AGBeat » Economy

Stalled $26 billion civil mortgage settlement now finalized

Tara Steele — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:22:48 +0000

Mortgage foreclosure settlement In a historic deal after repeated delays and over a year of negotiations, the Justice Department, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and 49 state attorneys general has finalized a $26 billion civil settlement with five of the largest mortgage lenders for wrongful foreclosures through robo-signing wherein homes were foreclosed upon without human review or proper [...]

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Banks’ brilliant idea to give cash incentives to short sale

Tara Steele — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:26:09 +0000

The housing crash Now that some of the causes and effects of the housing crash are becoming universally agreed upon and banks are ordered to pay billions in civil lawsuits and settlements for illegal foreclosures, the big banks are struggling to regain their composure after overlooking simple fixes like not continuing robo-signing documents illegally without human review before kicking people [...]

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Mortgage settlement deal remains stalled, deadline passes

Tara Steele — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:10:32 +0000

The deadline has passed – no deal At the end of business today, the deadline came and went for the $25 billion civil settlement between the states Attorneys General and major lenders as punishment for bank misdeeds leading up to the housing crash. The original deadline to agree on the settlement terms was originally last Friday, but was pushed back [...]

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Home prices drop in November lower than expected

Tara Steele — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:53:34 +0000

Home prices dip November home prices drop lower than expectations, falling 1.3 percent in November, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city report. Of the 20 cities studied, home prices dropped in 19, with the total dip representing a 3.7 percent price drop from November 2010, but a shocking 32.8 percent drop since prices peaked in 2006. The health of this [...]

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Stalled $25B civil settlement with lenders may conclude this week

Tara Steele — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:24:39 +0000

Hardworking Americans left holding the bag During President Obama’s State of the Union address, he noted that leading up to the housing collapse in 2008, regulators looked the other way. “It was wrong. It was irresponsible,” and ultimately, “innocent, hardworking Americans were left holding the bag.” On the same day, the administration announced a new task force aimed at mortgage [...]

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Pending sales of existing homes drop 3.5 percent

Tara Steele — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:23:29 +0000

Drop in number of contracts signed Pending sales of existing homes dropped in December, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) who released a report today noting contracts signed (pending sales) in December dropped 3.5 percent for the month after a massive increase just one month prior. Pending sales rose 5.6 percent over December 2010. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief [...]

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Zillow says Obama picks up their idea on housing

Tara Steele — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:24:29 +0000

Obama’s State of the Union address During President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight, the President exerted the most efforts on jobs and the economy and while not much was said about housing, he did state that he was sending a plan to Congress to help responsible homeowners to find relief without having to wait for the market to [...]

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U.S. housing is affordable compared to other nations

Tara Steele — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:52:00 +0000

Australia, UK, America According to a new study by Demographia, the least affordable housing markets in the world are in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Hong Kong, and Vancouver, with America proving to be comparatively affordable, in fact, the most affordable English speaking nation. Overall, the median home price in America was three times pre-tax household income in 2011 [...]

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Fannie, Freddie principle reductions would cost taxpayers another $100B

Tara Steele — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:13:42 +0000

The FHFA stands firm The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac told lawmakers in a letter today that forcing the two to write down the principle on underwater home loans would require more than $100 billion in new taxpayer funds. With one in five homes in America underwater, negative equity now totals over [...]

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Why mortgage lending is so tight in 2012

Tara Steele — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:16:09 +0000

Tight lending in 2012 The housing market continues to struggle as Realtors report one in three contracts now fail, up nearly 10 percent from the year prior and now the top challenge of the housing industry. Failures are due to declined mortgage applications or failed underwriting as appraised values are coming in below the negotiated price, according to the National [...]

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