CNN Money
On Thursday, federal and state officials announced a $26 billion foreclosure settlement with five of the largest home lenders. California is expected to receive approximately $12 billion in principal write-downs, including through short sales, over the next three years, according to the state attorney general’s office.
Making sense of the story
- The deal settles potential state charges about allegations of improper foreclosures based on robo-signing, seizures made without proper paperwork.
- The settlement sets up a federal monitor to oversee the process and try to prevent the challenges that tripped up many homeowners seeking help in earlier programs designed to address the housing crisis.
- Most of the relief will go to those who are underwater on their homes. That relief will come over the course of the next three years, with banks having incentives to provide most of the relief in the next 12 months.
- At least $17 billion will go to reducing the principal owed by homeowners who are underwater and behind on their mortgages.
- Up to 750,000 other underwater homeowners who are current on their mortgages will be able to refinance their current loans at lower rates. They will not receive a reduction in principal, but with mortgage rates near record lows, they could receive substantial savings on their monthly payments.
- Approximately $1.5 billion will go to homeowners who had their homes foreclosed upon between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2011, and who meet other criteria. They will receive up to $2,000 each.
- The five mortgage servicers that are parties to the settlement include Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC).
Read the full story
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/09/news/economy/mortgage_settlement/index.htm?hpt=hp_t1
San Diego Union-Tribune
The number of loan servicers taking part in a state mortgage-aid program continues to grow roughly one year after its launch. The Keep Your Home California program now has 55 participating mortgage servicers, up from 21 in June.
Read the full story
http://utsandiego.com/news/2012/jan/10/more-lenders-added-calif-mortgage-aid-program/
The California Dept. of Real Estate recently issued the following practical advice to prevent consumers from falling victim to a scam:
- Never pay an upfront fee for loan modification services. Such fees are illegal.
- Watch out for promises of guaranteed success. No one can promise that a loan modification will be successful.
- Ask questions, get referrals from people you know and trust, and always remember the following: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is not true.
- Contact a HUD-approved counseling agency that can provide loan modification services for free.
- If you have been a victim of a loan modification scam, report it to the DRE, the FTC and the Attorney General.
Beginning Dec. 7, Fannie Mae will launch the HomePath Online Offers Program to collect offers and manage the offer-submission process on properties listed on HomePath.com. Agents and brokers representing buyers are now required to submit offers exclusively on HomePath.com. All properties listed in California and Florida are eligible on the designated launch date.
The HomePath Online Offers Program is designed to ease and create transparency during the offer submission process with the following features:
An easy to use, self-service offer submission system that can be assessed through HomePath.com
A transparent offer process that keeps Selling Agents informed of the status of their clients’ offers on HomePath properties listed on HomePath.com
Improved communication between the Selling Agent and the Listing Agent regarding offers on HomePath properties listed on HomePath.com
http://www.homepath.com/offerQuestion.html
Home values nationwide showed minimal monthly appreciation in August 2011, according to the Zillow Real Estate Market Report. The Zillow Home Value Index increased 0.1 percent from July to August. On a year-over-year basis, home values declined 4.5 percent to $172,600. Home values have fallen 28.3 percent since they peaked in June 2006. Regionally, 68 of the 157 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) covered by Zillow experienced monthly home value appreciation, though minimal in many areas. The foreclosure liquidation rate, which measures the number of homes lost to the bank, stayed steady at around 9.2 out of every 10,000 homes foreclosed in August. This is down from the rate of 10.9 out of every 10,000 homes in October 2010, before the robo-signing lawsuits slowed the pace of foreclosures in most states. However, foreclosure liquidations remained high in many of the hardest-hit metro areas in California, Nevada, and Arizona. In Las Vegas and Phoenix, more than 30 out of every 10,000 homes were liquidated in August. More info
