Archive for the 'States' Category

Nonprofit housing counselors in Minnesota are discovering that more and more homeowners approaching them to save their homes from becoming foreclosed properties for sale are middle class families.

Troubled homeowners in Maine can thank their state legislators for their efforts to set up state government foreclosures programs that would help them.

The 26 cities with the highest number of foreclosed homes in the first three months this year are located in only four states, namely California, Arizona, Florida and Nevada, according to a report prepared by California-based foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac.

Housing analysts in the San Francisco Bay Area are hopeful the price declines of new homes and homes listed in foreclosure listings will stop soon. From data on home sales in the area in February, they are getting signs of the impending bottoming out of home prices and ultimately, the recovery of the housing sector.

Hawaii, which has been largely outside the radar of foreclosures list in the past several months, experienced a staggering increase of 503 percent in foreclosure filings in March, according to data compiled by RealtyTrac.

Volunteer lawyers in Florida have been helping homeowners save their homes from becoming a foreclosure property since 2007 under the Florida Attorneys Saving Homes foreclosure prevention project. The state's chief financial officer Alex Sink created this program in partnership with the Florida Bar, Florida Bar Foundation and Florida Legal Services to help distressed homeowners and to stop the rapidly rising number of bank foreclosure properties across the state.

Homeowners in Florida are hoping new efforts by the state to help them prevent their houses from becoming foreclosed homes will push through.

More and more renters who are updated on their monthly payments are being evicted unceremoniously as their landlords failed to inform them that the houses they are renting are under bank and government foreclosures.

A plan aimed at preventing bank and government foreclosures has been signed into law by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The plan, which includes a 90-day suspension on bank and government foreclosures, will take effect on May 22 of this year.

Sterling Green South, one of several developments on the periphery of Houston, Texas, is just one of many neighborhoods across the country experiencing deterioration because of too many foreclosed homes. Walls of abandoned foreclosed homes are sprayed with graffiti, playground equipment and street signs are destroyed and a nearby swimming pool is covered with litter.

The continued rise in Florida foreclosures has affected schools throughout the state, similarly to how lender and government foreclosures have affected schools in other areas of the country.

The Obama Administration's tax break proposal has caused quite a stir among homeowners who have gross income not less than $250,000.

Orange County property valuator Bill Donegan said Florida Governor Charlie Crist's property tax proposal would transfer the tax burden from first-time homebuyers to existing-home owners. Previously, Crist released his property tax proposal which was aimed at energizing the state's housing market downed by Florida foreclosures. The tax proposal would lighten the tax bill of first-time homebuyers to attract more new homebuyers.

As Florida foreclosures continue to soar in January, courts in the state have been conducting rocket docket hearings to clear their backlogs of foreclosure filings. Rocket docket takes just a few seconds. In rocket docket, the judge just asks two questions: whether the homeowner is currently occupying the home and whether he is current with his monthly amortization. While the answer to the first question could be yes or no, the answer to the second question is always no. The judge will then inform the homeowner how many days he is allowed to stay in the house if he is unable to negotiate a deal with the lender.

Atlantic City, New Jersey's first casino operator, Resorts Atlantic City is facing a threat of foreclosure from its mortgage servicer, Column Financial Inc. Because of this, the troubled casino has asked the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to block foreclosure attempts of Column Financial.