Foreclosure

Why Putting the Brakes on Foreclosures Won’t Stop the Crash California did it. Massachusetts and Maryland did it, too. So did Fannie and Freddie. Florida and Ohio are talking about doing it. The sheriff of Wayne County, Michigan, didn’t wait around for a vote: He did it himself.

Foreclosure activity in February increased nearly six percent from the month before, according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released on Thursday. The gain comes despite widespread foreclosure moratoria instituted by the GSEs and some of the nation’s largest lenders during the first part of the year.

As inventories of foreclosed homes swell, home builders across the country, particularly in the Sun Belt states hit hardest by the housing crisis, are pitted against REO properties for sales. Steve Ruffner, president of the Southern California division of new home builder KB Home, recently told the Wall Street Journal:http://online.

The Ohio Legislature has introduced several bills aimed at fighting the foreclosure crisis in the state. Ohio has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. Residential foreclosures in the Buckeye State were ranked the 10th highest in the nation in RealtyTrac’s latest market report, with one in every 452 homes receiving a foreclosure filing in January.

Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF), a national organization that provides capital to nonprofit community development lenders through its secondary market for loans, recently announced a new foreclosure remediation program for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward D. Rendell announced on Monday an emergency executive action= intended to provide immediate relief to struggling homeowners in the state. The governor is directing $5 million in state funding to be used for mortgage assistance to ensure that recently unemployed workers can keep their homes while they are retraining and finding new jobs, the governor’s office said in a press statement.

An auction of foreclosed homes in New York City was picketed by a group of two dozen protesters on Sunday. The auction of more than 375 foreclosed homes was put on by Real Estate Disposition Corp. (REDC), and was only the second event the company has held in the Big Apple.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Mortgage Delinquency Survey for 2008 on Thursday, which showed that Americans fell behind on their mortgages and banks seized homes at a record pace in the fourth quarter of last year.

On Thursday, Freddie Mac announced the official launch of its new REO Rental Initiative, giving qualified tenants and former owners the option to lease their recently foreclosed properties on a month-to-month basis.

Foreclosure.com, based on Boca Raton, Florida, announced that it has doubled the size of its agent services department in response to high volume and demand for programs that help connect buyers and sellers in the distressed real estate marketplace.