Posts Tagged ‘Mortgages’

Foreclosures are gobbling up exclusive towns – not even the sophisticated exclusive ones like Nantucket, Edgartown and Weston. This shows that the foreclosure debacle in Massachusetts is going further downhill. Today some the richest towns are being bitten by the foreclosure bug. The sky jump in these areas is more than the average of the state.

Massachusetts’s foreclosures have risen by 37% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2007. The exclusive zones of the state have caught up late with the foreclosure crisis. The buyers who purchased ritzy villas or gated accommodations in the exclusive zip codes are now struggling to meet mortgage payments like the others in the state. This is further weakening the economy and causing real estate markets to tumble. There are no boundaries anymore. Foreclosure the great leveler is hard at work. Jeremy Shapiro opines that ‘communities rich and poor, urban and suburban and rural are all being impacted.’

In the forefront are towns with triple digit jumps – Belmont, Oak Bluffs and Nahant with 200%, 217% and 240% spikes respectively. Many rich suburban towns are also entering the club of Bay State communities of 25 members where the foreclosure rates have doubled. On the islands foreclosure numbers skyrocketed in Edgartown, Tisbury and Nantucket by 100%, 150% and 113% respectively. In some of the fancy western suburbs there were dramatic increases in foreclosures. In Medfield, Boxboro and Weston it increased by 114%, 144% and 138% respectively.

With the sliding down of the general economy and especially the real estate market even the wealthy are finding it difficult to wiggle out of the foreclosure net. To add insult to injury there are numerous job losses. The alternative of selling the house and escaping the ignominy of foreclosure is no longer available. The loan amount, more often than not, is greater than the fallen value of the mortgaged property. At the root of the problem is the real estate slump.

There is talk that those investing in real estate might avail of a rare opportunity on student rentals in Boston. In the two neighbourhoods of Allston and Fenway, packed with students, 518 apartments and 24 properties are up for grabs. The sale of so many is raising eyebrows. With rents at an all time high it is feared that the investors are out to put on the squeeze taking advantage of foreclosed victims searching for houses.

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The number of foreclosed houses in Prince William County has gone up by double since 2007. It points to the worsening of the real estate crisis. According to land records office figures, 306 units were taken back by the bank in February. In the previous year the number was les by 140. In Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William County the foreclosures rose by 89% during the first two months of 2008 as compared to the same period in 2007. The number of defaults are also rising and soaring. In 2007 there were 3,344 foreclosures, 282 in 2006 and 52 in 2005. Real estate agent Carolyn Capalbo says that there is no slowing down.

In North Virginia Prince William had the highest number of foreclosures with 5.5% of all the houses having entered the foreclosure danger zone. Loudon County came second with 2.8% of the total number of houses sliding into foreclosure. The report was published by George Mason University. Last year the rate for the Washington Metro area was 1.7% high from October to December.

One of the major causes for the high foreclosure rate in Prince William is that a large part of the population consists of Hispanic immigrants. They had dreams which have now turned to nightmares. There are many other causes like predatory lending, job losses especially in the construction sector, and the aggressive anti immigrant policies being pursued. As the mortgage rates continue to rise there are more foreclosures in the offing and the trend will continue in all probability. Spring and summer are usually the seasons when people buy houses but now it is for losing properties.

Local government kitties are in serious difficulty because the property taxes are not being paid. While a house is in foreclosure taxes are not paid – they are paid when the dispute is settled.
Corey A. Stewart of Prince William Board says he views the situation as a short term problem – something that comes in cyclical order. The bust has to follow a boom. The bust of course is the most severe in recent memory but the cycle is bound to pass. That is the silver lining. In fact it has given a rest and pause from the frenetic housing activity that had been going on during the past few years. The market will surely correct itself. The issue is affordable housing.

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The New Year began on a bitter note: foreclosures jumped by over 100% in comparison to what it was in January 2007. Localized credit counseling agencies are becoming more active.
Consumer Credit Counseling Service is a non-profit organization that is reaching out to those in need of help in six counties of California including Ventura. It will hold sessions for free both in English and Spanish to establish contact with all communities affected by the debacle. The first morning session in English will be followed by another in Spanish in the premises of Camarillo offices, on Wood Road near Camarillo airport. Another similar group is Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation. It held similar sessions that had drawn over 100 participants. Both groups are planning to continue with more workshops and seminars.

Cabrillo has received $167,462 for its NeighborWorks Home Ownership Center, from a federal source that has been of late approved by the Congress. Demands for their services are going up and they are gearing themselves to meet it. Their spokesperson comments that the good work is beginning to show and changing the lives of the local people who want to continue to stay in the houses that are their homes.

Counseling is just one of the many measures taken up to stem foreclosures that are sucking dry not only the real estate market and telling on the economy. The sub-prime mortgage with adjustable rate mortgages was introduced to help those who could not avail of prime mortgages because of modest income and low credit ratings. The laudable purpose of the scheme was to make real the great American dream of owning a house fore everybody. Unfortunately the plan went awry. Hunting for quick returns and high commissions, speculators and agents jumped in flush with funds. All one needed was a pulse to get a loan sanctioned. This led to a frenzy of building causing spikes in the real estate. Unfortunately what goes up comes down. The people could not manage with the mortgages once the rates became realistic and began to rise. Like nine pins the houses rolled into foreclosures. The business concerns seeing the fall simply ran away from a bad deal leaving more abandoned houses. Divorce and illness too coupled with localized economic problems too had their say in the matter. A tsunami of foreclosures took over the country dragging down in its wake the entire nation.

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One can hear the clink of the sword – it is expected to be brandished any moment. The Bush administration has come to an understanding with jumbo lenders and a freeze will be announced for five years. These are the lines of expectation. No details are as yet available.

The reaction to the news in Detroit even without official confirmation is positive. At least the government is doing something. In Michigan the foreclosure problem is exacerbated with unemployment issues –7.7% unemployed. It is the highest in the nation. This point alone will determine how effective other palliative efforts on foreclosures will be. The problem is jobs. Let the people have jobs and foreclosures will automatically be arrested – is the view of many.
In Lansing the state legislature passed a law lowering fixed rate loans but it is unsure what its fate will be in the Senate. Lately Washington has been showing increasing interest. The Federal Housing Administration has been modernized. It can raise more amounts for lending purposes and stringent laws have been passed to rope in predatory lending. Democrat Debbie Stabenow from Michigan has brought another proposal for waiving taxes on those mortgages that are settled for less the original value of the loan. Stabenow rues the slow pace of action because it is speed that is of vital importance in this matter. The delay is also being questioned. Some want quick fixes while others decry hasty action might lead to more foreclosures. Republican Walberg voted against a law that would curb aggressive lending saying that this would result in less money being available for loans, which would have an adverse effect on the entire market. However he clarified that he was in general for regulating the industry. This is especially required in Michigan that has no controls over agents.

An appropriation bill is most likely to be passed for sanctioning $200 million to non-profit organizations engaged in foreclosure counseling. Counselors play a key role in resolving the delicate issue of bringing together borrowers and lenders to thrash out matters amicably.
Meanwhile everyone is waiting with bated breath for the final announcement by Bush. The President has always harped on the fact that the taxpayer’s money should not be used to bail out those who had made lousy loans. It leaves many questions unanswered – who are going to benefit and how are the lenders going to react?

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New Jersey realtors are now more accessible to clients – thanks to their turning more than never before to the Internet and like devices. This is on the basis of a survey started by National Association of Realtors, on behalf of New Jersey Association of Realtors (NJAR). The Survey reveals the activities and demographic leanings of the realtor group.

As elsewhere, the real estate industry too is constantly changing. Change means a shift in needs and expectations of clients. Realtors are swiftly adapting to the change by turning to the Internet and mobile phones. Users of web sites increased from 49% in 2005 to 84% in 2006. The use of the website of NAR, REALTOR.com has shot up from 52% in 2005 to 89% in 2006. 91% use e-mail showing an increase of 81% from 2005.
Cell phone usage has also increased and is up by 10%.
Realtors are going for advertising in newspapers in a big way. The numbers rose from 9% in 2005 to 28% in 2006.

About 93% of real estate firms (56% in New Jersey) have their own web sites. Most of them use the sites to host hot news on the community, its demographics, reports on schools, mortgages, and financial weather – making it a virtual tour. Most of the sites have links to state and local governments, lenders, mortgage and other real estate service providers.

New Jersey realtors work for about 40 hours per week and earn $41,200 on an average. This can be compared with the national number of $47,700. The typical New Jersey realtor has been at his job for nine years – this being two more than the national average. Most (about 95%) are confident that they will hold on with vigour for another two years.
According to the survey the realtors are very well educated. The NAR and its sister institutions award professional designation. To earn it the realtors are expected to complete courses, which will groom them to serve clients in a particular field of the real estate business in an improved manner.

These findings are on the base of a questionnaire, which NAR circulated via the mail on January 2007 to 70,000 realtors, picking at random. The same set was distributed to another 70,000 through the Internet. 10, 774 replies were received of which 147 were rejected. Thus the response rate was 4.9%.

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It seemed as if a big party on. Cars rolled in on a foggy Sunday April morning in downtown Riverside. Men in tuxedos guided the traffic. Now that was unusual! People shopping for real estate bargains tumbled out in dockers, sandals and shorts. Don’t let the casual dress code divert your attention. These were all serious shoppers with pockets bursting with cash and checks – perhaps to the tune of millions of dollars.

Who were they? There were investors from San Diego on the look out for an inexpensive property to rent out. Some were novices from Fontana hoping to save a whopping $200,000 on a family unit. Many others came in droves for auction sales of foreclosed houses. California has not seen the likes of this type in decades. On this particular day, two lenders had put 100 properties on the dock. 93 had been sold off before the end of the day. Most of the properties were in fast growing ex-urban and desert areas on Riverside and San Bernardino Counties lying to the east of Los Angeles.

Till the other day the company holding the auction had been a nonentity in the field. Bu during the last few months when mortgages fell and foreclosures rose many lenders brought them back to business from hibernation. It was well worth it. They sold 265 properties in San Diego, Los Angeles and Riverside during only two May weekends. Upbeat, they are planning a repeat performance in Sacramento, Modesto, Atlanta and the Bay region, this summer. The spokesperson of this company described this as ‘counter-cyclical business’ but he refused to disclose the names of the banks involved. He admitted that in some cases the properties were sold for less than what were due in terms of loan. It was a gathering of rain and shine for what was one man’s meat was poison for another. The losers were none to happy but they would rather face losses quickly than linger on it with no hope in sight.

The tuxedo boys were not only outside conducting traffic but also inside the convention answering and guiding people around. In the opposite hall there were 41 loan and 25 escrow officers. Speakers were loud on the soundtrack. Extra chairs were wheeled in. From the bonhomie at the party it did not seem that the process of auctioning foreclosures in California is usually painstaking and time consuming.

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If borrowers with less-than-stellar credit scores look in unexpected places, their efforts can yield pleasant returns.

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If you are looking at buying your first home or are expanding your investment portfolio then looking at Charlotte NC bank foreclosures is the place to look.

Charlotte NC bank foreclosures provide the consumer with an ample selection of properties to choose from as they are in desperate need to recover the money they have lost due to the default of the homeowner.

People look into bank foreclosures mainly because of the bargain prices that are being offered. Saving money is the real motivation behind anything that is done in today’s world. Especially in a time of sky-rocketing fuel prices and major jumps in interest rates, people are finding it harder to maintain a type of revenue that will also include their mortgage payments and end up defaulting due to no fault of their own, but the financial position they find themselves in.

This means that because of the abundance of homes that are on the market due to bank foreclosure, Charlotte NC bank foreclosures can offer you a home at a reduced price which leads to more money in your pocket for the other things like a car, a holiday, or any other things that you have been wanting to do.

There are basically three options when buying a bank foreclose home through Charlotte NC bank foreclosures there is pre-foreclosure, which is the best time for you to get involved as it creates a win-win opportunity for both the homeowner and the lender, and as a result you have within reach a chance to own a piece of real estate. You might wonder why I say it is a win-win opportunity, this is because it gets the current home-owner out of financial trouble, and the lender avoids a bad loan. The other two options that you might have when looking at buying a home through Charlotte NC bank foreclosures are trustee sales (where you contact the trustee of Charlotte NC bank foreclosures and negotiate with them a price in which the lender and you are happy with) and foreclosure auctions, where the house will go at whatever the successful bid is.

Also, if you are looking at a financial gain in purchasing a home through Charlotte NC bank foreclosures, you can make a quick profit in the mean time by searching for bank foreclosure listings that will be able to provide something in which you can obtain at well below the market value.

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