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This page contains an archive of the last 100 entries posted to ProgressNow.org Daily News Digest in the Housing and Homeless category. They are listed from newest to oldest. You can find older entries using the search box below.

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Housing and Homeless Archives

February 29, 2008

Republicans Block Consideration of Housing Relief Package in Senate - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022803722....
Senate Republicans yesterday blocked consideration of a bill designed to prop up the struggling housing industry, declaring that the Democratic-backed provisions would harm mortgage lenders and inflame the housing crisis. With a 48 to 46 vote, the Senate did not gain the 60 votes needed to halt a threatened filibuster on the housing package. The vote capped a week of parliamentary gridlock in the Senate, which spent nearly three days mired in an Iraq war debate without casting a substantive vote on the underlying bill mandating troop withdrawal. Democrats, stymied in their effort to curb President Bush's Iraq policies, had hoped to begin debate on the housing bill to address the public's anxiety over the economy, which has supplanted the war in recent polls as the issue of greatest concern.
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U.N. experts criticize N.O. housing - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-28-un-nola_N.htm...
Two human rights experts for the United Nations on Thursday criticized a federal plan to raze public housing projects in New Orleans, saying it will force the predominantly black residents into homelessness. New Orleans advocates clamoring to save 4,500 public housing units claimed a victory. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which wants to replace the decades-old housing projects with mixed-income, mixed-use development, called the U.N. experts' findings "misinformed." The statement issued out of Geneva was not a U.N. finding, but only the individual views of Miloon Kothari, a special investigator on housing matters for the U.N. Human Rights Council, and Gay McDougall, a lawyer who is an expert on minority and rights issues. They charged that demolition would harm thousands of people by denying them a place to live in a city where housing already is scarce since Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005.
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Freddie Mac Reports $2.5 Billion Loss - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022801065....
Freddie Mac said yesterday it lost $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter and separately disclosed that its board has formed a special committee to investigate allegations of mismanagement by the company's directors, senior officers and outside auditors. The McLean-based mortgage funding company said the board received two letters "from purported shareholders" late last year demanding that it take legal action to recover damages from the responsible parties. "The formation of a special committee to look into a derivative demand letter from a purported shareholder is actually a pro forma action on the part of a corporation to determine whether or not there is any validity to an allegation," spokeswoman Sharon J. McHale said in an e-mail.
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Facing Default, Some Walk Out on New Homes - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/us/29walks.html?ref=us...
You Walk Away is a small sign of broad changes in the way many Americans look at housing. In an era in which new types of loans allowed many home buyers to move in with little or no down payment, and to cash out any equity by refinancing, the meaning of homeownership and foreclosure have changed, economists and housing experts say. Last year the median down payment on home purchases was 9 percent, down from 20 percent in 1989, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors. Twenty-nine percent of buyers put no money down. For first-time home buyers, the median was 2 percent. And many borrowed more than the price of the home in order to cover closing costs. “I think I could make a case that some borrowers were ‘renting’ (with risk), rather than owning,” Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, said in an e-mail message. For some people, then, foreclosure becomes something akin to eviction — a traumatic event, and a blow to one’s credit record, but not one that involves loss of life savings or of years spent scrimping to buy the home.
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February 28, 2008

Federal Regulators to Ease Rules on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/business/28housing.html?ref=business...
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which oversees the two government-chartered mortgage giants, said Wednesday that it was making the change because the companies have begun filing timely financial reports again, after accounting lapses several years ago. But the regulator declined to ease its requirement that Fannie and Freddie hold 30 percent more capital than they are required to by law, citing the turmoil in the mortgage market. The announcement came as Fannie Mae, the larger of the two companies, reported a $2.05 billion loss for 2007 and warned that home prices would sink further this year. The loss followed a $4.06 billion profit in 2006 and reflected a rise in mortgage defaults and soured investments. Despite the weak results, shares of Fannie Mae closed up 1.1 percent, to $27.27. Shares of Freddie Mac fell 0.5 percent, to $25.09, after being up by nearly 17 percent earlier in the day.
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Fannie Mae Reports $3.56 Billion Loss - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022703292....
Fannie Mae, a titan of the mortgage business, yesterday reported that rising defaults and falling home prices contributed to a $3.56 billion loss in the last three months of 2007. The company predicted that housing prices will continue to fall and that its financial performance will get markedly worse. "The housing conditions are serious and they've gotten worse since our last projection in November," chief executive Daniel H. Mudd said in a conference call with investors. "The overall economic outlook has dimmed, credit is tighter, home sales have stalled as buyers wait for prices to bottom out . . . and prices have fallen quickly in a number of states."
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February 27, 2008

Bush vows veto of foreclosure prevention bill - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-26-congress-mortgages_N.htm...
The White House promised on Tuesday to veto a bill seeking to follow up the recent economic stimulus package with several proposals to shore up the struggling housing market and reduce foreclosures. Senate Democrats had hoped to begin debate on the housing bill on Tuesday but action has been put off until later in the week, if not later, as Republicans kept the subject on Iraq. The Democratic housing bill would change bankruptcy laws to allow judges to cut interest rates and reduce what's owed on troubled borrowers' mortgages, provide $4 billion to communities to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed homes, and improve disclosure of subprime mortgage loans in hopes that borrowers won't be surprised by big payment increases. But the White House said the $4 billion for purchases of foreclosed homes is too expensive and "would constitute a bailout for lenders and speculators, while doing little to help struggling homeowners."
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Cuomo Near Deal On Home Appraisals - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022603056....
New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo is in advanced negotiations with housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over a deal designed to stamp out conflicts of interest that have produced inflated mortgage appraisals, according to officials involved in the talks. At its core, the deal would bar lending companies that sell loans to Fannie and Freddie from using preferred or internal appraisers who may be subject to pressure to overvalue properties. The deal would establish a "home valuation protection code" to set standards on compensation and independence issues, and it would create an institute with a separate board of directors to monitor complaints from consumers and appraisers, according to documents described to The Washington Post by a source not authorized to speak publicly about the issues. If the agreement takes hold, Fannie and Freddie would no longer purchase mortgages from lenders who fail to abide by the standards, a powerful economic force that could influence the entire housing landscape.
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Door Could Open To Class Actions - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022603351....
A federal appeals court is nearing a decision on a battle between Chevy Chase Bank and a Wisconsin couple that could for the first time enable homeowners across the country to band together in class-action lawsuits against mortgage firms and get their loans canceled. The case is alarming Wall Street's biggest banks, which could bear the hefty cost of reimbursing all mortgage interest, closing costs and broker fees to groups of homeowners who uncover even minor mistakes in their loan documents. After a federal judge in Milwaukee ruled last year that the Wisconsin couple had been deceived and other borrowers could join their suit, Chevy Chase Bank appealed to the circuit court in Chicago. Kevin Demet, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, said a decision by the appeals court is imminent, though others involved in the case said it could be a matter of weeks. "It's one of the most important cases for the mortgage industry right now," said Louis Pizante, chief executive of Mavent, which provides consumer protection law services to major lenders. "The case was somewhat interesting a couple years ago when it started, but its ramifications and impact have completely changed given the current environment."
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Housing Woes Put Bush, Hill At Odds - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022603645....
Congressional leaders yesterday gathered support for aggressive changes to bankruptcy laws that would help troubled homeowners, even as the Bush administration threatened to veto the plan and emphasized its opposition to any program that would risk tax dollars. Democrats are calling for the government to do more than what the administration has done to date. They propose a range of initiatives that include the purchase of troubled mortgage securities by a federal agency and the empowering of bankruptcy judges to change the terms of high-interest loans held by homeowners facing foreclosure. But the administration said that changing mortgage terms retroactively for a select group of troubled borrowers would only add to lenders' woes and lead to higher mortgage rates for everyone. The clash highlighted the sharp differences between Democrats and the Bush administration over how to solve the nation's worst mortgage crisis since the Great Depression.
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February 26, 2008

Existing home sales down, but Midwest shows hope - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-02-25-existing-home-sales_N.h...
Sales of existing homes slipped in January to their slowest pace in nearly a decade, and prices fell for the fifth consecutive month, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Yet there were glimmers of hope in the figures. Resales of single-family homes actually rose 0.5% from December — the first monthly increase in nearly a year, led by a surprising upturn in the Midwest. The median price of a single-family house, meantime, slid 5% from January last year to $198,700, the lowest price since February 2005. That was a sign that more sellers are yielding in the face of a 10-plus-month supply of homes on the market and agreeing to cut prices. "I expect sales to bottom over the next few months, though prices are likely to continue falling for quite some time," says Joel Naroff, chief economist of Naroff Economic Advisors. Pat Lashinsky, CEO of ZipRealty, (ZIPR) says, "Sellers seem more willing to negotiate than we've seen in the past six months. That's partially driven by the fact that more homes are sitting on the market for a significant period. There's a sense of frustration among sellers."
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Existing Home Sales Decline - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022500996....
Sales of existing homes fell for the sixth straight month in January, dropping to the slowest sales pace on record. Median home prices were also down and many analysts predicted further price declines in the months ahead given high levels of unsold homes. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 0.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units. That was the slowest sales pace, going back to 1999, and was seen as evidence that the steepest slump in housing in a quarter-century has yet to hit bottom. The median price of a home sold in January slid to $201,100, a drop of 4.6 percent from a year ago. Particularly alarming, analysts said, was the fact that the inventory of unsold homes jumped to a 10.3 months' supply, meaning it would take that long to sell the 4.19 million homes on the market at the January sales pace. That was up from 9.7 months in December and just below a two-decade high of 10.5 months hit in October. During the peak of the housing boom in 2005, the supply of homes relative to sales stood at 4.5 months.
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February 25, 2008

Post-Katrina skyline rises along Mississippi coast - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mississippi25feb25,1,238382...
New height standards -- and all those stairs -- are giving some who want to rebuild second thoughts. And some aren't sure that taller means safer.
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February 22, 2008

Rescues for Homeowners in Debt Weighed - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/business/22homes.html?ref=washington...
Not since the Depression has a larger share of Americans owed more on their homes than they are worth. With the collapse of the housing boom, nearly 8.8 million homeowners, or 10.3 percent of the total, are underwater. That is more than double the percentage just a year ago, according to a new estimate of the damage by Moody’s Economy.com. Administration officials say they still oppose any taxpayer bailout for either people who borrowed more than they could afford or banks that made foolish loans during the height of the speculative bubble in housing. But with the current efforts to arrest the housing collapse so far bearing little fruit, Washington is being forced to explore new ideas, among them the idea of a federal mortgage guarantee for troubled borrowers. And policy makers are listening to proposals from industry and community groups to use government funds to purchase and refinance billions of dollars in mortgages now in danger of default.
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Lenders Fighting Mortgage Rewrite - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022102687....
The nation's largest lending institutions are lobbying hard to block a proposal in Congress that would give bankruptcy judges greater latitude to rewrite mortgages held by financially strapped homeowners. The proposal, which could come to a vote in the Senate as early as next week, is being pushed by Democratic congressional leaders and a large coalition of groups that includes labor unions, consumer advocates, civil rights organizations and AARP, the powerful senior citizens' lobby. The legislation would allow bankruptcy judges for the first time to alter the terms of mortgages for primary residences. Under the proposal, borrowers could declare bankruptcy, and a judge would be able to reduce the amount they owe as part of resolving their debts. Currently, bankruptcy judges cannot rewrite first mortgages for primary homes. This restriction was adopted in the 1970s to encourage banks to provide mortgages to new home buyers.
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Jumbo loan rates still in the air - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jumbo22feb22,1,6693776.story...
A trade group plan could mean the mortgage rates might stay higher than borrowers expect.
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February 21, 2008

Mortgage Plan Seeks To Stem Foreclosures - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/20/AR2008022002710....
The Office of Thrift Supervision is preparing a plan to help mortgage borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth and to discourage them from abandoning those properties, agency officials said yesterday. Under the regulatory agency's proposal, still in its early stages, these borrowers would refinance into government-insured loans that cover the current value of their homes. The refinancing would pay part of what's owed to the original lender. For the remainder, the lender would get what the plan's backers call a "negative equity certificate." The lender could redeem the certificate if the home is eventually sold at a higher price. The plan is a sharp change from the way troubled mortgages are handled now. It is the latest government initiative aimed at containing the mortgage market mess that surfaced last year when subprime borrowers began defaulting at an alarming rate. The administration and Congress have weighed in with their own plans in recent months, and the OTS proposal is meant to dovetail with those. "We're trying to find something that could operate in tandem with all these other proposals" without taking the borrower off the hook and without using taxpayer money, said Kevin Petrasic, an OTS spokesman. "We want to avoid having people walk away from their homes."
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February 18, 2008

You're Invited . . . To Pay Your Mortgage - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021503405....
Mortgage lenders hunting for delinquent homeowners who have dodged their phone calls and letters are employing aggressive new methods to track them down, potentially making every knock on the door or fancy envelope seem like part of the pursuit. Even wedding invitations are suspect. The idea, they say, isn't to twist arms. Instead, it's to avoid foreclosures, which have cost the mortgage industry billions of dollars in the past year. Ocwen Financial is negotiating a deal with HomeFree-USA, a nonprofit group, to go door to door in the Washington area to strike deals with elusive borrowers. Fannie Mae is offering foreclosure lawyers up to $600 to help find solutions for these homeowners. Wells Fargo is disguising its letters in different colored envelopes, including some resembling wedding invitations. Although some lenders initially resisted paying for assistance, the industry has begun backing community groups that help them find these borrowers. The math is simple: The typical foreclosure costs more than $50,000. It is usually cheaper and less time-consuming to lower the borrower's interest rate, put them on a repayment plan or sell the home at a loss. To stem the foreclosures, the mortgage industry says, lenders need to reach people they call "no-contact borrowers," those who have eluded or rebuffed them. There are lots of them. From September 2005 to August 2007, 53 percent of the loans backed by Freddie Mac that went into foreclosure involved borrowers who could not be reached.
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Some homeless turn to foreclosed homes - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-17-foreclosure-homeless_N.htm...
The nation's foreclosure crisis has led to a painful irony for homeless people: On any given night they are outnumbered in some cities by vacant houses. Some street people are taking advantage of the opportunity by becoming squatters. Foreclosed homes often have an advantage over boarded-up and dilapidated houses that have been abandoned because of rundown conditions: Sometimes the heat, lights and water are still working. "That's what you call convenient," said James Bertan, 41, an ex-convict and self-described "bando," or someone who lives in abandoned houses. While no one keeps numbers of below-the-radar homeless finding shelter in properties left vacant by foreclosure, homeless advocates agree the locations — even with utilities cut off — would be inviting to some. There are risks for squatters, including fires from using candles and confrontations with drug dealers, prostitutes, copper thieves or police. "Many homeless people see the foreclosure crisis as an opportunity to find low-cost housing (FREE!) with some privacy," Brian Davis, director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, wrote in the summary of the latest census of homeless sleeping outside in downtown Cleveland.
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Jumbo Help - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021501735....
The economic stimulus package that President Bush signed this week includes provisions aimed at pulling those rates down and reinvigorating a part of the mortgage market still stunned by problems with subprime borrowers that surfaced last year. Jumbo mortgages -- those that exceed $417,000 -- got expensive as the credit crisis worsened. Rattled investors stopped buying them. Lenders responded by raising rates. And plenty of people in high-cost areas such as Washington got shut out of the housing market or, like Galloway, lost their chance to refinance into cheaper loans. As part of the stimulus package, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be allowed to buy or guarantee mortgages up to $729,750 for single-family homes. That's up from the previous $417,000 cap, which was tied to the average home price nationwide. The amount would vary so that the most expensive areas would qualify for bigger loans. The stimulus package also increases the limits for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
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No Lull in Mortgage Pitches - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/business/media/18foreclosure.html?ref=us...
The mortgage market may be in a historic upheaval, but mortgage companies continue to pump out upbeat advertisements.
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February 15, 2008

Home Builders Wonder: Will They Come? - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/14/AR2008021403413....
The cavernous convention center, the site of this week's International Builders Show, is lined row after row with slick display booths and polished sales reps peddling retro-style ovens, state-of-the-art foam insulation and a vegetable-oil-based product that plugs leaky ponds. But the crowd is a bit thinner than in the past, and the mood among the gathered home builders is noticeably different as their industry drags through the worst market in years. "A few years ago, everyone was very happy and smiley," said Douglas Jones of Keystone Builders in Richmond. "Last year it was a touch off. This year it's a little more serious. It's perceptible." With housing sales foundering, inventory way up and the future of the industry hazy, the show, with 1,900 exhibitors and nearly 100,000 attendees, is more angst-ridden as builders look for ways to stay afloat until there's a turnaround. Attendance is expected to be down about 5 percent.
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Attacks on the Homeless Rise, With Youths Mostly to Blame - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/us/15homeless.html?ref=us...
Warren Messner was 15 when he and some friends attacked a homeless man and left him for dead. Mr. Messner jumped on a log laid across the man’s ribs. He does not know why. He was high, does not remember much and wants to forget the rest. Today Mr. Messner is a baby-faced 18-year-old serving 22 years for second-degree murder. He used to like skipping school and listening to rap music with friends. He imagined he eventually would help his father install flooring. Now he talks to his parents nearly every night from the maximum-security Cross City Correctional Institution. “It was just a senseless crime.” he said, his eyes down, his shoulders slumped. “I wish it would have never happened. It made no sense. It was stupidity.” Mr. Messner’s story is not unusual. Nationwide, violence against the homeless is soaring, and overwhelmingly the attackers are teenagers and young adults. In Florida the problem is so severe that the National Coalition for the Homeless is setting up speakers bureaus to address a culture that sees attacking the homeless as a sport. It is the first time the organization has singled out a particular state.
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February 14, 2008

UBS reveals new U.S. loans exposure - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/14/AR2008021400655....
Swiss bank UBS has revealed $26.6 billion in exposure to risky U.S. mortgages distinct from subprime loans, increasing its vulnerability to the global credit crisis and sending its shares sharply lower. Shares in the bank, which declined to say if it would return to profit in early 2008, were trading down 6.51 percent at 38.20 francs at 1140 GMT (6:40 a.m. EST). "This will raise concerns about further major writedowns in 2008," said Bear Stearns analyst Chris Wheeler in a note. UBS said on Thursday the newly unveiled exposure, announced together with full-year and fourth-quarter results, was to so-called Alt-A mortgages, which are of higher quality than subprime loans but also considered risky.
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Home Builders Halt Campaign Funds After Setback - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021303699....
The National Association of Home Builders, one of the top 10 corporate donors to politicians, has stopped contributing to congressional candidates after it failed to get what it wanted in recent anti-recession legislation. The powerful lobby said Tuesday that it was taking the unprecedented action of halting its campaign-giving to protest Washington's failure to address "the underlying economic issues that would help to stabilize the housing sector and keep the economy moving forward." The group did not mention any specific initiatives. The association had unsuccessfully pressed lawmakers to adopt a provision to reduce the tax liability of home builders by allowing them to offset their past profits with future losses. The lobby had also pushed to expand a program that allows states and localities to issue tax-exempt bonds that finance low-rate mortgages. Although both proposals were included in the economic stimulus package approved by the Senate Finance Committee late last month, neither was part of the final bill signed by President Bush yesterday.
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A Labyrinthine Path to Justice - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/13/ST2008021303869.ht...
Congress approved an economic stimulus package. The Treasury Department pressed lenders to reset mortgage rates for millions of troubled homeowners. And New York's insurance regulator is attempting to bail out a critical sector of the industry. But progressing more slowly is the work of investigators probing dozens of companies for fraud and insider trading in connection with the subprime mortgage crisis that set off the country's current economic woes. FBI officials said yesterday that they are conducting criminal investigations of 16 companies, while their partners at the Securities and Exchange Commission are probing nearly two dozen more. Those federal investigations follow subpoenas from attorneys general in at least four states and class-action lawsuits that target home builders, lenders, credit-rating agencies and the banks that packaged groups of mortgages into securities. "These are going to be complex investigations," FBI section chief Sharon E. Ormsby said in an interview. Policing mortgage and credit-related fraud is the "number one priority" of the FBI's financial crimes unit, she added.
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In Remarks, Paulson Notes Housing Downturn - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/business/14rtpaulson-web.html?ref=business...
The United States is experiencing a “significant” housing market downturn but the economy is fundamentally sound and should avoid recession, The United States Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., will tell Congress on Thursday. “The U.S. economy is fundamentally strong, diverse and resilient, yet after years of unsustainable home price appreciation, our economy is undergoing a significant and necessary housing correction,” Mr. Paulson said in remarks prepared for delivery at a Congressional hearing. “The housing correction, high energy prices, and capital market turmoil are weighing on current economic growth,” he said. “I believe that our economy will continue to grow, although its pace in coming quarters will be slower than what we have seen in recent years.” Mr. Paulson is set to testify alongside the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, and the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the economy and financial markets.
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February 13, 2008

6 mortgage lenders agree to plan to avoid foreclosures - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-02-12-mortgage-rescue-plan_N....
Six of the nation's largest mortgage lenders have agreed to expand their efforts to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Tuesday, while warning that the worst of the foreclosure crisis still lies ahead. The program, called Project Lifeline, will be available to people with either prime or subprime loans who are at least three months behind on their mortgage. Nearly 575,000 homeowners fit that profile at the end of the third quarter, but it's unclear if many will be saved. Historically, seriously delinquent borrowers have been hard to reach. Half of homeowners who lose their property through foreclosure never had any contact with their lender or servicer. Lenders typically try repeatedly by mail and phone to contact borrowers in default. It's not known what additional methods Project Lifeline might use to reach borrowers. No program could save every borrower, Paulson said, and, "If you can't afford to live in a home, you'll go back to renting."
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Growing number of foreclosure sales feeds vicious cycle - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-02-12-home-sales-foreclosures...
A growing share of home sales comes from foreclosures, especially in states hardest hit by the housing bust, according to an analysis of data. In some parts of California lately, nearly half of home sales came from foreclosed houses. The trend, which is putting additional downward pressure on home prices, is most notable there and in Nevada, Colorado, Tennessee and Michigan and is also evident in Ohio, Georgia, Florida and Arizona, according to an Associated Press comparison of 2007 sales and foreclosure data. In Nevada, for instance, 17.5% of home sales were from foreclosures, more than quadruple the number in 2006. The growing proportion of foreclosure sales is both a symptom and a cause of worsening conditions in the weakest housing markets. Homeowners who aren't on a deadline to sell are yanking their properties off the market. That means the remaining inventory is increasingly held by banks eager to unload foreclosed properties at fire-sale prices rather than carry the costs on their books.
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Shadow victims of the mortgage crisis: renters - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus13feb13,1,5617710.column...
The Bush administration's announcement Tuesday that it would put the foreclosure process on hold for 30 days to rescue struggling homeowners came several weeks too late for Mike Salgado. And he's not even a homeowner. Salgado, 40, is one of many renters who have found themselves homeless after their cash-strapped landlords stopped making mortgage payments and their houses or apartment buildings were foreclosed upon. The California Apartment Assn., the state's largest organization of rental property owners, estimates that as much as a quarter of all foreclosed single-family residences are occupied by renters. The number of renters ensnared in the foreclosure fiasco is even larger when duplexes and other multi-unit buildings are factored in. And the evictions show no sign of abating. Total foreclosures of single-family homes statewide rose more than 400% to a record 31,676 in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
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February 12, 2008

Countrywide to help more avoid foreclosure - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-02-11-countrywide-foreclosure...
Countrywide Financial, under pressure to help stem growing home loan defaults, says it will expand programs to help borrowers stay in their homes regardless of the type of subprime loan they have or whether they have already fallen behind on payments. Details of the initiative, the result of a pact with a national community advocacy group, were to be disclosed Monday. The announcement was postponed last month after Countrywide agreed to be acquired by Bank of America for $4.1 billion in stock. Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender, has sought to address the growing number of defaults on its books by modifying loan terms, working out long-term repayment plans and other actions. The company also was among the lenders who agreed to a Bush administration proposal to freeze rates on some subprime mortgages for five years. Those efforts focused on borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages that were still being paid but were scheduled to adjust to higher monthly payments. The latest initiative, brokered with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, calls for Countrywide to try to manage payment plans for borrowers who are already behind in payments, regardless of what type of subprime loan they have.
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Mortgage Crisis Spreads Past Subprime Loans - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/business/12credit.html?ref=business...
The credit crisis is no longer just a subprime mortgage problem. As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime, credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans, auto loans and credit cards at a quickening pace, according to industry data and economists. The rise in prime delinquencies, while less severe than the one in the subprime market, nonetheless poses a threat to the battered housing market and weakening economy, which some specialists say is in a recession or headed for one.
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Credit Suisse Cuts Subprime Writedowns - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-creditsuisse.html?ref=business...
Credit Suisse trimmed full-year subprime writedowns to 2.0 billion Swiss francs ($1.82 billion) but its stock fell as investors took fright at the bank's remaining exposure to the credit crisis. The bank also reported a 49 percent fall in fourth-quarter profit from continuing operations to 1.33 billion francs, slightly below analysts' expectations, as losses in its huge asset management business eroded results. The average forecast for net profit in a poll of 16 analysts was 1.45 billion francs. Subprime writedowns in the fourth quarter were 1.26 billion francs, Credit Suisse said, though hedging earlier in the year had helped it lower its full-year charges for bad credits from an estimate of 2.2 billion francs made earlier.
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February 8, 2008

OFHEO Questions Mortgage Proposal - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/07/AR2008020703972....
A federal regulator yesterday suggested that a measure that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take on jumbo mortgages could divert loan money from less expensive housing. Funding one $600,000 mortgage takes as much capital as funding three $200,000 loans, James B. Lockhart III, head of an agency that oversees the federally chartered mortgage companies, told the Senate Banking Committee. The economic stimulus package passed by Congress last night would temporarily permit District-based Fannie Mae and McLean-based Freddie Mac to buy or guarantee mortgages 25 percent higher than an area's median home price -- to a maximum of $729,750, up from the current limit of $417,000. The increase would allow the companies to fund bigger mortgages in areas with high housing costs, such as the Washington area, where the median price is $450,000, according to the National Association of Realtors. Advocates have argued it could provide relief to housing markets.
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February 5, 2008

Florida Insurers Defend Increases in Home Rates - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/us/05hurricane.html?ref=us...
Facing accusations that they have been gouging customers, executives from one of Florida’s largest homeowners’ insurance companies told a special State Senate committee on Monday that they had been forced to raise rates to offset losses and prepare for the possibility of more frequent hurricanes in the future. The company, Allstate Floridian Insurance, “faces the very real risk of being wiped out in the event of a bad hurricane season,” said Joseph Richardson Jr., chairman and chief executive. Allstate Floridian is a subsidiary of the Allstate Insurance Company. The testimony came on the first day of a two-day hearing into the soaring costs of Florida hurricane insurance, which has become one of the most pressing concerns for homeowners here.
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More Banks Stiffen Rules, Fed Finds - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020402596....
Many U.S. banks have made it harder for creditworthy borrowers to obtain a mortgage, according to a Federal Reserve survey released yesterday that underscored the spread of the credit crisis. "About 55 percent of domestic respondents indicated that they had tightened their lending standards on prime mortgages," the Fed survey said. The previous survey, released in November, found that 40 percent of U.S. banks had tightened standards. Problems that surfaced in the market for subprime mortgages have spread to more creditworthy borrowers. Defaults and foreclosures have soared to record highs. About 60 percent of domestic banks responding to the survey indicated they had tightened their standards for approving applications for revolving home equity lines of credit over the past three months, the Fed said.
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Housing Crisis Casts a Cloud Over Sun Belt - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/04/ST2008020403462.ht...
The state government is staring at a billion-dollar shortfall in its $11 billion budget. Forecasters expect a region that grew 7 percent in 2006 to contract this year. Retail sales, which rose 16 percent in 2006, are dropping. Dennis Hoffman, an economics professor at Arizona State University, said he had never seen such a sharp turnabout in 25 years studying the local economy. To many residents of the Phoenix area, which has long been one of the nation's sunniest economies, the solutions being offered by Washington may be too little, too late. Formerly booming Sun Belt cities are the epicenters of this economic downturn. Many economists believe that the likes of Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami and San Diego are already in recession. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday found that the economy and jobs are now the foremost issue in voters' minds nationally. A McClatchy-MSNBC poll released Sunday found that the same was true of likely voters in Arizona's Democratic primary Tuesday. A trip through the suburbs of Phoenix shows why people in these cities, reeling from the popping of the housing bubble, are so anxious.
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February 1, 2008

FBI Director: Mortgage Fraud Substantial -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-subprime-mortgages-fbi,1,1...
FBI Director Robert Mueller said Thursday that the agency is committed to investigating and prosecuting companies involved in mortgage fraud and other violations in connection with home loans made to risky borrowers. Mueller said probes were being conducted across the country, including in Hawaii, where he stopped on his way back from a trip through Asia. "There is not a state that does not have some investigation," he told reporters at the FBI office in Honolulu. "It is a substantial problem but we've been through problems like this in the past."
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Florida is latest state to investigate Countrywide - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-01-31-countrywide-fla_N.htm...
Florida's attorney general is investigating Countrywide Financial (CFC), a mortgage lender Bank of America (BAC) plans to acquire, for possible unfair and deceptive business practices related to its home loans. Attorney General Bill McCollum's office is focusing on the company's advertising and marketing, according to a subpoena dated Jan. 17.
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January 31, 2008

Homeowners late on loans often don't seek help - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-01-30-mortgage-delinquencies_...
With a record number of new foreclosures hitting neighborhoods across the country, a surprising 58% of delinquent homeowners don't know their lenders may offer ways to help them keep their homes, and 56% don't know that free counseling exists to help them, a survey being released Thursday found. The findings highlight the challenges for the mortgage industry as it tries to stem financial and social upheaval from the 2 million foreclosures expected this year. The survey found that many homeowners are unaware of the most common ways their lender can help them avoid foreclosure. Only slightly more than half the 1,400 delinquent borrowers surveyed knew that a missed payment could be added to their loan balance, for example, or that their mortgage terms could be extended in some circumstances, the Freddie Mac/Roper survey found.
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Fannie Mae CEO '07 Pay Cut Not in Line With Stock Fall - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/30/AR2008013003445....
Fannie Mae chief executive Daniel H. Mudd received $12.2 million in compensation for 2007, down 15 percent from $14.4 million in 2006, the company said yesterday. The decline in Mudd's pay was not nearly as steep as the decline in Fannie Mae's earnings and share price. The government-sponsored mortgage funding company's stock sank by almost a third last year, and its earnings for the first nine months of 2007 were down by more than half from the comparable period a year earlier. To contain costs, the District company reduced its workforce by hundreds of employees.
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January 30, 2008

Homes remain out of reach for many - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2008-01-29-affordability_N.htm...
In San Diego, where the median-priced home costs about $500,000, prices fell by a record 13% in November, compared with November 2006, according to Standard & Poor's (MHP) Case-Shiller index. But renters and would-be buyers there still face an affordability crisis, says Carroll Vaughan, interim CEO of the San Diego Housing Commission, which provides financial aid to 13,500 renting families. There are 30,000 families on a waiting list. And the rising foreclosure rate is forcing more troubled homeowners into the rental market, pushing up rents.
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