Government

In a ruling handed down Friday afternoon, Judge Clark Waddoups of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah sided with Bank of America and overturned a Utah county judge's earlier decision that barred the nation's largest mortgage servicer from carrying out foreclosure sales in the state. Waddoups issued a court order that stated: ""The preliminary injunction of May 22, 2010 issued by the Utah state court is hereby DISSOLVED in its entirety.""

With short sales on the rise, mortgage fraud scams involving these transactions may be following the same trend. In fact, two former Connecticut real estate agents, Sergio Natera and Anna McElaney, recently pled guilty to bank fraud stemming from their involvement in a short sale mortgage fraud scheme. According to court documents, Natera and McElaney worked together to defraud various banks, including Regions Bank, Wells Fargo, and other financial institutions by means of ""materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.""

With census forms still missing from roughly 48 million households across the country, the U.S. Census Bureau is expanding its outreach efforts. As evidence of this, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported that brokers and agents have been contacted by Census workers requesting information about the occupants of properties for which they may be providing real estate services. The question now: Are real estate professionals obligated to provide such information?

Economic activity nationwide is showing signs of improvement, according to the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book, although the pace of growth in most parts of the country was described as ""modest."" The report shows residential real estate activity in many of the 12 Fed districts was buoyed by the April deadline for the homebuyer tax credit, but demand has already begun to pull back in May. Commercial real estate remains weak, the Fed said, and only a few districts noted a small increase in lending.

In its May monthly Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) report to Congress Friday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that TARP repayments to taxpayers have, for the first time, surpassed the total amount of TARP funds outstanding. Treasury's report showed that, through the end of the May, TARP repayments had reached a total of $194 billion, which exceeded the total amount of TARP funds outstanding ($190 billion) by $4 billion.

In a near unanimous vote of 406 to 4 Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill intended to replenish the coffers of the federal agency that insures mortgages against default. The legislation grants the Federal Housing Administration the authority to nearly triple borrowers' annual premium cap, from the current rate of 0.55 percent, to as high as 1.50 percent. The federal mortgage insurer says this will generate an estimated $300 million a month in additional receipts, while costing the average FHA borrower $42 more in monthly premiums.

Condo Terminators, a specialty consulting group of Morningside Mortgage Corporation, in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, has completed the filing process for what the company says is Florida's first mass short sale of a failed condominium conversion. The company says this project is expected to lead a wave of ""condominium terminations,"" resulting in mass short sales of failed condominiums and reversions to apartment buildings.

The collapse of the housing market and the sharp rise in unemployment have caused the U.S. homeownership rate to fall to 67.2 percent -- essentially a reversion to the level of 10 years ago. A new report by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York warns that the rate is likely to drop even lower, as homeowners with negative equity decide the benefits of renting outweigh the costs of homeownership.

In an effort to make homeownership a real possibility for residents across the state, Idaho Housing and Finance Association has launched a new product for creditworthy borrowers through its IdaMortage program. According to the association, the new Affordable Advantage Loan offers a down payment as low as $1,000 and has a low-cost, 30-year fixed interest rate. In addition, the loan has no mortgage insurance requirement, saving qualified borrowers money on their mortgage payment every month.

In order to provide further assistance to Maine homeowners at risk of foreclosure, the Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection signed a contract Monday with the Washington Hancock Community Agency, adding a ninth certified housing counseling service to the list of nonprofit agencies currently under contract around the state. According to Will Lund, superintendent of the Bureau, there is a definite need for housing counselors in Washington and Hancock counties, as more than 1,000 residents in these areas defaulted on their mortgages in the last year alone.