Archive for the 'Housing' Category

US foreclosure filings surge 65 percent in April

Published by
elophan
May 14, 2008 in Economy, Housing and Newz. 0 Comments

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES - More U.S. homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments last month, driving the number of homes facing foreclosure up 65 percent versus the same month last year and contributing to a deepening slide in home values, a research company said Tuesday.

Nationwide, 243,353 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in April, up 65 percent from 147,708 in the same month last year and up 4 percent since March, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida were among the hardest hit states, with metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounting for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure, the company said.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

One in every 519 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in April. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states.

The combination of weak housing sales, falling home values, tighter mortgage lending criteria and a slowing U.S. economy has left financially strapped homeowners with fewer options to avoid foreclosure. Many can’t find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can’t get refinanced into an affordable loan.

Efforts by government and the mortgage industry to stem the tide of foreclosures aren’t keeping up with the rising number of troubled homeowners.

The April data show nearly half of the properties received an initial notice of default, suggesting many homes were new entrants to the foreclosure process.

The U.S. House passed a bill last week that would offer government insurance on $300 billion in new mortgages to refinance loans for an estimated half-million borrowers facing foreclosure, particularly those who now owe more than their houses are worth because of declining values.

House lawmakers also passed a bill that would send $15 billion to states to buy and fix foreclosed homes.

Still, should the homeowner aid package clear the Senate, it faces a potential hurdle in the White House, which has threatened to veto the plan, arguing it’s too risky and amounts to a lender bailout.

Even if a legislative compromise is reached, it could come too late for homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages scheduled to reset to higher rates this month and the next.

More than 1 million home foreclosures are forecast for 2008. More…

Damn, 1 million foreclosures. Why is it OK for taxpayers to fund the bailout of Bear Stearns, but when the taxpayers need help just keeping a roof over their heads, they’re told to shove off? Screw you, shrub! -Sue

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Happy Mother’s Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child

Published by
Gene Shinai
May 12, 2008 in Children, Education, Health, Housing, Human Interest/Society, Military, Newz and Religion. 1 Comment

From AP Via YahooNews:

 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - It’s a happy Mother’s Day for an Arkansas woman — she’s pregnant with her 18th child. Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year’s Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

 

“We’ve had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us,” she said, laughing.

 

The Duggars’ oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

 

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.

 

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

 

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores — or “jurisdictions” — are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a “jurisdiction swap,” where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

 

“The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass,” she said. “The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms,” among other chores.

 

Duggar said she’s six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they’ll keep having children as long as God wills it.

 

Article Continues @ Sourced Site. 

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Housing aid bills face vetoes by pResident Bush

Published by
elophan
May 8, 2008 in Economy, Housing, Newz, The Executive Branch and The GOP. 0 Comments

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Strapped homeowners could refinance into government-backed mortgages and states would get money to deal with foreclosed property under Democrats’ housing aid plan.

The measures, slated for votes Thursday, constitute the most significant action Congress has taken to date to address the housing crisis that’s at the center of the nation’s economic woes.

President Bush has threatened to veto both measures, which he says reward lenders and speculators. Democrats counter that the bills will head off hundreds of thousands of foreclosures, stabilize the shaky housing market, and prevent neighborhood blight.

The centerpiece of their plan is a bill by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the House Financial Services Committee chairman, to have the Federal Housing Administration relax its standards and back up to $300 billion in more affordable, fixed-rate loans for borrowers currently too financially strapped to qualify.

Those homeowners could refinance into new loans if their lenders agreed to take substantial losses on the original mortgages. Borrowers would have to show they could afford to make payments on the new loans. They would have to share with FHA at least half of their proceeds if they profited from selling or refinancing again.

The plan is projected to help roughly 500,000 borrowers at a cost of $2.7 billion over the next five years.

A separate bill by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would send $15 billion in loans and grants to states for the purchase and rehabilitation of foreclosed properties. Proponents say it will prevent blight in neighborhoods plagued by abandoned, foreclosed homes. More…

So, shrub said he’ll veto, because it “rewards” lenders. But the only way homeowners would qualify, is if lenders agreed to take a LOSS on the original note. Does anyone need anymore proof of how much this administration hates poor and working class people? -Sue

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Disabled group members arrested at McCain’s office

Published by
Gene Shinai
May 1, 2008 in Health Care, Housing, Human Rights and The Congress. 0 Comments

From Rawstory:
 

At least 20 disabled activists, most of them in wheelchairs, were arrested outside Sen. John McCain’s offices Tuesday after being refused a meeting with the GOP presidential nominee-to-be over a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to more people who want in-home care.

“If he should be president, it would be ironic that he comes from a party that talks a lot about family values,” said Bob Kafka, national organizer for ADAPT, a group advocating for passage of the bill. Without the legislation, many disabled and elderly people don’t have the choice to apply coverage to anything other than institutional care, he said.

“Families are devastated because they don’t have a choice to keep people at home,” Kafka said.

McCain was not in his office during the protest. He was campaigning Tuesday in Florida on his health care plan.

The bill, stuck in committee since last year, would amend the Social Security Act to allow people who are eligible for Medicaid coverage of nursing home costs to spend it instead on home-based, or community care.

Sponsored by Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., it also would grant extra money to states that participate in the program, according to a summary of the bill.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, are co-sponsors of the bill, but McCain is not.

Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said about 20 people from the group were arrested outside McCain’s office in the Russell Senate Office Building on Tuesday and charged with unlawful assembly.

Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

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Housing prices post record declines

Published by
elophan
April 29, 2008 in Economy, Housing and Newz. 0 Comments

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Home prices posted another record decline, as most of the nation’s largest markets suffered double-digit drops over last year, a survey released Tuesday shows.

The S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks 20 of the largest housing markets, showed prices plummeting by 12.7% in the 12 months ending February. That’s the biggest fall since the index began tracking prices in 2000.

Of those 20 metro areas, 17 posted their largest year-over-year declines ever. Ten of the 20 cities posted double-digit dips.

The 10-city Case/Shiller index is down 13.6% year-over-year, the biggest drop since its launch in 1987. More…

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New home sales plunge to lowest level in 16 1/2 years; Prices drop at rate unseen in almost 4 decades

Published by
elophan
April 24, 2008 in Economy, Housing and Newz. 0 Comments

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in 16 1/2 years as housing slumped further at the start of the spring sales season. The median price of a new home in March compared to a year ago fell by the largest amount in nearly four decades.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes dropped by 8.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units, the slowest sales pace since October 1991.

The median price of a home sold in March dropped by 13.3 percent compared to March 2007, the biggest year-over-year price decline since a 14.6 percent plunge in July 1970.

For March, sales were down in all regions of the country, dropping the most in the Northeast, a decline of 19.4 percent. Sales fell by 12.9 percent in the Midwest, 12.5 percent in the Midwest and 4.6 percent in the South. More…

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Existing home sales drop - Sale prices near record decline

Published by
elophan
April 22, 2008 in Economy, Housing and Newz. 0 Comments

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. housing market weakened slightly in March, as resales of U.S. homes fell, inventories climbed, and prices continued to decline, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

Resales of U.S. homes and condos dropped 2% to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.93 million from 5.03 million in February, matching economists’ expectations.

Resales have sunk 19.3% in the past year.

Existing home sales are “stable yet soft,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the real estate agents’ trade group. Sales have stabilized in a narrow range between 4.90 million and 5.10 million in the seven months since the credit crunch hit, he said.

Inventories of homes for sale rose 1% to 4.06 million, representing a 9.9-month supply at the March sales pace. Inventories are not seasonally adjusted.

Inventories have been boosted by foreclosures, Yun said. Currently, 18% of homes for sale listed on the multiple-listing service have negative equity at the asking price, indicating either a short-sale or a foreclosure, he said.

The median sales price fell 7.7% in the past year to $207,000, the second-largest price decline recorded since 1999. More…

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Pending home sales fall to lowest reading on record

Published by
elophan
April 8, 2008 in Economy, Housing and Newz. 0 Comments

By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON - An industry group said Tuesday that pending U.S. home sales fell in February to the lowest reading since the index began, signaling the housing market distress is not yet over.

The National Association of Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 84.6 from January’s upwardly revised reading of 86.2. The index stood at 107.6 in February 2007.

Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR had predicted the index would inch up to a reading of 86.3.

A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001, when the index started. The previous low was August’s reading of 85.8, recorded at the height of the credit crunch.

With house prices falling and credit continuing to tighten, many economists say the housing market is likely to worsen in the coming months, though some remain hopeful about a recovery in the second half of the year. More…

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Bush appointee defends helping business over taxpayer needs

Published by
elophan
April 3, 2008 in Economy, Housing, Newz, The Congress and The Executive Branch. 0 Comments

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve moved to assist a Wall Street investment bank on the brink of bankruptcy to prevent a failure that could have dealt serious consequences to the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

“Given the exceptional pressures on the global economy and financial system, the damage caused by a default by Bear Stearns could have been severe and extremely difficult to contain,” Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee.

Bernanke was the top witness at a hearing called to examine whether the Fed was justified in providing up to $30 billion to facilitate the sale of Bear Stearns Cos. to JP Morgan Chase & Co.

The nation’s fifth largest investment bank became the biggest victim of a severe credit crunch that has roiled markets since last August and made it harder for consumers and businesses to get credit.

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee said they wanted to find out what pressures the Bush administration had brought to close the sale and whether big investment banks were getting preferential treatment over millions of Americans in danger of defaulting on their mortgages.

“Was this a justified rescue to prevent a systemic collapse of financial markets or a $30 billion taxpayer bailout for a Wall Street firm while people on Main Street struggle to pay their mortgages?” Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd asked at the beginning of the hearing.

While members of the panel were generally supportive of the decisions, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., asked, “How big do you have to be to be too big to fail? … Who let our financial system become so fragile that one failure jeopardizes the health of the entire system?”

In his testimony, Bernanke said the Fed and other government agencies were informed on March 13 that without help Bear Stearns would have to file for bankruptcy the next day. More…

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HUD chief resigns amid ethics investigations

Published by
elophan
March 31, 2008 in Government, Housing and Newz. 0 Comments

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned Monday, amid multiple ethics investigations and criticism from top lawmakers.

Jackson said he will step down on April 18. He did not mention the allegations in his brief statement Monday, saying only that he wanted to attend to personal and family matters.

The resignation came after criticism from members of Congress that Jackson has refused to respond adequately to allegations of impropriety.

No names have been floated as candidates to replace Jackson, a long-time friend of President Bush from their days in Texas.

Earlier this month, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, demanded Jackson’s resignation, saying the ethics allegations have distracted from the secretary’s ability to handle the nation’s housing crisis. The secretary has recently been accused in a lawsuit of retaliating against housing officials in Philadelphia for blocking a land deal with one of Jackson’s friends.

The FBI has been investigating allegations that Jackson steered a federal contract to a golfing buddy based in South Carolina. Jackson has denied wrongdoing and White House officials have said for months that the president still has confidence in Jackson. No charges have been filed against him.

Lawmakers said that at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Jackson refused to answer several committee members’ questions, and later did not respond adequately to a follow-up letter from Dodd asking for information “on the various allegations of impropriety he is facing.” More…

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