It’s probably ‘nothing’…
– NYC Foreclosures Surge 79%; Most Since 2009:
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Foreclosures
What the Heck’s going on with Foreclosures? Why this Spike?
– What the Heck’s going on with Foreclosures? Why this Spike?:
Foreclosures suddenly spike most since the last Housing Bust
The total number of homes with foreclosure filings jumped 27% in October from September, when they’d been at the lowest level since 2006. It was the biggest jump in monthly foreclosure filings since August 2007.
Compared to October last year, homes with foreclosure filings still decreased, but this nationwide decrease is covering up what is now happening in 28 states and Washington D.C., according to the Foreclosure Report by ATTOM Data Solutions. There, the inventory of homes with foreclosure filings is beginning to rise even on a year-over year basis. And in some states it soared year-over-year:
- Colorado +64%
- Georgia +22%
- Pennsylvania +20%
- Arizona +17%
- Virginia +15%
- Massachusetts +11%
- New York +10%
Read moreWhat the Heck’s going on with Foreclosures? Why this Spike?
Broke? You May Now Be Entitled To A Free Home
– Broke? You May Now Be Entitled To a Free Home (ZeroHedge, March 30, 2015):
It’s been seven years since the epic collapse of the US housing market, and there’s never been a better time to buy your first home. In Denmark for instance, the bank will tax depositors in order to pay you to take out a home loan. But before you move to a European country operating in NIRP-dom, consider Florida and New Jersey first because as Susan Rudolfi recently discovered, you can actually get a house for free by simply not making your mortgage payments.
Here’s more via NY Times:
She is like a ghost of the housing market’s painful past, one of thousands of Americans who have skipped years of mortgage payments and are still living in their homes.
Now a legal quirk could bring a surreal ending to her foreclosure case and many others around the country: They may get to keep their homes without ever having to pay another dime.
Worldwide Financial Criminal Network Revealed (Part 1)
Don’t miss:
– Worldwide Financial Criminal Network Revealed Part1 (Veterans Today, June 15, 2014):
(MDC-NYSE) Denver Headquarters of Organized Crime. Illegal Mortgage Backed Securities $100 Trillion, Bank Bailouts, Derivatives $5,000 Trillion and the theft of 12 million American’s Homes through illegal foreclosures.
Denver’s Organized Crime Boss Hogs Leonard Millman and Larry Mizel who run MDC a Financial Conglomerate of Organized Crime who are the Bankers behind the Illegal Mortgage Backed Securities Frauds that lead to the 2008 Bank Bailout which was set up by their partner in crime U.S. President George W Bush to loot the U.S. Treasury and hide their crimes. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his Law partner Lanny Breuer maintained the cover up without any prosecutions of these horrendous crimes. Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer head of the Justice Department’s criminal division were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who’s Who of big banks and other companies at the center of foreclosure fraud. Breuer resigned last year from the Justice Department after a series on the Bank Frauds done by PBS Frontline.com.…
Hillary Clinton laundered over $2.5 Billion of Narcotics Money from the Iran Contra Drugs for Guns run out of Mena, Arkansas to MDC’s cutout M&L Business Machines Company while her husband Bill Clinton was Governor of Arkansas. Hillary Clinton and her Rose Law firm had created Foreign Trusts for Bush, Millman and Mizel that Norman Brownstein is now the Trustee in order to avoid U.S. Taxes and to hide the true identity of who is behind these trusts. Brownstein is one of six of the CIA Council to then CIA Director George HW Bush. Bush-Millman-Clinton Zionist Organized Crime Family Flow Chart (1) Leonard Millman, Larry Mizel and Norman Brownstein control AIPAC the American Israeli PAC, the ADL Anti Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Both Mizel and Browstein are Directors of AIPAC and The Simon Wiesenthal Center. Leonard Millman’s other partner in crime Convicted HUD figure Philip Winn and a major player in the fake Mortgage Backed Securities and former Director of MDC is a Director of the ADL.
…
A Mortuary Of 7,000,000 Foreclosures And Counting: Nation Still Faces 9.1 Million Properties That Are Seriously Underwater
– A mortuary of 7,000,000 foreclosures and counting: Nation still faces 9.1 million properties that are seriously underwater. (Dr. Housing Bubble, April 20, 2014):
If a foreclosure happens in the wilderness, does it make a sound? It seems like people have conveniently forgotten that since the housing crisis hit we have witnessed more than 7,000,000+ foreclosures. Do you think these people believe the Fed is almighty and can stop a speeding train or turn water into wine? Apparently some people forget that the Fed failed to prevent the tech bust or the housing bust in the first place. Now, the Fed is somehow the cult leader and the leader will not let housing values fall. The nation still has 9.1 million seriously underwater homeowners on top of the more than 7 million that have gone through foreclosure. It is abundantly clear that the mindless drivel of “buying is always a good decision” is just that. Investors are starting to pull back in expensive states because value is harder to find. I see the lemmings at open houses and you can see the drool at the side of their mouths hoping for a morsel of real estate. The Fed, for better or worse, has turned us all into speculators. Simply putting your money in a bank is a losing battle because inflation is eroding your buying power. Yet wages are not keeping up. What you have is people competing with investors, foreign money, and a market with low inventory and trying to guess the next move from the Fed. Yet the tech bust and housing crash (keep in mind these happened only since 2000) were major events not prevented by the Fed.
California Governor Sued Over Foreclosure Fund Diversion
– California Governor Sued Over Foreclosure Fund Diversion (Bloomberg, March 14, 2014):
California Governor Jerry Brown was sued by nonprofit groups claiming he raided most of a $369 million special fund for distressed homeowners to pay the state’s general expenses.
Brown diverted the money over objections by California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a fellow Democrat, after she had secured the fund for homeowners from a $25 billion national settlement with major banks in 2012 over mortgage-servicing practices, according to a complaint filed today in state court in Sacramento.
Read moreCalifornia Governor Sued Over Foreclosure Fund Diversion
RECOVERY: Foreclosure Starts SUDDENLY Jump 57% In California (And Soar In Much Of The Country)
– “Foreclosure Rebound Pattern”: Foreclosure Starts SUDDENLY Jump 57% in California (And Soar In Much Of The Country) (Testosterone Pit, Feb 14, 2014):
From Federal-Reserve-fueled bubble to debilitating return to reality – reality being a financial calamity – to Federal-Reserve-hyper-fueled bubble: that’s the US housing market over the last ten years. There are many places around the country, including some cities in Silicon Valley, where home values are now higher than they were at the peak of the last bubble. Of course, no one at the Fed or in government calls it “bubble.” They’re talking about the housing “recovery.”
Luxury Home Foreclosures Soar – Up 61% Versus Last Year
– Luxury Home Foreclosures Soar – Up 61% Versus Last Year (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Dec 8, 2013):
I’ve always wondered what would happen once private equity players decided enough was enough and foreign oligarchs finished their real estate money laundering transactions. Well, we might be about to find out.
According to RealtyTrac, foreclosures for homes worth $5 million or more are up 61% this year despite the fact that overall foreclosures are down 23%. The question is, does this merely represent holdouts from the prior housing bubble, or is it a sign of things to come? Only time will tell.
From CBS:
Foreclosures in the ultra-high-end housing market — homes worth $5 million or more — have skyrocketed 61 percent over last year.
Read moreLuxury Home Foreclosures Soar – Up 61% Versus Last Year
US: Half Of Nation’s Foreclosed Homes Still Occupied
– Half of nation’s foreclosed homes still occupied (CNNMoney, Oct 24, 2013):
Foreclosure sounds like the end of the line, but actual eviction can take months or years — even after the bank has repossessed a home.
RealtyTrac estimates that 47% of the nation’s foreclosed homes are currently occupied. The percentage actually tops 60% in some hot housing markets, like Miami and Los Angeles.
Those still living in repossessed homes include both former owners and renters. Either way, their time in the homes is mortgage and rent free.
Read moreUS: Half Of Nation’s Foreclosed Homes Still Occupied
Bank Of America Lied To Homeowners And Rewarded Foreclosures
– Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees Say (ProPublica, June 14, 2013):
Bank of America employees regularly lied to homeowners seeking loan modifications, denied their applications for made-up reasons, and were rewarded for sending homeowners to foreclosure, according to sworn statements by former bank employees.
The employee statements were filed late last week in federal court in Boston as part of a multi-state class action suit brought on behalf of homeowners who sought to avoid foreclosure through the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) but say they had their cases botched by Bank of America.
In a statement, a Bank of America spokesman said that each of the former employees’ statements is “rife with factual inaccuracies” and that the bank will respond more fully in court next month. He said that Bank of America had modified more loans than any other bank and continues to “demonstrate our commitment to assisting customers who are at risk of foreclosure.”
Six of the former employees worked for the bank, while one worked for a contractor. They range from former managers to front-line employees, and all dealt with homeowners seeking to avoid foreclosure through the government’s program.
Read moreBank Of America Lied To Homeowners And Rewarded Foreclosures
NYT On The Housing Recovery: ‘Homes See Biggest Price Gain in Years, Propelling Stocks’ – ZeroHedge: 3 Big Banks Halt Foreclosures In May, Keeping The ‘Recovery’ Dream Alive
What can you say?
– Homes See Biggest Price Gain in Years, Propelling Stocks (New York Times, May 28, 2013):
Americans are in a buying mood, thanks largely to the housing recovery.
The latest sign emerged Tuesday as the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index posted the biggest gains in seven years. Housing prices rose in every one of the 20 cities tracked, continuing a trend that began three months ago. Similar strength has appeared in new and existing home sales and in building permits, as rising home prices are encouraging construction firms to accelerate building and hiring.
The broad-based housing improvements appear to be buoying consumer confidence and spending, countering fears earlier this year that many consumers would pull back in response to government austerity measures.
…
– Keeping The ‘Recovery’ Dream Alive; 3 Big Banks Halt Foreclosures In May (ZeroHedge, May 28, 2013):
What is the only thing better than Foreclosure Stuffing to provide an artificial supply-side subsidy to the housing market? How about completely clogging the foreclosure pipeline, by halting all foreclosure sales, which is just what the three TBTF megabanks: Wells Fargo, JPMorgan and Citi have done in recent weeks. Under the guise of ‘ensuring late-stage foreclosure procedures were in accordance with guidelines’, the LA Times reports that these three banks paused sales on May 6th and all but halted foreclosures. Perfectly organic housing recovery – as we noted earlier… and guess what states the greatest number of ‘halts’ are in from these banks – California, Nevada, Arizona – exactly where the surges in price have occurred.
Sales of homes in foreclosure by Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. ground nearly to a halt after regulators revised their orders on treatment of troubled borrowers during the 60 days before they lose their homes.
Home Prices Are Back … To 1894’s Levels
– Home Prices Are Back… To 1894’s Levels (ZeroHedge, Feb 14, 2013):
Six years after the onset of the traumatic US housing crisis, the optics are there that suggest a stabilization is occurring. Whether real or manufactured by record-low foreclosures, bank supply withdrawals, and fed-subsidized cash REO-to-rent trades, the sad truth is that jobs (and the GDP-enhancing multiplier effect that they create) are just not coming. Even Bob Shiller prefers the potential for 4% gains in stocks over housing risk in the medium-term as he points out that – inflation-adjusted – house prices are back at levels first seen in 1894… now that is a long-term investor.
Source: Goldman Sachs
10 Banks Agree To Pay $8.5 BIllion For Foreclosure Abuse
– 10 banks agree to pay $8.5B for foreclosure abuse (AP, Jan 7, 2013):
WASHINGTON — Ten major banks agreed Monday to pay $8.5 billion to settle federal complaints that they wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners who should have been allowed to stay in their homes.
The banks, which include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, will pay billions to homeowners to end a review process of foreclosure files that was required under a 2011 enforcement action. The review was ordered because banks mishandled people’s paperwork and skipped required steps in the foreclosure process.
The settlement was announced jointly by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve.
Separately, Bank of America agreed Monday to pay $11.6 billion to government-backed mortgage financier Fannie Mae to settle claims related to mortgages that soured during the housing crash.
Read more10 Banks Agree To Pay $8.5 BIllion For Foreclosure Abuse
Payback Time: Florida Homeowners Foreclosing On Banks
– Payback time: Florida homeowners foreclosing on banks (CNNMoney, Dec 26, 2012):
NEW YORK – Since the housing bubble burst in Florida five years ago, more than 400,000 borrowers have had their homes foreclosed on by their lenders. But for some, it’s payback time.
Hundreds of homeowners and condo associations are foreclosing on banks that have failed to pay dues and other expenses on the properties they’ve repossessed.
When banks foreclose on a home they become responsible for paying fees to the homeowners association — both any unpaid fees going back as far as 12 months and all expenses going forward.
In many cases, however, banks are failing to pay, leaving these associations short on cash, according to Miami-based attorney Ben Solomon.
But now, homeowners groups are putting liens on the properties until banks pay up and foreclosing on them if they don’t.
So far, Solomon’s firm has filed more than 1,100 liens against banks on behalf of homeowners and has pursued 131 foreclosures. In more than 90% of the cases, he said, the banks settle by paying the bills.
Read morePayback Time: Florida Homeowners Foreclosing On Banks
The Truth About How The Fed Has Destroyed The Housing Market
– The Truth About How The Fed Has Destroyed The Housing Market (ZeroHedge, Aug 16, 2012):
When observing the trends in the housing market, one has two choices: i) listen to the bulls who keep repeating that “housing has bottomed”, a false mantra which has been repeated every single year for the past four, or ii) look at the facts. We touched briefly on the facts earlier today when we presented the latest housing starts data:construction of single family residences remains 46 percent below the long-term trend; the more volatile multifamily houses is 15 percent below trend and demand for new homes 47 percent below. This is indicative of reluctance by households to make long-term investments due to fear of another downturn in housing prices. Bloomberg summarizes this succinctly: “This historically weak demand for new homes is inhibiting the recovery of demand for construction workers as well, about 2.3 million of whom remain without work.” But the best visual representation of the housing “non-bottom” comes courtesy of the following chart of homes in negative or near-negative equity, which via Bloomberg Brief, is soared in Q4, and is now back to Q1 2010 level at over 13.5 million. What this means is that the foreclosure backlog and the shadow inventory of houses on the market could be as large as 13.5 million in the future, which translates into one simple word: supply.
Here is Bloomberg’s Joseph Brusuelas on this topic:
Approximately 13.5 million households hold negative or near-negative equity positions on their mortgages. Many of them will likely lose those homes to foreclosures, which are again on the rise. At best, an increase in foreclosures will constrain a recovery in prices; at worst, a flood of inventory to market will put further downward pressure on prices.
In other words it is Bloomberg, not us, coming up with the perfectly logical idea that a number as large as the total number of underwater mortgages may and will end up on the market as foreclosures, which in turn will clog up the market clearance piping for years, if not decades to come.
Read moreThe Truth About How The Fed Has Destroyed The Housing Market
Foreclosures Up For First Time In 27 Months
– Foreclosures up for first time in 27 months (Reuters, Jun 14, 2012):
Foreclosure starts rose year-over-year in May for the first time in more than two years as banks resumed dealing with distressed properties after a mortgage abuse settlement earlier this year, data firm RealtyTrac said on Thursday.
The $25 billion settlement between major banks and states, formally approved in April, had been expected to jump-start foreclosure proceedings that were previously stalled by uncertainty about the liability of banks.
Overall foreclosure activity, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, affected 205,990 properties in May, a 9.1 percent increase from April.
Collapse: Foreclosures Made Up 26 Percent Of U.S. Home Sales In First Quarter Of 2012
See also:
– Collapse: 100 Million Americans Don’t Have A Job!
– Foreclosures made up 26% of U.S. home sales in first quarter (CNNMoney, May 31, 2012):
NEW YORK — Homes in some stage of foreclosure accounted for more than one in four home sales during the first three months of the year, according to a report released Thursday.
Distressed properties that were either in default, scheduled for auction or bank-owned accounted for 26% of all residential sales during the first quarter, up from 22% in the previous quarter and 25% a year earlier, RealtyTrac said.
Altogether, 233,299 distressed properties were purchased during the quarter, an 8% increase from the previous quarter. Those homes sold for an average of $161,214, 27% below the average price of a home not in foreclosure.
Read moreCollapse: Foreclosures Made Up 26 Percent Of U.S. Home Sales In First Quarter Of 2012
Couple Lives In $1.3 Million, 4,900 Square Foot Home For Five Years Without Ever Making A Single Mortgage Payment
– Couple Lives In $1.3 Million, 4,900 Square Foot Home For Five Years Without Making A Single Mortgage Payment (ZeroHedge, Mar 6, 2012):
Wonder how Americans can afford to buy millions of iGadgets, a second LCD TV for the shoe closet, and eat at restaurants more than almost any time in the past despite sliding personal income? Simple – increasingly fewer pay the biggest staple bill in a US household: their mortgage. The following story of Keith And Janet Ritter, who have lived in their Fort Washington, MD $1.29MM, 4,900 square foot McMansion for 5 years (which they purchase with no money down) without ever making a single mortgage payment, and who are not even close to being evicted, may explain much about the way US society currently operates, and why other perfectly responsible and hard-working taxpayers (who do have to pay for their mortgage) continue to fund tens of billions in Fannie and Freddie losses who are first on the hook to absorb the implicit losses by allowing families such as the Ritters to live in perpetuity without paying, and the banks to keep said mortgage on the books at par without any impairments.
The Washington Post has more on this absolute horror story of a case study of just how busted the USSA has become:
The eviction from their million-dollar home could come at any moment. Keith and Janet Ritter have been bracing for it — and battling against it — almost from the moment they moved into the five-bedroom, 4,900-square-foot manse along the Potomac River in Fort Washington.
In five years, they have never made a mortgage payment, a fact that amazes even the most seasoned veterans of the foreclosure crisis.
Banks Demolish Foreclosed Properties To Ease Housing-Market Pressures
Don’t miss:
– Banks turn to demolition of foreclosed properties to ease housing-market pressures (Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2011):
Cleveland — The sight of excavators tearing down vacant buildings has become common in this foreclosure-ravaged city, where the housing crisis hit early and hard. But the story behind the recent wave of demolitions is novel — and cities around the country are taking notice.
A handful of the nation’s largest banks have begun giving away scores of properties that are abandoned or otherwise at risk of languishing indefinitely and further dragging down already depressed neighborhoods.
The banks have even been footing the bill for the demolitions — as much as $7,500 a pop. Four years into the housing crisis, the ongoing expense of upkeep and taxes, along with costly code violations and the price of marketing the properties, has saddled banks with a heavy burden. It often has become cheaper to knock down decaying homes no one wants.
The demolitions in some cases have paved the way for community gardens, church additions and parking lots. Even when the result is an empty lot, it can be one less pockmark. While some widespread demolitions could risk hollowing out the urban core of struggling cities such as Cleveland, advocates say that the homes being targeted are already unsalvageable and that the bulldozers are merely “burying the dead.”
Read moreBanks Demolish Foreclosed Properties To Ease Housing-Market Pressures
Fannie Mae Knew About Toxic Mortgages in 2003!
– Could they have stopped the credit crunch? Fannie Mae knew about dodgy mortgages in 2003, says report (Daily Mail, Oct. 4, 2011):
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae knew about allegations of improper foreclosure practices by law firms as early as 2003 but did not act to stop them, a government watchdog has said.
But it wasn’t until mid-2010 before the company’s overseer began to scrutinise the conduct of some of the law firms when news reports emerged of dubious practices, a report revealed today.
An unnamed shareholder warned Fannie Mae of alleged foreclosure abuses in 2003, the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said in the report.
Fannie Mae responded by hiring a law firm to investigate the claims in 2005, which reported it had found foreclosure attorneys in Florida ‘routinely filing false pleadings and affidavits’ the following year.
Hilarious: JPMorgan Is Foreclosing On The U.S. Treasury
– JPMorgan Is Foreclosing On The U.S. Treasury (Business Insider, Aug. 26, 2011):
Here’s a hilarious story tracked down by Yves Smith.
Recently in Hillsboro, Ore. JP Morgan completed a foreclosure sale on a home that had a tax lien on it. The bank could have corrected this “mistake” by paying the IRS. Instead it claimed that its mortgage was senior to the lien and foreclosured on the Treasury.