Saturday
“Elimination of Mortgage Interest Deductions Gains Steam“:
Economist Mark Zandi encouraged the most unlikely group of professionals to jump on the ‘eliminate mortgage deductions’ bandwagon: Realtors. Much to their surprise, or should I say chagrin, Zandi told his audience that the housing sector has received enough support, “it’s time to give back.”
“I had no idea that they could foreclose.”
-Tony Goodman (homeowner)
For those who are unaware, your homeowners association (HOA) can foreclose on your home for delinquent dues. Some borrowers are getting the surprise of a lifetime when, despite putting every penny towards staying current on their mortgage, they still lost their homes. But they didn’t lose their homes to their lender; they lost them to their local HOA:
“I owed the HOA very little money in comparison to what I owed my mortgage company and my mortgage company, which is Chase, bent over backwards to help me,” Goodman adds. Even as he was working on a loan modification, Goodman’s HOA, Lookout Canyon Creek in San Antonio, TX took title to his home on the steps of the Bexar County Courthouse. They purchased the home for $2,019, about the amount of the dues plus attorneys fees.
There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) and the lawsuits filed against the company that owns it. MERS serves as the mortgagee of record for the actual mortgage lenders, investors and their loan servicers on the records filed with counties across the U.S. Lenders use MERS because it eliminates the need of filing with the county every time a mortgage changes hands on the secondary market.
For those who are unfamiliar with MERS, here’s some background info from the New York Times: Read the rest of this entry »
Remember when we last discussed the American dream of homeownership and how that dream has turned into a nightmare for so many? (If not, here’s the link) That post discussed how maybe it’s about time that we recalibrate what it means to achieve (at least part of) “the American dream.” Maybe more of us should stay renters as opposed to owners.
Part of that ‘recalibration’ starts with us looking to our neighbors to the north. Why hasn’t Canada experienced the same housing troubles we have? What makes their mortgage and real estate markets different from ours, and what can we learn from their system moving forward?
“The longer I’m in foreclosure, the better.”
-Wendy Pemberton, Floridian Homeowner
In an article that has created a lot of buzz across the web, the New York Times examines the actions of a few American homeowners who, almost by happenstance, have found pleasure and even financial comfort by being in foreclosure.
The glut of foreclosures across this country — especially in markets hardest hit by the housing crisis and even more so in states where the foreclosure process must first pass through the court system — has slowed down the foreclosure process to a crawl: Read the rest of this entry »
When it comes to strategic defaults, otherwise known as “walk aways”, we’ve covered everything from the moral dilemma surrounding the decision, to the impact it could have on your credit score, to the tax implications.
Now we want to examine just how long it may take a borrower who strategically defaulted to own a home in the future. Like nearly everything surrounding strategic defaults, there’s a certain amount of debate concerning this issue as well.
Loading ...How do you currently feel about your home? Is it a financial burden, or do you still consider it an investment? The ironic thing about these questions may be that nearly everyone who eventually decides to buy a home does so thinking that they’re making an investment in their future.
But how do you feel now? Is your home underwater? Can you still afford your mortgage payment? Can you keep up with the maintenance that your property needs? Do you still like your neighborhood? Are you happy?
Update1 (03/01/10):
This new and alarming trend of borrowers prioritizing their credit card payments before their mortgage payments is even occurring amongst borrowers with high credit scores, according to FICO:
“We’re identifying lending industry situations in FICO Score Trends that to our knowledge have never been seen before,” said Dr. Mark Greene, CEO of FICO, in a statement. “Economic instability is creating unknown risk in lenders’ credit portfolios as well as counter-intuitive trends in consumer behavior.”
UPDATE1: Extreme Home Makeover strikes again! According to the Wall Street Journal, another home made over by the popular television series, is nearing default:
Yet another “Extreme Makeover” recipient is in trouble, this one in Encinitas, Calif. Brian Wofford, a widowed father of eight, faces foreclosure five years after his home was transformed for the popular television show, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
While most of the attention is focused on the plight of foreclosures due to homeowners who have problems paying down their mortgages. Obviously if they’re having a problem with one bill, they’re having difficulties with property taxes as well:
At a time when the nation’s housing crisis has put millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes through bank foreclosure, a growing pile of unpaid bills has put tens of thousands more in danger of losing them to tax seizures. That has caused multimillion-dollar shortfalls for some already-struggling local governments that rely on property taxes to pay for everything from schools to police.
HSH.com's daily blog focuses on the latest developments in the mortgage and housing markets. Our mission is to relate how changes in mortgage rates and housing policy, as well as the latest financial news, impacts consumers, homebuyers and industry insiders alike. Our 30-plus years of experience in the mortgage industry gives us an edge as we break down the latest changes in an ever-changing market.
