New home sales at record lows – Tim Iacono – The Mess That Greenspan Made
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New Policy on Foreclosures and Defaults Intended to be Preventive says FHA – by Neil Morse – Reflecting the extreme sensitivity of the issue, explanations, retrenchments, and denials are being voiced in response to an RMD story earlier this week about HUD’s intent – or not – to foreclose on seniors whose properties have gone into “technical” or other default. – more…. – Reverse Mortgage Daily
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Housing’s Greatest Suckers Rally – … The following chart plotting new home sales against the median months for sale demonstrates very clearly that 2009 was NOT the bottom for new home sales. … – Paper Economy Blog
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Housing Problems Are Dissipating and Fragmenting: Time to Think About Buying? – John Tobey – has 5 reasons – Seeking Alpha
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Report: Half of U.S. home loan modifications default again – BY JOHN GITTELSOHN – Bloomberg Miami Herald RE News
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New Home Prices: More Room to Fall – Over the past 48 hours, the Census Bureau and the National Association of Realtors have announced new and existing home sales, respectively, for February. As expected (at Financial Armageddon, at least) neither set of data points offered any real encouragement for those who keep harping on about a recovery in the sector. – Financial Armageddon Blog
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Housing’s Big "Shadow": Up to 10M More Homes Could Be for Sale, Zillow.com Says – by Aaron Task – Tech Ticker at Yahoo Finance
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Homebuilder stocks: It’s Crunch Time for Housing – John Lounsbury – Seeking
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Californians to get $18,000 to buy a house – Tim Iacono - More evidence of how wacky things have become in today’s real estate market comes via the overlap of the expiring Federal homebuyer tax credit of $8,000 with local versions of the same, in particular the one in California where another $10,000 in government money is being offered … – The Mess That Greenspan Made
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How long will negative equity last? – Rolfe Winkler – First American CoreLogic tries to answer the question for ten housing markets with the following chart … For the typical underwater borrower in the U.S. it will take until late 2015 or early 2016 for negative equity to disappear. In certain markets, it will take another five to 10 years or even longer to return to positive equity … – Reuters Blogs
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Seller financing making a comeback – Seller as Lender – … Seller financing, in which an owner offers a buyer a mortgage, was almost unheard of over the last decade, when money was cheap and lenders vied aggressively for borrowers with myriad mortgage products. But as lending conditions have since tightened drastically and the housing market has softened, seller financing is emerging as an option for both parties…. – NY Times
good summary – Taking Baby Steps on 2nd Mortgages – By ROLFE WINKLER and ROBERT CYRAN – JPMorgan Chase this week became the latest big bank to say it is willing to modify second mortgages for some struggling borrowers. While it’s a baby step in the right direction, it won’t do much to fix America’s foreclosure woes. – NY Times
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Fewer originators: The home mortgage business decline: Not done yet – by Mark Anderson – New rules and requirements are adding obstacles – Minnesota regulators erased another 42 mortgage originators from their books in February, continuing an industry shakeout that’s been under way for three years. … – Finance & Commerce
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A New Wave of Defaults? – Bruce Krasting – (a treatise on people with negative equity who want to pay and do the right thing changing their mind after seeing the new principal plan) – … They called just now. They made up their minds. They will not pay either the 1st or the 2nd this month. The “entrance fee” to getting the debt relief they need is to not pay any longer. The cost will be a tarnished credit. They no longer care. Does this story mean anything in the Macro Big Picture of defaults? I am certain that it does. A rising trend is about to become a rogue wave. … – Bruce Krasting Blog
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Here’s Why Everyone’s Freaking Out About The End Of Fed Mortgage Buying – Joe Weisenthal – Because the Federal Reserve now owns over 10% (!) of all mortgage debt outstanding. (via Waverly Advisors) – Money Game at Business Insider
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has 5 rules – New Short Sale Rules Impact Buyers – By Michele Lerner – Bankrate.com – FoxBusiness
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Overstated: Treasury report lowers estimate of home borrowers helped by key program – By Renae Merle – … The Treasury Department initially said the program, known as Making Home Affordable, would reach as many as 4 million struggling borrowers. But Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, said in a report issued Tuesday that Treasury now expects only 1.5 million to 2 million homeowners to get mortgage relief. … – Washington Post