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Foreclosure backlog estimated at 1.7 million – About 1.7 million homeowners were on the verge of foreclosure in the fall, a looming “shadow inventory” of homes that will be put up for sale in the coming years and weigh down prices, a report said Thursday. The number, up from 1.1 million a year earlier, is likely to keep rising through the middle of next year or later, said Mark Fleming, chief economist of First American CoreLogic, the real estate research firm that released the study. – TheAdvertiser.com
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First American Sees 1.7m in Shadow Inventory – By JON PRIOR – … What matters is how this pending inventory will hit the market. Unless banks disberse the “shadow inventory” onto the market in a controlled and measured rate, housing prices could double-dip again in 2010. … – HousingWire
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Not Walking Away – Is it conditioning, morality, or naïveté? – Tim Iacono – The question of what motivates underwater homeowners to either stay put and continue to make their mortgage payments (if they can) or “walk away” from their home (and their financial obligations) has been receiving an increasing amount of attention in recent weeks. In looking at this matter, a good place to begin is with the abstract below from the recent study Underwater and Not Walking Away(.pdf) by Brent White at the University of Arizona: – TheMessThatGreenspanMade and link to Brent White’s paper
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Is There A Modification For The Loan-Modification Program? – By: Tycoon Report – good summary of modification programs and thier pitfalls. – iStockAnalyst
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Resale Volumes: Another Shoe to Drop? – Existing home sales volumes are off 30% from the peak and have returned to 1998 levels (see the chart below that removes some of the month-to-month gyrations). While this might seem like a plunge, a little more historical analysis is in order … – John Burns Real Estate Consulting