Tag Archives: Foreclosures

Real Estate

Missed Mortgage Payments Rate Falling

The number of U.S. households that missed consecutive mortgage payments or were in foreclosure fell more in the second quarter than any time since the mortgage crisis began four years ago, a survey found.

But the data, released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association, showed the crisis is far from ending. One worrisome sign: The number of newly distressed borrowers increased, raising the prospect that foreclosures and delinquencies could resume their rise.

Overall, some 14.4% of borrowers had missed at least one payment or were in foreclosure at the end of June. That was down from 14.7% at the end of March, but up from 13.5% a year ago. The improvement came because fewer borrowers fell 60 days or more delinquent on their mortgages. The number of households that had missed just one payment increased.

Read more Wall Street Journal

Real Estate

Foreclosures in Yuba – Sutter County Continue Downward Trend

Foreclosures continued on an overall downward trend in July in the Yuba-Sutter area, though Sutter County saw an increase compared to a year earlier in the number of homes undergoing the final foreclosure step and falling into bank possession.

In Yuba County, 56 homes went into foreclosure last month, a decrease of 10 from a year earlier, while 55 homes did so in Sutter County, up from 40 in July 2009.

An ongoing trend statewide of foreclosures being canceled before they reach the final step also continues, according to a report by ForeclosureRadar .com released Thursday. Compared to a year earlier, cancellations rose by 75 percent statewide, with nearly 19,000 in July.

Numbers from the Yuba-Sutter area suggest a similar trend, with notices of default, the first step toward foreclosure, still significantly higher than the number of actual foreclosures.

Yuba County saw 86 notices of default in July; and Sutter County had 81. In both cases, there were more notices of default a year earlier.

ForeclosureRadar.com’s founder, Sean O’Toole, said in the report that the number of cancellations may be a negative trend, because they delay foreclosures even though the homes still may have negative equity.

Both counties saw modest upticks in the number of homes sold at auction after foreclosure, up to 14 from eight a year earlier in Yuba and 14 from six in Sutter. The rise indicates more investors may see foreclosed homes as a worthwhile place to put their money.

Foreclosure statistics were not available for Colusa County, which has comparably little home buying and selling activity.

Reprinted with permission Appeal Democrat

Real Estate

Foreclosures May Hit One Million Mark in 2010

RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of U.S. homes taken over by banks jumped 35 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. In addition, households facing foreclosure grew 16 percent in the same period and 7 percent from the last three months of 2009. More homes were taken over by banks and scheduled for a foreclosure sale than in any quarter going back to at least January 2005, when RealtyTrac began reporting the data, the firm said.

“We’re right now on pace to see more than 1 million bank repossessions this year,” said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac senior vice president.

Foreclosures began to ease last year as banks came under pressure from the Obama administration to modify home loans for troubled borrowers. In addition, some states enacted foreclosure moratoriums in hopes of giving homeowners behind in payments time to catch up. And in many cases, banks have had trouble coping with how to handle the glut of problem loans.

These factors have helped slow the pace of foreclosures, but now that trend appears to be reversing.

The states with the highest foreclosure rates in the first quarter were Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California, with Nevada leading the pack, RealtyTrac said. Rising home prices and speculation fueled a wave of home construction there during the housing boom. But now the state, particularly around the Las Vegas metropolitan area, is saddled with a glut of unsold homes. Still, the number of homes in Nevada that received a foreclosure filing dropped 16 percent from the first quarter last year.

All told, one in every 33 homes in Nevada was facing foreclosure, more than four times the national average, RealtyTrac said. Foreclosure filings rose on an annual and quarterly basis in Arizona, however. One in every 49 homes there received a foreclosure-related notice during the quarter. Florida, meanwhile, posted the third-highest foreclosure rate with one out of every 57 properties receiving a foreclosure filing. California accounted for the biggest slice overall of homes facing foreclosure – roughly 23 percent of the nation’s total. One in every 62 properties received a foreclosure filing in the first quarter.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Looking for short sales or foreclosures in Nevada County?
Search for free by Clicking Here
Call me at 530-263-1091

Real Estate

Facing Foreclosure, Man Tries to Destroy Home With His SUV

One of the sad realities of having your home foreclosed is the tremendous amount of physiological pressure that is involved.  Can you imagine buying a home, calling it yours, spending money to fix it up, than due to circumstances beyond your control, loss of income, sickness or whatever, you can’t make your mortgage payments.

Having had several clients try to work out loan modifications with a bank, I can somehow understand the frustration that this man must have felt when he finally reached a breaking point.

Here’s one of the latest cases of a person going over the top due to foreclosure.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V86zV5vSUtU

According to the Springhill News a man who told Ohio authorities that he was facing foreclosure rammed his house with his SUV.

Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly says 30-year-old Steve Doak told deputies he was recently served with foreclosure papers and wanted to destroy the house rather than turn it over to the bank.

The sheriff’s office says Doak drove the vehicle into fencing and then into the rear of the house in New Carlisle, about 50 miles west of Columbus. They say he did extensive structural damage. Authorities say they shut off utilities in the home for safety reasons.

Doak was arrested Tuesday on charges of inducing panic, disorderly conduct and other counts.

He has pleaded not guilty. No one answered his phone Thursday morning and the voice mailbox was full.

What do you think?

Real Estate

Thinking of Walking Away From Your Home? Here’s IRS’s Rules

Generally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats debt forgiveness by a creditor as taxable income. However, under federal legislation that took effect in 2007, certain home mortgage debt cancellations—such as loan modifications, short sales, or foreclosures—may be exempted from federal taxes. Other exemptions are also available.

Important rules to consider

• Homeowners considering a loan modification, short sale, or foreclosure should note that the federal tax exclusion under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 only applies to mortgage balances on a qualified principal residence and not on second homes, rental real estate, or business properties.

• The maximum amount of forgiven debt eligible under the 2007 law is $2 million for married taxpayers filing jointly and $1 million for single taxpayers.

• The debt reduction can only be for loan amounts used to buy, build, or substantially improve a principal residence, including refinance loans as long as an increase in the total mortgage debt if any is attributable to renovations and capital improvements of the house. However, if refinance proceeds were used for other personal purposes, such as paying off credit card bills, purchasing cars, or investing in stocks, then the mortgage debt attributable to those expenditures is not eligible for tax exclusion under the 2007 law.

• California homeowners who sold their house in a short sale or were foreclosed upon in 2009 still may have to pay state taxes on forgiven mortgage debt. The California legislature did not extend the tax exemption for mortgage debt forgiveness for state taxes. However, lawmakers are working on a bill that would provide the same tax relief on state taxes as the federal government currently offers.

To read the full story, please click here: Los Angles Times

Notice that the debt reduction states that if the home owner paid off credit cards or bought toys (cars, boats, vacations), stocks etc. than the debt reduction will be classified as income. Ouch! That can hurt, since I know some of my friends did that with their equity loans. In other words, if you took an equity loan for $100,000 and spent it on anything but improving your home the IRS counts that as earned taxable income.

So before walking away from your home check with your accountant or tax attorney.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Looking for real estate in Nevada County?

Find it at JohnODellRealty.com

Fun Friday's

David After Dentist

This is a cute YouTube video of a woozy 7-year-old boy in the back seat of a car, struggling to understand the effects of anesthesia. It’s  been viewed 53,900,000 times and has helped the family gather income in the low six figures since it was posted 18 months ago.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs

CNN has more on this rapid way to fame if you are interested Click Here

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Search for foreclosures & Short Sales
Click here

Real Estate

Foreclosures Rise Slowest in Four Years

U.S. foreclosure filings rose 6% in February from a year earlier, the smallest increase in four years, according to RealtyTrac.

RealtyTrac Chief Executive James J. Saccacio added the leveling of the foreclosure trend isn’t necessarily evidence that fewer homeowners are in distress and at risk for foreclosure, but rather that foreclosure-prevention programs, legislation and other processing delays are capping monthly foreclosure activity.

The market researcher reported foreclosure filings on 308,524 U.S. properties in February, up 2% from January. Default notices, meanwhile, were up 3% from the prior month but down 3% from a year earlier. Scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions were both down from January, but grew from a year earlier.

Nevada posted the top foreclosure-filing rate for the 38th consecutive month despite a 30% year-over-year decrease. One in every 102 Nevada homes received a filing, more than four times the national rate. Even with a 9% decline in February from the prior month, Las Vegas was the worst metropolitan area, with one filing for every 90 homes.

California, meanwhile, posted a 15% year-over-year decline in February. Six California and Arizona metro areas were in the top 10 nationally, while Florida again had two.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Do you know that it’s getting to be a seller’s market in the under $250,000 price range? Almost every home in that price range seems to have multiple offers now. Interest rates are low. This combined with federal tax credits and investors still  buying is continuing to fuel sales.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Search Foreclosed Homes And Short Sales
At click here JohnO’DellRealty.com

Real Estate

Bank of America’s Contractor Confiscates Parrot

Bank of America Nevada City, CA

A contractor for Bank of America went into the home of a borrower which was not vacant nor in default with the mortgage. While Angela Iannelli was away, under instructions from Bank of America, the contractor cut off utilities, padlocked the door and confiscated her pet parrot, Luke.  Maybe the contractor was thinking the woman was in default with her mortgage, would make her payments current if he took the parrot for ransom.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

“Angela Iannelli, 46 years old, alleged in a lawsuit Monday that the October incident—which separated her from her 11-year-old parrot for more than a week—caused so much “emotional distress” that she needed a prescription medication for anxiety.

A Bank of America spokesman said Wednesday a bank employee erroneously believed the house was vacant and sent the contractor there with instructions to install a new lock and otherwise “secure” the property. The bank spokesman said those instructions were inappropriate because Ms. Iannelli wasn’t in default and the house wasn’t vacant.

Mortgage lenders have struggled in the past three years to hire and train enough people to deal with the biggest wave of foreclosures since the 1930s. Nearly eight million households, or 15% of those with mortgages, are behind on their payments or in the foreclosure process.

Many borrowers complain they get the runaround when they call their lenders for help, receive contradictory information from different employees and are required to repeatedly fax the same documents.”

You can say that again. Dealing with banks, you can expect multiple answers to your mortgage problems and repetition of them asking for the same paper work over and over.  You are also transferred to a different person each and every time you call them, so that it appears that they are in complete chaos. In the final analysis, it seems that the last thing they want to do is modify your mortgage or help you in any way.

You can read the full story by clicking here: Wall Street Journal

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Do you know one thing about a short sale
that could haunt you for many years to come?
Call  me and find out 530-263-1091

Real Estate

Good Real Estate News: Home Equity is Rising Again

Numerous articles have reported that homeowners are underwater and that strategic defaults are increasing. However, a little known statistic by the Federal Reserve shows that home equity again is on the rise.

KEEP THIS IN MIND

• The Federal Reserve conducts substantial research on mortgage balances and home-value changes in hundreds of local markets nationwide and reports its finding quarterly. According to the Fed’s most recent “flow of funds” survey, homeowners’ net equity increased by nearly $1 trillion compared with the recession’s lowest point between the first and third quarters of 2009. From June 30 to Sept. 30, net equity rose by $418 billion.

• According to a report by Zillow.com, the overall negative equity rate among U.S. homeowners remained flat in the fourth quarter at 21.4 percent. This report, combined with other housing factors and studies, may indicate that the unprecedented reduction in home equity is shifting.

• Some homeowners, especially those in areas with high foreclosure rates, are choosing to strategically default on their mortgages, even though they can afford the mortgage. Many homeowners who choose this approach do so because they do not see an economic rationale in continuing to make their mortgage payments. Homeowners considering this option should be aware of the negative effect it will have on their credit status. Foreclosures can remain on credit reports for up to seven years, likely increasing the interest rates the consumer pays for credit, and making it more difficult to receive approval on a new mortgage loan.

To read the full story, please click here: Washington Post

Real Estate

Nicolas Cages $4.95 Million Home Sells in One Day

The upper end market for real estate is picking up.  This reminds me of prior downturns, when people waited for the bottom of the real estate market to turn, and when they finally decided to buy, they paid thousands more by waiting because the bottom had passed them by.  Which brings up  actor Nicolas Cage’s foreclosed 14,306-square-foot Las Vegas home sold the first day it was on the market for $4.95 million. The deal is expected to close today.

Cage purchased the six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half bathroom home in September 2006 for $8.5 million. He owes the Internal Revenue Service nearly $6 million in back taxes, and the IRS has foreclosed on four of his homes including two in New Orleans and one in California.

Cage, who had a variety of properties scattered all around the world, picked up this home in 2006 for $8.5 million. In July 2008 he listed it for $9.95 million. The 14,000-square-foot home with a 16-car garage was later discounted to $9.49 million. The seven-bedroom home is blandly extravagant with a sweeping staircase, home theater, elevator and panoramic views of Las Vegas. The home has a pool and spa and is located in a gated community for privacy. After it was foreclosed it got a discount in line with current Las Vegas prices, Lowman sold Cage’s former home for close to the asking price of $4,950,000.

Last November Cage’s New Orleans homes were sold back to the bank for a total of $4.5 million. His Rhode Island home still appears to be listed at $12 million.

Kenneth Lowman, owner of Luxury Homes of Las Vegas, listed and sold the Las Vegas property. He says the luxury home segment of the market moves in tandem with the stock market. As stock rise, so do top-dollar properties.

“I’ve been preaching to all of my potential buyers who are waiting in the wings the same message over and over. If you have the wherewithal, now is the time,” Lowman says.