Foreclosure

Despite recent negative information about the job market in the United States, a report issued by Foreclosurelistings.com last week shows the housing market is beginning to exhibit some signs of improvement.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) wants to ensure the growing population of jobless Americans don’t fall victim to foreclosure. At a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Thursday – a committee which Frank chairs – he pushed for another $6.

Kansas Attorney General Steve Six is taking legal action to stop mortgage rescue companies that he says are preying on homeowners in his state facing foreclosure. This week, Six launched an initiative called Operation Homestead with the filing of five lawsuits.

Reflecting continued weakness in the housing sector, delinquencies in the home equity category reached record-high levels during the first three months of the year, according to the quarterly Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin issued by the American Bankers Association (ABA) this week.

The city of Baltimore launched a relentless campaign back in January of last year against one of the nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo. Baltimore is suing Wells Fargo under the Fair Housing Act for reverse redlining, meaning the bank allegedly targeted black neighborhoods in Baltimore for predatory residential mortgage loans.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has awarded more than $682,000 to 25 local and state Realtor associations across the country through its Foreclosure Prevention and Response grant program. The grants help Realtor boards develop and fund local foreclosure deterrence initiatives.

BA Urban Solutions LLC, a nationwide minority-owned REO asset management company headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, recently unveiled an initiative that aims to bring homeownership back to urban communities through a network of industry alliances.

The Atlanta-based real estate default law firm of Rubin Lublin, LLC has announced the hiring of Erica Malcom. Malcom will join the firm as an associate attorney working within the title department. Managing Partner Glen Rubin, commented, Erica makes a strong addition to Rubin Lublin.

New research released last week by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, suggests that a novel phenomenon is at hand in the fallout of today’s housing crisis – strategic default on mortgage loans.

Appraisal practices have taken center stage lately with the roll out of the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) by the GSEs. And now, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has raised its own concerns over valuations of foreclosures, REOs, and short sales.