Archive for the 'Foreclosure Crisis' Category

The jobless rate in April probably soared to its highest level in 25 years due to the continuing effects of bank foreclosed properties, according to a survey by Bloomberg News.

The bankers won the day as the U.S. Senate voted on Thursday 51 to 45 to reject a measure that would have provided President Obama's government foreclosures program an additional tool to enforce its schemes to help distressed American homeowners.

The glut of foreclosed homes has clobbered not only homeowners and communities, but also home builders, mortgage insurers and mortgage lenders.

From available data, the progress of President Obama's efforts to fight repo homes can be roughly assessed.

Until lately, the average American homeowner has never heard about MERS. But as hundreds of thousands of houses become repo homes, homeowners are now coming into contact with MERS.

The uncertainty surrounding the health of the banking industry has continued to depress bank lending and overall confidence, according to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who testified for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, including government foreclosures program, before members of the Congressional Oversight Panel.

About one third of all foreclosed homes across the nation are too damaged to be saved by various government bank foreclosures programs, according to Thomas Popik, a real estate analyst and partner at Washington-based Campbell Communications, a service that provides real estate data to mortgage industry consultants.

In a forum held at the Capital Community College in Hartford, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan reiterated the reality that not all troubled homeowners will be saved by the government foreclosures program developed by the Obama administration.

In February, almost 3,000 homes in Maryland received foreclosure filings, bringing total Maryland foreclosures to 12,977 housing units. In the city of Baltimore, neighborhood revitalization efforts in the past several years are being destroyed by the rising number of abandoned foreclosed properties being added to foreclosure listings.

After President Barack Obama arrived from his first trip to Europe as U.S. president, he spoke with reporters and encouraged Americans to take advantage of the falling mortgage rates and the government foreclosures program that includes loan modification and refinancing options.

The John Hancock Tower has been one of the landmarks of the Boston, Massachusetts skyline. It has been designed by architect I.M. Pei and finance by Broadway Partners.

The last quarter of 2008 will be recorded in U.S. history as the bleakest quarter in terms of private and government foreclosures since the Great Depression. It will also go down in history as the worst in terms of national income, production output, corporate profits, household income, wealth and job growth.

The latest effort of the federal government to revive the ailing housing market by reducing the number of repo homes has failed to meet industry expectation.

Data from RealtyTrac showed that bank and government foreclosures notices were received by over 2 million distressed homeowners in 2008. In January 2009, bank and government foreclosures reached 72,694 while pre-foreclosure filings were reported to be about 166,860.

You would think that with the growing number of foreclosure homes everyday there is a never ending supply of low-priced houses for every American family. But not for working poor renters in the Washington area.