Archive for the 'States' Category

The Massachusetts bank foreclosures rate is the second highest in the New England region. But findings of the Boston University’s New England Center for Investigative Reporting showed that despite the high foreclosure activity in Massachusetts, it lagged behind compared with other New England states in terms of punitive actions against brokers and lenders.

According to the report, banking regulators in Massachusetts performed few punitive actions against brokers and lenders from January 2007 to June 2009. Punitive actions include revocation, suspension or forced license surrender. For the period, state banking regulators have filed stringent actions against 43 brokerage firms.

The report noted that only a fraction of lenders and brokers that received licenses from state banking regulators were penalized despite the rise in the number of Massachusetts bank foreclosures and the subsequent havoc the crisis caused on families and neighborhoods.

The total number of mortgage brokerage firms that were penalized represented less than three percent of the companies licensed by Massachusetts. This placed the state last compared with other New England states. For the same period, Connecticut implemented punitive actions against almost 24 percent of brokerage firms it licensed while 11 percent were reportedly penalized in New Hampshire.

According to industry experts, the state Division of Banks has the regulatory and legal authority to deny mortgage brokers and lenders license and to sanction them if they are proven to be unfair to their clients.

Some unfair practices of brokers and lenders are encouraging consumers to sign incomplete or blank mortgage documents, falsification of asset or income information, misrepresentation or omission of critical information about mortgage loan terms and making fraudulent claims in order to persuade buyers to take out loans.

Massachusetts regulators have admitted that since 2007, deceptive or unfair practices are serious problem in the state and one of the major factors driving up foreclosure rates, in addition to widespread unemployment and recession.

Industry experts said that state regulators should have been aggressive in monitoring and going after abusive brokers and lenders, especially those who issued subprime mortgages to borrowers who have poor credit.

They said that many brokers and lenders were able to get away from their role in the subprime collapse and the subsequent foreclosure crisis.

New York bank foreclosures are good investments because of their cheap prices. Many smart investors are grabbing foreclosure properties as soon as they are placed on the market because they know that they could earn huge profits from them.

They bought these properties at very low prices, spend a reasonable amount for fixing them and sell them for a profit. Even first-time home buyers are getting into the foreclosure buying bandwagon, motivated by the $8,000 federal tax credit provided by the Obama Administration.
Financial planners and economist said that with home prices and interest rates at their lowest and large supply of New York bank foreclosures on the market, first-time buyers could never find a much better time to buy a property than now.

But they caution buyers against stretching their finances to buy their first homes. They said that banks and borrowers should go back to the standard rules which they forgot in their haste to write more mortgages and purchase bigger houses. They suggested putting in a 20 percent down payment so that first-time buyers could protect the value of their houses from dropping below the amount of their loans if property prices fall again.

Financial planners and economists said that getting a fixed-rate loan is a wise move so that the biggest part of borrowers’ monthly housing bill will remain stable. Meanwhile, first-time home buyers should not spend over 35 percent of their pretax income on loans, home insurance payments and property tax.

Adhering to the guidelines set by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Bank of America will not allow debts to hit more than 45 percent of the borrowers’ pretax income. Experts said that in adjustable-rate loans, banks would not be concerned whether borrowers can afford to pay the maximum payment when interest rates adjust in about 5 or 7 years.

Economists said that a good indicator of the future income of borrowers is the size of the house that they are going to purchase. They said that in general, people can make reasonable predictions of their finances and future incomes and they base their buying decisions on them. They added that if the loans are stretching the borrowers’ finance, there is a good chance that the loans are a bit of a stretch too.

A proposed commercial development project in East Lansing is facing bank foreclosures in Michigan and back taxes. According to industry experts, the proposed $116.4 million City Center II project in East Lansing has fallen into foreclosure. Additionally, all the properties in the development project are delinquent in paying property taxes to the city government of East Lansing.

Strathmore Development Company, owner of the foreclosed commercial project, owed the city a total of $12,090.33 in back taxes. The total amount in back taxes owed by Strathmore to the city includes the 3 percent penalty incurred due to non-payment of taxes by August 31. Additionally, the property owner also owed about $150,000 unpaid tax since last year to Ingham County.

Meanwhile, the City Center properties that have fallen into Michigan bank foreclosures are scheduled to be auctioned off at the Ingham County Courthouse on September 17. According to industry experts, municipalities turn over delinquent tax accounts to Ingham County if they remained unpaid on or before February 28 the following year.

The City Center is a public/private partnership project between East Lansing and Strathmore. The project, started in 2004, is proposed to contain a restaurant, luxury hotel, condominiums, parking deck and a theatre/performance area in collaboration with the Michigan State University.

City Mayor Victor Loomis said that a development agreement extension could be requested between Strathmore and city but would have to be submitted before the council on or before September 15.

According to industry experts, the request for agreement extension, if granted by the city council, would be valid only until December 17. It is the date of the expiration of the special use permit of the project.

Tim Schmitt, a community development analyst, explained that the special use licence is necessary for the project’s site plan, thus, expiration of one permit means an end for the other license.

Loomis said that once the permits expire, Scott Chappelle, president of Strathmore, would be forced to start all over again, including paying all application fees. It is estimated that the application fee for both special use permit and site plan was about $1,500.

Loomis said that his decision on whether to approve an extension of development agreement will be based on the information that will be provided by Strathmore and not on the foreclosure case. Meanwhile, Chappelle said that his company is trying to work out an agreement with its lender, the Huntington National Bank.

As the housing market continues to languish due to the increasing number of Indiana bank foreclosures, industry experts are finding ways to turn around the current situation for the advantage of small investors.

The Fort Hood Area Habitat for Humanity in Texas may venture into a $1.75 million agreement with the state government to choose bank foreclosures homes sales in the counties of Bell and Coryell.

The Retreat at Stone Eagle located at the Cahuilla Hills is regarded as one of the most resplendent luxury housings in California. Designed by Altervers Associates for Ministrelli Development, The Retreat’s multimillion dollar houses stand tall from the craggy canyon, mirroring the look of the northern Costa Smerlada in Sardinia, Italy.

Counselors at the Washington County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) in Minnesota are helping distressed homeowners avoid bank foreclosure houses.
These counselors are experts in the process of foreclosures. They know the exact procedure that lenders adopt to foreclose on a homeowner’s house and the approach they use to determine whether a loan is worth [...]

A study showed that many Illinois residents are living less financially comfortable today than they were two years ago.

Industry experts and analysts agree that the federal government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers have helped tremendously in lifting sales of bank foreclosure homes in Wisconsin.

The 64-unit affordable apartment complex, Fox Run in Fraser is at risk of becoming a bank foreclosed housing complex due to nonpayment of over $3.75 million loan it took out from Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA).