USA Foreclosures 101

Investors: The Key To The Housing Recovery

A story in the Chicago Tribune, dated March 20 2012, poses an interesting question in regards to the housing market and the potential of private investors in helping along the recovery. The story opens by referencing a former employee of a New York-based private equity firm who left his company in order to start a real estate business. Dan Madger has begun purchasing foreclosed homes at reduced prices and making them available on the rental … Continue reading →

Income Gained From Sale Of Foreclosed Homes Up For Taxation

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act expires on the 31st of December 2012, and since short sales take a minimum of six months to complete, the income gained from the selling of a foreclosed home could be, once again, eligible for taxation. Millions of homeowners are now facing this grim reality because previously the income gained from the sale of a house undergoing foreclosure was tax-free, but after this year this won’t be the case … Continue reading →

The Government’s Continued Culpability In Foreclosure Mess

Check your favorite news feed about stories on foreclosures in the US and you will most likely see the vast majority focusing on bank practices and illegal foreclosure proceedings. That’s likely to be fueled even more by the HUD report released yesterday indicating alleged widespread fraudulent activity among many of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders. That report is suspect to begin with, but even so, we still are not hearing a whole lot about the … Continue reading →

Abuse Of Foreclosures Increasing Across America

According to experts and officials who have conducted research across America, foreclosure abuse is now becoming rampant. This story comes out of a report conducted by the California city of San Francisco which revealed that foreclosure abuse was widespread. Of the 400 foreclosures which were audited for the report, 84% of them were apparently illegal. Many experts are now assuming that the figures revealed in San Francisco are also reflective of the true state of … Continue reading →

New York Joins Other States To Move Foreclosures Along

Frustrated by long delays and the seeming inability of mortgage lenders to complete the loan modification process, New York State’s courts are adopting new procedures that would allow judges to exercise more control over individual foreclosures. The measures are expected to help speed up the foreclosure process by forcing lenders to either modify loans according to the law or complete the foreclosure altogether. New York joins 19 other states taking similar measures to help bring … Continue reading →

New Jersey Ruling Opens Door For Foreclosures To Proceed

In the state of New Jersey, home foreclosures have been virtually stalled since a court ruling a couple of years ago in which a Lakewood couple was able to forestall proceedings against them because court documents did not contain the name of the mortgage owner. Instead, only the name and address of the servicing company was listed, prompting the couple to claim in court that the documents were inaccurate and essentially illegal. However, last January … Continue reading →

Foreclosures On The Rise Among Wealthy

During the last few months of 2011 we were treated to nightly reports about the Occupy Wall Street movement and its offspring around the country. One of the chief complaints coming from the occupiers is their perception that the wealthy keep getting wealthier off the backs of the poor. The “One Percenters,” the occupiers allege, are making life miserable for the rest of the country by stealing all the wealth. If you sympathize with the … Continue reading →

Foreclosures And The Future

When the housing market suffered a dramatic hit in 2007, foreclosures in Washtenaw County, Michigan went up by roughly 65%, with thousands forced to go through the foreclosure process each year. But the devastating effect of foreclosures in Washtenaw County is not just confined to this area because this could be a precursor to the continuation of foreclosures in other declining areas like Detroit. However, some states should take notice of Michigan’s decision to introduce … Continue reading →

Foreclosure Sales Slow, But Not For Long

Foreclosure listing company RealtyTrac Inc. has released new data showing that the number of foreclosure properties sold in 2011 was the lowest since 2008. They reported a little more than 907,000 such sales including homes that were already foreclosed upon and others in-process. That number represents more than 23% of all sales for the year. By way of comparison, US foreclosure sales reached their highest point in 2009 at a rate of about 37% of … Continue reading →

Foreclosure Problems Not Entirely The Fault Of Banks

If nothing else, the recent settlement between 49 state attorneys general and five of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders has exposed many weaknesses in the current system of mortgage lending and foreclosures. However, it’s important that both consumers and the media refrain from jumping on the banks and blaming them exclusively. They certainly do own their fair share of the blame here, but we cannot leave out the responsibility of consumers and the federal government. … Continue reading →