Foreclosure

A drop in homebuyer activity following the contract deadline for the federal tax credit helped trigger a noticeable decline in home prices between May and June, according to a study by Campbell Surveys. The company found that prices fell in three out of four property categories last month. Average prices tumbled by 6.8 percent for move-in ready foreclosed properties, 6.3 percent for short sales, and 4.6 percent for non-distressed properties. In contrast, prices for damaged foreclosed properties increased by 5.9 percent.

Habitat for Humanity International and the National Community Stabilization Trust have announced a new national partnership to help turn foreclosed and abandoned houses into affordable Habitat for Humanity homes. Through the Stabilization Trust's national Property Acquisition Program, the two-year partnership will give Habitat affiliates the opportunity to purchase foreclosed and abandoned properties from participating financial institutions on a ""first look"" basis, before the properties are broadly marketed and listed for sale.

The number of California homeowners entering foreclosure dropped to its lowest level in three years during the second quarter of 2010, according to MDA DataQuick. Lenders filed a total of 70,051 notices of default (NODs) with county recorder offices during the April-to-June period. DataQuick says its the lowest total the company has reported since the second quarter of 2007, when 53,943 NODs were filed. The company says price rebounds, motivated sellers, and accommodating lenders have played a role in bringing default filings down.

Chase is continuing its eight-city tour to provide targeted, face-to-face mortgage assistance for borrowers who may be facing foreclosure. From Friday, July 23 to Friday July 30, a team of the bank's loan advisors will be setting up shop in downtown Washington, D.C. at the Mayflower, Renaissance Hotel to counsel struggling homeowners and help them find the right solution for their financial situations.

Renters who find themselves indirect victims of foreclosure were not forgotten in the financial reform legislation. The Dodd-Frank bill will extend the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) through the end of 2014. PFTA provides renters whose landlords have lost their properties to foreclosure the right to stay in the home for 90 days after the foreclosure or through the term of their lease. The legislation also includes a provision that requires the HUD secretary to develop a program to refinance troubled multifamily mortgages.

The new financial reform legislation provides an additional $1 billion for HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) - a nationwide initiative aimed at alleviating the effects of the foreclosure crisis on communities that are riddled with abandoned properties. In some cities, take a drive down any one street and you'll find three or more homes that have been boarded up and in some cases, commandeered by squatters and turned into havens for criminal activity. NSP was launched to address this very issue by allowing local and state government's to take back their cities and eliminate blight.

The number of foreclosures started by lenders in Massachusetts during the month of June decreased from a year earlier, the second straight month that petitions to foreclose have declined, according to a new report by the Boston-based research firm the Warren Group. But despite the drop in foreclosures initiated, the number of completed foreclosures more than doubled from a year earlier as lenders there work through heavy backlogs.

Bank of America Home Loans announced Wednesday that it has opened a new customer outreach center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in order to better serve financially troubled homeowners in the South Florida area. This is the second customer outreach center the bank has opened this week. As DSNews.com previously reported, Bank of America announced Monday that it opened a new help center in Dedham, Massachusetts.

Included in the Treasury's latest installment of the Home Affordable Modification Program's (HAMP) monthly progress report is a new section detailing the performance of loans permanently modified. The report says the redefault rate for homeowners that have been in permanent modifications for at least six months is 1.7 percent. In commentary published Wednesday, analysts at Barclays Capital took issue with the Treasury's calculations, primarily because trial cancellations are not factored into the equation.

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) convenes its 63rd National Convention as economic volatility, high foreclosure rates, and continued unemployment contribute further to the already-precarious conditions of the nation's housing marketplace. Meeting July 29 through August 4, at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, conference attendees are expected to discuss innovative approaches and cross-sector strategies that can be employed to rebuild confidence in the nation's housing market, and at the same time protect financially-distressed homeowners.