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Lead-Paint Suit May Thin Burden of Proof October 1, 2007
VA: Some in Fairfax Public Housing Make Six FiguresHundreds of families living in housing subsidized by Fairfax County taxpayers exceed income caps designed to ensure that only the neediest receive assistance, a review of county records shows. In the most extreme cases, Fairfax is underwriting rents for families making well into six figures: One household getting help makes more than $216,000 a year; another, $184,000. Dozens of others — making $60,000, $70,000, $90,000 — exceed eligibility caps. And they do so with the tacit approval of county housing administrators, who do little to encourage occupants to move on when their fortunes improve. October 1, 2007
Barred From Public Housing, Even to See FamilyNobody covers public housing quite like The Journal, the New York City Housing Authority’s monthly tabloid newspaper, delivered to 178,000 apartments. There are colorful photographs and cheerful stories about the agency’s youth chorus, community center ribbon-cuttings and teenage tenants headed to college. But there is one widely read feature that residents hope they never appear in: the Not Wanted List. It names former residents who are “permanently excluded” from Housing Authority buildings — and barred from even an afternoon’s visit to a family member. The Not Wanted are barred for a wide variety of reasons, some of them for criminal arrests and others for being nuisances. October 1, 2007
Checks on Md. Sprawl Go AwryIt’s nearly impossible to tell how effective Maryland’s 10-year-old Smart Growth law has been at curbing sprawl because state agencies haven’t kept track of where their spending goes, as the law requires, a new study finds. The study, to be published today by the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland, says that officials through two administrations did a poor job of monitoring whether state funds for building roads, sewers and other public improvements were spent in designated growth areas, as the law intended. October 1, 2007
New Orleans: Deadline Is Set for Road HomeThe state took a step today toward determining how much money it will need to complete its Road Home grant program, setting a Dec. 1 deadline for applicants to schedule face-to-face meetings with program advisers. A July 31 deadline for homeowners to apply to the federally financed, state-run recovery program was supposed to give state leaders a clearer picture of a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. It helped, but there’s still too much uncertainty in the budget estimates because there are 31,637 people who have applied but have not yet to show up for appointments to present documentation and prove their eligibility. October 1, 2007
Temple Bets on Home BuyersWith growth and development surging in North Philadelphia, Temple University president Ann Weaver Hart wants university employees to play a stronger role in the residential communities surrounding the university. To achieve that, Hart will announce today a $500,000 program to encourage workers at the university to become homeowners in the neighborhoods around the main campus in North Philadelphia and the health sciences campus in the city’s Tioga section. October 1, 2007
Fixing Up Run-Down Homes: Volunteers Step Up for Struggling Couple October 1, 2007
If You Buy Now, Will You Lose Money?It takes a bit of courage to buy a home in a weak real estate market. But buying can still be a reasonable, financially sound choice for anyone with the traditional reasons for settling down: You need a bigger house for a growing family. You want to live in a particular school district. You want a place you can remodel and expand over time. You’re a first-timer who wants to snag a place while interest rates are affordable. October 1, 2007
Borrowers Are Feeling Some Heat, but It’s Not a ‘Mortgage Meltdown’The term “mortgage meltdown” has become so common — on TV, in headlines and in casual conversations — that you might assume that this is a tough time to get a mortgage. But the reality is starkly different: Mortgage money is plentiful; the majority of mortgage products remain relatively unaffected by troubles in the subprime segment; and interest rates for 30-year, fixed-rate loans remain in the low 6 percent range for people with reasonably good — not necessarily perfect — credit records. Even interest rates on jumbo loans — those for more than $417,000 — have fallen after spiking this summer. October 1, 2007
Hawaii Housing Bias May Be UnderreportedOnly 43 people pursued housing discrimination cases with the Hawai’i Civil Rights Commission during the last fiscal year — a slight decrease from the year before. But legal advocates aren’t saying the Islands are a model for fair housing; they say housing discrimination goes largely unreported and unchecked. In fact, despite the low overall number, Hawai’i had one of the nation’s worst complaint rates per 100,000 housing units from 2002 to 2006. Hawai’i ranks seventh in the nation for discrimination on that basis, according to a Gannett News Service analysis of federal statistics. October 1, 2007
Local Renters’ Issues More Often Involve DisabilitiesFor the last five years, most of the local housing discrimination complaints involved disabilities, according to statistics from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. From 2002 to 2006, there were 14 complaints alleging discrimination based on disability and three complaints alleging discrimination based on race. The local disability complaints weren’t a surprise to Larry Roberts, the program director of Finger Lakes Independence Center. October 1, 2007
Foreclosure FraudWhen Joy Jenise Jackson and her bridegroom, Kurt Fordham, walked down the aisle together at the Mayflower Hotel last year, they did it in style. The happy couple joined their 360 guests for lobster and four wedding cakes, then bestowed gifts on their attendants that included a house and a Porsche. The newlyweds were also business partners, in the Lanham-based Metropolitan Money Store, a “foreclosure rescue” service that advertised itself as a savior to families in danger of losing their homes. October 1, 2007
Is Bankruptcy Better Than Foreclosure?DEAR BOB: We are behind three months on our home mortgage payments due to illness and unemployment. The mortgage loan servicer has been very uncooperative when we tried several times to make partial payments. Last week the loan servicer began the foreclosure process by recording the legal documents. So far we have heard from three lawyers who specialize in bankruptcy. They tell us to file bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure. Is this a smart decision? —Alice V. October 1, 2007
Testing for Housing DiscriminationStephanie McIntosh’s job is to ask about apartments for rent or houses for sale. What happens next depends on the answer she gets. Landlords or real estate agents who treat McIntosh, who is black, differently from the way they treat white housing applicants — by declining to show her available apartments, for example — could become the target of a housing discrimination complaint. McIntosh is one of hundreds of “testers” who pose as renters or buyers, looking for evidence of discrimination in the housing market. October 1, 2007
HUD Charges Housing Authority with Housing DiscriminationHUD has charged the Tuckahoe Housing Authority in Tuckahoe, NY with discrimination for refusing to rent a public housing unit to an otherwise eligible woman, subjecting her to different terms, conditions, privileges, or services and facilities because of her disability. October 2, 2007
MD Ground Rent Inventory BeginsMaryland began a three-year effort yesterday to catalog all of its ground rents as part of a legislative initiative to reform the centuries-old system that has cost some homeowners their dwellings because of small unpaid sums. Ground rent owners have until September 2010 to complete a two-page form identifying each holding, or else lose their investments. It is estimated that 115,000 ground rents exist in Baltimore City and Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties. October 2, 2007
Unexpected Tax Bill Adds to the Pain of ForeclosureForeclosures are up, and many families are losing their homes. That’s bad enough, but the IRS has an unpleasant surprise for them: They may have to pay extra taxes, even though they didn’t receive any money. Most homeowners are completely unaware of an obscure provision in the tax code related to debt cancellation. Or they might think such matters apply only to corporations and high-income individuals, but this law applies to all taxpayers, regardless of income. If you lose your home to foreclosure, both ordinary income and capital gains tax may be assessed against you. October 2, 2007
Citizens Audit Reveals Fraud and AbuseA long-awaited audit report on the troubled Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. found evidence of fraud and abuse on Monday by the state-sponsored insurer of last resort, which did not have enough money to pay claims after Hurricane Katrina. The special investigation by Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot found that Citizens and related entities spent more than $1 million between 2004 and 2006 on travel, meals and entertainment even though Citizens isn’t supposed to be recruiting business as an insurer of last resort. The impact of the report may largely hinge on whether Citizens and its related entities are rendered public or private organizations. October 2, 2007
Vultures Swoop in to Buy Houses, CheapHe’s a professional home buyer in Kansas City, an investor who hopes to resell properties for a profit. Increasingly, the callers are troubled homeowners. “We get a ton of calls on foreclosures,” said Asbell, who owns Cityscape Properties. “We’ve always gotten calls. It’s just increased in the last six to 12 months.” A rising tide of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures caused in part by quick jumps in interest rates on subprime mortgages has drawn attention to active housing investors. Theirs is not a beloved industry. Some call them vultures. And members readily acknowledge seedy parts of the business. Prosecutors have busted scams. “When people have issues and problems, there are those who are there to capitalize on others’ misfortune,” said housing counselor Pam Hider Johnson. October 2, 2007
Tenant, Gun Bills Signed Into LawBaltimore landlords will no longer be able to throw an evicted tenant’s belongings onto the sidewalk, and gun offenders will be required to register their address every six months under a pair of bills signed by Mayor Sheila Dixon. The “eviction chattels” legislation, meanwhile, is intended to eliminate the practice of landlords dumping evicted tenants’ belongings on city streets, which creates an eyesore and also requires the city to clean up the mess. October 2, 2007
Home Prices Buck Trend, for NowDeclining prices, rising inventory and increasing foreclosure rates may have hobbled many of the nation’s housing markets, but they have not yet reached Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn. The people who closed on co-ops, condominiums and town houses there paid more than ever, on average, for real estate in the third quarter of this year. Four reports issued yesterday by the city’s major residential real estate brokerage firms showed that apartments closing in Manhattan in July, August and September sold for the highest average sale price ever and that the inventory of homes for sale declined over all. October 2, 2007
Widow Losing Home After Foreclosure SchemeHendra Wargo keeps her dead husband’s voice on her answering machine. His brown shoes sit on the floor beside the coffee table. Jack died of an aneurism in 2002. Wargo fell into debt after Jack’s death when she was unable to keep up the family storage business. Her two-bedroom ranch-style house in Deerpark went into foreclosure and she didn’t know how to save it. Then her phone rang in December of 2005. The caller, a Long Island man who identified himself as Paul Jean, said he could save Wargo’s house from foreclosure. She believed him. But now the 64-year-old widow is losing her home. October 2, 2007
Those Who Offer Housing Must Know the Rules on Discrimination or PayOn Sunday, a News Journal article made note of a rising number of housing discrimination complaints to the Delaware Office of Human Relations. The greatest number of cases involved people with disabilities seeking accommodations suited to their needs. These were almost half the incidents on record in New Castle and Kent counties. Problems arose not just for tenants dealing with unresponsive landlords, even over simple requests like an apartment on the ground floor. Even property owners run into governing community boards resistant to fair-minded adaptations for individuals. October 2, 2007
Housing Discrimination? ‘Phone Google’ Keeps It SimplerThe referral experts at Vermont 2-1-1 are not alone in their quest to secure housing for those least fit to find and keep it. But a three-digit phone number, combined with old-time switchboard skills and an up-to-date social services database is surfacing as an effective first line of defense against housing discrimination among Vermont residents with disabilities. More and more people are calling for help. October 2, 2007
Condo Officials Discriminated Against Handicapped, Justice Department Lawsuit ContendsOwners and developers of two condominiums in west Chatham County are accused of discriminating against the handicapped by failing to provide disabled-access features. A lawsuit filed recently in federal court by the U.S. Justice Department contends Stonelake Townhomes and Highlands Crossing have violated the nation’s Fair Housing Act. Stonelake is located at Berwick Plantation off Interstate 16; Highlands Cross is under construction in Godley Station in Pooler. October 2, 2007
Index Forecasting Existing-Home Sales Posts Steep DeclineAn index that forecasts near-term home sales fell in August to a record low as would-be buyers ran into difficulty getting mortgages. Some economists say the housing market’s woes show no sign of improving soon. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell 6.5% from July and 21.5% from a year ago. The index of pending home sales has a strong record of predicting sales levels over the following two months, says Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR. October 3, 2007
Neighbor Tenants Tangle Over TobaccoColleen Sauve’s neighbors voted to ban smoking in their four-unit building three years after she bought her two-bedroom condo. “I couldn’t smoke in the driveway, on the patio, anywhere, including the unit I owned,” says Sauve, 49, a city clerk in Golden, Colo. She and her husband, both smokers, sued the condo association but lost in November. Six months later, they moved. “I bought a crappy old trailer house,” she says. “I’m fixing it up.” October 3, 2007
Can These Mortgages Be Saved?On Christmas Eve two years ago, as Shannon Rivas-Spivey wrapped gifts for her two young sons, she was interrupted by a knock at her door. Standing on her front steps in Somers Point, N.J., was a man from the Atlantic County sheriff’s office, delivering foreclosure papers on the three-bedroom home that she and her fiancé, Harold Spivey, had owned for almost 10 years. The visit was unwelcome, but not a surprise. Ms. Rivas-Spivey had been battling foreclosure for over a month, ever since the Countrywide Financial Corporation , the huge lender that services her loan, charged her escrow account for flood insurance she did not need and could not afford to pay. During the months it took to have Countrywide fix the error, she said, she fell behind on the loan. October 3, 2007
The Foreclosure Pickings Are Plentiful but Not EasyWith home foreclosures on the rise, buying a property in default may seem a sure route to profit or, at least, a cheap way to get a home. It can be. But it is not an endeavor for the shallow of checkbook or faint of heart. Even though the number of foreclosures is at the highest since the Mortgage Bankers Association began keeping records in 1979, they are concentrated in a few states and still represent fewer than 2 percent of all mortgages. And while foreclosures can be deals, not all are bargains. October 3, 2007
Morgan Stanley Mortgage Unit to Lay Off 600Morgan Stanley said Tuesday it is cutting about 600 jobs and slimming down its mortgage business, after a credit crisis upended the home loan industry this summer and forced other investment banks into similar moves. Two weeks after the Wall Street investment bank missed analysts’ expectations for the fiscal third quarter and took a writedown of $940 million for corporate loans stuck on its books, Morgan Stanley said it will eliminate about 1 percent of its work force. October 3, 2007
Santa Clarita Residents are Struggling to Afford Housing, a CitySanta Clarita residents are struggling to afford housing, a city official and a city consultant told members of the Newhall Redevelopment Committee on Monday night. As part of their efforts in addressing the affordable housing element in the city’s general plan, Erin Moore-Lay of the city’s Community Development Department and Karin Pally, a city consultant, presented the committee with numbers that show that only 13 percent of residents can afford Santa Clarita’s median home price of $615,000. “On the positive side, the city has a large number of people who are well-housed and well-off,” Pally said. She said, however, that there is also a large number of people who are “rent-burdened” - spending too much of their income on rent. October 3, 2007
HUD Says ‘No’ to Seller-Assisted DPAThe Department of Housing and Urban Development has stuck to its guns regarding seller-funded downpayment assistance on Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages. But practically before the ink was dry last week on a final rule prohibiting anyone except family members, employers, government entities or true charitable organizations from giving would-be buyers money to cover the 3 percent downpayment required on FHA loans, the two largest DPA providers filed separate suits in federal court seeking to overturn the controversial regulation. October 3, 2007
Real Estate Bust: Distressed Properties on BlockEven during a drenching rainstorm two weeks ago, more than 30 groups of potential buyers toured an 814-square-foot condominium in West San Jose, seemingly defying conventional wisdom about the sluggish real estate market. But it wasn’t a normal open house; in fact, visitors had to tread warily through the darkened property on Weyburn Lane because the electricity had been turned off. The two-bedroom condo is one of about 150 bank-repossessed Bay Area properties that will be auctioned Saturday in San Mateo. As foreclosures have soared in California, large auctions of bank-owned properties are becoming more frequent. Saturday’s is the third in the Bay Area in recent months, and similar auctions have occurred in Sacramento and Modesto. October 3, 2007
County Home Foreclosures SkyrocketingThe number of home foreclosures continues to skyrocket in Livingston County, but a statewide group of social service agencies is considering a push to get some help for homeowners who are under the gun. According to the Livingston County register of deeds, there have been 734 foreclosures this year. That compares to 454 in the same period last year, and 206 in the first nine months of 2005, when the amount of foreclosures started rising significantly. October 3, 2007
Minority Areas Hit Hardest by Eminent DomainA father and son who operate a nonprofit boxing gym for kids in suburban San Diego are fighting their town for the right to stay where they are. Ultimately, their battle to hold onto their property could help decide your right to hold onto yours. Carlos Barragan and his son Carlos Jr. turned an old gun store into the gym. They sued in September to challenge the “blighted” certification given to the property and an adjacent neighborhood by National City. That designation gives the city the power under California law to seize property, once a fair price is determined, through the constitutional right of eminent domain any time within the next 10 years for private development. October 3, 2007
Mortgages For Those Who Lack Credit DataCitiMortgage plans to announce today that it has set aside $200 million for mortgages to Washington area residents who have limited credit histories and therefore often end up with high-cost or risky home loans. CitiMortgage, a division of Citigroup, plans to fund the loans as part of a test project that may be extended nationwide next year. Fannie Mae and State Farm Insurance each have agreed to buy $100 million worth of those mortgages. October 4, 2007
Investor’s Influence Expands In RegionWhen real estate investor Victor B. MacFarlane comes to Washington, he arrives on a personal jet, sleeps at the Four Seasons in Georgetown and does business from an office on Connecticut Avenue that is still largely empty. MacFarlane is not from the District, and he’s still getting used to the place, but make no mistake: The 56-year-old magnate from San Francisco is quickly making a name for himself in the city’s hot commercial real estate market. October 4, 2007
Lawmakers Ask Bush to Appoint ‘Mortgage Czar’U.S. lawmakers called for creation of a “mortgage czar” Wednesday to help cope with an expected wave of foreclosures from the housing slump, but Alan Greenspan said the credit crunch was past the worst.“We are beginning to see the frenzy calm down,” the former chairman of the Federal Reserve told a conference in Lisbon, Portugal. “Unless we get secondary effects, the worst is over.” Still, U.S. mortgage delinquencies have soared in recent months, and about 1.7 million home loans will go into foreclosure this year and next, according to Moody’s Economy.com. October 4, 2007
For Baltimore, Housing Slump Slows a RevivalColorful banners, draped across buildings like giant flags, urge people driving through Baltimore’s rebuilt downtown neighborhoods to move into the new condos and apartments inside. “Sophisticated Urban Living W/Garage and Gated Off-Street Parking” one sign declares in the long campaign to gentrify the central city. Until recently, the ballyhoo was not much needed. The revival was going well, in Baltimore and in other cities making the transition away from manufacturing. But now, the banners are the most visible evidence of the incipient damage to this major American city from the turmoil in the national economy. As home sales dry up, tax revenues fade, foreclosures surge and hiring declines, a new caution is inhibiting activity. October 4, 2007
Stranger at the DoorChantee Johnson says her earliest memory of the house on 178th Street in Springfield Gardens, Queens, is the day in the early 1970s when her parents took her and her siblings to see their new home. As the five children — soon to be seven — raced through the two-story, green and white frame house, Ms. Johnson remembers marveling at its size. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room and, best of all, a yard that was home to an apple tree and bursting with the potential for mischief. To swing the deal, her father took out a mortgage, for $22,200. More than 30 years later, the apple tree towers over the garage, the green and white paint has been replaced by beige, and Ms. Johnson’s parents are dead. Ms. Johnson, now a 36-year-old school bus driver, shares the house with her three children and her sister Lisa. October 4, 2007
Facing Foreclosure? Fight is Better Than FlightIt’s the toxic fallout from the “subprime meltdown”: More and more Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure. Sadly, many could escape this fate if they’d just talk to their lenders. Instead, they hunker down and hope against hope that something will happen before the mortgage company takes the home. Nationally, the number of homes in foreclosure soared by 36 percent between July and August, and foreclosures have more than doubled in the past 12 months, according to RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosure filings. Some experts think 2 million homeowners will lose their properties in the next couple of years. October 4, 2007
Man Admits Cross-Burning In Woman’s YardA man faces a possible 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced for burning an 8-foot-tall wooden cross in the yard of a woman and her three biracial children. Kyle Samuel Shroyer, 22, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 4 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. Shroyer pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to violate the rights of the victims under the Fair Housing Act. October 4, 2007
U.S. Taking Aim at BrokersMortgage brokers, under fire for steering borrowers into high-cost home loans, are a prime target of fair-lending legislation soon to be unveiled on Capitol Hill. One proposal takes aim at the commissions that brokers are paid when they sell mortgage loans at an interest rate higher than what the borrower could otherwise get. That measure is among an array of proposals designed to make various players in the loan process more accountable. October 4, 2007
Pick Up Your Pens and Fight for Ohio Consumer ProtectionOhio consumers have been stripped of their consumer protections and most don’t even know it. A law has been passed that will limit the amount of money that businesses that cheat, defraud or deceive Ohio consumers could have to pay if they are sued. Special interest groups, including the car dealers’ lobby, persuaded our legislators to make last-minute amendments to this bill. Then our elected officials pushed this bill, SB 117, into law during the lame-duck session, without any public hearing, and at record speed. October 4, 2007
Mayor’s Plan Links Taller Buildings, Affordable HousingSeattle Mayor Greg Nickels has taken the first step toward allowing taller buildings in South Lake Union, Sodo and Interbay with a proposal to the City Council that calls for developers to provide affordable housing in exchange for added building height. Nickels’ plan, which likely will ignite a battle between prominent property owners and housing activists, doesn’t initially change zoning. It first would establish a citywide policy before neighborhood-specific proposals were unveiled in coming months. It would mean the days of free boosts in height — and property values — for developers are over. Two years ago, for instance, the city allowed taller buildings on Capitol Hill without getting a contribution from property owners in return. October 4, 2007
Lenders Pressed to Pay for AdvisersThe Patrick administration is pressuring mortgage lenders that initiate foreclosures to pony up as much as $6 million to cover the cost of helping up to 8,000 Massachusetts homeowners who may lose their homes next year. In an e-mail obtained by the Globe, Dan Crane, director of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, told a group of lenders that the administration expected them to provide money to pay for housing counselors who will assist delinquent homeowners through the foreclosure process or help them find rental housing October 4, 2007
Different Perspectives On Re-urbanization Highlight Positive and Negative EffectsThe presence of gentrification in New York City conjures many different ideas depending on the perspective from which it comes. For some, gentrification is a dirty word indicative of an affluent social group snatching housing from those who are less fortunate. For others, gentrification means the re-urbanization of a once destitute neighborhood; the residents in the higher tax bracket contribute to the improvement of community infrastructure. Whatever it means, it brings change, and change can either be looked at as a good or bad thing. October 4, 2007
Ahead of the Bell: Mortgage Tax ReliefHouse lawmakers are due to vote Thursday on a bill that would allow homeowners to avoid paying taxes on mortgage debt which gets forgiven as part of a foreclosure or a modified loan. The bill by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is expected to receive bipartisan support as a way to assist borrowers caught up in a surge of foreclosures nationwide. Currently, if a lender forgives a portion of a mortgage, taxpayers are still required to report that amount as income and pay taxes on it. October 4, 2007
Study: Minority Mortgages Skew Toward ‘High Cost’ LoansA disproportionately large percentage of mortgages made to blacks and Hispanics last year met the government’s definition of “high cost” loans, a new study said. The report, released Thursday at an industry conference in Arlington Va., analyzed nationwide mortgage data for 2006 and reached conclusions similar to those of another study published by the Federal Reserve last month. Advocacy groups say mortgage discrimination has contributed to the current crisis in lending to borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit, in which a growing number of families are losing their homes. October 5, 2007
Blacks Buying in Home SlumpHome sales in Maryland dropped sharply last year, but black buyers were the exception. They took out slightly more loans for home purchases than in 2005, a marked contrast to the big decrease in buying among white and Asian borrowers, according to an analysis of federal data released yesterday by Genworth Financial Inc. and Compliance Technologies Inc. Whites in Maryland took out 23 percent fewer loans, while loans to Asian borrowers fell 35 percent — among the biggest drops in the nation for both groups. October 5, 2007
Pr. William Immigration, Housing Ills Seen as LinkedPrince William County’s home prices and its Hispanic population rose in tandem during the first half of this decade, a result of a home-building frenzy that became a powerful magnet for immigrant laborers. They arrived by the thousands, sending housing values even higher. Many did not come legally. But in the blur of swinging hammers and flying dollar signs, that detail was often overlooked. Illegal immigrants had little trouble finding jobs and not much trouble getting mortgages. That arrangement has unraveled. Prince William has some of the highest foreclosure rates in the region, with a glut of unsold, depreciating homes. And its elected officials have embarked on one of the most ambitious efforts in the nation to drive out and deport illegal immigrants. October 5, 2007
Pr. William Immigration, Housing Ills Seen as LinkedPrince William County’s home prices and its Hispanic population rose in tandem during the first half of this decade, a result of a home-building frenzy that became a powerful magnet for immigrant laborers. They arrived by the thousands, sending housing values even higher. Many did not come legally. But in the blur of swinging hammers and flying dollar signs, that detail was often overlooked. Illegal immigrants had little trouble finding jobs and not much trouble getting mortgages. That arrangement has unraveled. Prince William has some of the highest foreclosure rates in the region, with a glut of unsold, depreciating homes. And its elected officials have embarked on one of the most ambitious efforts in the nation to drive out and deport illegal immigrants. October 5, 2007
House OKs Exemption on Forgiven MortgagesFinancial relief for homeowners facing foreclosure or in bankruptcy advanced in the House Thursday as the House approved legislation to help financially strapped homeowners. The bill passed by a 386-27 vote would give a tax break to homeowners who have mortgage debt forgiven as part of a foreclosure or a reworking of a loan. The value of that forgiveness, which is now taxable as income, would become tax-exempt. While the measure is anticipated to reduce the taxes of some strapped homeowners by $650 million, it also looks to help offset that by limiting a tax break available on the sale of second homes. Another measure, narrowly approved by a House Judiciary subcommittee and opposed by Republicans on the panel has been sent to the full Judiciary Committee. It would revise the bankruptcy code to help homeowners facing default and foreclosure, biting into already hard-hit profits at mortgage lenders. October 5, 2007
Rates on 30-Year Mortgages FallRates on 30-year mortgages fell this week after two consecutive increases, providing a break for potential home buyers and the beleaguered housing industry. Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.37% this week, down from 6.42% last week. After hitting a high for this year of 6.73% in mid-July, rates have been trending lower as the worst slump in housing in 16 years has contributed to slower economic growth and fewer worries about inflation. October 5, 2007
‘07 Mortgage-Backed Bonds Even ShakierSubprime-mortgage bonds created in the first half of 2007 contain loans that are going delinquent at the fastest rate ever, Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday. The average rate of “serious loan delinquencies” in the securities has been higher than for bonds created last year, Moody’s analysts Ariel Weil and Amita Shrivastava wrote in a report. Serious loan delinquencies are those 60 days or more past due and include properties in foreclosure or already foreclosed upon. “It is shocking what you see,” said Kyle Bass of Hayman Advisors L.P., a Dallas hedge fund that bet the U.S. housing market would fall. It reported a 400 percent return on those investments. “Anything securitized in 2007 has got to have the worst collateral performance of any trust I’ve seen in my life,” Bass said. October 5, 2007
City Will Help Pension Plans Build Housing for TeachersFor the first time in years, New York City is helping to finance apartment buildings designed to provide relatively low-cost housing for a single profession: teachers and educators. The project, two buildings planned for the Melrose section of the Bronx, is being financed by $28 million in bonds bought by the city’s Teachers’ Retirement System, the city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., said at a news conference yesterday. The New York City Housing Development Corporation is also providing $20 million in below-market loans. October 5, 2007
HANO Contractor Denies Jackson Got Him JobU.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said Thursday he will cooperate with investigators after questions arose about how one of his friends got nearly half a million dollars for work at the Housing Authority of New Orleans, which currently is under the oversight of the federal government. Jackson, who testified before Congress this year that he doesn’t intervene in awarding contracts, acknowledged he may be under investigation in a case that involves just that. October 5, 2007
Family Finances: Should You Buy Home or Condo Via Auction?Are real estate auctions really great deals? Perhaps. Many experts say the deals could get progressively better for potential buyers as more banks attempt to unload foreclosed properties at below-market prices. Real estate consultant Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Research & Consulting LLC, Deerfield Beach, Fla., recently told of a developer who had bought at the top of the market and needed to sell some condo units. At auction, some $180,000 units went for as little as $90,000. Three-bedroom units that had retailed for $295,000 to $325,000, sold for as little as $180,000.But before you go chasing real estate auctions for hot bargains, know what you’re getting into. October 5, 2007
Increasing Your Home’s ValueWith an increasing number of properties hitting the market, you want to make sure that you’re doing all the right things to get top dollar for your property. And while you cannot change your house’s location or size, there are a number of ways you can easily affect the value of your house. “By spending a few hundred dollars on improvements you might earn a few thousand in payback,” says Terry Dunkin, president of the Appraisal Institute. Here are five things that may help secure your asking price. October 5, 2007
Couple’s House Briefly Saved From ForeclosureA Greenwood Township couple scheduled to have their home sold at sheriff sale today has been given a two-month reprieve. The home of Rhonda and Ed Schell was to have been sold after Option One, a financial firm, filed for foreclosure after the couple couldn’t make their mortgage payments. Those payments were increased last year when variable interest rates on their account were increased. October 5, 2007
Federal jury awards punitive damages against rental agency for housing discriminationA jury in Manhattan federal court Wednesday awarded $150,000 in punitive damages against a Manhattan rental agency, Space Hunters, Inc., and its principal, John McDermott, for discriminating against a prospective tenant because of his disability, in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act. October 5, 2007
An Advocate for Affordable HousingMary Armiger recalled a speech from about 30 years ago when her husband, Earl, asked, “Will our children be able to afford housing in Howard County?” “These words are still true today,” Mary Armiger said. “Many people in our community, like teachers and hospital workers, can’t afford to live here.” October 5, 2007
An Advocate for Affordable HousingMary Armiger recalled a speech from about 30 years ago when her husband, Earl, asked, “Will our children be able to afford housing in Howard County?” “These words are still true today,” Mary Armiger said. “Many people in our community, like teachers and hospital workers, can’t afford to live here.” October 5, 2007
Housing Discrimination Complaints on RiseNearly 40 years after a national law banned housing discrimination, an increasing number of complaints are alleging unfair treatment of minorities, the disabled, families and other groups. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and housing assistance agencies logged 10,328 complaints last year, a 12 percent jump from 2005. That’s the highest number since HUD started keeping track in 1990, when it included complaints from the disabled and families with children. October 5, 2007
Home Builders’ Foundations Shift with Shaky MarketEven as home buyers were being offered a free washer, dryer, refrigerator and window blinds, plus 5% off the price or in cash to pay closing costs, business was dragging at Reeves Williams’ communities.So at the end of July, Reeves Williams, a home builder in the South, began offering $20,000 in incentives or cash assistance. In the first week, 22 buyers had signed contracts for new homes. Then the mortgage market fell into a tailspin. “We lost 17 of them. It was a huge hit,” says Martha Fondren, vice president of sales. “It was a credit issue. They did not have horrible credit. But they didn’t have the credit scores to get (a loan), and six months ago they would have.” October 9, 2007
‘Nobody Expected This to Continue’ — It Didn’tot long ago, builders were raising home prices here thousands of dollars week after week. Families camped out for lotteries to win the right to buy. Buyers gambled with loans whose risks were obscured by euphoria. This is the tale of how America’s real estate boom came to a seemingly ordinary subdivision called the Villages at Queen Creek, where the whipsaw of easy credit has led to some extraordinary times. They were the best of times, for a while. The empty homes, though, raise serious doubts about what comes next. As the nation confronts skyrocketing foreclosures, what is happening here and in scores of similar neighborhoods is worth considering. October 9, 2007
Housing: That Sinking FeelingLas Vegas was once the hottest of the red-hot real estate markets. But when sales really started choking up last year, developer KB Home did something drastic. Determined not to be caught with a big backlog of unsold homes through one of the industry’s notorious down cycles, the builder started slashing prices. A lot. In the 1,400-home Huntington community, a subdivision of two-story stucco houses west of the famed Strip, homes that started at $320,000 a year ago are now listed for $270,000 — just a starting point for potential deals. October 9, 2007
Ambitious Project Is Planned in LaurelIn six months, Prince George’s County will preside over the opening of National Harbor, one of the biggest and most luxurious hotel and convention centers on the East Coast: a $2 billion marvel of work and play space on the banks of the Potomac River. Lurking in the wings is another project that could trump National Harbor, this one planned for the northern end of the county near the Montgomery County line. Konterra, as it is known, will be even bigger and more expensive than National Harbor. Planners envision the $3 billion development occupying 2,200 acres in Laurel and featuring luxury single-family houses, townhomes and condominiums, hotels, a business park and swanky retail, office and entertainment space. October 9, 2007
A Bank Bet on Condos, but Buyers Want OutJavier Miglin may walk away from an $80,000 down payment on a condominium with water views in Miami. Randal Mills may give up a $130,000 deposit on a 15th floor condo on the Strip in Las Vegas. And in San Diego, Jeanette Graham would just like to meet the neighbors. The three seemingly unrelated predicaments have a common thread that leads to Chicago, and Corus Bankshares, which financed the construction of each condominium development involved. October 9, 2007
Foreclosure Counselors are SwampedWhile foreclosure filings continue to rise throughout the state, housing counselors at Neighborhood House Inc. in Wilmington say they’re overwhelmed with pending mortgage defaults. “Our books are filling up with default clients,” said counselor Brenda J. Dryden. Foreclosure filings in Delaware continued to tick up in September, rising 15.5 percent last month compared with a year earlier, and bringing the total filings for the state up 32.7 percent for the first quarter of the fiscal year. October 9, 2007
Bias Complaints for Housing Rise in ‘06Housing discrimination complaints in Milwaukee County increased more than 50% in 2006 from 2005, according to the latest statistics released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The number of complaints has risen steadily since 2003, totaling 47 last year. Two factors likely explain the jump in complaints, say government officials and local housing advocates: greater awareness of renters’ rights and an increase of new landlords who entered the real estate investment market in the mid-decade boom. Racial discrimination accounted for about half the complaints, and disability discrimination, just under half. October 9, 2007
Government May Buy Miss. HomesThe federal government is considering buying out as many as 17,000 homes along the Mississippi coast and remaking the land into a vast hurricane-protection zone, raising anxieties that it could destroy the waterfront lives many residents are struggling to rebuild after Katrina. The Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program could cost $40 billion, including buying the homes, building levees and restoring barrier islands. The land could be converted into wetlands or other public uses, such as golf courses or bike trails, but could not be sold for private development. For Finley Williford, a 42-year-old boat captain, a buyout offer would have been tempting if it had come shortly after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his Bay St. Louis home on Aug. 29, 2005. October 10, 2007
Trying to Hold Onto HomeThe Pruntys, like millions of people nationwide, took advantage of a hot real estate market to borrow on the equity in their house. Now, entangled in what investigators call one of the largest mortgage scams in Maryland history, they risk losing the split-level brick home in Fort Washington they’ve owned for eight years. All they had wanted to do was fix the roof, replace the front door and some windows, and pay off bills. October 10, 2007
Homeowners Could get Casino PayoutNearly a million homeowners across the state could receive an income tax break equal to 4 percent of their property taxes under Governor Deval Patrick’s soon-to-be-unveiled casino bill, according to a Department of Revenue analysis. The analysis details how Patrick expects to deliver on a key benefit, providing property tax relief, that he has cited as a rationale for inviting developers to build three resort casinos in Massachusetts. October 10, 2007
Land Bank Against BlightFive years after Baltimore began a major effort to take control of thousands of abandoned properties, city officials are expected to announce a new program that would make it easier to sell them for redevelopment. The land bank concept, which will be unveiled today by Mayor Sheila Dixon’s administration, would eliminate red tape faced when a city-owned property is put up for sale - such as the requirement for an appraisal - to speed a process that some say can hamper redevelopment. October 10, 2007
How to Lose Your Home in a Few Easy StepsDelia Toothman once pursued the American dream of owning her own home. Now, she is living the American nightmare. In just three years Toothman, 30, a former Navy officer and bioscience technician in San Diego, went from $18,000 in savings to $16,000 in credit-card debt. She once lived in a home she co-owned; now she lives in her father’s garage. Toothman is just one of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Americans who find themselves homeless and broke in the aftermath of the housing bust. Hers is a cautionary tale of hard-working and well-intentioned young woman who got swept up in the real estate madness of Southern California, helped along by what she describes as bad advice from industry professionals. October 10, 2007
Mixed Signals for Home Buyers, LendersHelping people achieve the American Dream has long been a goal of the federal government. That’s why we have Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration. But now, as politicians, bureaucrats and the courts try to sort out the subprime mess, that dream is getting harder for some to realize. And that’s not necessarily because standards have been set higher, though that’s certainly being done. Some of the struggle for new homeownership, instead, can be blamed on the mixed signals the government is sending home buyers, lenders and investors. For example, last week the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said, by month’s end, it would stop accepting a type of down-payment assistance involved in 30 percent of all FHA-insured loans. October 10, 2007
Lower Risk of Home-Price Decline October 10, 2007
Forecast: Heating Homes to Cost MoreAmericans will have to dig deeper into their pockets to heat their homes this winter, even though temperatures generally are expected to be warmer than average, according to a seasonal outlook released yesterday. The Energy Department forecast that the price of home-heating oil would be up 16 percent from last winter. Nearly one-third of the homeowners in the Northeastern United States use heating oil, though only 7 percent do nationally, the department said. Natural gas, the dominant heating fuel across the country with 58 percent of households using it, will rise 6.3 percent in price from last winter. Electricity prices were projected to rise 2 percent. It is used for heating by 30 percent of households nationally, the department said. Its annual outlook covers the period from Oct. 1 through March 31. October 10, 2007
Australia: Court Ruling Will Hit Loan BrokersA mortgage broker has been found guilty of unconscionable conduct for writing loans a borrower was unable to repay, in a landmark decision expected to have far-reaching implications for the broking industry. Federal Court judge Roger Gyles found Canberra mortgage broker Kelvin Skeers had engaged in “misleading and deceptive conduct” in writing a $360,000 low-documentation home loan for a 20-year-old man who was unemployed, dyslexic and homeless. October 10, 2007
Mortgage Industry Coalition Forms to Help Prevent DefaultsThe Bush administration announced a new mortgage industry coalition on Wednesday aimed at helping homeowners avoid being trapped in a rising tide of foreclosures. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the initiative would help coordinate efforts by financial companies to help an estimated 2 million homeowners whose introductory mortgages with low rates are now resetting at much higher rates, greatly increasing the risk they will default on the loans. October 11, 2007
HUD Awards Over $18 Million to Fight Housing DiscriminationHUD has awarded more than 80 grants totaling $17.1 million to recipients in 37 states and the District of Columbia to help fight housing discrimination. Additionally, New America Media, received $1 million in grants to develop the first coordinated national media campaign to educate the public about discriminatory lending. October 11, 2007
Homeless Families in New York Lose a LoopholeBeginning tomorrow night, the city will stop giving emergency shelter to families who are reapplying for a place to stay after being ruled ineligible, officials said yesterday. The decision means that families who apply for benefits but are turned down — usually because the city believes they can stay with a friend or a relative — will find themselves without shelter as they reapply one or two more times. The toughening of the policy, which follows a rise during the summer in the number of families given emergency shelter in free public apartments, was criticized as cruel by advocates for the homeless and by some of the people it will affect. But it was defended by officials as a necessary tightening of a munificent policy that was being repeatedly abused by a few families. October 11, 2007
Los Angeles to Permit Sleeping on SidewalksCity officials agreed Wednesday not to enforce an ordinance used to bolster police sweeps of homeless people sleeping on sidewalks until 1,250 units of low-cost housing are built. The police in recent years had used a 1968 law barring sleeping or lying in public spaces to arrest homeless people in and around Skid Row, a downtown district whose concentration of 10,000 to 12,000 homeless people is among the highest in the nation. But a federal appeals court last year struck down convictions under the law, calling it one of the most restrictive in the country and cruel and unusual punishment, because of the area’s severe lack of housing for homeless people. October 11, 2007
Area Home Sales Plunge 30% from September 2006Baltimore-area housing sales fell last month to the lowest level for a September in at least nine years, as the turmoil in the mortgage industry hit the slumping market full force. The number of homes sold - 1,975 - dropped nearly 30 percent from a year earlier, already well into the downturn, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. reported yesterday. It is the lowest sales figure for September since MRIS began tracking the area in 1998. By comparison, buyers snapped up more than 4,000 homes in September 2005, the last hurrah of the housing boom. October 11, 2007
Officials Ponder Curbs on ‘Mansionization’Prince George’s officials, hoping to curtail the number of large houses springing up in the county’s older communities, are drafting legislation that would require some homeowners to secure a special permit for large additions and would set new height limits for houses. Homeowners in several towns in northern Prince George’s would need a permit approved by the county’s Department of Environmental Resources to add more than 500 square feet to a house — including patios, decks and breezeways. October 11, 2007
Michigan’s Foreclosure Rate Slips, Still No. 4Michigan’s foreclosure filings fell by 8.5% in September, but the state remains in the top 10 nationwide, according to data to be released today by RealtyTrac Inc. The Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure Web site said overall foreclosure filings fell by 8% nationwide. The company said 39 states had declines last month, but it is too soon to tell whether this indicates a market correction. “U.S. foreclosure activity experienced a fairly broad-based retreat in September,” said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer. “It’s too early to tell if September’s numbers represent a 1-month lull.” October 11, 2007
Beazer Homes Faces Up to $15M Fine for Loan ViolationsBeazer Homes (BZK) said Thursday that some employees at its mortgage division broke federal loan laws from at least 2000 through early this year. The builder said it expects to pay up to $15 million in regulatory fines and losses and to restate its financial results all the way back to 1999. The Atlanta-based company, one of the nation’s largest home builders, also said roughly two of every three buyers canceled their contracts from July to September. Beazer is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s office in North Carolina on allegations that it broke rules governing down payment assistance, sold homes to low-income buyers who couldn’t afford them, falsified documents and charged higher fees than the regulations allow. October 12, 2007
Countrywide Is Assailed in Protest of PoliciesThe Countrywide Financial Corporation, the nation’s largest lender and loan servicer, reported on Thursday that delinquencies and foreclosures in its portfolio were rising steeply. A few hours later, the company became a target of borrower anger in Boston as about 100 people gathered at three Countrywide offices to protest its practices. The delinquency figures released on Thursday by Countrywide together with the protest, organized by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, indicate that Countrywide finds itself increasingly at the center of the mortgage storm that began this year. October 12, 2007
N.C. Treasurer Seeks Countrywide CEO ProbeRALEIGH, N.C. - State Treasurer Richard Moore has asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the timing of stock sales made by the chief executive of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. Moore, the trustee of a pension fund that holds about 500,000 shares of Countrywide stock worth about $9.6 million, said in an Oct. 8 letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox that he was “shocked” to learn that CEO Angelo Mozilo “apparently manipulated his trading plans to cash in” as the subprime crisis was heating up. October 12, 2007
Foreclosures Drop, but They’re Nearly Double 2006Home foreclosure filings fell 8% in September from a 32-month peak in August, but they were still nearly double year-ago levels, real estate information company said Thursday. A total of 223,538 foreclosure filings were reported in September, down from August’s 243,947 but up from 112,210 in the same month a year ago, according to RealtyTrac of Irvine, Calif. Despite the monthly decline, the September figure represents the second-highest total for filings in a month since the company began tracking filings two years ago. “August was an extraordinarily high month for foreclosure activity, so some falloff was almost predictable,” said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s vice president for marketing. The filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Some properties might have received more than one notice if the owners have multiple mortgages. October 12, 2007
East Baltimore Residents Call for More Affordable HousingA group of East Baltimore residents asked a City Council committee yesterday to ensure that officials are making affordable housing a priority as part of the 88-acre redevelopment project taking place near Johns Hopkins Hospital. The council is considering a series of bills that would allow East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit organization created by the city to manage the project, to borrow $85 million to begin the second phase of development — which will include a school, new housing and the renovation of existing rowhouses. October 12, 2007
Road Home Gap has Decreased SlightlyWhile the Road Home budget shortfall casts a long shadow over everything in Louisiana’s rebuilding effort, Louisiana Recovery Authority members radiated optimism in the board’s first hearing in New Orleans this year, touting rebuilding success stories and even a measure of clarity on the size of the financing gap. The LRA board, appointed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco to handle billions of dollars in federal storm-recovery aid, also toured parts of New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish to see the results of the federal housing money it has funneled to the National Guard’s Jackson Barracks, as well as to school districts, health care facilities, housing developers and small-business owners. In addition, the LRA announced Thursday that it has awarded $375 million in grants to landlords, targeted to restore about 9,500 damaged rental units to restore capacity and drive down rents. October 12, 2007
Democrats Compromise on Fannie and Freddie LimitsCongressional Democrats have reached a compromise on allowing two government-sponsored mortgage companies to increase their debt holdings in an effort to help financially struggling homeowners. House and Senate lawmakers yesterday said they will support legislation to permit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase holdings of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities by $74 billion each, or 10 percent above current limits - for six months. About 85 percent, or $125 billion, would be to help borrowers with weak credit refinance loans that are due to reset at sharply higher interest rates. October 12, 2007
Homeowners Groups Take Away Some FreedomsBuying a home is already a complex endeavor. Add in the sometimes-unfathomable machinations of a homeowners association and you enter a realm filled with the potential for misunderstandings that may have legal and financial consequences. Often, home buyers don’t fully realize the trade-off they’re making when they move into communities that involve becoming association members, experts say. More than 57 million people live in associations governing everything from large and small condominium developments to subdivisions of single-family homes, according to the Community Associations Institute, a trade group in Alexandria, Va. October 12, 2007
Foreclosures in Sept. Double Year-Ago TotalHome foreclosures doubled in September from a year earlier as subprime borrowers struggled to make payments on adjustable-rate mortgages, RealtyTrac Inc. said yesterday. Still, the 223,538 foreclosure filings last month were 8 percent less than in August. California had the most, with 51,259 filings, and Florida was second, with 33,354. The national foreclosure rate was one for every 557 households. New Jersey ranked 13th, with 5,162 foreclosure filings, a 60 percent increase from September last year. That represented one filing for every 667 households in the state. In Pennsylvania, filings rose 22 percent to 3,821 in September, or one for every 1,419 households, RealtyTrac said. October 12, 2007
Affluent Senior Citizens Tapping Reverse Mortgages for Extra CashWith a mansion worth $21 million, a wealthy retiree near Philadelphia decided the most logical way to access that cash and improve his standard of living was to take out a reverse mortgage on the house and invest the money for more income. “That’s obviously an exception,” said Douglas Ziegler, a reverse mortgage officer with Gateway Funding in Horsham, Montgomery County, who handled the transaction for a 64-year-old man. “It’s not your typical loan.” Yet deals like that are becoming more common. October 12, 2007
Bay Area Home Foreclosures Triple in Septemberoreclosure filings across the United States nearly doubled last month compared with September 2006, as financially strapped homeowners already behind on mortgage payments defaulted on their loans or came closer to losing their homes to foreclosure, a real estate information company said Thursday.A total of 223,538 foreclosure filings were reported in September, up from 112,210 in the same month a year ago, according to RealtyTrac Inc. The September figure represents the second-highest total for filings in a single month since the company began tracking monthly filings two years ago. October 12, 2007
Amid Crackdown, Dallas Church Lets Homeless Sleep in Parking LotIn response to a police crackdown on the homeless, a downtown church has opened its parking lot to homeless people, allowing as many as 150 of them to sleep on the pavement while a security guard keeps watch. The First Presbyterian Church started the practice after police began removing people found sleeping in public places. The Rev. Joe Clifford sees it as a temporary solution until more options are available. “We continue to approach the homeless issue as a criminal issue,” Clifford said. “While there are criminal elements within the homeless population, it is a social problem and requires a societal response.” October 12, 2007
More and More, Mass Transit is Becoming Part of the Community PlanA visitor to downtown Palatine a decade ago might make a double-take today. Since the year 2000, about 1,000 residential units have been constructed in the city center near the train station, said Michael Jacobs, deputy village manager of the northwest suburban community. A mix of dwellings has been constructed, including row houses, brownstones and condominiums. Palatine’s even gained a tapering, eight-story high-rise with ground-story retail of the type associated with Chicago: It’s called the Providence Lofts. Now there’s a park: Towne Square. The train station was upgraded, and a parking deck replaced several surface parking lots. October 12, 2007
Solar Home Contest in D.C. Returns Amid Rising Climate Worriesn front of the Smithsonian Castle, the Mall has taken on the appearance of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” meets Extreme Climate Change. Over the past week, teams of university students have hammered and drilled together 20 small, energy-efficient homes with choice views of the Capitol in hopes of winning the top prize in the Energy Department’s third Solar Decathlon, which starts today. October 12, 2007
Fed Preparing New Subprime RegulationsThe Federal Reserve will propose new regulations by the end of this year on subprime loans, Fed Governor Randall Kroszner said at the National Bankers Association convention in Durham, N.C. There had been calls for action before the housing bubble began deflating last year, but since the credit crisis that shook the financial markets this summer, they have gotten louder, with Congress criticizing the Federal Reserve and other U.S. banking regulators for not doing more to prevent abuses in subprime lending. October 13, 2007
Foreclosures SoarThe number of Maryland properties about to be put on the foreclosure auction block more than tripled last month from a year earlier, as homeowners struggle with the one-two punch of mortgages they can’t afford and homes they can’t quickly sell. About 1,730 notices of impending auction were issued last month, up from about 550 in September 2006, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. said yesterday.The number of properties taken back by lenders last month after no one bought them at auction increased 10-fold from September 2006, to about 220. Though some might be commercial properties, the great majority are homes, the company said. October 13, 2007
Two Trees Accused of Discriminating Against Black, Disabled Housing ApplicantsSouth Brooklyn Legal Services and the national civil rights law firm of Relman and Dane have filed a federal lawsuit charging developer David Walentas’ Two Trees Management Co. with housing discrimination at the Court House Apartments, a 321-unit mixed-income rental building in Downtown Brooklyn. The building receives tax abatements and zoning benefits through the city’s “80/20” program, which provides that 20 percent of the building units will be used for affordable housing. But the lawsuit claims the developer created a “dual admissions system” that imposes a set of non-income related qualifications on applicants for the affordable apartments, who are more likely to be Black, Latino and people with disabilities. October 12, 2007
Banks Pool Billions to Stem Credit Crisis October 15, 2007
‘Tax’ on Interest Deductions Gains SupportAlthough the real estate industry opposes the plan, a key House committee leader’s proposal for “carbon tax” cuts in mortgage interest deductions is attracting strong support from environmental and scientific groups. Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wants to phase out mortgage interest write-offs for houses larger than 3,000 square feet, using a graduated scale that ends at zero deductions for properties with 4,200 square feet or more. Although Dingell said in a statement that he recognizes that new houses may be “more energy efficient” than older ones, “sheer size, sprawl and commutes lead to dramatically more energy use — or to put it more simply, a larger carbon footprint.” October 15, 2007
Hispanics Vulnerable to Predatory LendingSoledad Aviles dreamed for years of owning a home, with a plot of land where he could grow corn and chiles as he did in his native Mexico. So he felt blessed last year when he learned he could buy a three-bedroom, single-story stucco house on West La Verne Avenue in Santa Ana. Referred to a local loan broker by a trusted friend, he borrowed the entire purchase price of $615,000 from Washington Mutual at a high interest rate typical of subprime loans. The monthly payment, as he says he understood it, would be $3,600 - steep for a glass cutter who made $9 an hour - but Aviles counted on his wife and three of his six daughters, who also worked low-paying jobs, to contribute. October 15, 2007
Study Finds Disparities in Mortgages by RaceHome buyers in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods in New York City were more likely to get their mortgages last year from a subprime lender than home buyers in white neighborhoods with similar income levels, according to a new analysis of home loan data by researchers at New York University. The analysis, by N.Y.U.’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, illustrates stark racial differences between the New York City neighborhoods where subprime mortgages — which can come with higher interest rates, fees and penalties — were common and those where they were rare. The 10 neighborhoods with the highest rates of mortgages from subprime lenders had black and Hispanic majorities, and the 10 areas with the lowest rates were mainly non-Hispanic white. October 15, 2007
The American Dream ForeclosedA surge in subprime lending across the region in recent years is now helping to fuel a boom in foreclosures, with the number of filings rising 55 percent in suburban counties in the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period last year, an analysis of real estate data shows. On Long Island, the number of foreclosure actions increased sharply during the summer. Nearly 1,000 foreclosure notices were filed in July, and 728 foreclosures were scheduled in the third quarter. Both numbers represent an increase of more than 60 percent over the same period in 2006, according to Long Island Profiles, a real estate information service. October 15, 2007
For Most Troubled Homeowners Outcome is ForeclosureIn the beginning, his calls were transferred repeatedly and often dropped, he said. With persistence, he reached the lenders’ correct departments and told his story. He and his wife, Grace, were both diagnosed with cancer at different times in the past four years. Both had to quit working during their treatments. Big medical bills and reduced income meant they increasingly used credit cards and their home equity line of credit to pay their bills. Now their debt load is too much for them, and they are seeking solutions, including a refinanced loan or a modification of their current loan at a lower interest rate. So far, the couple hasn’t found much help, and they still worry that they’ll lose the blue, three-bedroom home in the Santa Cruz Mountains they have owned for 10 years. October 15, 2007
Foreclosed Homes Tumble 21.5 % September Over August October 15, 2007
Michigan Governor Granholm Announces Plan to Combat Mortgage Foreclosure Epidemic in MichiganMichigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced plans to assist Michigan homeowners facing mortgage foreclosure by offering new refinancing options to protect their home ownership. The programs will be administered by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) in conjunction with its Save the Dream public awareness campaign to help citizens avoid foreclosure. State House and Senate Democratic leaders joined Granholm for the announcement. “In this tough economy, we need to assist hard-working Michigan families who are falling victim to mortgage foreclosures,” Granholm said. “These initiatives will protect families from losing their homes and work to stabilize Michigan’s housing market.” October 15, 2007
Australia: Mortgage Industry Cracks Down on Dodgy LendersThe mortgage industry’s peak professional body has today changed its code of practice to deal with growing evidence of predatory lending practices that target people with little or no capacity to meet repayments. The clampdown comes at a time of rising mortgage stress, and as the mortgage industry itself is calling for national regulation by the Government. As part of an ethical revamp, the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) now requires its 13,000 members to only deal with credit providers that are members of a scheme approved by the corporate regulator, ASIC. October 15, 2007
Wilbur Ross Sees Mortgage Market Rising in Subprime Debt’s WakeWilbur Ross, the billionaire who specializes in resurrecting failed companies, is betting the U.S. mortgage market will rise from the dead. “We’re looking at everything that’s in trouble,” said Ross, founder of New York-based WL Ross & Co., in an interview. He won an Oct. 5 auction for the home-loan servicing unit of Melville, New York-based American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. Ross agreed to pay between $435 million and $500 million for the right to collect payments and maintain escrow on about $45.3 billion of mortgages from the biggest residential lender to go bust this year. His company has also joined with Richard Branson’s London-based Virgin Group Ltd. to bid for Northern Rock Plc, the U.K. lender bailed out by the Bank of England. October 15, 2007
Discrimination by Color or Class in Mexico?Whether differences in the living conditions of various groups of people reflect their attributes or prejudice against them is an abiding topic of discussion. This discussion has been less frequent in Mexico than in either the United States or Brazil. Although skin color is not a unique determinant of voting patterns, it often influences daily behavior and political orientation. The purpose of this article to is present some indicators of the differences in living conditions among white, light brown, dark brown and indigenous people in Mexico in 2006. The data come from three surveys of the same respondents of how voters intended to vote, carried out by the newspaper Reforma[i]. The respondents’ reported characteristics are almost identical in the surveys; I therefore use data from the first survey in this article. October 15, 2007
HUD Secretary highlights FHASecure, Housing Counseling grants, HOPE NOW alliance and other key proposals during MBA Convention Ahe Bush Administration’s foreclosure prevention initiatives are helping more families keep their homes, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said today at the Mortgage Bankers Association 94th Annual Convention. Jackson highlighted several programs and proposals that the Administration has put forward to help struggling homeowners who have been caught up in the subprime wave. “Our actions now to fix the housing market will benefit Americans for generations to come. This will help make our economy stronger and assist the world economy. But, most importantly, it will give millions of people a chance at wealth creation, financial security, and a place to raise their children in love and safety,” Jackson said during his address to more than 4,300 representatives of the housing industry at the MBA Convention. October 17, 2007
S&P Cuts Ratings on $23B in Mortgage-Backed SecuritiesStandard & Poor’s said Wednesday it cut the ratings on 1,713 classes of securities backed by mortgages issued in the first six months of this year, worth about $23.35 billion. The securities are backed by subprime, alt-A and home-equity loans. Those three types of loans have gone increasing delinquent and into default in recent months. October 17, 2007
Fed Expects Housing To Drag on EconomyA deepening housing slump probably will be a “significant drag” on economic growth into next year and it will take time for Wall Street to fully recover from a painful credit crisis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned yesterday. Bernanke once again pledged to “act as needed” to help financial markets, which have suffered through several months of turbulence, function smoothly and to keep the economy and inflation on an even keel. October 17, 2007
Mortgage Market Expected to Continue Slide Into 2009The nation’s more than $2 trillion home mortgage business won’t halt its current slide anytime soon, with mortgage originations expected to fall 18 percent next year and decline another 6 percent in 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association predicts. And although a forecast to be released today at the organization’s annual convention offers no hope that a housing turnaround is near, the industry still foresees a future for the subprime market that helped trigger the broader downturn, the MBA’s chief economist said. October 17, 2007
Countrywide Chief Is Said to Face S.E.C. InquiryThe Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an informal investigation into the stock sales of the chief executive of Countrywide Financial, a person briefed on the matter said last night, the latest problem to hit the struggling mortgage lender. Countrywide’s chief executive, Angelo R. Mozilo, has come under criticism from shareholders who have questioned the timing of the sales, which allowed him to gain more than $132 million in the months before the price plummeted amid the deepening mortgage crisis. October 17, 2007
Stalled Health Tests Leave Storm Trailers in LimboThree months after the Federal Emergency Management Agency halted the sale of travel trailers to survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita over possible risks from formaldehyde and promised a health study, none of the 56,000 occupied units have been tested. “It is inexcusable that 19 months after the first questions were raised, testing of occupied trailers has yet to begin,” said Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. October 17, 2007
HANO to Apply for Rebuilding GrantsThe Housing Authority of New Orleans agreed Wednesday to apply for $40 million in federal HOPE VI grant money to help transform two public housing developments abandoned since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. HANO will have to compete with cities across the country for the sought-after grants, which were instrumental a decade ago in doing away with two of the city’s most deplorably neglected public housing complexes, Desire in the 9th Ward and St. Thomas in the Lower Garden District, and replacing them with homes that resemble mixed-income neighborhoods instead of isolated barracks of poverty. October 17, 2007
FEMA Reverses Policy on Elevation PaymentsThe Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that it will craft a process allowing reimbursements to Road Home applicants who have already elevated their homes — but warned that such requests face rigorous scrutiny and could be denied. The FEMA announcement reversed the agency’s earlier refusal to consider retroactive elevation payments to “pioneers” who raised their homes to limit or prevent future flood damage, even as state and federal officials haggled over whether such owners should be compensated. October 17, 2007
An Epic Landlord-Tenant Fight, Crossing Years and ContinentsFor nearly a quarter century, since Ronald Reagan was in the Oval Office, Lascelle Wright, 49, and his neighbors have been locked in a dispute with their landlord. Even by the standards of New York City, where such disputes are blood sport, their face-off has become a long, strange war of attrition. Mr. Wright is one of seven holdout tenants, most of them poor, elderly and in ill health. They want to remain in the Windermere, an echoing, ruined beauty of a building that was designated a city landmark in 2005. The alternative, they say, is the street. Mr. Wright’s rent is $100 a month, but the landlord has provided no mailing address for his checks, so Mr. Wright has not paid even that. October 22, 2007
Dueling Approaches to Foreclosure ReliefMost people struggling to hold on to their homes want someone to do something to help them, and often that someone is Uncle Sam. This week, a poll released by the AFL-CIO found that 77 percent of people with adjustable-rate mortgages agree that the government should better regulate mortgage lending. Those people, who took out loans between 2002 and 2006, have mortgages that start with low rates that later reset, sometimes rising sharply. About 61 percent of the borrowers whose rates have reset told the pollsters that the government should help people like them who face foreclosure. October 22, 2007
Buy or Rent After Graduation?Q Washington: I will graduate from graduate school in May, and I have secured a job paying about $135,000 per year. Does it now make sense for me to try to buy a condo or townhouse? I would be willing to spend up to $2,200 per month for a mortgage. Also, I have about $150,000 in debt, all in school loans. October 22, 2007
HUD and Miami-Dade County Settle LawsuitThe U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Miami-Dade County have reached an agreement to settle the lawsuit the County filed to block HUD from taking control of the Miami-Dade Housing Agency (MDHA). This settlement allows HUD to take possession of the embattled housing agency on October 26. HUD and the County reached an agreement that would give HUD control over all MDHA’s activities, including its public housing and Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) programs. October 22, 2007
Buyers Pounce on Deals as Homes Go on the BlockIn a down real estate market, they came to buy. They came early, they came in numbers and they came with bank checks for $5,000. By 10 a.m. Saturday, more than 700 people filled a hall in the convention center here for what real estate agents say is the largest auction of foreclosed properties ever in Minnesota, with more than 300 houses or apartments for sale in two days. Opening bids ranged from $1,000 — for a three-bedroom house — to $729,000, for a five-bedroom house on 11.9 acres. The crowd was standing-room only, with more waiting to enter. Some were looking for homes, others for investments. October 22, 2007
Commercial Real Estate Market Outlook UpbeatThe excesses that led to a bust in the housing boom haven’t spread to the commercial real estate market, where the outlook is cautious but decidedly upbeat. Led by strong growth in the office and retail segments, commercial property sales hit $401 billion through Oct. 18, outpacing last year’s $359 billion total, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York based real-estate research firm. October 22, 2007
Mortgage Security Bondholders Facing a Cutoff of Interest PaymentsFor all the pain in the mortgage market, investors who hold bonds backed by risky home loans have continued to receive their monthly interest payments — until now. Collateralized debt obligations — made up of bonds backed by thousands of subprime home loans — are starting to shut off cash payments to investors in lower-rated bonds as credit-rating agencies downgrade the securities they own, according to analysts and industry executives. Cutting off the cash flow, which is governed by rules and mathematical formulas that vary by security, is expected to accelerate in the months ahead. October 22, 2007
N.H. Home a Study of Ways to Fight MoldThere are better ways to build a house, especially if you want to keep mold under control, Charles Perry believes. “Mold is a huge issue for my clients, especially lenders, since they have 80 percent exposure to the problem through [the] mortgage, compared with the homeowner’s 20 percent equity,” said Perry, principal of Environmental Assurance Group, a lending and real estate consulting firm, in West Hartford, Conn. So when some clients suggested that Perry make the year-round house he was planning to build on the site of a lakeside summer cottage in Chesterfield, N.H., a showcase for mold-resistant construction techniques and products, he agreed. October 22, 2007
Elgin Feeling Effects of Rise in ForeclosuresThe lasting effects of the national housing slump can be seen on the front doors of an increasing number of local homes. Nationwide, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. estimates that there will be 1 million foreclosures this year, about 620,000 of them classified as subprime borrowers. Locally, the picture has not deteriorated that rapidly but is dramatic and getting worse; in just a 20-day period in September, the number of foreclosed properties in Elgin increased 15 percent to 153. October 22, 2007
New Land-Grab Taxes Prevent Affordable HousingDelusional or dishonest? Far too frequently, that’s the choice in politics. Many elected officials are quite adept at fooling themselves or the public - perhaps both. Unfortunately, the voters often prove far too willing to go along. For the most glaring local illustration, all we have to do is look at the use of taxpayer dollars to buy land to stop the building of homes and businesses. Long Islanders will weigh in on the topic directly through four measures placed on the Nov. 6 ballot. October 22, 2007
FORECLOSURE’S FALLOUTLenders foreclosed on more than 12,000 properties in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky last year - evidence that homeowners here face some of the highest risks in the nation for losing their homes. An Enquirer analysis finds foreclosures increasing every year, in almost every neighborhood, in every price range - with no end in sight. October 23, 2007
Bill Allowing Mortgage Lawsuits Expected to Stir Fierce OppositionHouse Democrats introduced legislation on Monday that would for the first time let homeowners sue Wall Street firms for relief from mortgages that the borrowers never had a realistic chance of repaying. The measure, which is expected to generate intense opposition from the financial services industry, addresses some of the problems tied to the transformation of the mortgage lending industry from an often local business into a trillion-dollar global market for investors in search of higher returns. The bill is part of a broader measure intended to restrict what lawmakers and consumer advocates consider deceptive and improper lending practices, many of which were common among the millions of soured subprime mortgages to people with low incomes or poor credit histories. October 23, 2007
Criticism Rains Down on Mortgage IndustryChetera Miller, a credit counselor for Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, has noticed that lenders are becoming more willing to cut deals with delinquent borrowers. She’s been able to help eight homeowners restructure their loans over the past few weeks. There’s just one problem: That’s only about half the number of financially strapped clients she’s working with. Miller’s caseload is expanding as more homeowners fall behind on their adjustable-rate mortgages. October 23, 2007
Largest Lender to Redo $16B in LoansCountrywide Financial plans to announce Tuesday that it will restructure or refinance $16 billion in adjustable-rate mortgages that have recently reset to higher rates or will reset by the end of next year, stretching some homeowners to the breaking point. Its plan comes as the mortgage industry tries to head off mounting political and public pressure and an alarming foreclosure rate. Countrywide, (CFC) the nation’s largest mortgage lender, says its program will help about 82,000 borrowers, mainly those with “subprime” credit. October 23, 2007
In D.C., Constituent Assistance Goes Deeper Than Filling PotholesSedrick Muhammad’s 100-page notepad is filled with pleas for money. Squeezed on every line, in small print with no spaces in between, is a record of all the requests that pour into the office of D.C. Council member Jim Graham each day. Muhammad, constituent services specialist for Graham (D-Ward 1), read a few of them aloud. “Utility assistance. Utility assistance. Rental assistance. Burial.” As the cost of living continues to increase, so have the calls, e-mails and office visits seeking financial help from council members. October 23, 2007
Finished Vacant Homes Abound Across RegionBargain hunters might want to keep their eyes on the new home market over the coming months. An analyst with the housing-industry tracking firm Metrostudy told a lunchtime meeting of the Council for Quality Growth in Duluth on Monday that it could take builders until 2009 to sell off the thousands of vacant new homes and lots around the metro area. That means new homes could continue to be an unusually good deal as builders work to unload unsold properties. The number of finished vacant homes is three times the normal for metro Atlanta, and the number of vacant lots awaiting homes — 140,000 — is twice the usual number, according to Metrostudy senior analyst Domonic Purviance.“That’s the highest number we have ever seen in the Atlanta region,” he said. October 23, 2007
Avoiding Another KatrinaIn the nation’s biggest natural disaster since the devastating hurricane wrecked the Gulf Coast, California so far has proven to provide efficient disaster relief. Perhaps it was the images of elderly patients who’d been abandoned on the baggage carousels at the New Orleans airport. Or the desperate parents cradling dehydrated infants at the Superbowl, or TV reporters shouting on the air at clueless government officials. When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up at the Del Mar racetrack outside of San Diego at 10 p.m. Monday night and found local officials struggling to find hospital beds for nearly 300 patients who’d been evacuated from nearby nursing homes, he was determined to leave nothing to chance. October 24, 2007
Calif. Fires Force Nearly 1M from Homess a dozen fires raged along the coast of Southern California Tuesday for a third day, San Diego County took the brunt of the wind-whipped fury that forced the evacuation of more than 350,000 houses, encompassing nearly 950,000 people based on average household size, including 10,000 evacuees huddled in QualComm stadium. Fire has burned across nearly 600 square miles, killing one person, destroying more than 1,300 homes and prompting one of the biggest evacuations in California history, from north of Los Angeles, through San Diego to the Mexican border. More than 40 people have been injured, including 16 firefighters. October 24, 2007
Calm at Qualcomm Contrasts Raging San Diego FiresEleven-year-old Hector Herrera remembered yelling at his mom, making her even more nervous as they sat idling in traffic, fleeing their home in advance of one of at least a dozen wildfires raging through Southern California. But by Tuesday, two evacuations and a day later, Dulce Herrera and her family were enjoying a friendly game of Monopoly, among the 12,000 San Diegans camped out in Qualcomm Stadium. There, sitting in donated pink beach chairs, they waited out one of the largest natural disasters in California history with humor, patience and gratitude for being alive. “Nobody does disasters better than California,” David Paulison, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the gathering at Qualcomm, complimenting state and local officials for their preparedness. October 24, 2007
Poverty Rate Grows Amid an Economic BoomThe District’s poverty rate is the highest in nearly a decade, and the employment rate for African American adults is at a 20-year low, according to a study to be released today. Although the District’s robust economy has spurred job growth, higher salaries, a construction boom and neighborhood revitalization, the city’s poorest and least-educated residents have been left behind — living “on the other side” of the city’s “gleaming economy,” the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute says. October 24, 2007
86% of Pre-Katrina Population is BackThe New Orleans area’s population has reached 86 percent of its pre-Katrina level, according to a monthly report based on mail deliveries in September. By counting the number of households, researchers found that New Orleans itself has regained 70 percent of its former households, which was the second-lowest of the six parishes surveyed by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. In three of the parishes — St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. Tammany — the number of households has surpassed the pre-Katrina figures. Because the survey is based on the number of households instead of people, it did not attempt a head count, said Allison Plyer, the data center’s executive director. October 24, 2007
Attorney is Indicted in Real Estate SchemeA grand jury has indicted a Harford County lawyer who is accused of collaborating in the theft of $1.6 million in a real estate scheme, the county state’s attorney said. Harold J. Tulley of Forest Hill is accused of conspiring with Michael P. Luby to swindle friends and clients in a real estate scheme involving property in Maryland and Virginia, said State’s Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly. Tulley, 67, faces eight counts of conspiracy to commit theft, eight counts of being an accessory in hindrance of public justice and four other charges, according to court documents. October 24, 2007
A Need for a Will? Often, There’s an Online WayWHEN John Chuang of South Pasadena, Calif., became a father in 2005, he and his wife, Sulynn, knew that they needed a will. But Mr. Chuang, 38, didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars to a lawyer to draw up the document. So he turned to an online service that helps people fill out their own legal forms. For about $70, the service, called LegalZoom, gave Mr. Chuang an online questionnaire about his last wishes. Completing it took about 30 minutes. A LegalZoom employee later reviewed Mr. Chuang’s answers and turned them into a will, which Mr. Chuang received about a week later. “I don’t like lawyers. I think they’re extremely overpaid,” Mr. Chuang said. “With all the services on LegalZoom, I don’t see myself using a lawyer for anything, unless it’s a lawsuit.” October 24, 2007
Dreaming on the WaterfrontFor Philadelphia government, this was radical: Design a vision for the Delaware River waterfront by actually asking people who live along the river what they would like to see. At 13 sessions over the last year, a team from the University of Pennsylvania worked with residents, as well as representatives from commercial and government interests, to divine the future of a seven-mile stretch of the central Delaware waterfront. On Nov. 14, Penn Praxis will officially unveil the results at a public forum at the Convention Center. October 24, 2007
4,800 Subprime Bay Area Loans at Risk of Foreclosure by 2008Nearly 4,800 subprime loans made to Bay Area borrowers in 2006 are likely to fall into foreclosure in the next couple of years, costing homeowners, cities and lenders as much as $1.5 billion, according to an advocacy group for lower-income families. Such scary statistics are prompting more cities to call upon lenders to modify problem loans and curtail what are termed predatory practices. October 24, 2007
A Housing Tug-Of-WarThe fate of a bill intended to be an occasional tool to help expand housing for limited-income people appears unclear after a long, contentious Howard County council work session. The measure is a remnant of housing policies pursued by the last administration under Leonard S. Vaughan, the former housing director, and it drew the ire of Ellicott City Democrat Courtney Watson and western county Republican Greg Fox. October 24, 2007
Affordable Housing Summit Seeking Creative SolutionsHabitat for Humanity crews build a new home on Bowen Street. It is the kind of affordable housing that offers hope and uplifts a neighborhood. But the big picture is more sobering. “The stat at the two year mark was that only ten percent of our 70 thousand homes that were destroyed by Katrina had been rebuilt. We have so far to go, but we’re never going to get there if we just don’t work together differently and more creatively,” said Rev. Shari Prestemon of Back Bay Mission. October 24, 2007
Housing for All Doesn’t Just HappenGreenleigh, about 1½ miles south of state Route 10, is not among the mobile-home communities targeted for extinction by Chesterfield County. But Jeannette Melton has seen an influx of residents fleeing trailer parks farther north on Jefferson Davis Highway. And she can’t help but worry about the future of Greenleigh, her home for 17 years. “I just got over fighting lung cancer,” said Melton, catching her breath during a break from a brisk walk. “With all that’s going on, if they close this down, I can’t afford to move.” Melton, 53, has been living on disability payments since surgeons removed part of her left lung. She doesn’t need the added trauma of a forced relocation. October 24, 2007
Existing Home Sales Plunged in SeptemberSales of existing homes plunged by a record amount in September as turmoil in mortgage markets added more problems to a housing industry in its worst slump in 16 years. The National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that sales of existing homes fell 8 percent in September, the largest decline to show up in records dating to 1999. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 5.04 million existing homes was also the slowest pace on record. October 25, 2007
HUD Secretary Announces Disaster Assistance for Families Displaced by Southern California WildfiresU.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to the Southern California counties affected by raging wildfires and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes. “Those who are forced from their homes by these devastating fires need to know that help is available,” said Jackson. “As families