Tag Archives: Foreclosure Prevention

The Treasury issued a new directive of the Making Home Affordable (MHA) program this week. Also known as the Dodd-Frank Certification Requirement, it provides guidance on borrower certification for non-GSE loans participating in the program. The new requirement states that borrowers are not eligible to receive assistance through MHA if they have been convicted of felony larceny, theft, fraud, or forgery; money laundering; or tax evasion in connection with a mortgage or real estate transaction within the last 10 years.

The administration released new data on the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Wednesday. Just over 33,000 homeowners received a permanent HAMP mod in August. That's 27 percent below the number of permanent conversions the month before. So far, about 468,000 permanent modifications have been granted to distressed homeowners under the federal program. The latest report also included the results of servicer compliance reviews conducted by Freddie Mac.

That dreaded shadow inventory of homes that has captured headlines and gripped the industry and market analysts with angst is beginning to make its way out of the darkness, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. The firm says loan modifications were successful in delaying the inevitable foreclosure. But homes that have been stuck in that neverland of somewhere between delinquency and repossession are now winding their way through the foreclosure pipeline at a quicker pace and will soon come out the other end as a short sale or REO.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray's lawsuit against Barclays Capital Real Estate, dba HomEq Servicing, just took a legal step forward with a recent decision by a state court. This week, a Montgomery County judge overruled the defendant's motion to dismiss, clearing the way for Cordray's case to move forward, and the attorney general says, setting the stage for servicers to be held legally responsible for their actions in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis.

Distressed homeowners looking for a way out of their mortgage that doesn't involve foreclosure may find relief is on the way from a new bill introduced in the U.S. House. Lenders have taken a lot of heat for elongated short sale timelines, with stories coming in from the field that potential buyers have walked away because they can't get an approval on a short sale price. The legislation would impose a deadline on lenders to respond to short sale requests, requiring them to return an answer within 45 days.

Mortgage insurer Genworth Financial saved almost $4.8 billion in mortgages from foreclosure in the 12 months ending June 30, 2010. These statistics represent a nearly 80 percent increase from the same period last year. More than half of total mortgage dollars saved were the result of the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Genworth reports that it completed more than 30,000 mortgage workouts nationwide during the period via its homeowner assistance program.

California's notice of default filings, the first step in the state's foreclosure process, rose for the fourth successive month in August, jumping another 16.6 percent, according to the locally based tracking firm ForeclosureRadar. The company's latest data on the Golden State also show that fewer distressed homeowners are finding foreclosure relief, with cancellations down and foreclosure sales up. ForeclosureRadar has also expanded its coverage starting this month to include data on Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

Fannie Mae recently issued a new servicing guide regarding pre-foreclosure mediation for mortgage loans in Florida. Last December, the Florida Supreme Court issued an administrative order requiring mediation sessions before a summary judgment or foreclosure sale can be held. In adherence to this mandate, Fannie Mae will now require that servicers assign delinquent mortgage loans secured by properties in Florida to an attorney from Fannie Mae's retained network for mediation prior to the initiation of foreclosure proceedings.

Housing conditions continued to show signs of stabilizing during the second quarter, following a downward trend that began to reverse itself in mid-2009, HUD says in a new report. The federal agency immediately follows that assessment, though, with ""the housing market's recovery remains fragile."" HUD's quarterly commentary on the state of housing in the U.S. sums up a dichotomy of positives and negatives in market indicators. For example, sales and prices of existing homes rose in Q2, but fell for new homes.

Nearly 31,000 borrowers with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans forfeited their homes through a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure during the second quarter of this year. The figure represents a 27 percent increase over the previous three-month period. The GSEs also reported that their volume of permanent modifications under the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) increased 65 percent, but at the same time, foreclosure starts and foreclosure sales were also up by double digits.