Bank Foreclosures Sale Articles

The number of homes in bank foreclosure sales scheduled for the coming months in Louisville, Kentucky has been increasing, based on foreclosure data from the Jefferson County Circuit Court.

Court officials even contend that the total foreclosures by the end of 2009 will hit a record level for Louisville because of the rising unemployment rate throughout the city.

According to Dan Albers, Jefferson County master commissioner, officials handling home foreclosures expect more foreclosures in the next 12 months because of the rising number of people without jobs.

Out of the 4,377 foreclosed properties scheduled for sale, about 2,142 will be sold off, according to Albers. He said that some homeowners are able to rescue their homes before the properties get sold.

Albers also said that Louisville reached its record number of foreclosure sales in 2007, when it sold a total of 2,093. Sales dropped slightly in 2008. If his prediction of 2,142 units will be sold off, Louisville will break its 2007 record foreclosure sales.

According to Uric Dufrene, financial economist for Indiana University Southeast, the 10.3-percent jobless rate of Louisville has been driving the rise in mortgage defaults in the city, pushing more homes into bank foreclosure lists.

Dufrene said that the number of homeowners who have missed at least 3 monthly payments in Louisville in the second quarter has risen, compared to the same quarter in 2008.

Kentucky and Indiana were both hit by job cuts in the manufacturing sector, with their unemployment rates both surpassing the nationwide August unemployment rate of 9.7 percent and the September rate of 9.8 percent.

Kentucky’s jobless rate increased in August to 11.1 percent while Indiana’s rate rose to 9.9 percent.

Compared to other cities, the foreclosure rate in Louisville was lower during the first 6 months of this year, based on data released by a research firm.

But foreclosures are affecting lower-income families, especially single mothers who have to work, care for their children and study at the same time to improve their income-earning abilities.

What worsens their situations is the reluctance of lenders to help them weather the recession. One single mother whose home loan was modified to a lower monthly payment recently received a letter from her lender that it is proceeding with foreclosure despite the successful modification.

The state of Kentucky and the city of Louisville have launched their own efforts to help troubled homeowners, but their efforts have not prevented many homeowners from going into bank foreclosure.

Bronx bank foreclosures in the area’s multifamily sector have been soaring because of the large number of overleveraged multifamily buildings in the area, based on a report from the Citizens Housing and Planning Council and affordable housing nonprofits Urban Homesteading Assistance Board and Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development.

According to the council, there are about 100,000 apartment units in multifamily buildings which were acquired at sky-high prices during the boom. Now, building owners cannot pay their commercial loans because of sharply declining rents and lack of tenants.

Based on data gathered by the nonprofits, many multifamily loans are maturing within a year, increasing concerns that the rate of foreclosure of apartment buildings in the Bronx will equal the pace of the housing collapse that occurred in New York in the 1970s.

Among these buildings are the Fordham Towers and the Robert Fulton Terrace which were acquired by investor Robert Karasick in 2007 at a sky-high price despite obvious damages and need for costly repairs.

Karasick bought the buildings for $36.5 million with a loan from CIBC, which insisted that the price was justified. It was found out later that monthly operating costs were cut by half to inflate projected earnings.

Despite reduction of service and maintenance costs, the buildings still entered lists of Bronx bank foreclosures when Karasick could no longer pay his huge loan.

Other Bronx buildings that recently went into foreclosure are the ten buildings acquired by California-based Milbank Properties during the housing boom in 2007 at inflated prices. Milbank said it acquired the properties because it believed in the gentrification of the borough and in the significant improvement of the tenant base.

According to a recent report from Deutsche Bank, at least 67 percent of all commercial mortgage-backed securities maturing by 2018 are being rejected for refinancing because of the drop in property values. These loans account for $410 billion of all commercial loans. It also added that more than 80 percent of commercial buildings bought in 2007 with loans are now valued far below the amount of their mortgage loans.

There are also building owners who took out loans that enabled them to pay only the interest for the first 3 to 5 years. Hudson Realty Capital is one of them. When these loans adjust to their fully amortizing schedule next year, there is much concern that these owners will not be able to afford the payments.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed has proposed a law that aims to curb the growing number of properties on bank foreclosure list. The bill is proposed in an effort to abate the rapid spread of foreclosures across the country and at the same time help stabilize the housing markets.

The bill gives hope to thousands of distressed families who want to remain on their homes and to communities that are badly hit by the foreclosure crisis.

Under the proposed Preserving Homes and Communities Act of 2009, all qualified homeowners will be evaluated and offered mortgage modifications. The law also establishes a program that will provide mortgage payment assistance to distressed homeowners.

Additionally, the law proposes to provide incentives to local and state governments to motivate them to develop mediation programs that will allow troubled homeowners and servicers to negotiate and create alternatives to help curb the growing bank foreclosure list.

Reed explained that the foreclosure crisis has left many American families devastated and homeless, crippled local communities and neighborhoods and further dragged down the already sick economy.

He said that despite federal, state and local efforts to prevent the spread of foreclosures, the problem continues to grow rapidly. Industry experts said that the current foreclosure rate surpassed the numbers for last year by almost a third.

They said that even homeowners who have fixed-rate mortgages are finding difficulty paying their mortgages and are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosures.

They predicted that the number of troubled loans could increase to almost four million in 2009. Additionally, fixed rate loans accounted for a third of the total repossession starts filed in from April to June of this year. This means that one out of eight homeowners has missed at least one payment.

Durbin believed that the economic crisis could not be resolved unless the housing market has been stabilized. He explained that the proposed law would force lenders to workout with troubled homeowners to modify their loans.

The bill also proposes to expand the loan modification of the government to allow more homeowners to avoid bank foreclosure list and to require banks and lenders to offer approved mortgage modifications to all borrowers who qualify.

Co-sponsors of the bill are Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Dick Durbin and Jeff Merkley.

The number of Pittsburgh bank foreclosures and unemployment continue to rise for the first half of this year. The city of Pittsburgh ranked 134th among metropolitan areas in the country in terms of foreclosure rate.

The federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program has been helping people in Delaware in buying bank foreclosures. The program has provided federal housing funding amounting to $19.6 million to help first-time homebuyers. Under the program, about 120 families will have the chance to buy and rehabilitate vacant, foreclosure houses until next year.

Some companies have organized a fund raising event to help homeowners avoid Fort Worth bank foreclosures. Proceeds from the fund raising event went to the Foreclosure Angel Foundation which has been helping distressed homeowners save their properties from foreclosures.

Bank homes for sale in the city of Quincy, Illinois will soon receive a facelift. The city has received federal and state money for a combined amount of 2.1 million to rehabilitate 22 foreclosed houses.

The increase in the number of Denver bank foreclosures is partly to be blamed for the drop in homeownership in Colorado. Census data showed that incomes in the state have risen steadily from 2000 to 2008. But despite the increase, homeownership in the state dropped significantly.

There is hope for better days ahead soon despite the continuing increase in the number of bank foreclosure homes and unemployment in Idaho, according to industry experts.

The Citizens Bank decided to suspend an auction on the office property placed on Boston bank foreclosures after no one top its bid of $1 million.