreclosures. The program is set to take flight on December 15, and is targeting delinquent homeowners who were not able to pay their last 3 monthly amortizations.

Unemployment rates have been on the upswing, and this month first-time filings for unemployment benefits have reached 27,000 cases and have flooded welfare offices. This has been the highest level since July of 1992. Economic indexes also fell by 0.8 percent in October. This is a strong indicator that the economy is getting weaker and would have a profound impact on foreclosures. Unless these two mortgage giants step up on their campaign, together with other sectors also bent in dealing with foreclosures, homeowners will be facing tougher times in the year ahead.

Related Posts:

• Advances in California’s Home Sales Spoiled by Remaining Foreclosures
• Atlanta Homeowners Get Help on Foreclosures
• Citigroup Aims to Rework Thousands of Mortgages and Foreclosures
• Foreclosures Rages on as Bailout Plan Fizzle out
• Bailout Plan for Foreclosures Active but Taxpayers Not Happy

The local government of Fort Wayne City has taken the time to allot $7 million of its federal money to manage nearly 4,000 foreclosure properties in their area. City Mayor Tom Henry said that Fort Wayne plans to buy out or demolish foreclosed homes to improve its neighborhood.

The $7 million budget that the city plans to use came from the $4-billion national fund for federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act. The said bill was approved July of this year.

Residents of the city can read the plans for the said properties at Fort Wayne’s official website www.cityoffortwayne.org. Comments about the plans are welcomed by the city until the 24th of November this year.

As expected, not all abandoned and foreclosed homes in the city are up for demolition. Director of Community Homes John Urbahns said that assessments on the units are still underway. Units that are fairly solid homes will be spared. This is also to reinforce the city’s plan to attract developers to rehabilitate foreclosure properties. The said rehabilitation is said to lure buyers looking for repossessed houses.

Concerns on foreclosures came after an alarming report about mortgages in the city. Mortgage lenders and servicing agents are reported to have foreclosed almost 3,665 properties from 2006 to 2008 alone. In 2006, Allen County is reported to have had 1, 156 foreclosed mortgages-a number that is perceive to increase at the end of 2008.

However, the said plans have yet to take place soon. The local government has deemed it necessary to first assess if the allotted budget would suffice for the said programs on foreclosed and abandoned properties.

Asked if he thinks that the city will be owning new houses soon, Mayor Henry has an answer to offer. He said that the city is just finding alternative ways to encourage investors in developing and renovating the increasing number of foreclosures in their area—an obvious attempt to refurbish Fort Wayne’s old housing stock.

Related Posts:

• Shopping for Foreclosures
• Oakland Bids for Housing Recovery Fund for use on Foreclosures
• Rates in Foreclosures Fell last October
• Programs on Foreclosures Help Homeowners
• Citigroup Aims to Rework Thousands of Mortgages and Foreclosures

The Federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program has planned to take actions in the increasing number of areas that are very likely to have a lot of foreclosure properties the future. Topping the program’s list are areas such as Orient Park, vicinity of University of South Florida, Progress Village, Clair Mel and Palm River. Playing second in the said list are Gibsonton, Plant City and Town ’N Country.

Although the program is still up for discussion in the Hillsborough County Commission, people are still positive about this development. The said plan is expected to give out million dollar rehabilitation budgets to the listed areas.

Town ‘N county, in particular, is likely to receive $19.1 million. Considered as one of the poster children of US mortgage crisis, Town’N County is known for housing a lot of foreclosed homes. Town ‘N county resident Rose Harper even said that she has had several, if not numerous, next door neighbors in the 36 years that she had lived in the neighborhood. The mustard-colored house next to her home is now under the management of www.ushomeauction.com.
The plan for these areas is to buy out units that are considered soon-to-be foreclosures.  The units will then be handed over to non-profit housing organizations. Such associations will then be tasked to rehabilitate the properties. The repossessed houses will be made available to qualified buyers.

Officials in the areas concerned said that foreclosure rates and high risk mortgages are just some of the aspects that contribute to the increase of foreclosure properties. However, community leaders, investors and realtors in the areas mentioned begged to differ. They said that foreclosure situations can be attributed to some builders and investors who have gone overboard in their projects during the last housing boom years.

Whatever the causes were, both groups are bent on tying up the loose notches in the housing economy.

Related Posts:

• Fort Wayne Eyes Abandoned and Foreclosed Homes
• Home Sales Increase but Resellers Not Happy Due to Foreclosures
• Citigroup Aims to Rework Thousands of Mortgages and Foreclosures
• Foreclosures Give Rise to Cheaper Homes
• Fights on Foreclosures Cannot Help Lift Stocks

Foreclosures.com has reported that foreclosure rates have fallen in October. It also said that the October rates were just a continuation of the September fall. The report released also cited that the decline in the rates has not been observed since February of this year.

Pre-foreclosure fillings were down by 7% compared to September’s rates and 10% to that of the high disturbing rates of August’s. Given that the pre-foreclosure rates are a preview of possible good things to come, McGee was reported to have said that the latest rates are welcome news.

Change in the number of REO properties was also noted by ForeclosureS.com. The report said that the 22% rates in September fell down to 84, 286 properties in October. The website believes that the October rate for REO properties is the lowest monthly total since the end of May 2008.

However, McGee expresses certain concerns on the future rates of foreclosure properties. She said that the positive changes we have witnessed this October might be put on a stall. She cited that the special programs that lenders commonly offer to home owners can cause a halt to the decline of the rates. McGee explained that such programs will not rescue borrowers from the problem.

Given the state of loans, she said that the process for qualifying units as soon-to-be foreclosure homes will just be delayed and not prevented by the special programs. Despite her observation, McGee is still optimistic.

But analysts begged to differ; they said that there are still a lot of factors that could contribute to the stoppage of the decrease in rates. Local legislations, in particular, can only put a temporary hold on foreclosure properties. Take, for example, the case of Massachusetts. The State’s foreclosure rates soared to 365 percent between August and September after a fall in rates from the previous months. Analysts said that the temporary decrease was made possible only by the local legislation requiring lenders to give their borrowers a 90-day right to work on their mortgage problems before initiating procedures to foreclose homes.

Related Posts:

• Illinois Foreclosures Soared
• Advances in California’s Home Sales Spoiled by Remaining Foreclosures
• Home Prices Plummet; Sales Up for Southern California Homes
• Atlanta Homeowners Get Help on Foreclosures
• Lower Home Price Forecasts Due to Foreclosures

Now that the elections have come to a close with Obama emerging victorious, the new president is faced with pressing issues concerning the dismal situation in the housing industry. With 1.9 million foreclosures realized and millions more imminent, working on these issues may begin immediately even before he takes seat in January.

First on the list would be to finalize the plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which the previous administration placed in conservatorship. These GSEs (Government Sponsored Enterprises) and how the government will utilize them will set the course for the future of the country’s mortgage finance system. With the number of foreclosure properties in the rise, the only mortgage financing sources available is through the government. Without a new mortgage system, builders will close down and millions will lose their homes.

Mortgage rates have soared recently, and millions stand to lose their homes to foreclosures unless the financial crisis is fixed and the stock market brought back to normal. The new government should work on these fast as experts predict this trend in the financial market will continue until the next year.

Many experts and economists believe that solving the problems in the housing market and putting a dam across this wave of foreclosures can turn the economy around. A new program should be established that will effectively put home values up, while providing a breathing space for beleaguered homeowners. Proposals from various sectors have been placed up front which includes temporary tax credits for buyers in the next nine months and for a mortgage rate buy down from the government.

The new government should prioritize actions on these issues to finally put a stop to the nationwide recession and the resultant effect of unemployment. Topping these actions should be a concretized plan to restore housing values and help homeowners survive the tide of foreclosures. With the housing market back in good health, the nation would be assured of a big comeback for the country’s financial system.

Related Posts:

• Advances in California’s Home Sales Spoiled by Remaining Foreclosures
• Bailout Plan for Foreclosures Active but Taxpayers Not Happy
• Foreclosures Rages on as Bailout Plan Fizzle out
• Home Sales Increase but Resellers Not Happy Due to Foreclosures
• Obama Accused Bush of not taking Actions against Foreclosures

An increase of 85% in home sales for August, followed by a 65% increase the following month brought vitality back to California’s real estate market. However, with millions of foreclosure properties still on the inventory list of banking and lending institutions, with hundreds of thousand new cases coming in each month, the state’s market stability may only be achieved until the middle of 2010.

Most of these new sales came from Real Estate Owned (REO) foreclosure properties, which resulted to a drop of home prices. California home prices dropped dramatically in some areas, reaching a staggering 60%, which experts say may remain at 35% by the next year. However, more established areas and counties were able to maintain good prices amidst this financial mess.

In a bid to stem the flow of foreclosures, a new California state law took effect last September. In this new state law, lenders are required to make discussions with delinquent borrowers 30 days before a notice of default is filed. This new law, coupled with state-driven or bank-initiated loan modifications, led to a decrease in default notifications. However, the move is still not enough the put a plug to the foreclosures rush.

This temporary decrease in default notifications does not mean that the number of delinquent payments has already declined. With the prices of home sales in the low side, compounded by the nationwide recession and an increasing unemployment rate, the number of foreclosure homes is still expected to rise. Investors, in a bid to regain cash flows back into the system, have started to rent out these REOs at competitive prices. They would continue to do so until the housing market turns around and the values of these homes return back to normal levels.

Unless the government steps in with effective remedial programs, California, being the nation’s largest housing market, may continue to lose more homes and properties to foreclosures.

Search Foreclosure Properties by California Top Cities:

• Los Angeles Foreclosure Properties
• San Diego Foreclosure Properties
• San Jose Foreclosure Properties

Related Posts:

• Home Sales Increase but Resellers Not Happy Due to Foreclosures
• Home Prices Plummet; Sales Up for Southern California Homes
• Unstable Sales Activities for Foreclosed Homes Resulted To Drop in PHSI
• Home Buyer Tip: Taking Advantage of Favorable Market Conditions
• Oakland Bids for Housing Recovery Fund for use on Foreclosures

The current administration is severely criticized for doing very little in stemming the tide of foreclosures. Despite arguments and claims from the White House that several actions have already been performed for a year, the number of foreclosure properties continue its monumental climb, and more American homeowners stand to lose their homes.

The administration is pressured to make a direct government intervention or action to this crisis, and adopt lobbied programs which call for the government’s direct involvement in the foreclosures issue. One of these programs includes the plan initiated by Sheila Bair who heads the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Working closely with the Treasury Department, this plan includes a restructuring plan for delinquent mortgages which will result to affordable monthly payments. This can be achieved through lower interest rates, loan term extensions and deferred payments. The program plans to standardize payments to a third or two-fifths of the homeowner’s income after taxes.

The plan would need the full support of lenders and banking institutions. Here is where the government is urged to step in. By acting as a guarantor to certain percentages of the restructured loans, the government would share in the losses should the homeowner fail in their restructured mortgages and finally end up in foreclosures. The government is urged to use part of the $700 billion bail-out fund for this purpose.

Some detractors fear that this plan might be exploited by some homeowners who would deliberately default on their payments and take on the risk of foreclosures. Some would be lead to believe that participating in this bail-out plan could give them a much lower mortgage payment scheme.

The plan however, will only be applied for homeowners whose current income flows would make their mortgages unaffordable. Experts say that this scenario might be possible, but should not be considered a deterrent in pushing for the implementation of this project. With the flood of foreclosures sweeping across the nation, a concrete plan of action is what the nation needs right now.

Related Posts:

• Obama Accused Bush of not taking Actions against Foreclosures
• Bailout Plan for Foreclosures Active but Taxpayers Not Happy
• Foreclosures Rages on as Bailout Plan Fizzle out
• Government Announces Much-Awaited Anti-Foreclosure Program
• Foreclosures and Housing Issues Top New Presidential Agenda

When the Pew Center placed Idaho as one of the inactive states taking action against foreclosures, state officials responded by outlining a plan of action derived from daily meetings with organizations, industry leaders and government agencies.

According to the Pew Center report, Idaho is predicted to have 1 out of 39 homeowners facing foreclosures within a two-year period. The national tally is predicted to be 1 out of 33 homeowners. However, the Mortgage Banker’s Association ranks Idaho at No.41 among the states in terms of foreclosures, and describes Idaho to be performing well in dealing with the foreclosure problem. This can be seen by the state’s unemployment rate which is lower than the national standard.

The Idaho Department of Finance has begun to mobilize concrete programs in a bid to stem the flow of foreclosure properties. First and foremost is to educate its residents on financial literacy by providing information through the State’s official website and offering online financial counseling through the Idaho Housing and Finance Association (IHFA) website. Part of this information drive is providing the public with useful resources on how to avoid foreclosures with established policies and guidelines.

With an increase of foreclosure cases nationwide, unscrupulous perpetrators tries to cash in with this situation by fiendishly devising rescue scams to drain already troubled people with their money. To protect its constituents against such scams, Idaho passed a Consumer Foreclosure Protection Act and worked with other government agencies to work on this serious issue.

Other actions performed by the Finance Department is the formation of the governor’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program steering committee, and meeting regularly with government and professional agencies in formulating plans and programs in dealing with this crisis. The department is also taking actions to preempt high-cost lending by establishing lending standards on subprime mortgage lending. Taking initiative in a nationwide campaign for mortgage licensing reforms, the department also supports the CSBS (Conference of State Bank Supervisors) and SAFE (Secure & Fair Enforcement) Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008.

Related Posts:

• Foreclosures and Housing Issues Top New Presidential Agenda
• Unemployment & Foreclosures Continue to Depress Housing Market
• Mortgage Giants Gives Holiday Gift by Freezing Foreclosure Sales
• Schwarzenegger Tackles the Foreclosure Problem
• Wisconsin Sheriffs Struggle as Foreclosures Continue Upswing

The Arizona State University’s Realty Studies department reported a significant increase in home sales for the third quarter this year as compared to previous quarters and with the same period last year. However, these sales were conducted mostly with foreclosure homes, which amounted to almost half of the total home sales.

There were 2,100 homes sold in Pinal County during the second quarter. This increased to 3,355 during the next quarter. Compared to last year, which reflected only 625 units, this quarter’s sales have gone up at a very high rate.

However, if home values are to be considered, this quarter’s sale would pale in comparison to prices posted last year. Median home prices have dropped because of the staggering number of foreclosure homes in the county. With foreclosure properties taking much of the volume in home sales, median home prices are expected to continue heading downhill.

Most buyers in Arizona are investors and first-time homeowners. These people, having enough resources, find good opportunities in the low home prices brought about by this crisis in foreclosures. In Pinal county, home prices at the medium range have already dropped to $129,000 this third quarter which is far below the $220,000 range that realtors enjoyed way back 2005.

Investors are taking this opportunity seeing a possible windfall once the market recovers and prices goes back up exponentially. First-time buyers on the other hand are looking at good location choices where they could purchase their primary real estate.

However, realty experts are expecting a possible lull in home sales activities as trends in the economy and the financial crisis could worsen. Threats of job losses and further inflation make people hold on to their resources more closely and delay spending their hard-earned money in making major purchases.

With the slow progress currently achieved in reducing the number of homes lost to foreclosures, these people may have something tangible to hold on to.

Related Posts:

• Home Prices Plummet; Sales Up for Southern California Homes
• Advances in California’s Home Sales Spoiled by Remaining Foreclosures
• Wisconsin Sheriffs Struggle as Foreclosures Continue Upswing
• Unstable Sales Activities for Foreclosed Homes Resulted To Drop in PHSI
• Areas Prone to Foreclosures will Receive Help

Wisconsin State has designated county sheriff’s departments to handle processing and sales of foreclosure properties. For Fond du Lac County, the department closed 149 sales in 2005, 212 homes in 2007 and already 192 for 2008 with 26 more in-process. The numbers continues to grow towards the end of the year and more so by next year.

With sales and auctions conducted twice a month, the department is finding it difficult as the numbers of foreclosures continue to grow. Although prospective buyers continue to gather in the City County Government Center where the auctions are conducted, third party bidders seldom attend anymore, which makes their job a lot easier.

On the 26 remaining cases for Fond du Lac for this year, 14 came from just one entity. These foreclosed properties are strategically located along the city’s Main Street but sustained considerable water damage during flooding last June. In each of these cases, banks have exhausted all efforts to work with beleaguered property owners and avoid foreclosures. Attorneys explain that banks go through these procedures to avoid eventually owning these properties. These would incur additional costs from insurance and a host of other problems like maintenance and disposal.

The sheriff’s department is giving 45 days from the foreclosure notice up until the property sale. This provides homeowners time to try and work their problems out with the banks and redeem their foreclosed properties back. Each foreclosure is unique and the department is trying to handle each case with enough focus as possible. Some individuals might also have liens and interests on these properties and their owners so the department is making it a point to inform these people.

Most foreclosure processing turns out well, according to the sheriff’s department, although there are cases where homeowners refuse to leave. The sheriff has no other choice but to send officers to escort these people out with a writ of assistance order. It’s a job they don’t like, but it has to be done.

Related Posts:

• Home Sales Increase but Resellers Not Happy Due to Foreclosures
• Washington Attorney General Fights Foreclosure Scams
• Survey Reveals Fewer Adults Consider Buying Foreclosed Homes
• Home Prices Plummet; Sales Up for Southern California Homes
• Foreclosures Rages on as Bailout Plan Fizzle out