housing crisis

As lawsuits wind their way through the court system, more details and allegations about the inner workings of the subprime world are emerging.

CNN examines the stalled efforts to rework troubled mortgages, noting that only 6 percent of  4 million eligible homeowners have been helped so far under the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable program. The piece notes that banks say they are trying to do loan modifications, but need more time to get up to speed on [...]

Despite the recent good news that U.S. home prices rose 2.9 percent in the second quarter of 2009, it’s too early to call a turnaround for the battered housing sector.

As expected, President Obama reappointed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to another term today today, noting in remarks delivered in Martha’s Vineyard that Bernanke led the nation, and the world, through one of the worst fiscal crises it has ever faced, Bloomberg reports.
“As an expert on the causes of the Great Depression, I’m sure Ben [...]

The percentage of homeowners either in foreclosure or late on a mortgage payment topped 13 percent nationwide in the second quarter of 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today. The figure is the highest since the MBA began keeping records 37 years ago.
And the trouble is expected only to get worse.

Even as the Obama administration is pushing mortgage servicers to modify more loans to keep folks in their homes, RealtyTrac released its monthly report today revealing more than 360,000 foreclosure filings in July — up 7 percent from June and 32 percent from a year ago.
The numbers are sure to capture some attention on Capitol [...]

As Congress jousts over the effectiveness of the stimulus package to stir economic activity, it’s worth noting that homeowners — whose troubles are at the root of the economic crisis — continue to struggle. Nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of mortgage-paying homeowners nationwide now owe more on their homes than the property is worth, according to [...]

As a quick addition to Mary’s thoughts on yesterday’s Treasury Department report confirming the reluctance of mortgage servicers to modify loans through the administration’s Making Home Affordable program, it’s worth noting that some of the poorest-performing banks are the same institutions that appeared before Congress just a few weeks ago with declarations that they were [...]

The Home Valuation Code of Conduct makes getting an appraisal costlier and more time-consuming for would-be buyers — and the added time can prevent purchasers from getting the best possible mortgage on their new home.

Because servicers in the lending industry can make more money collecting delinquency fees on mortgages than by modifying loans, guess which road they are taking? The New York Times says today that the longer borrowers remain behind on their payments, the more money servicers collect, even after the home goes into foreclosure. That obviously gives [...]