Posts Tagged ‘Obama Administration’

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Real Estate Review: Mortgage Rates Set New Low, Homeowners Get More Time, Banks Get Blame and “Reverse Foreclosure”

Saturday, June 11th, 2011
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Real Estate Review: Mortgage Rates Set New Low, Homeowners Get More Time, Banks Get Blame and “Reverse Foreclosure”Mortgage Rates Set Fresh 2011 Low After Jobs Report

Fixed rate home mortgage loans dropped for the eighth straight week to a new low for 2011 amid concerns of another economic slowdown this year, according to data from Freddie Mac and a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.49%, down from 4.55% last week and 2010’s 4.72% average. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell from 3.74% to 3.68%. 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.17% in 2010.

Lawyers Get More Time to Finish Foreclosures

Florida foreclosure defense is translating into more time for plantiff bank attorneys to complete a foreclosure, according to an article in the Palm Beach Post.

Due to the reality of Florida’s overloaded court system and swirling questions surrounding the validity of foreclosure paperwork, Fannie Mae is now allowing bank attorneys up to 450 days (about 15 months) for lawyers to complete a foreclosure before fines are levied. The previous time limit was 185 days, or about six months.

The increased time needed to complete a foreclosure legally and correctly against a homeowner is due in large part to Florida foreclosure defense attorneys working to protect the rights of South Florida homeowners, according to Roy Oppenheim.

Obama Blames Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase for Modification Failures

The three largest U.S. mortgage lenders are getting some heat from the Obama administration for the failures of the federal foreclosure-prevention program, according to The Associated Press.

The lackluster performance of Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase with helping homeowners lower their mortgage payments has led the Obama administration to remove financial incentives it had given these lenders.
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Posted in Associated Press, Florida foreclosures, Florida Law News, Florida real estate, Foreclosure Defense, International News, Loan Modification, Palm Beach Post, Roy Oppenheim, Short Sales, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal | 3 Comments »

Now We Know: Why Obama’s Loan Modification Program Failed Homeowners – Oppenheim Observes

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
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Small wonder that HAMP has turned into an embarrassing failure for the Obama administration.

Small wonder that HAMP has turned into an embarrassing failure for the Obama administration.

This past weekend, I was in our Nation’s capital. It is always interesting to see things from the inside looking out, as opposed to from the outside looking in. It is like being in a house of mirrors.

One thing is apparent: the Beltway economy is not suffering like places such as Florida, Nevada, and Detroit. As a result, our elected representatives and the administration may not truly understand the depth of the housing crisis. I think they still blame the greed of “over ambitious” homeowners and speculators as opposed to the real driving force: Wall Street, the over-sized “too big to fail” banks and themselves. The buzz, of course, was the fact that Fannie Mae may have been playing its own political three card “monty” with homeowners over the past year. Simply put: whistleblower Caroline Herron, a former Fannie Mae executive and consultant, is suggesting the administration pushed for temporary modifications knowing full well that many of the loan modifications would fail prior to becoming permanent. In fact, Congress is now pushing for hearings.

Fannie Mae executives bungled their responsibilities of the federal government’s massive foreclosure-prevention campaign, creating a bureaucratic muddle characterized by “mismanagement and gross waste of public funds,” according to the suit Herron filed. The suit alleges that the homeowner-relief effort was marred by delays, missteps and executives’ preoccupation with their institution’s short-term financial interests. “It appeared that Fannie Mae officers were focused on maximizing incentive payments available to Fannie Mae under various federal programs – even if this meant wasting taxpayer money and delaying the implementation of high-priority Treasury programs,” Herron claims in the lawsuit.
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Posted in International News, Loan Modification, Roy Oppenheim | 2 Comments »

First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended Into 2010! Plus…A New Tax Credit for Certain Existing Home Owners!

Monday, November 9th, 2009
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Why say it yourself when someone has already said it! Neil Solomon, my good friend, in the mortgage industry sent me this email and I thought I would share it with all of you. It speaks for itself. But the good news is the government will actually pay YOU to buy a house! How nice is that!

First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended Into 2010!
Plus…A New Tax Credit for Certain Existing Home Owners!

It’s official. President Obama has signed a bill that extends the tax credit for first-time homebuyers (FTHBs) into the first half of 2010. This program had been scheduled to expire on November 30, 2009.

In addition to extending the tax credit of up to $8,000 through June 30, 2010, the extension measure also opens up opportunities for others who are not buying a home for the first time.

So Who Gets What?
The program that has existed for FTHBs remains intact with the one exception that more people are now eligible based on an increase in the amount of income someone may now earn.

Additionally, the program now gives those who already own a residence some additional reasons to move to a new home. This incentive comes in the form of a tax credit of up to $6,500 for qualified purchasers who have owned and occupied a primary residence for a period of five consecutive years during the last eight years.

Deadlines
In order to qualify for the credit, all contracts need to be in effect no later than April 30, 2010 and close no later than June 30, 2010.
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Posted in Florida Law News, Real Estate Closings | 2 Comments »

The New Normal… NYT Reports: Expect Four Million More Foreclosures Despite Obama’s Mortgage Modification Policy

Friday, October 9th, 2009
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In today’s New York Times (10/9/09) the lead story in the Business section is: “In Trial Phase, Mortgage Bills Fall for 500,000. Is that supposed to be good news or news at all? I am not sure. I guess it depends on whether you think the glass is half full or half empty.

The reality is that by now the Obama administration had anticipated (or promised) about 5 million modifications: not 10 percent of that number!

So the real news is that Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s and one of the top real estate prognosticators in the US is fully anticipating another 4 million foreclosures, as reported in the article today. Now I call that News. That’s right four million! Thus, one can expect at least 35% of those foreclosures to occur right here in Florida.

Further Peter Goodman, the NYT’s reporter failed to actually discuss the percentage decrease that occurs s in modifications or whether there was material principal reduction to date. Well I will tell you: the average successful mortgage modification is between 20%-22%. Little if any principal is reduced. Thus we can anticipate that many of these half million modifications will become part of the 4 million in foreclosure. In fact, based on prior studies, modifications without principal reduction lead to foreclosure half the time.

So don’t expect real estate values to start increasing any time soon as long as folks keep losing their homes. Yes, the economy is no longer in free fall and things are better than last fall: Stock market is rising, retail sales have stopped falling and job losses are decreasing. However, until people are employed and can afford their houses payments again and there are meaningful principal reduction or forbearance of underwater equity nothing much will change. The folks who brought us this mess: the politicians and regulators in Washington, the “bright minds” on Wall Street and the banks, will have to first realize that keeping people in their homes is better for them and for the rest of us too. Welcome to the New Normal.

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Posted in Florida foreclosures, Florida Law News, Foreclosure Defense | 2 Comments »

I Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself…

Monday, September 14th, 2009
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Watch this insightful video on how we got to where we are just from one year ago….

Wall Street, One Year Later

The Times’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, Gretchen Morgenson and Joe Nocera recount the events of the weekend that Lehman Brothers failed and discuss the lessons learned from the financial crisis…

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Posted in Entrepreneurial News, Florida foreclosures | No Comments »

Roy Oppenheim on Obama’s Loan Modification Programs and What it Means to Florida Real Estate

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
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Once in Default: Always in Default

Borrowers stay in default … Regardless of Obama Modification Programs New Study Shows

As we have previously discussed about Florida real estate, the whole premise of the Obama Administration’s housing bail out response was to provide, Florida real estate borrowers, the opportunity to modify their loans and get back on track. Based on prior studies, folks that fell behind typically self corrected or played catch up with their lenders about 25 percent of the time. And that was without any modifications. Thus, the Obama policy was simple: hope and pray that 25 percent of homeowners that fell behind would self correct and provide modifications to those who qualify thus eliminating the number of foreclosures clogging the courts.

Well the verdict is now in once again. According to the Wall Street Journal a study conducted by the well-known Fitch Rating Services concludes that the cure rate on loans is only about six percent! That is almost 75 percent less than expected. Oops… I guess the policy works minus a slight miscalculation. But it is simple to understand, prior research was conducted during a time when real estate prices fell at most 10-20 percent… not 30-60 percent.

What does this mean to Florida real estate? The prior studies never factored in what we call “strategic defaults” where homeowners decide to just stop paying because it no longer makes sense to keep paying. Plain and simple.

The Fitch study is compelling enough since it covers $1.7 trillion of mortgages. That is a sum that exceeds the amount of numerals on all my calculators in the house (except the I-Phone). But it says something else. It provides an insight into the fact that in all likelihood we will see many more banks fail and that the FDIC will soon need its own infusion of funds.

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Posted in Florida real estate | 2 Comments »

White House is Prodding Mortgage Servicers to Modify More Loans

Monday, July 13th, 2009
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It looks like mortgage servicers are going to woodshed for deliberately not modifying mortgages and allowing foreclosures to sore! its about time! Here is the letter that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan sent to 25 mortgage-servicing firms last week:

“We are writing to you as a participant in the Administration’s Making Home Affordable (MHA) program. As you are aware, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) under MHA is designed to help responsible but at-risk homeowners modify their mortgages in order to lower their monthly payments to sustainable levels and avoid foreclosure. This program is a critical part of our collective effort to stabilize the housing market and promote economic recovery.

Since we published our detailed guidance, we have started to see a significant ramp-up in the number of trial modification offers and trial modifications underway. However, much more progress is needed. There appears to be substantial variation among servicers in performance and borrower experience, as well as inconsistent results in converting trial modification offers into actual trial modifications. We believe there is a general need for servicers to devote substantially more resources to this program for it to fully succeed and achieve the objectives we all share.

In order to assess our progress under the program and improve the speed of implementation, we request that you designate a senior liaison, with whom you have regular contact and who is authorized to make decisions on behalf of you as CEO, to work directly with us on all aspects of MHA. We will invite this person to meet with senior Treasury and HUD officials on July 28 to discuss full implementation of the program. To prepare for that meeting, we ask that your liaison send us a letter by July 23, detailing specific steps that your organization will take towards effective implementation and compliance. Similarly, we invite you or your liaison to provide suggestions on ways that we can improve program design.

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Posted in Florida foreclosures | 1 Comment »

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