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Author Archives: Esther Cho

Illinois Governor Signs Bill to Extend Act Providing Grace Period

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill Thursday extending a state law that provides a grace period of up to 90 days for homeowners facing foreclosure. More specifically, the act provides homeowners with a grace period of up to 90 days when homeowners who are facing foreclosure seek housing counseling.

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HOPE NOW Reports 70K Mods in April, 59K Foreclosure Sales

Nearly 70,000 homeowners received permanent loan modifications in April, while foreclosure sales stood at 59,000 for the month, according to data from HOPE NOW, an alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, mortgage insurers, and nonprofit counselors. Since 2007, 6.39 million struggling homeowners have received permanent modifications, HOPE NOW reported. Completed short sales reached 27,000 in April--a slight adjustment from 28,000 in March.

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Bay State Foreclosures Continue to Plummet

Foreclosure petitions, which signal the first step in the foreclosure process in Massachusetts, totaled 248 last month, which is the lowest level since 2006 when the Warren Group first began tracking foreclosure data. Foreclosure deeds, or completed foreclosures, fell 68 percent to 251 in May compared to 796 a year ago.

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Survey: 60% of Homeowners Planning Summer Improvement Project

For homeowners who are stuck in their home due to negative equity or a lack of inventory, summer home improvement projects are a way to make the most out of current surroundings, according to Zillow. In a recent survey from Zillow Digs, 60 percent of respondents said they are planning a home improvement project this summer. Out of the different age groups, younger homeowners (18- to 34-year-olds) were more likely to plan a home improvement project for the summer, with 71 percent falling into this category.

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International House Hunters Maintain Activity in U.S. Market

While the level of search activity from international house hunters changed little year-over-year, Trulia found trends are changing among foreigners who shop for homes in the U.S. Among the home searches conducted on Trulia from April 2012 to March 2013, search activity from internationals accounted for 4.3 percent of all searches, down slightly from 4.4 percent a year ago.

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RealtyTrac: 1 in 5 Foreclosures Vacated by Owner

As the foreclosure process drags on in certain states, sometimes the homeowner will beat the lender and leave before a foreclosure sale date is set. According to RealtyTrac's estimate, 167,680 properties in foreclosure have been abandoned by their owner. The total represents 20 percent of all foreclosures. Adding to this total are the more than 540,000 banked-owned properties still waiting to be sold to a third party.

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Settlement Monitor: Servicers Need to Address Loan Mod, SPOC Issues

After testing compliance among the five servicers part of the $25 billion national mortgage settlement, monitor Joseph A. Smith concluded more work needs to be done since issues with the loan modification process, providing a single point of contact, and customer records still persist. Under the settlement, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Ally Financial agreed to adopt some 300 servicing standards. To verify compliance with the servicing standards, the monitor retained outside firms to test the servicers in 29 metrics.

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