Not by a long shot! Although foreclosure activity has fallen all over the country it’s due to a glut of paperwork problems rather than any kind of improvement in the housing market.

Foreclosure activity has slowed due to scrutiny since last fall when banks had to do damage control over robo-signing scandals. Robo-signing involved allegations that employees were accused of signing legal documents without even a cursory review.

Home prices also continue to…

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Using data that tracks home prices through April of 2011, Case-Shiller, reported a slight bump in home values. However, hold off on popping the cork on the champagne. It’s far too early to tell if this reflects a sea change in the housing market or is simply a reflection of the spring/summer buying season.

According to Robert Shiller, an economics professor at Yale University and co-creator of Case-Shiller home price index, he has a “tinge of optimism” but doesn’t believe the crisis is… Continue

Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo have failed to live up to performance guidelines under HAMP and will be barred from receiving federal financial incentives until they improve.

Closing the coffers to the nation’s largest mortgage servicers is the government’s remedy for big bank’s failure to help struggling homeowners modify their loans. HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Plan) has long been criticized as inept and ineffective but the real problem may be that the program… Continue

Investors often tell me that they own a home, tenants left or are not paying their rent, and the property is not cash flowing (mortgage is more than the rental income). What is an investor to do? Most tell me that they have put in too much money to let the house go via short sale or foreclosure. Without knowing the actual financials of a situation, it is worth considering whether the time value of money makes a short sale a better option than holding on until the market recovers. To illustrate,… Continue

Finally, distressed homeowners and those looking to modify their loans are getting a chance to shake up the banks thanks to the US Treasury. Shock waves are rolling though the banking community as the Treasury Department causes fissures in the banks cavalier handling of underwater homeowners.

Complaining to the Treasury Department forces the bank to expedite your request for a loan mod because the Treasury Department can shut a bank down. Your bank can be fined and is quaking over the… Continue

By Elizabeth Braman

Commercial borrowers are now able to refinance existing loans to 90% using the Small

Business Administration's 504 loan program, thanks to a new law enacted on September

27, 2010. This law brought about significant changes to the SBA's lending guidelines.

Most significantly, SBA loans now create opportunities for overleveraged property

owners to refinance into lower rate, stable, long‐term commercial mortgages.

The 504 program recognizes that… Continue

Today, the Big 5 in mortgage servicing are meeting in Washington to discuss alternatives to foreclosure. One of the controversial options under consideration is requiring banks to facilitate the short sale process.

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial will get together to try to pound out a settlement that could range from $5 billion to $25 billion. The settlement revolves around federal and state investigations into shoddy or fraudulent foreclosure… Continue

The House of Representatives has approved legislation to axe a bailout program for lenders and real estate speculators. The legislation, HR 861, the NSP Termination Act ends the so-called Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).

“Today the House acted yet again to end wasteful spending on a government program that does nothing to help homeowners facing foreclosure," said Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Spencer Bachus of HR 861. "In fact, this program creates perverse incentives… Continue

Big news in the credit score arena. Credit reports are getting an important new addition-apartment rental scores. This is great news for renters or people who wish to establish a positive credit history and good credit score. Experian is the first of the big three credit bureaus to include this data, adding millions of apartment rental accounts to their credit file database in December 2010.

For decades, the only time apartment rental accounts would show up on credit reports was if you… Continue

We are a Los Angeles real estate company that specializes in assisting distressed homeowners with short selling their homes. Today, we lost a home to the bank needlessly. We have represented the homeowner for 9 months, held broker open and open houses. Due to our hard work and marketing efforts, we found a well qualified and ready buyer. So what went wrong? You tell us, as we are suspicious of this credit union’s actions.

Western Federal Credit Union claims to be the holder of the first… Continue

Banks drag feet on short sales, survey finds

The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTOR® (C.A.R.) published its findings of a survey this week, which show that tedious lender requirements and poor communication hamper short sales.

MAKING SENSE OF THE STORY

• Fewer than three of five short sales close in California, illustrating the complexity and difficulty of navigating lenders’ and servicers’ short sale procedures, according to C.A.R.’s survey, which gauged REALTORS®’…

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