Bank Foreclosures Sale Articles

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.

Nationwide, as large numbers of people lose their jobs, large numbers of homes are also added to foreclosure listings.

The loan modification and loan refinancing schemes of President Obama’s foreclosure prevention program have been launched in March, but many mortgage lenders have not yet implemented the program. Many banks have not yet integrated Obama’s Making Homes Affordable schemes into their computer systems and have not yet trained their staff to respond to requests for loan modifications.

As foreclosure listings advertise bargain-priced homes and as neighborhood suffer from abandoned bank foreclosed houses, hopes of recovery seem bleak.

Some analysts are now proposing more aggressive actions by the federal government to force lenders to undertake loan modifications. They are even proposing the creation of a federal agency patterned after the Home Owners’ Loan Corp., which was created to respond to mortgage debt problems during the Great Depression.

Banks which have been keeping many forclosure houses from foreclosure listings in the hope that home prices recover are now realizing that they are instead losing more. Many of the foreclosed houses are being vandalized, further reducing their values. Aside from the foreclosure costs and legal fees they pay, banks also spend some more money to maintain foreclosed properties, forcing banks to rethink their strategies regarding foreclosure properties.

Federal officials need to look at the apparent success of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s experimental loan purchase program. Recently, the FDIC helped an alliance of investors acquire over $560 million mostly delinquent home loans at a big discount and then resell them to the homeowners at bargain prices to prevent their houses from being added to foreclosure listings and to enable them to keep their homes.

But politicians are not so enthusiastic about supporting proposals to force banks to sell their foreclosed properties at a discount for subsequent resale to distressed homeowners at bargain prices. Many Americans are questioning the idea of spending taxes paid by responsible Americans to cover the financial recklessness of irresponsible Americans.

In a recent nationwide survey, only 46 Americans in every 100 support the use of taxpayer money to save Americans from losing their homes 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.

Obama said there are about 7 to 9 million Americans across the nation who could save up to $2,000 a year by applying for loan refinancing or loan modification under the government foreclosures program.

Among the people who were with Obama while he met with his advisers were a group of homeowners who had reduced their monthly payments by taking advantage of the government foreclosures program and the dropping mortgage rates.

Obama said his advisers have estimated that the average household can save about $1,600 to $2,000 annually from their mortgage payments if they refinance under the government foreclosures program.

The president also advised homeowners to visit the MakingHomeAffordable.gov web site and check the options available and check if they were qualified for mortgage refinancing.

In addition to the government foreclosures program launched in February, President Obama also announced that his administration is setting up additional measures to help other groups of homeowners who are in greater danger of losing their homes to private lender and government foreclosures.

Meanwhile, in support for Obama’s statements, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shawn Donovan said mortgage rates for housing loans are expected to continue decreasing from their already low levels. He said the declining rates will help more homeowners to refinance their loans.

In the president’s talk with reporters and advisers, he cited the key role of the housing sector crisis in the national economic downturn. He reiterated the adverse economic effects of housing values that shoot up beyond manageable levels, the lack of financial regulation that could have controlled the use of complicated securities packages and mortgage practices that took advantage of homeowners.

The president described how the collapse of the housing market led to further drops in home values and devastation of the financial markets. The resulting private lender and government foreclosures continued the unending cycle of market collapse and financial sector devastation.

During President Obama’s trip to Europe, he met with heads of state about working together to find solutions to the economic crisis battering nations worldwide.

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

Florida’s chief financial officer Alex Sink has set a summit on April 20 in Tampa for the 12 largest mortgage lenders in Florida to discuss how the lenders can solve one of the homeowners’ biggest blocks to loan modification and foreclosure prevention–the failure of lenders and borrowers to identify whom the borrowers should negotiate with.

Because many mortgage loans were packaged as securities and sold and resold to various investors, it has become difficult for the borrowers and lenders to identify the real owner of the loans, thereby delaying borrowers from negotiating for loan modification and increasing the number of foreclosed homes.

According to the Florida Bar Foundation, 25,000 homeowners have already called its hotline since it was launched in June 2008 asking for help to prevent their homes from following the fate of foreclosed homes. Florida’s volunteer lawyers have helped a lot of these callers, but many of those borrowers whose mortgage loans cannot be traced to their real lenders have not been helped.

Among these borrowers whose mortgage loan owner cannot be traced is 83-year-old Daniel represented by lawyer Jamie Ito. Daniel said he has always been independent, and has nowhere to go, so his top goal these days is to save his house from being added to the unending lists of foreclosed homes. His lawyer said they have been sending documents to companies they have traced to have connections to Daniel’s loan; but when they make follow-ups, the companies say their sent documents are nowhere to be found.

Florida’s volunteer lawyers are asking the mortgage lenders to appoint a point person whom the lawyers can contact to resolve problems related to the ownership of certain mortgage loans.

In response to the issue, the mortgage bankers said they also want to help distressed borrowers, as large numbers of bank foreclosed homes also batter their books, but they admit the sale and subsequent resale of mortgage securities has made loan modifications difficult.

Florida financial chief Sink hopes that the summit will enable the lenders to discuss mortgage issues and how they can help solve Florida foreclosures and help prevent the eviction of Floridian families from foreclosed homes.

Distressed homeowners in Illinois have reason to feel some level of relief after Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn signed into law a legislative initiative that would mitigate the rising number of foreclosure properties across the state.
The legislation, coded Senate Bill 2513, would give defaulting mortgage borrowers 90 days to seek HUD-certified foreclosure prevention counseling and negotiate [...]

JPMorgan Chase, a global financial services company, has intensified its campaign to help distressed homeowners prevent repo homes.

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.

The California Legislature has enacted the Home Equity Sales Contract Act (HESCA) to help distressed homeowners who are subject to foreclosure properties due to fraud, unfair dealing and deception.

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.

As the number of distressed homeowners who want to save their properties from bank and government foreclosures continues to grow, so are companies that took advantage of the desperation of homeowners.

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.