Posted on 02/14/2013 10:20:35 AM PST by ExxonPatrolUs
Foreclosure activity continued to drop in January, led by dramatic changes in the state that once led the nation in foreclosures. A new law in California, the "Homeowner Bill of Rights," makes it much harder and potentially more costly for banks to foreclose; hence they are suddenly finding alternatives.
"The new law imposes fines of up to $7,500 per loan for filing of multiple unverified foreclosure documents. As a result, the downward foreclosure trend in California accelerated into hyper speed in January, decisively shifting the balance of power when it comes to the nation's foreclosure activity," said RealtyTrac's Daren Blomquist.
(Read More: Fewer Borrowers Are Behind on Mortgages, but for How Long?)
Foreclosure activity fell 28 percent from a year ago nationally, according to a new report from RealtyTrac, but in California, they were down nearly 40 percent. More telling is foreclosure starts, the first notice of a foreclosure filling. In California they fell 62 percent from December and 75 percent from a year ago. The new law went into effect January 1st, 2013.
"I do think some of these delinquent properties will still end up as foreclosures down the road," notes Blomquist. "But this type of legislation is also forcing lenders to consider other creative ways of disposing of the delinquencies that may not be as difficult as foreclosure has become."
That includes short sales, deeds in lieu of foreclosure and a growing trend of selling off bad loans to investors. The investors, since they are buying at a deep discount, are able to offer more drastic modifications to keep borrowers in their homes.
(Read More: Americans Are UsingTheir Houses as ATMs Again)
Short sales, when the property is sold for less than the mortgage, are becoming ever more frequent. Nearly 26 percent of Southern California home sales in January were short sales, according to DataQuick, while just 15 percent were foreclosure sales. Investor and cash buying was at or near record levels.
"A lot of today's housing demand is fueled not by spectacular job growth and soaring consumer confidence, but by super-low mortgage rates and unusually high levels of investor and cash purchases. Take away any one of those elements and it will matter," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.
With legal changes in California, Florida now has the dubious distinction of having the most properties with foreclosure filings in the nation. One in every 300 homes had a filing in January, according to RealtyTrac. That is twice the national average.
(Read More: Big Banks Told to Review Their Own Foreclosures)
States that require a judge in the foreclosure process, like Illinois and New Jersey, saw big January jumps in foreclosure auctions (sales back to the bank or to an investor), but non-judicial states saw the biggest increases in newly started foreclosures. In Nevada, where new legislation slowed the process dramatically last year, foreclosure starts were up 87 percent from a year ago.
While the numbers can be parsed in many ways, the bottom line is that while fewer borrowers are getting into trouble, an enormous backlog of distress is still moving through the foreclosure system, in some places quite quickly, and in others ever more slowly. Until the overall numbers come down to a more normal level, any speculation on overall price stability is risky at best.
(Read More: Mortgage Mess StillMires US Housing Recovery)
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OK then , What's your reason (excuse) why Penalties for breaking the FRAUD STATUTES should have a negative impact on the banks other than the clear fact that they have been demonstrably breaking the law in the majority of their actions?
Serious Question here ,, I'd like to see you address it rather than just fling accusations and deflect away from the real question.
You do understand that the FHFA (the parent corp of FNM and FRE) is suing bankers for fraud right now in Federal courts don't you...
Obamas minions are always suing someone. It's called wealth redistribution
Well alrighty then. So we shut down all banks; negate all stock ownership; and what else?
Any part of capitalism you are in favor of keeping?
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I am in favor of capitalism , you are cheerleading CRONY CAPITALISM , NOT the same thing ,, the banks that created the crash through their fraudulent PONZI scheme with real estate , selling the same goods dozens of times over , insuring the defective products they created as many as 30 times over with different insurers , crashing pension funds and other central banks the world over should be hammered with lawsuits and restitution claims until they disappear ,, there are 1000 small and medium sized banks ready to take over the business of the 6 or so TBTF / TBTJ banks.
Instead of just playing the role of Wall Street shill you should look into the known , discovered , indisputable facts.
Here’s a good thing to review , the FRAUD in this is obvious even to someone reviewing it with a mind closed to the truth. http://www.foreclosurehamlet.org/profiles/blogs/bank-of-america-responds-to-moynihan-lawsuit-cites-criminal-act-c
“You do understand that the FHFA (the parent corp of FNM and FRE) is suing bankers for fraud right now in Federal courts don’t you... “
Obamas minions are always suing someone. It’s called wealth redistribution
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Always a deflection and a redirect from you , never reasoned response.. must be a good feeling being so smart that you don’t have to consider facts.
Here’s something else for you to chew on ... http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/elizabeth-warren-makes-promising-start-in-senate-banking-committee-hearing.html
Tell that to the people in California under this law, who are not being thrown out their home while that home sits empty.
Generally, I agree with you that we have way, way to many laws. In most cases repealing bucket loads of laws is the favorable course of action. This particular laws seems to have had an immediately positive effect on families wanting to get by day to day in the home they have been paying for without it being taken away by a bank that has been found guilty of numerous crimes, which they don't have the personal resource to pursue a lawsuit against.
It sounds like you have been a little embittered by the likes of some of the occupy wall streeters. I was at a place where they had set up a booth last year. I went over to have a conversation with them. With my just calmly asking questions mostly, and occaisionaly interjecting a few thoughts, they went rabid mad. I know the guy wanted to punch me. He was clearly very Marxist. Socialism, is an enemy. But Neidermeyer is right, you need to distinguish between corporate exploitation, and free enterprise. It is not socialist to oppose greedy illegal behavior. That occupy wall street guy was adamantly opposed to the idea that someone should be able to profit from the fruits of their labor, especially if they are too successful. That is an evil concept. We are not advocating that here.
The reality is that most mortgage lending excesses were corrected a year or so into the financial crisis. The market spoke then and took out lenders such as Countrywide and WAMU.
It also seems like you have missed a lot of stories about the crimes the banks have been committing in this area.
You are defending Elizabeth Warren??!!
No public politician would dare say such a thing today. Ron Paul came the closest, and in response the banks' minions pushed the "He's a nut on foreign policy!" slogan through conservative media so hard that it convinced a good majority of those who should have been his natural allies in that fight to disown him.
They all - even Obama - know very well who they really work for...and it sure ain't us.
Yeah. Really. I think the only thing that has kept Ron Paul alive is that as only one man he is mostly powerless to do anything.
The quote you mention, and the one from Wilson should give any thinking American GREAT pause. A hundred years ago the president, not some whack job, the president said the most powerful men in the country are afraid of a conspiracy, insidiously in control. Americans should really meditate on what that means, about elections, and industry today.
Heartland, I am sure opposes that conspiracy mentally, but seems to be unwittingly supporting it.
You are defending Elizabeth Warren??!!
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I do not like Elizabeth Warren , she has done many scummy things in the past , I SUPPORT HER ACTIONS IN INVESTIGATING THE PROVEN FRAUDSTERS...
I’ll repeat that because you like to twist things ,, I don’t support her , I support HER CURRENT ACTIONS and hope that she PUTS THE ARCHITECTS OF OUR ECONOMIC CRISIS ON TRIAL ... AS WE DID DURING THE S&L CRISIS... The banks and the board level banksters that hatched the scheme must be held accountable for their crimes.
Obama could direct the IRS to do one simple thing , the evidence is undeniable , the supposed REMIC’s created by JPM , GS , WF and others are completely invalid and the pass-through money is TAXABLE , make the banks pay the back taxes, not the people that took the banks word that the instruments were valid. That would be a huge help in getting our economy back on the right foot ,, we cannot continue with the lawlessness that has been allowed by “watchdog” agencies during the Bush and Obama administrations...
No wonder our country has become less competitive over time. This is the kind of thing that drives business away.
It sounds like you want to tax and regulate financial institutions even more.
No wonder our country has become less competitive over time. This is the kind of thing that drives business away.
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Your hopeless , nothing of the sort , however the financial arena has been completely unregulated for almost 15 years ,,, sure they’re regulations on the books but they are NEVER enforced ,,, John Corzine stole over $1Billion from his clients and is still free and WILL NOT be prosecuted... They are the cause of the real estate bubble and the collapse of the economy, they created products that do not qualify for tax exempt status ,, they should pay the tax due ... doesn’t sound like additional taxation to me.
You are in Iowa , snowed in and bored to death ... you have seen farmland rise in value over the last 10 years at a steady pace but you can still buy a old farmhouse for about $15/sq. ft. ... you never saw the bubble blown up or pop ,, this is all academic to you ... I know what your worldview is from looking out over the snowed over fields , I too have land near Iowa , less than 1/4 mile on the other side of the Mississippi.
The people in California , Florida and Nevada are at ground zero ,,, we know what the banks gameplan is ... they are executing it with the cooperation of the government , they manufactured a bubble with no money of their own. They engineered a contraction to collapse the bubble (it was accelerated by the fact that smart money caught on to the game and stopped funding their purchases) and now they are reaping all the properties bought with other peoples money for their enrichment. They increased their profits along the way by insuring their products and by selling them multiple times.
If you knew history you would recognize this as the same gameplan the banks used throughout the late 1800’s to steal farmland... they would loan money , get farmers on the hook and then engineer a contraction by simply keeping more cash in the vault and out of circulation.
Hah. Actually you know NOTHING about me and my worldview! Or Iowa it sounds like!!
Actually my area is in the very middle of the mortgage and insurance industry for the nation. Not an abstract concept at all.
And yes farmland is in a dangerous bubble. Very concerned about that. The 80’s were very damaging to many in agriculture.
You seem to see vast conspiracies being created with puppet masters holding all these invisible strings controlling people and events.
I think you need to get out more and step away from the computer. Exercise always clears the mind.
Actually my area is in the very middle of the mortgage and insurance industry for the nation. Not an abstract concept at all.
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Just looking at spreadsheets teaches you nothing.
“Just looking at spreadsheets teaches you nothing.”
I do not know anyone who “looks at spreadsheets”. I do know many people who are in the trenches of the industry; and have seen the good, bad and ugly upfront.
Read up on the new Dodd Frank stuff if you think new regulation is a good thing.
I’m quite amazed anyone on a conservative website would be in favor of this type of thing.
I do know many people who are in the trenches of the industry; and have seen the good, bad and ugly upfront.
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You’re in denial. Lets clean up the mess by ending the illegalities. Nowhere did I state “new regulation” is needed .. I DID state we need to ENFORCE THE LAW ,, something we haven’t done in at least 15 years... Once again you are attempting to smear by mis-characterizing my comments .. either that or you just are having a REALLY HARD time with comprehension.
I do know many people who are in the trenches of the industry; and have seen the good, bad and ugly upfront.
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FWIW I worked for WF Home Mtg. for 2 weeks in 2004 ... I saw things up close and personal also .. I had just left a job as a stockbroker and saw enough fraudulent activity on the first day that I stayed only long enough to get another gig (I didn’t want to get my series 7 tarnished by staying there) ... So you decided to wallow in the FRAUD and you’re looking for people here to tell you it’s OK ,, you think that conservatives will give you a blessing just because it’s “business” ... it’s that kind of thinking that destroyed our economy.
“nd you’re looking for people here to tell you it’s OK ,”
I could really care less what an anonymous poster on a website thinks; they know nothing about reality.
I just get tired of total misinformation being posted about topics I am knowledgeable about. Misinformation that belongs on a left wing blog; not a conservative website.
I am same way when someone goes off on GMO seeds and spouts nonsense on that topic also.
I could really care less
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If you want to win an argument you have to represent facts and logic ,, you just attack the person you disagree with .. if you are who you say then we are both knowledgable on the subject ,, I suspect you are the blind man feeling the elephants trunk and deciding the animal is very much like a snake.
What do you have against applying existing law against lawbreakers? especially when their lawlessness is tearing down the country.
Here’s a doc relating to DocX , a bank run FORGERY operation that’s purpose was to create documents to steal homes they had no legal interest in... http://www.scribd.com/doc/125771012/Lps
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