10.30.2009 Are Short Sales Really the Next BIG THING?
If you believe the hype, it appears that the next phase of the housing market recovery is going to rely heavily on short sales to help remove distressed properties from the home sales pipeline. |
10.28.2009 New Foreclosure Hot Spots Emerge in Q3 2009
California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona accounted for all but one of the Top 20 metro foreclosure rates. But one city in the Top 20 was a surprise. |
10.21.2009 Job Losses Foreshadow More Foreclosures Deals, Risk
The full impact of the nation’s rising unemployment rate — which reached 9.8 percent in January — has not yet been seen in the foreclosure numbers. |
10.19.2009 Should We Return To Paper-Based Mortgages?
We like to live in a world where everyone gets the same deal. If you can buy a washing machine at Sears for $500 then I don't want to pay more. And if it happens that the speed limit is 45, it should be 45 for both you and me.
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10.18.2009 Ways Foreclosure Investors Can Resuscitate Market
Here are several practical suggestions which could instantly impact the housing market. The source of these ideas is Bruce Norris, California real estate investor and analyst. |
10.16.2009 Option ARMs: The New Foreclosure Menace
It used to be that few people had ever heard of something called “mortgage recasting,” but now this term is likely to become very well known, and not in a good way |
10.12.2009 Are Tax Credits For First-Time Buyers Too Costly
After a number of fumbles and failures, it seems that government has finally found a way increase home sales. The trick? A little tax incentive bribery. |
09.29.2009 New: Instantly Identify Foreclosures Listed For Sale
RealtyTrac’s newly expanded MLS feed of over 1 million properties for sale, matched against 1.9 million foreclosure properties, gives members the ultimate advantage for purchasing a foreclosure bargain. |
09.21.2009 The Case of the Missing REO Inventory
With foreclosure activity breaking records nearly every month, where are all the REOs? |
09.16.2009 Can An Ohio Judge Reduce The Foreclosure Glut?
A federal bankruptcy judge has set a new precedent that could stop huge numbers of foreclosures nationwide. Her demand: Countrywide Home Loans must document every foreclosure claim it submits in Ohio. |
09.03.2009 Overlooked FHA Loan Ideal for Foreclosure Buyers
Hidden away in the deep recesses of the federal government is a one-shot financing plan which will allow you to not only buy foreclosures but also to pay for repairs and upgrades. |
09.02.2009 Loan Modifications May Slow Because of New Court Decision
The nation's mortgage investors have just won a court victory in New York, a decision likely to change the way we modify loans and foreclose on houses. |
09.01.2009 Playbook to Economic Recovery Starts with Real Estate
The housing market and the overall economy aren't going to improve until at least four parts of the economy improve. |
08.31.2009 10 Signs to the Bottom of the Housing Market
The bottom of each real estate market in America won't occur with much fanfare. In fact, few people will realize that it’s even happening. |
08.17.2009 Investor Buys 60 Foreclosures in 6 Years
While everyone is worrying about the recession, Portland, Maine investor Debbie Kilmartin is busy buying, fixing and flipping foreclosures for a living. |
08.14.2009 Flipping in a Falling Market
Conventional wisdom considers a declining housing market unfit for flipping property. But some highly successful investors are rejecting this conservative approach. |
08.10.2009 Can We Sell Houses The Same Way We Sell Cars?
They're selling a lot of Hyundai cars these days, a miracle of sorts when you consider the overall condition of the automobile industry. |
08.07.2009 Foreclosures: The 10 Percent Solution
With all the talk of good news on the recession front there remains the little matter of reality. |
08.03.2009 The Case For Cash Buying
Imagine that a few years ago you could have bought a nice investment property and had the option of financing or paying cash. Which would you have chosen? |
07.20.2009 2009 Midyear, Q2 & June State Foreclosure Activity Tables
State data tables for foreclosure activity in June, Q2 and Midyear 2009. |
07.16.2009 336,173 Foreclosure Filings Reported in June 2009
A total of 336,173 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported in June 2009, a 5 percent increase from the previous month and a 33 percent increase from June of 2008, according to RealtyTrac. |
07.15.2009 1.9 Million Foreclosure Filings Reported on More Than 1.5 Million U.S. Properties in First Half of ‘09
A total of 1,905,723 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 1,528,364 U.S. properties in the first six months of 2009. |
07.15.2009 Does Negative Equity Cause Foreclosures?
For years folks have been wondering what caused the mortgage meltdown and many people have pointed to subprime loans. |
07.08.2009 How The Government Is Pushing Up Home Prices
The government is in action on the home front, and in a strange way the result may be fewer foreclosures as well pressure to raise real estate prices. |
07.03.2009 New FHA Rules Doom Condo Values
For the past two years the FHA has been involved in an effort to lower its risks, a process which is entirely understandable given that the government program is nothing more than insurance. |
06.30.2009 FHA Loans With Nothing Down, Will They Change The Foreclosure Picture
The headlines are brimming with good news for first-time homebuyers. They can now purchase with FHA loans and little or nothing down. It sounds great, but is this really a smart idea? |
06.26.2009 Should We Bring Back The Skip-A-Payment?
Years ago a lender sent me the most-interesting note. |
06.22.2009 Bargain Hunters See Bottom in Some Markets
Ask a group of real estate millionaires how they made their money and most will recite some version of this axiom: “When everyone zigs, you zag.” |
06.19.2009 Can First-Timers End The Foreclosure Mess?
The National Association of Home Builders has kicked off a new campaign to continue the first-time buyer tax credit, now as much as $8,000 for every first-time buyer who purchases a home. |
06.19.2009 New Law Protects Renters From Foreclosure Eviction
Under the new foreclosure prevention bill President Barack Obama signed into law on May 20, renters scored a big victory against foreclosure evictions. |
06.16.2009 Housing Predictor: 10 Million Foreclosures Through 2012
Housing Predictor forecasts that 10 million homeowners will be foreclosed through 2012 as more mortgage holders are unable to refinance or give up holding on to their homes all together. |
06.15.2009 May State Foreclosure Data
Foreclosure filings were reported on 321,480 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of 6 percent from the previous month but an increase of nearly 18 percent from May 2008. |
06.12.2009 Will The FHA Insure Loans With Nothing Down?
Here today, gone tomorrow. That pretty much describes HUD's one-day policy regarding FHA loans with nothing down. |
06.11.2009 Is There A Simple Solution To The Foreclosure Crisis?
The New York Times came out with a thunderous editorial a few days ago, an official opinion piece from the nation’s newspaper of record regarding the matter of foreclosures. |
05.20.2009 Foreclosures: Are Commercial Properties Next?
Mention the word “foreclosure” and the usual reference is to residential real estate, but now the term is beginning to have a new meaning, one with a troubling economic impact. |
05.18.2009 New Numbers Stir Real Estate Investors
We're now at a very unusual point in financial history, one which home buyers and foreclosure investors may want to examine with care. |
05.15.2009 Foreclosure Activity Hits Another Record High in April
Foreclosure filings were reported on 342,038 U.S. properties during April, an increase of less than 1 percent from the previous month and an increase of 32 percent from April 2008. |
05.15.2009 10 Best Places to Buy Foreclosures
Despite the housing problems that have hit many areas nationwide, some areas of the country are better poised to stand the test of time than others. |
05.01.2009 $8000 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Q&A
A $789 billion economic stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, included a generous tax break for first-time homebuyers. |
04.30.2009 Mortgage Reform Moves Ahead in Washington
While huge banks may be too big to fail they're no longer too big to regulate. The changing tone in Washington can be seen with a 49-21 vote by the House Financial Services Committee on April 29. |
04.24.2009 Time to Unleash Real Estate Investors
Whether a foreclosed property is owned by an investor or an owner-occupant is irrelevant. The instant and immediate need is to get such properties off the market and occupied. |
04.23.2009 How the AIG Bailout Could be Driving More Foreclosures?
"The government bailout of AIG has actually encouraged foreclosures because the taxpayers continue to fill AIG’s coffers with enough cash to pay out insurance on defaulted home loans." |
04.22.2009 Unemployment & Foreclosure: Connecting the Dots
News on the employment front is grim and getting grimmer. It's being widely reported that job losses are the highest they've been in 50 years. Actually though, that's not quite the whole story. |
04.21.2009 Mortgage Reform Faces Uphill Battle on Capitol Hill
Stashed away on Capitol Hill's back burners has been the emerging idea that the mortgage lending process has to be changed. Not around the edges and not something here or there, but the entire process. |
04.20.2009 Are Mortgage Brokers An Endangered Species?
There's a new game of musical chairs going on in the home financing industry and increasingly it's mortgage brokers who have no place to sit. |
04.17.2009 Millions To Miss Out On New Mortgage Help Plans
The Obama plan ought to be applauded. It will help large numbers of homeowners. But when you see claims that millions and millions of borrowers will benefit, look out. |
04.16.2009 U.S. Foreclosure Activity Hits Record High in Q1
Foreclosure filings were reported on 803,489 U.S. properties in the first quarter, a 9 percent increase from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 24 percent from Q1 2008. |
04.09.2009 Why Not Streamline Toxic Mortgages?
Broad use of the FHA “streamline” concept would instantly make millions of homeowners with toxic loans eligible for financial relief and off the foreclosure rolls. |
04.02.2009 Will Judges Modify Your Mortgage?
The House has now passed H.R. 1106: The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. If this bill ultimately becomes law it would allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages on prime residences. |
04.02.2009 Five Reasons Why Good People Can't Get Good Loans
Why is it that good people with good credit and cash in their pocket are having so much trouble getting home loans? There are five key reasons which explain why. |
04.01.2009 Will The Obama Plan Reduce Foreclosures?
A new deal from Washington that potentially will allow millions of homeowners to lower their monthly mortgage costs and avoid foreclosure was unveiled last month by President Barack Obama |
03.30.2009 Foreclosure Investors Rely on Innovative Rental Strategies
Increased competition for tenants is forcing investors to outfit their rental properties with upscale furnishing, high-tech devices and posh perks. |
03.10.2009 Fannie Revises Investment Property Guidelines
Fannie Mae, seeking to break the logjam in the housing crisis, loosened its loan restrictions for real estate investors and second homebuyers last week, issuing a new set of selling guidelines. |
03.10.2009 Frustrated Homeowners Take a Walk
Sage advice says that a good walk will relieve stress. For an increasing number of homeowners in distress and facing foreclosure, that advice makes perfect sense. |
02.05.2009 2008 Year-End Foreclosure Market Report
A total of 3,157,806 foreclosure filings were reported on 2,330,483 U.S. properties during the year, an 81 percent increase in from 2007 and a 225 percent increase from 2006. |
02.03.2009 Uncle Sam to Foreclosure Buyers: We Want You!
Given today’s lackluster economic climate, real estate investors and buyers who can locate and purchase government-owned foreclosures have a tremendous opportunity to find good deals. |
01.29.2009 Will Loan Modifications Change With Washington?
It's a new year in official Washington with a new Congress, a new President and a new chance for bankruptcy reform, reform which will center on the issue of what to do about unpaid mortgages. |
01.27.2009 New Loan Mod Plan Open to Investment Property
The goal of the Fed’s new loan modification policy “is to avoid preventable foreclosures.” It is a step forward, but it's a short step. |
01.22.2009 Can We Use FHA Loans to Raise Home Values?
With a little tinkering the plan could not only create new housing opportunities for the poor, it could also reduce the stock of foreclosed homes, thus pushing up neighborhood home values. |
01.12.2009 Which Remodeling Projects Pay Off?
Anyone planning to buy or invest in a foreclosure property should budget for the basic cosmetic repairs. But many foreclosure buyers and investors need to go far beyond the basic repairs. |
01.01.2009 How To Profit In Today's Real Estate Marketplace
The financial headlines during much of the past two years have been largely negative, but we sometimes look past a basic reality: Opportunities for real estate profits are still out there. |
12.23.2008 The Curious Case of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac
The latest report shows that Fannie and Freddie owned 30.5 million mortgages at the end of September. Of those loans, 25.4 million were prime mortgages while 5.1 million were subprime financing. |
12.16.2008 How Loan Workouts Hide Foreclosure Damage
No longer do we have people facing foreclosure just once, instead we have large numbers of borrowers entering foreclosure multiple times on the same loan. |
11.27.2008 The FDIC's 7 Percent Foreclosure Solution
For the past several months a major experiment has been underway, one which may well suggest how to substantially reduce foreclosure totals. |
11.20.2008 Can the Right Foreclosure Prevention Plan Change the Marketplace?
For those with an interest in buying foreclosures, new lender policies could make such purchases significantly more attractive. |
11.13.2008 Bank-Owned Auctions: Practical Bidding Strategies
Auctions firms are busier than ever. As lenders and homebuilders repossess more foreclosures, they hire more auction companies to find buyers. |
11.13.2008 Don’t Dump Investors
It's in our national interest to protect investors — unless, of course, they're folks who merely bought a house or two. |
10.08.2008 The Government Goes After Loan Officers
One of the most galling aspects of the mortgage meltdown is the sense that folks who made bad loans also made big profits, while everyday wage earners and investors are punished. |
10.02.2008 How Much for Those Lender Assets in the Window?
The question is central to the recent legislation that authorizes the Treasury Department to pay out $700 billion in taxpayer money for financial paper of questionable value. |
09.19.2008 No Mortgage Meltdown For These Banks
The news from Wall Street in recent weeks has not been good, especially in the world of mortgages. |
09.16.2008 Long-Term Solution for Fannie and Freddie Dilemma
The time has come for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to end their quasi-government status and join the rest of the risk-taking and tax-paying mortgage buyers who populate the private sector. |
09.06.2008 Option ARM Borrowers Running Out Of Time
Of all the mortgage ideas developed during the past few years, none tops the option ARM for sheer awfulness. And now the mortgage mess is about to get far worse as millions of option ARMs begin to recast. |
09.06.2008 Secrets of Pre-Foreclosure Investing
One pre-foreclosure expert says a new federal law will change everything, and short sales and short payoff sales will become the new trend in the marketplace. |
08.21.2008 New York Versus Freddie Mac: Round One
It’s fight time in New York. On one side is newly-passed state legislation which sets tough standards for subprime and “high cost” loans and on the other is Freddie Mac. |
08.21.2008 National Registration For Loan Officers Becomes Reality
What do you know about your loan officer? |
08.20.2008 Can “Appreciation Sharing” Solve The Mortgage Mess?
We’re about to see something new in the mortgage marketplace: The government is going to insure huge numbers of shared-appreciation mortgages, a type of home financing rarely seen in the U.S. |
08.06.2008 Are Fixed-Rate Loans About To Vanish?
For decades the surest and safest mortgage has been the quiet and dull fixed-rate loan. With fixed-rate loans, the monthly payment never changes and the loan balance declines every month. |
08.04.2008 Capitalizing on a Cooling Market
When the South Florida housing market entered into a nosedive last year, Harry Andrade saw an opportunity. |
07.28.2008 FHA Gives Up Billions To U.S. Treasury
Can you name a federal agency that has banked more than $13.5 billion in mortgage insurance profits during the past few years? |
07.17.2008 Do New Mortgage Rules Make Borrowers Safer?
You could hardly miss the headlines this week: More than 1,000 news outlets covered new rules from the Federal Reserve designed to “protect” America’s mortgage borrowers. |
07.09.2008 Tech-Savvy Foreclosures Seekers Flock to the Internet
Two female foreclosure investors on opposite sides of the nation recently discovered a new and refreshing way to purchase foreclosure properties — online. |
07.04.2008 High-End Foreclosures Rising Among Top Tier Homes
Seven-figure foreclosures — once a rarity in 2007 — are starting to pop up with more frequency in some of the wealthiest communities nationwide. |
07.03.2008 Wachovia Changes The Lending Game
With assets of more than $800 billion, Wachovia is the nation’s fourth-largest banking institution. |
06.30.2008 TCS Foreclosures – Approved training provider for RealtyTrac® customers.
RealtyTrac® is proud to introduce our new foreclosure training partner, TCS Foreclosures. Our relationship with TCS Foreclosures kicked off in Q1 2008. |
06.26.2008 New States Rules Begin To Impact Foreclosure Numbers
In April, according to RealtyTrac.com, Maryland ranked sixth in foreclosures among all the states but just 30 days later it fell to 22nd for the month of May. |
06.24.2008 How to Sell Your House Quickly When Facing Foreclosure
If you are currently in foreclosure, strongly consider selling your property as a backup plan. |
06.20.2008 Top 7 Foreclosure Stories of Past Year
The euphoria that surrounded six years of escalating home prices, record levels of home sales and rock-bottom interest rates crashed and burned in 2007. |
06.19.2008 Beyond the Foreclosure Blame Game
Real estate investors are becoming a convenient scapegoat for many looking to assign blame for the recent surge in foreclosures and faltering real estate market. |
06.18.2008 How to Sell a Property via Online Auction
The Internet allows potential buyers to search for properties all over the world, view photographs and due diligence materials online, and participate in auctions all across the country. |
06.04.2008 Online Real Estate Auctions: 12 Tips for First-Time Bidders
Online auctions offer both novice and experienced real estate buyers a way to obtain under-valued properties. |
05.27.2008 Crapshoot on the Courthouse Steps
Monday through Friday, a small group of people assemble around the steps of the Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif., for the nation’s ailing real estate market: public foreclosure sales. |
05.19.2008 Who's Hurt With Declining Market Labels
“The issue of labels is important,” says James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer at RealtyTrac.com, the nation’s largest source of foreclosure properties. |
05.15.2008 A Foreclosure Bargain for Their “Forever House”
Karen Krynen saw an opportunity. Nestled at the top of a hill with a long private driveway, the bank-owned property sitting on a huge 40,946 square foot lot was exactly what she was looking for. |
05.09.2008 Online Auctions: Good for Buyers and Sellers
It’s no secret that more people are buying more products through online auctions, and real estate is no exception. |
04.29.2008 Washington Profits From Foreclosures
There’s a new initiative on the table in Washington, one that could do a lot to reduce foreclosures nationwide while actually generating a profit for Uncle Sam. |
04.21.2008 Will The Paulson Plan Reduce Foreclosures
“A major concern regarding the Paulson Plan is that it would take months and years to implement,” says James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer at RealtyTrac. |
04.16.2008 Going Against the Grain, Investor Finds Bountiful Bank-Owned Bargains
Despite the abundance of negative buzz surrounding the real estate market, Kirk Leipzig decided to pursue foreclosures as investment properties. |
03.31.2008 Should We Go Back To The Future With HUD
“The federal government has attempted to stem the mortgage crisis, by extending aid and concessions to big firms and huge investors on Wall Street,” says James J. Saccacio, Chairman and CEO at RealtyTrac. |
03.28.2008 Just A Little Help For Our Friends
“We’ll need to wait until later in the Spring to see what results are produced by the Fed’s $200 billion loan program,” says James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer at RealtyTrac. |
03.28.2008 Special Video Report: Renters in Foreclosure
CBS Evening News investigates the issue of renters being unexpectedly forced out of the homes they are living in because the owner has been foreclosed on. |
03.13.2008 Politicians Ponder Foreclosure Intervention Policies
Should the federal government mandate a six-month moratorium on all foreclosures around the country in order to give affected homeowners a chance to “work it out?” |
03.10.2008 Whatever Happened To Savings
With all the headlines and debate regarding soaring foreclosure rates, it’s sometimes forgotten that most foreclosures can be easily prevented with a low-tech, unregulated, private solution. |
03.07.2008 Walking Away From Foreclosure Becoming Socially Acceptable
If walking away from a mortgage becomes socially acceptable then lenders will have more risk, interest rates will rise, monthly mortgage costs will increase and foreclosure levels will shoot up. |
03.07.2008 The Next Financial Crisis — Alt-A Mortgages
If prime mortgages are the holy grail of real estate financing then Alternative-A (Alt-A) financing can been seen as something of a step below. |
03.05.2008 Help Programs Grow, But Foreclosure Levels Remain High
You could hardly miss the attention given to the latest figures from Hope Now, the all-volunteer effort to rescue homeowners facing foreclosure. |
03.03.2008 The Bank of America-Countrywide Merger
The Bank of America’s $4 billion purchase of Countrywide Financial Corporation is now being scrutinized by just about every Wall Street analyst and financial columnist. |
03.01.2008 Project Lifeline: New Name, Old Story
It was on August 31st when President Bush introduced Hope Now, a plan to reduce foreclosures nationwide. |
02.29.2008 Foreclosure Prevention Numbers Don’t Add Up
Unfortunately, the grim reality is that while modifications and repayment plans can help many borrowers, a large percentage of those enrolled in such programs will lose their property. |
02.22.2008 Distressed Homeowners: Rules of Engagement
As foreclosures proliferate and home prices stagnate in many real estate markets across the country, more investors and buyers are considering foreclosures as an opportunity to find bargains. |
02.18.2008 Project Lifeline: New Name, Old Story
It was on August 31st when President Bush introduced Hope Now, a plan to reduce foreclosures nationwide. |
02.05.2008 Investor Training: Sorting It All Out
Training programs for real estate investors sometimes seem as numerous as real estate investors themselves |
02.04.2008 Finding Financing for Foreclosure Deals
If anyone has the inside track on financing for real estate deals, it would be Ram Perilall. |
02.01.2008 New Feature: Online Bidding, Online Offers
RealtyTrac users now have the ability to make offers directly to the lender or agent, bid in online auctions or contact agents who handle government foreclosures. |
01.10.2008 Investment Banks Shoulder Bigger Share of REO Burden
The bullish stock market began showing some cracks in the foundation in late July as fresh evidence revealed that real estate woes on Main Street are inflicting a bigger-than-expected toll their lenders. |
01.07.2008 The Art of the Foreclosure Deal
It may not be internationally recognized in the same stream of consciousness as a masterpiece by Goya, Monet or Picasso, but a well-constructed foreclosure investment deal can be a thing of beauty. |
01.02.2008 How Big Is The Mortgage Meltdown?
For the first time estimates are beginning to suggest the true size of the mortgage meltdown. The newest numbers are so large they dwarf the latest federal deficit, a total of $163 billion. |
12.31.2007 The New Foreclosure Prevention Plan
It sounds like a good idea. If the reason so many people are losing their homes is because interest rates are too high, then let's keep those rates low and prevent foreclosures. |
12.28.2007 Can the Fed Cut Foreclosures in 2008?
With the tough times of 2007 over and done, the big question in real estate is whether 2008 will be any better. |
12.12.2007 Outlawing Interest-Only Refinancing
Mortgage rates are down, really down. According to Freddie Mac, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage can now be had for less than 6 percent interest. |
12.10.2007 How Foreclosures Will Change The Presidential Election
We have red states, we have blue states and increasingly we have purple states, beat-up states with substantial and growing numbers of foreclosures that may well decide the next presidential election. |
12.07.2007 Judge's Ruling May Slow Foreclosures Nationwide
With mortgage practices under fire on Capitol Hill and across the country, a federal court in Cleveland has now turned up the heat on lenders with a remarkable decision: |
12.05.2007 Why Aren't Predatory Loans Illegal?
It’s doubtful that anyone who has ever looked at the mortgage industry would disagree with the sentiments offered by HUD Secretary Jackson. Predatory loans are terrible, a scam and certainly a lie. |
12.05.2007 Can Inflated Appraisals Create More Foreclosures?
Until November few people would have regarded Albany, NY as the center of the foreclosure meltdown, yet in a single week the state's attorney general radically changed the national mortgage debate. |
12.04.2007 Have U.S. Banks Bet The House?
If you remember the good old days of the foreclosure crisis, say about six months ago, the problem was subprime loans, a blip on the financial radar and not a worry for you or your neighbors. |
12.03.2007 New Bankruptcy Laws Spur Foreclosures
Almost 30 years have passed since the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, a time when mortgages typically had a fixed-rate and unchanging monthly costs. |
11.30.2007 How Much Disclosure Is Enough?
It's hardly a secret that few borrowers fully understand their mortgage options. A 2006 Federal Reserve study found that 20 percent of all ARM borrowers did not know their original loan rate. |
11.08.2007 Ropin' an REO
Veteran real estate agent Jimmy Hendon of Beaumont, Texas, found out firsthand that purchasing a bank-owned property can require an extra measure of patience. |