The Obama administration’s signature foreclosure prevention
program will help only 700,000 Americans save their homes,
according to a scathing report released Tuesday by the
Congressional Oversight Panel (COP).
The group’s assessment falls far short of the 3 to 4 million
homeowners that the president pledged would receive more
sustainable mortgage loans when the Home Affordable
Modification Program (HAMP) was launched in March of last
year, and is well below the 8 to 13 million foreclosures COP
says are expected by 2012.
Treasury initially committed $75 billion of Troubled Asset
Relief Program (TARP) funds to the HAMP initiative, which
pays incentives to servicers, investors, and homeowners for
each loan that is successfully modified. COP, which is
charged with overseeing the use of TARP money, says it now
appears Treasury will spend only $4 billion on HAMP
incentives.
“Absent a dramatic and unexpected increase in HAMP
enrollment, many billions of dollars set aside for
foreclosure mitigation may well be left unused. As a result,
an untold number of borrowers may go without help,” the
report said.
The members of the congressionally appointed panel went so
far as to call the government’s loan modification program
“ineffective,” and they said Treasury’s reluctance to
acknowledge HAMP’s shortcomings has had “real
consequences.”
Since COP’s last report on HAMP eight months ago, the panel
noted that Treasury has made “minor tweaks” to the program,
but COP says the changes have not resolved its core
concerns.
Treasury’s authority to restructure HAMP ended on October 3,
when TARP expired, and COP says because the deadline has
come and gone for any major overhaul, “the program’s
prospects are unlikely to improve substantially in the
future.”
“Many of the problems now plaguing HAMP are inherent in its
design and cannot be resolved at this late date,” the panel
said in its latest report. “Other problems, however, can
still be mitigated.”
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Pressure Mounts for Fannie and Freddie to Write Down Mortgages
With property values still tumbling, it comes as no surprise that nearly a quarter of the nation’s mortgage borrowers owe more on their loan than the home is worth. Industry studies support the consensus that the farther a borrower sinks into negative equity, the more likely they are to throw in the towel.
The severity of this catch-22 is now top-of-mind for government officials. The administration is reportedly pressuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – who together own or guarantee half of the nation’s home mortgages – to make principal write-downs a key component of their foreclosure prevention efforts.
The two GSEs are currently in talks with the White House and federal housing officials who are advocating for Fannie and Freddie’s participation in the government’s newest initiatives to reduce loan balances for borrowers who are underwater, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing “people familiar with the situation.”
Right now, homeowners who have loans with the nation’s two largest mortgage financiers are not eligible for the principal reduction option under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which was introduced by the Treasury back in March.
It calls for reducing the principal on loans that are more than 115 percent of the current value of the property and includes incentive payments for each dollar written down by servicers and investors. But this alternative modification approach is voluntary, and both Fannie and Freddie have opted against using it.
A second initiative that the GSEs have yet to sign on to is the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) refinance program for underwater borrowers, which was rolled out in early August. Under the program, which is also voluntary, the federal agency will offer new FHA-insured mortgages to borrowers whose lenders agree to write off at least 10 percent of the unpaid principal balance.
Federal officials have said FHA’s program could help 500,000 to 1.5 million homeowners. But the Journal says during its first three months, the program received only 61 applications and completed just three refinances for new loans.
Industry groups and regulators say without Fannie and Freddie’s participation, the impact of the government’s principal reduction programs will be minimal and other lenders won’t feel compelled to follow their lead.
But it would be another catch-22. Writing down principals would add to the GSEs’ losses. The two companies are already into taxpayers for nearly $150 billion.
There are two very distinct schools of thought when it comes to principal write-downs and the effects – some positive, some negative – that widespread use could have on the market.
On one side, proponents argue that negative equity has become one of the primary triggers of default, and of re-default even after the original mortgage is modified using the typical waterfall of rate reductions and term extensions.
When plagued with negative equity, borrowers essentially have little at stake in keeping their homes. Supporters of an industry-wide initiative to slash outstanding principal when it towers above the property’s value say it’s a strong incentive for homeowners to stay current and could deter delinquencies in a market already saturated with defaults.
On the other side of the fence, critics question the fairness of the principal write-down practice when most homeowners are continuing to pay their mortgages every month, some of them cutting corners and tightening their belts to do so.
Other opponents are asking just where do you draw the line – is a mortgage no longer a contract that carries with it a pledge by the borrower to repay the amount of money agreed upon? They say mandates to retroactively rewrite the loan amount could have serious implications for the future of lending and the risks associated with extending credit.
Lenders and even several top administration officials have stressed that dealing with the nation’s still-growing population of delinquent mortgage borrowers has become a delicate balancing act of understanding the necessity to help responsible homeowners struggling with hardships and recognizing that they “cannot and should not help everyone,” as FHA Commissioner David Stevens put it when he testified at a congressional hearing on principal write-downs earlier this year.
By Carrie Bay DSN News
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too! Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
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502-969-1801
The severity of this catch-22 is now top-of-mind for government officials. The administration is reportedly pressuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – who together own or guarantee half of the nation’s home mortgages – to make principal write-downs a key component of their foreclosure prevention efforts.
The two GSEs are currently in talks with the White House and federal housing officials who are advocating for Fannie and Freddie’s participation in the government’s newest initiatives to reduce loan balances for borrowers who are underwater, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing “people familiar with the situation.”
Right now, homeowners who have loans with the nation’s two largest mortgage financiers are not eligible for the principal reduction option under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which was introduced by the Treasury back in March.
It calls for reducing the principal on loans that are more than 115 percent of the current value of the property and includes incentive payments for each dollar written down by servicers and investors. But this alternative modification approach is voluntary, and both Fannie and Freddie have opted against using it.
A second initiative that the GSEs have yet to sign on to is the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) refinance program for underwater borrowers, which was rolled out in early August. Under the program, which is also voluntary, the federal agency will offer new FHA-insured mortgages to borrowers whose lenders agree to write off at least 10 percent of the unpaid principal balance.
Federal officials have said FHA’s program could help 500,000 to 1.5 million homeowners. But the Journal says during its first three months, the program received only 61 applications and completed just three refinances for new loans.
Industry groups and regulators say without Fannie and Freddie’s participation, the impact of the government’s principal reduction programs will be minimal and other lenders won’t feel compelled to follow their lead.
But it would be another catch-22. Writing down principals would add to the GSEs’ losses. The two companies are already into taxpayers for nearly $150 billion.
There are two very distinct schools of thought when it comes to principal write-downs and the effects – some positive, some negative – that widespread use could have on the market.
On one side, proponents argue that negative equity has become one of the primary triggers of default, and of re-default even after the original mortgage is modified using the typical waterfall of rate reductions and term extensions.
When plagued with negative equity, borrowers essentially have little at stake in keeping their homes. Supporters of an industry-wide initiative to slash outstanding principal when it towers above the property’s value say it’s a strong incentive for homeowners to stay current and could deter delinquencies in a market already saturated with defaults.
On the other side of the fence, critics question the fairness of the principal write-down practice when most homeowners are continuing to pay their mortgages every month, some of them cutting corners and tightening their belts to do so.
Other opponents are asking just where do you draw the line – is a mortgage no longer a contract that carries with it a pledge by the borrower to repay the amount of money agreed upon? They say mandates to retroactively rewrite the loan amount could have serious implications for the future of lending and the risks associated with extending credit.
Lenders and even several top administration officials have stressed that dealing with the nation’s still-growing population of delinquent mortgage borrowers has become a delicate balancing act of understanding the necessity to help responsible homeowners struggling with hardships and recognizing that they “cannot and should not help everyone,” as FHA Commissioner David Stevens put it when he testified at a congressional hearing on principal write-downs earlier this year.
By Carrie Bay DSN News
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too! Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Monday, December 20, 2010
Wells Fargo Ranked Top Mortgage Originator, BofA Largest Servicer
Mortgage lenders are ranked based both on how many new loans they originate and how many loans they service. By those measures, industry data released Monday shows that the biggest originator of home loans is based on the West Coast, while the biggest mortgage servicer is based on the East Coast.
Wells Fargo & Co. held onto the top spot among mortgage originators during the third quarter of this year. Bank of America took the lead spot in the mortgage servicer rankings.
Mortgage originations represent transactions where the purchase of a home is financed or an existing mortgage is refinanced. According to industry data compiled by the online industry resource MortgageDaily.com, during the third quarter, total U.S. mortgage originations were up one-third from the second quarter. Business was down 37 percent, however, from the third quarter of 2009.
Based on origination volume, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo — with more than $100 billion in residential originations — was the biggest mortgage lender during the third quarter. The company’s mortgage subsidiary, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, operates from Des Moines, Iowa.
Bank of America was ranked as the second largest mortgage originator, followed by Chase, GMAC Mortgage, and CitiMortgage.
Rounding out the top ten in Mortgage Daily’s rankings were US Bank, PHH Mortgage, Quicken Loans, SunTrust, and Flagstar. Quicken Loans managed to move up two spots from the previous quarter’s report to claim the No. 8 slot on the top-10 list.
The second measure of mortgage lender size is the amount of mortgages they service, including loans originated in prior periods. Servicers collect payments each month and pass on interest earned to investors or to their own bottom lines.
Based on mortgage servicing portfolio size, Bank of America is the biggest U.S. servicer, according to Mortgage Daily’s rankings, with just over $2 trillion in residential home loans in its servicing portfolio as of September 30th. While BofA is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, its mortgage subsidiary, Bank of America Home Loans, is based in Calabasas, California.
Wells Fargo took the No. 2 spot on the servicing list, with $1.8 trillion in residential mortgages serviced. Chase came in third, followed by Citi and then GMAC.
Making up the bottom half of the top-10 servicer list is US Bank, PNC Bank, SunTrust, PHH, and OneWest Bank. OneWest was formed out of the old IndyMac Bank.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Wells Fargo & Co. held onto the top spot among mortgage originators during the third quarter of this year. Bank of America took the lead spot in the mortgage servicer rankings.
Mortgage originations represent transactions where the purchase of a home is financed or an existing mortgage is refinanced. According to industry data compiled by the online industry resource MortgageDaily.com, during the third quarter, total U.S. mortgage originations were up one-third from the second quarter. Business was down 37 percent, however, from the third quarter of 2009.
Based on origination volume, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo — with more than $100 billion in residential originations — was the biggest mortgage lender during the third quarter. The company’s mortgage subsidiary, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, operates from Des Moines, Iowa.
Bank of America was ranked as the second largest mortgage originator, followed by Chase, GMAC Mortgage, and CitiMortgage.
Rounding out the top ten in Mortgage Daily’s rankings were US Bank, PHH Mortgage, Quicken Loans, SunTrust, and Flagstar. Quicken Loans managed to move up two spots from the previous quarter’s report to claim the No. 8 slot on the top-10 list.
The second measure of mortgage lender size is the amount of mortgages they service, including loans originated in prior periods. Servicers collect payments each month and pass on interest earned to investors or to their own bottom lines.
Based on mortgage servicing portfolio size, Bank of America is the biggest U.S. servicer, according to Mortgage Daily’s rankings, with just over $2 trillion in residential home loans in its servicing portfolio as of September 30th. While BofA is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, its mortgage subsidiary, Bank of America Home Loans, is based in Calabasas, California.
Wells Fargo took the No. 2 spot on the servicing list, with $1.8 trillion in residential mortgages serviced. Chase came in third, followed by Citi and then GMAC.
Making up the bottom half of the top-10 servicer list is US Bank, PNC Bank, SunTrust, PHH, and OneWest Bank. OneWest was formed out of the old IndyMac Bank.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Friday, December 17, 2010
Industry completes 1.5 Million Loan Modifications the first 10 Months of 2010
New data from HOPE NOW shows that the industry completed more than 1.5 million loan modifications for at-risk homeowners from January through October of this
year. That translates to an average of 154,000 homeowners per month who have been able to remain in their homes with an affordable loan modification solution.
It’s a notable accomplishment, but the report makes it clear that there’s far more work to be done. HOPE NOW says there are currently 3.4 million homeowners 60 or more days behind on their mortgage payments.
The reported data for October shows mortgage servicers completed approximately 101,000 proprietary loan modifications for homeowners and 24,000 Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) modifications during the month, for an estimated total of 125,000.
Of particular note in October’s data is the effect foreclosure delays and the temporary freezes initiated by some servicers due to the robo-signing scandal had on the delinquency and foreclosure numbers for the month.
Specifically foreclosure starts and sales dropped to 205,000 and 69,000, respectively. That’s down from 245,000 foreclosure starts and 118,000 foreclosure sales the month prior.
“There were anomalies in the October data that affected 60 day plus delinquency, as well as foreclosure, metrics which we believe may be largely attributed to widespread foreclosure delays across the country,” said Faith Schwartz, senior adviser for HOPE NOW.
“Despite these irregularities the mortgage industry’s efforts to keep homeowners in their homes and offer viable mortgage solutions continues to show strong results each month. Far more homeowners are receiving workout solutions — including loan modifications — than are going to foreclosure sale each month,” Schwartz said. By Carrie Bay of DSN News
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
year. That translates to an average of 154,000 homeowners per month who have been able to remain in their homes with an affordable loan modification solution.
It’s a notable accomplishment, but the report makes it clear that there’s far more work to be done. HOPE NOW says there are currently 3.4 million homeowners 60 or more days behind on their mortgage payments.
The reported data for October shows mortgage servicers completed approximately 101,000 proprietary loan modifications for homeowners and 24,000 Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) modifications during the month, for an estimated total of 125,000.
Of particular note in October’s data is the effect foreclosure delays and the temporary freezes initiated by some servicers due to the robo-signing scandal had on the delinquency and foreclosure numbers for the month.
Specifically foreclosure starts and sales dropped to 205,000 and 69,000, respectively. That’s down from 245,000 foreclosure starts and 118,000 foreclosure sales the month prior.
“There were anomalies in the October data that affected 60 day plus delinquency, as well as foreclosure, metrics which we believe may be largely attributed to widespread foreclosure delays across the country,” said Faith Schwartz, senior adviser for HOPE NOW.
“Despite these irregularities the mortgage industry’s efforts to keep homeowners in their homes and offer viable mortgage solutions continues to show strong results each month. Far more homeowners are receiving workout solutions — including loan modifications — than are going to foreclosure sale each month,” Schwartz said. By Carrie Bay of DSN News
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Citi-Group to Refile 14,000 Foreclosure Cases
A Citigroup official told lawmakers at a congressional hearing last week that the company’s review of foreclosure cases has uncovered some 14,000 affidavits that will likely need to be re-filed with the courts.
Since the paperwork controversy surfaced and triggered foreclosure suspensions by several major mortgage servicers, Citi has been unwavering in its claims that the foreclosure processes it has in place are “sound.”
Compared to the problems uncovered by its big-bank counterparts, it would appear that Citi’s processes are at least sound-er. In mid-October, Bank of America said it had begun re-submitting 102,000 affidavits in which foreclosure judgment was pending. Although it never implemented a foreclosure freeze, Wells Fargo acknowledged in late October that it had found errors in about 55,000 foreclosure affidavits.
Harold Lewis, managing director of CitiMortgage and head of Citi’s homeowner assistance program, explained to a House subcommittee last week that for the most part, his
company has been able to steer clear of the robo-signing controversy because of a restructuring that began more than a year ago.
Lewis said Citi centralized its foreclosure operations into one unit, added staff, and improved its internal training program to ensure foreclosures were being processed correctly. According to Lewis, Citi currently has 21 employees in its foreclosure affidavit group, and each employee reviews and executes about 35 affidavits a day.
Lewis explained that Citi is currently reviewing approximately 10,000 affidavits that were executed in pending judicial foreclosures initiated before the process improvements he outlined were fully implemented at the company’s St. Louis processing center in February of 2010. Citi expects that affidavits executed prior to the fall of 2009 will need to be re-filed, Lewis told lawmakers.
Separately, he said, Citi is also reviewing approximately 4,000 pending foreclosure affidavits in judicial states that were executed at the company’s Dallas processing center and may not have been signed in the presence of a notary. Citi expects that it will re-file these affidavits, Lewis said.
In addition, Citi stopped referring new matters to the Florida law offices of David J. Stern, P.A. in September of 2010 and has since withdrawn all pending matters from the so-called foreclosure mill, which is under investigation for forging foreclosure documents and has been blacklisted by both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
As an added precaution, Citi is transferring approximately 8,500 pending foreclosure files from the Stern law firm to new counsel. New affidavits for these cases will be prepared and re-filed by new counsel under Citi’s current procedures, Lewis said.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too! Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Since the paperwork controversy surfaced and triggered foreclosure suspensions by several major mortgage servicers, Citi has been unwavering in its claims that the foreclosure processes it has in place are “sound.”
Compared to the problems uncovered by its big-bank counterparts, it would appear that Citi’s processes are at least sound-er. In mid-October, Bank of America said it had begun re-submitting 102,000 affidavits in which foreclosure judgment was pending. Although it never implemented a foreclosure freeze, Wells Fargo acknowledged in late October that it had found errors in about 55,000 foreclosure affidavits.
Harold Lewis, managing director of CitiMortgage and head of Citi’s homeowner assistance program, explained to a House subcommittee last week that for the most part, his
company has been able to steer clear of the robo-signing controversy because of a restructuring that began more than a year ago.
Lewis said Citi centralized its foreclosure operations into one unit, added staff, and improved its internal training program to ensure foreclosures were being processed correctly. According to Lewis, Citi currently has 21 employees in its foreclosure affidavit group, and each employee reviews and executes about 35 affidavits a day.
Lewis explained that Citi is currently reviewing approximately 10,000 affidavits that were executed in pending judicial foreclosures initiated before the process improvements he outlined were fully implemented at the company’s St. Louis processing center in February of 2010. Citi expects that affidavits executed prior to the fall of 2009 will need to be re-filed, Lewis told lawmakers.
Separately, he said, Citi is also reviewing approximately 4,000 pending foreclosure affidavits in judicial states that were executed at the company’s Dallas processing center and may not have been signed in the presence of a notary. Citi expects that it will re-file these affidavits, Lewis said.
In addition, Citi stopped referring new matters to the Florida law offices of David J. Stern, P.A. in September of 2010 and has since withdrawn all pending matters from the so-called foreclosure mill, which is under investigation for forging foreclosure documents and has been blacklisted by both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
As an added precaution, Citi is transferring approximately 8,500 pending foreclosure files from the Stern law firm to new counsel. New affidavits for these cases will be prepared and re-filed by new counsel under Citi’s current procedures, Lewis said.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too! Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Is the Foreclosure Peak Still Ahead?
Whalen: Foreclosure Peak Still Ahead for US
By Greg Brown and Kathleen Walter
The foreclosure crisis will peak sometime next year, causing the economy to struggle to stay in positive territory, pressuring California and other states into default, and likely triggering the restructuring of an “insolvent” Bank of America, predicts banking analyst Christopher Whalen.
Whalen says that the data and discussions regarding earnings on bank conference calls lead him to believe that the housing problem is still very much ahead of us. One of the founders of Institutional Risk Analytics, Whalen just published a new book, “Inflated: How Money and Debt Built the American Dream.”
“It’s going to peak next year. We’re not nearly a third of the way through the backlog of foreclosures, in part because the banks, operationally, just couldn’t deal with it,” Whalen said.
Chris Whalen editor of The Institutional Risk Analyst a weekly commentary on the institutions and financial markets that comprise the global political economy
It takes a year for a foreclosed home to work its way through the entire legal process. That means much of the foreclosures making headlines now will not be completed until well into 2011 and perhaps 2012, Whalen said.
Major banks are just now talking about how to add operational capacity to handle the work to come, he said.
“My big concern is that by next year most of the home sales in the United States are going to be involuntary, they’re going to be the result of foreclosures,” Whalen said. “This is going to pull down all the comparable prices for homes that are still performing.”
If that happens, expect the impact on property-tax collection to exacerbate the risk of default among major states, including California, New York, and Illinois.
State spending on pensions and other mandates is going up while revenues are going down or are flat, Whalen said. Sales taxes and property taxes are the two major sources of revenue for a state like California.
“What if we have a down economy next year and we have down real-estate prices? I think you’re going to see a situation where the accumulation of foreclosures is going to start hurting property-tax revenues for cities and counties, and that is going to just snowball,” Whalen said.
As a result of slowing growth and problems like delayed property-tax payments, coupled with a lack of political will to cut spending, Whalen expects a series of sovereign defaults or near defaults in Europe and in the United States.
Whalen said that the United States is living through both inflation and deflation, where real growth isn't happening but prices are rising at the grocery store just the same.
“While we had nominal growth for the last 20 years, for example, we’re not keeping up in real terms,” Whalen said, that is, adjusted for inflation.
As long as foreclosures are a problem, it will be hard for the United States to post positive growth, Whalen said.
Meanwhile, thanks to the foreclosure problem on top of other liabilities, Bank of America is likely to be restructured, wiping out its bondholders, Whalen said.
“I think Bank of America is going to have to be restructured. I think the bondholders at Bank of America, specifically, are going to have to be compelled to convert into equity,” Whalen said.
Bank of America has told the United States that is has completed repayment of its $45 billion bailout under the much-maligned TARP program, reports the Financial Times.
The bank said it was able to raise $3 billion in capital through asset sales, the newspaper reported.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 502-969-1801 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 502-969-1801 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 502-969-1801 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
By Greg Brown and Kathleen Walter
The foreclosure crisis will peak sometime next year, causing the economy to struggle to stay in positive territory, pressuring California and other states into default, and likely triggering the restructuring of an “insolvent” Bank of America, predicts banking analyst Christopher Whalen.
Whalen says that the data and discussions regarding earnings on bank conference calls lead him to believe that the housing problem is still very much ahead of us. One of the founders of Institutional Risk Analytics, Whalen just published a new book, “Inflated: How Money and Debt Built the American Dream.”
“It’s going to peak next year. We’re not nearly a third of the way through the backlog of foreclosures, in part because the banks, operationally, just couldn’t deal with it,” Whalen said.
Chris Whalen editor of The Institutional Risk Analyst a weekly commentary on the institutions and financial markets that comprise the global political economy
It takes a year for a foreclosed home to work its way through the entire legal process. That means much of the foreclosures making headlines now will not be completed until well into 2011 and perhaps 2012, Whalen said.
Major banks are just now talking about how to add operational capacity to handle the work to come, he said.
“My big concern is that by next year most of the home sales in the United States are going to be involuntary, they’re going to be the result of foreclosures,” Whalen said. “This is going to pull down all the comparable prices for homes that are still performing.”
If that happens, expect the impact on property-tax collection to exacerbate the risk of default among major states, including California, New York, and Illinois.
State spending on pensions and other mandates is going up while revenues are going down or are flat, Whalen said. Sales taxes and property taxes are the two major sources of revenue for a state like California.
“What if we have a down economy next year and we have down real-estate prices? I think you’re going to see a situation where the accumulation of foreclosures is going to start hurting property-tax revenues for cities and counties, and that is going to just snowball,” Whalen said.
As a result of slowing growth and problems like delayed property-tax payments, coupled with a lack of political will to cut spending, Whalen expects a series of sovereign defaults or near defaults in Europe and in the United States.
Whalen said that the United States is living through both inflation and deflation, where real growth isn't happening but prices are rising at the grocery store just the same.
“While we had nominal growth for the last 20 years, for example, we’re not keeping up in real terms,” Whalen said, that is, adjusted for inflation.
As long as foreclosures are a problem, it will be hard for the United States to post positive growth, Whalen said.
Meanwhile, thanks to the foreclosure problem on top of other liabilities, Bank of America is likely to be restructured, wiping out its bondholders, Whalen said.
“I think Bank of America is going to have to be restructured. I think the bondholders at Bank of America, specifically, are going to have to be compelled to convert into equity,” Whalen said.
Bank of America has told the United States that is has completed repayment of its $45 billion bailout under the much-maligned TARP program, reports the Financial Times.
The bank said it was able to raise $3 billion in capital through asset sales, the newspaper reported.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 502-969-1801 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 502-969-1801 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 502-969-1801 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
14 Million Borrowers are underwater!
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 36% of Americans said it is acceptable to stop making mortgage payments, even if it is affordable.
Pew surveyed more than 2,900 adults on the subject of strategic default. More than one-in-five, 21%, said they owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. These underwater borrowers are at the highest risk of strategically defaulting, because they lack the incentive to make the payments.
According to Deutche Bank, 14 million borrowers were underwater as of the first quarter of 2010, but with another 10.8% decline in house prices expected, another 6 million could slip into negative equity as well.
The problem has grown so dire Fannie Mae is suing some homeowners it believes strategically default on the mortgage.
Some programs such as the Federal Housing Administration's Short Refinancing program launched last week, and the RH program are attempts to help borrowers in this situation.
Nearly half of homeowners said the value of their home declined during the recession, but these borrowers are not more tolerant of strategic default than those in positive equity. According to Pew, 18% of underwater homeowners said it's acceptable to walk away, while 17% of respondents still with equity in their home approved of the practice.
Those who aligned themselves with the Democratic party were twice as likely to accept strategic default, at 23% compared to 11% of Republicans.
"Caught between big mortgages, sinking home values and the financial strains associated with periods of high unemployment, many homeowners have stopped making mortgage payments and opted to 'walk away' from their loans and their homes," according to Pew.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Pew surveyed more than 2,900 adults on the subject of strategic default. More than one-in-five, 21%, said they owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. These underwater borrowers are at the highest risk of strategically defaulting, because they lack the incentive to make the payments.
According to Deutche Bank, 14 million borrowers were underwater as of the first quarter of 2010, but with another 10.8% decline in house prices expected, another 6 million could slip into negative equity as well.
The problem has grown so dire Fannie Mae is suing some homeowners it believes strategically default on the mortgage.
Some programs such as the Federal Housing Administration's Short Refinancing program launched last week, and the RH program are attempts to help borrowers in this situation.
Nearly half of homeowners said the value of their home declined during the recession, but these borrowers are not more tolerant of strategic default than those in positive equity. According to Pew, 18% of underwater homeowners said it's acceptable to walk away, while 17% of respondents still with equity in their home approved of the practice.
Those who aligned themselves with the Democratic party were twice as likely to accept strategic default, at 23% compared to 11% of Republicans.
"Caught between big mortgages, sinking home values and the financial strains associated with periods of high unemployment, many homeowners have stopped making mortgage payments and opted to 'walk away' from their loans and their homes," according to Pew.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
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