Posts filed under 'Foreclosures'
If Lenders Say ‘The Dog Ate Your Mortgage’
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
For decades, when troubled homeowners and banks battled over delinquent mortgages, it wasn’t a contest. Homes went into foreclosure, and lenders took control of the property.
On top of that, courts rubber-stamped the array of foreclosure charges that lenders heaped onto borrowers and took banks at their word when the lenders said they owned the mortgage notes underlying troubled properties.
In other words, with lenders in the driver’s seat, borrowers were run over, more often than not. Of course, errant borrowers hardly deserve sympathy from bankers or anyone else, and banks are well within their rights to try to protect their financial interests.
But if our current financial crisis has taught us anything, it is that many borrowers entered into mortgage agreements without a clear understanding of the debt they were incurring. And banks often lacked a clear understanding of whether all those borrowers could really repay their loans.
Add comment October 29, 2009
Free foreclosure help for Central Texas homeowners
By TERRI GRUCA / KVUE News
Foreclosures in Central Texas are hitting record highs. In Travis County alone there has been a 58 percent increase in foreclosure postings in the last year.
On the first Tuesday of every month, the steps of the Travis County Courthouse fill with people looking to score a deal. However, those deals are another family’s heartbreak.
This Tuesday, 850 properties were being foreclosed on and potentially up for auction.
Add comment October 7, 2009
Fannie, Freddie, Task Forces Ignore New Tenant Law
It is no surprise that private lenders and their lawyers are attempting to push tenants out of a property after they foreclose so they will not have to comply with the federal act passed in May 2009 (article here), however, it is a little surprising that the bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the GSEs (government sponsored, and currently run, enterprises) that are two of the largest lenders in the country, are misleading tenants too.
Add comment September 11, 2009
Lenders to Trick Tenants Out of Their Rights Next
It should come as no surprise that the industry who created and pushed complex and risky loan products to American homeowners have even less regard for tenants who are victims of foreclosure. As explained more here, Congress and President Obama enacted the “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act” in May 2009 which entitles a tenant to continue leasing from the new owner of the property after a foreclosure sale until the lease expires on its own, or 90 days (whichever is longer). The only exception is if the new owner intends to occupy the property as his primary residence.
Add comment August 31, 2009
Obama Mulls Rental Option for Some Homeowners
NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) – U.S. government officials are weighing a plan that would let borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments avoid eviction by renting their homes instead, sources familiar with the administration’s thinking said on Tuesday.
Under one idea being discussed, delinquent homeowners would surrender ownership of their homes but would continue to live in the property for several years, the sources told Reuters.
Officials are also considering whether the government should make mortgage payments on behalf of borrowers who cannot keep up with their home loans, tapping an unused portion of a $50 billion housing aid kitty.
As part of this plan, jobless borrowers might receive a housing stipend along with regular unemployment benefits, the sources said. (Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by Diane Craft)
Add comment July 16, 2009
City of Austin Offers Foreclosure Prevention and Credit Counseling Services
Austin, Texas — City officials recognize that although Austin is not facing the significant foreclosure numbers seen in cities in California, Florida, and Arizona — there is an increasing number of Austin residents being impacted by foreclosures. Recent Austin metro area foreclosure postings reached a new high in June 2009, with the number of foreclosure postings in Travis County exceeding 750, or a 117 percent increase compared with the 360 postings in the same month last year.
To address this trend, the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Office through the Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) recently contracted with Business and Community Lenders (BCL) of Texas to provide financial literacy services including foreclosure counseling, credit and budget counseling and money management for severely delinquent households not yet in foreclosure. The foreclosure counseling sessions offer qualified individuals with sessions either in person or by phone that include counseling on loan modification and other financial avenues to educate low-income residents about options to help keep them in their homes.
Add comment July 13, 2009
Americans Swap Homes for Hotels as Recession Bites
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) – Some Americans are swapping homes for motels as the ranks of the homeless swell during the recession, crowding out shelters and forcing cities and states across the country to find new types of housing.
In Massachusetts, a record number of families are being put up in motels due to high unemployment and the rising number of homes going into foreclosure, costing taxpayers $2 million per month but providing a lifeline for desperate families.
Add comment July 13, 2009
Renters in Foreclosure Toolkit
On May 20, 2009, the President signed into a law a bill containing provisions protecting tenants living in foreclosed buildings (the Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act is Title VII of Public Law 111-22).
These provisions immediately went into effect and are “self-executing,” so no federal agency (such as HUD) is responsible for making them work. It is up to advocates to make sure that tenants, landlords, public housing authorities, courts, the legal community, and others involved in the foreclosure process are aware of these new rights for tenants.
Add comment July 8, 2009
Avoid Foreclosure and the Rescue Scams
It’s estimated 6500 new foreclosures are filed everyday nationwide. That leaves many homeowners who are struggling to hold onto their homes which are easy targets for forclosure rescue scams. Learn how to avoid both foreclosure and the rescue scams.
2 comments June 24, 2009
Austin Area Feeling the Foreclosure Bite
GEORGETOWN — Alma and Adolfo Vasquez might not appear to be prime candidates for foreclosure. Their 3,100-square-foot home near two golf courses is appraised at nearly half a million dollars. They were far from irresponsible buyers, making a 20 percent down payment after selling their California home in 2006, just before the housing bubble burst.
But by early April, the Vasquez family, slammed by a double whammy of rising property taxes and tough times for Adolfo’s home-renovation business, were three days from losing their home at a foreclosure auction.
“It’s an emotional torture,” Alma Vasquez said. “We never thought we could end up in this situation, but it happened. It’s kind of embarrassing; you don’t want to let your friends or anyone know.”
The conventional wisdom is that Central Texas and Austin in particular — thanks to its dynamic economy — have largely escaped the foreclosure epidemic ravaging states like California, Florida and Arizona. The Austin area’s foreclosure rate is still a fraction of the nation’s: 0.5 percent of properties with active mortgages in May, compared to the nation’s 1.8 percent.
But foreclosures are quietly rising here, according to First American CoreLogic, one of several private companies that compile foreclosure statistics.
Add comment June 22, 2009
