Foreclosure

Bank of America said Tuesday that it is stepping up efforts to help distressed homeowners before they fall into foreclosure, with plans to double its borrower outreach staff in 2011, open new regional homeowner assistance centers, and increase collaboration with nonprofit housing counselors. But company officials warned shareholders that same morning that BofA's $1 trillion portfolio of problem assets -- loans that are already delinquent and those risky home lending products that the company has taken off the shelf -- will take three years to work through.

Ninety-four percent of Realtors surveyed by the California Association of Realtors participated in a short sale transaction during 2010, demonstrating the growing presence of short sale listings in today's distressed real estate environment. Despite increased market interest in the short sale as an alternative to foreclosure, the survey found that fewer than three out of five actually close in California. The trade group says this fact illustrates ""the complexity and difficulty of navigating lenders' and servicers' short sale procedures.""

The robo-signing settlement presented to servicers by government agencies and attorneys general last week features 27 pages of rules and regulations. Though the details of the settlement have been released to the public, they are in no way final and will go through many rounds of negotiations before government officials and servicers can come to an agreement. There is speculation that reaching a resolution will be a daunting task, but officials are hoping the process will be complete in the next two months.

Members of the House Financial Services Committee are advocating for the termination of federal foreclosure relief programs largely based on the argument that their cost outweighs the benefits. Committee members are scheduled to vote on bills ending the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) on Wednesday. Information provided by the Congressional Research Service indicates that the price tag for the government's foreclosure mitigation programs will come in well below earlier estimates.

The continuing depreciation of residential property values at the end of last year has made housing look more undervalued relative to income than ever before, according to analysts at the research firm Capital Economics. Based on industry home price data, the company says in the fourth quarter, housing was 15-21 percent undervalued as measured against individuals' disposable income. That gap has widened from just three months earlier, and the analysts say more forced sales of foreclosed properties will push prices even lower.

McCalla Raymer LLC, a Georgia-based provider of real estate and mortgage banking legal services, announced Monday that it has officially opened a new office in Panama City, Florida. The firm announced its expansion into the Florida market in early February. The new Panama City location is McCalla Raymer's third opening in the state. It also has offices in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

Recent data released by FNC reveals that 2008 and 2009 were the worst in terms of market distress, with more than 25 percent of foreclosed properties liquidated at a more than 40 percent discount. The data reveals that since then, only the bottom quartile of foreclosure sales have been so discounted. The remaining 75 percent has seen modest improvement. The company says the way it measured the data used for the study gives a more precise look at the impact of discounts in distressed areas.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested documents and information from Ocwen Financial related to its loan servicing activities as part of a civil investigation, the company said in its annual regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Florida-based specialty loan servicer, which focuses on bringing highly distressed loans back to performing status, is the latest mark in a number of investigations by government agencies targeting the mortgage servicing industry.

While both the House and Senate seem to have similar ideas - that changes in foreclosure prevention are needed, and fast - the groups seem to have completely different takes on how to achieve those changes. This week members of a House committee reviewed proposals advocating for the termination of four foreclosure prevention programs and voted to send two of those proposals to the full House. Meanwhile, senators sent a letter to several government agencies, urging them to modify the very programs the House will consider terminating.

With 305,000 California borrowers receiving notices of default and more than 170,000 families losing their homes to foreclosure in 2010, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) are again pushing for legislation that would help prevent what they deem as ""wrongful foreclosures."" Their California Homeowner Protection Act would require that borrowers be given a decision on a loan modification before the foreclosure process can begin.