housing crisis

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Feds Start Criminal Probe of Bank Foreclosure Mess

Lenders may have broken fraud laws with flawed paperwork

(Newser) - Banks have begun making moves to get foreclosures moving again, even as federal investigators begin a criminal investigation into the whole sorry affair, reports the Washington Post . The task force will look at whether banks broke wire and mail fraud laws or misled federal housing agencies by submitting flawed paperwork...

Speedy Evictions Made for Big Profits
Speedy Evictions Made for Big Profits
analysis
Oct 16, 2010 10:54 AM CDT

Speedy Evictions Made for Big Profits

Mortgage companies like Fannie became foreclosure factories

(Newser) - The Washington Post fleshes out a fuller, and more outrageous, picture of how the foreclosure mess came to be. Big mortgage companies—including government-owned Fannie Mae—had so many cases to clear off the books, they gave law firms and other processors bonuses for speed and penalties for delays. Guess...

Years of Bank Incompetence Led to Foreclosure Crisis

Banks ignored warning signs, hired 'Burger King kids'

(Newser) - As the foreclosure crisis continues, the stories of clueless employees just get worse. Swamped with delinquent customers, banks hired inexperienced walk-ins one former executive called “Burger King kids,” who, for years, processed mortgages at an astonishing rate. Overwhelmed employees not only signed papers without reading them—they sometimes...

'Recovery' Looking Like 10-Year Recession

Uncertainty is the 'new normal' in America

(Newser) - For many Americans, "recovery" feels a lot like recession—and it may take a decade for that to change, finds the New York Times . At the current rate of job creation, for instance, it would take nine years to recapture jobs lost thus far. Home prices, meanwhile, are down...

Bank 'Foreclosure Experts' Couldn't Define 'Mortgage'

Workers with no experience or training signed paperwork

(Newser) - Work experience as a hair stylist or at Wal-Mart was good enough to get you hired as a "foreclosure expert" at financial institutions rushing through thousands of foreclosures, a Florida court heard yesterday. A lawyer defending thousands of homeowners produced depositions from mortgage company workers who testified that they...

Dozens of States Plan Foreclosure Probe

Joint investigation may force lenders to rewrite large numbers of loans

(Newser) - A coalition of up to 40 state attorney-generals is preparing to launch a joint probe into allegations that mortgage-servicing firms used fraudulent paperwork to kick people out of their homes. Bank of America has already suspended evictions in all 50 states while it looks into "robo-signed" foreclosure documents, and...

White House Not Backing Foreclosure Moratorium

Says legit foreclosures need to go through

(Newser) - The wave of botched foreclosures is a "serious problem," David Axelrod told CBS today, but shutting the process down entirely isn't likely the solution because "there are in fact valid foreclosures that probably should go forward." "Our hope is this moves rapidly and that this...

Bank of America: We Messed Up Foreclosures, Too

Nation's largest bank puts them on hold in 23 states

(Newser) - The chaos over foreclosures widens: Bank of America is putting them on hold in 23 states as it examines whether it rushed the process for thousands of homeowners without reading the documents. The move adds the nation's largest bank to a growing list of mortgage companies whose employees signed documents...

Foreclosure System in Chaos—Which Might Be Good

It could eventually help housing prices stabilize

(Newser) - The nation's foreclosure system is coming to a virtual standstill in the wake of news that two big home lenders may have done shoddy work processing them. The New York Times weighs in on the mess and finds a silver lining: This could actually help the housing market in the...

10 Reasons to Buy a House
 10 Reasons to Buy a House 
Sep 19, 2010 6:35 AM CDT

10 Reasons to Buy a House

Housing market gloom is over-hyped

(Newser) - Has the housing crisis scared you out of the market? Too bad, because there are still many good reasons to buy, writes Brett Arends in the Wall Street Journal . A few points to consider before hopping on the first train to rents-ville:
  • You could get a deal: Prices are down—
...

Home Repos Hit Recession High

US on track for 1M foreclosures this year

(Newser) - Lenders took back more homes in August than any month since the start of the US mortgage crisis. The increase in home repossessions came even as the number of properties entering the foreclosure process slowed for the seventh month in a row, RealtyTrac said today. In all, banks repossessed 95,...

Dear US, You're Making the Mortgage Mess Worse
Dear US, You're Making the Mortgage Mess Worse
joseph stiglitz
Sep 9, 2010 2:07 PM CDT

Dear US, You're Making the Mortgage Mess Worse

Stop meddling and the let the private sector take over

(Newser) - Joseph Stiglitz lends his Nobel clout to the notion that the government is doing more harm than good by over-managing the housing crisis. "Government policies to support the housing market not only have failed to fix the problem, but are prolonging the deleveraging process and creating the conditions for...

Sign of the Times: Foreclosures-Only Courts

Florida streamlines legal process to cut backlog

(Newser) - Pretty much all you need to know about how bad Florida's housing mess is: The state has set up a system of foreclosures-only courts to deal with its backlog of cases. Otherwise, they'd clog up the normal court system. The goal is to cut the backlog by 62% in a...

20 Worst Places to Sell Your House

Hint: California and Florida show up a lot

(Newser) - It's a rough time in general to sell your home, but some places are (far) worse than others. Richard Florida rounds up the 20 worst for the Daily Beast , with nine of the regions in California and six in Florida. Here are the top 5:
  1. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif: One of
...

We Need More Flexible Home Mortgages
 We Need 
 More Flexible 
 Home Mortgages 
opinion
Aug 12, 2010 12:46 PM CDT

We Need More Flexible Home Mortgages

Today's loans 'designed for yesterday's borrowers'

(Newser) - In an op-ed headlined "The 30-Year Prison," Katherine Stone lays out what she sees as a big problem contributing to the housing crisis: "Today's mortgages are designed for yesterday's borrowers." Long gone are the days when people had the same stable job for life, and it's...

US Could See Record 1M Foreclosures in 2010

Numbers 'unprecedented'

(Newser) - More than 1 million American households are likely to lose the roof over their heads to foreclosure this year, as lenders work their way through a huge backlog of borrowers who have fallen behind on their loans. Nearly 528,000 homes were repossessed by lenders in the first six months...

New Probe: Did Banks Dupe Credit Raters?

New York AG Andrew Cuomo investigates 8 big banks

(Newser) - More bad news for bankers: New York's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, is investigating whether banks deliberately misled rating agencies ahead of the housing market collapse. So far, authorities have focused on dealings between banks and clients who purchased mortgage-backed securities, notes the New York Times . Cuomo's crusade broadens the scope...

After 5 Quarters of Decline, Rent Just Went Up

Stabilizing prices might signal ravaged sector has found bottom

(Newser) - Rents crept up nationally in the first quarter, notching a 0.3% increase that ended five straight quarters of decline in a sector that's been particularly battered by the recession. The vacancy rate—closely linked to unemployment—held steady at 8%, while 60 of the 79 markets surveyed reported higher...

BofA Forgiving $3B in Mortgage Debt

45K 'underwater' borrowers to be offered reduction

(Newser) - Bank of America is offering to slash mortgage-loan balances by up to 30% for thousands of delinquent borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth. The plan—part of an agreement to settle a lending-abuse suit—is one of the most ambitious moves yet to ease the foreclosure crisis,...

Obama to Offer $1.5B in Housing Help

Money will go to the five states hardest hit by the bust

(Newser) - President Obama will unveil $1.5 billion in housing help today during a visit to Las Vegas, the city with the worst foreclosure crisis in the nation. The money will go to the five hardest-hit states to fund programs to help jobless homeowners and those with underwater mortgages. Agencies in...

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