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In Chicago, lenders are required to maintain vacant homes in foreclosure, such as by keeping lawns mowed and tidy and attending to maintenance issues inside. Lenders found in violation can face daily fines up to $1,000. But the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is suing the city of Chicago for its new ordinance, saying the city is overstepping its authority with the mandate. FHFA, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, says the ordinance is unfair because it “imposes all the costs of home ownership without any of the benefits, […]

Mortgage fraud activity slowed overall in the third quarter, but California ranks first in home loan fraud, with the state seeing as much as $204.2 million in losses on deceptive mortgage activity. That’s according to a new report from MortgageDaily, which found that lenders victimized by fraud faced inflated appraisals and fraudulent documentation. California was followed by New York, which experienced $199.6 million in losses from nefarious activities in mortgage finance. New York was followed by Florida, South Carolina and Minnesota in terms of fraudulent activity. The total loss value […]

Where are rates heading? You may soon get more insight with a new proposal the Federal Reserve is weighing. The Federal Reserve doesn’t traditionally make a point to reveal its predictions for future actions on interest rates widely known to the public — that is, until recently. This summer in a rare step, the Fed announced that it would keep short-term interest rates at nearly zero until 2013. The Fed may start making it a tradition to reveal more with a regular forecast of its future decisions on interest rates. […]

Even if home prices and household leverage stabilize next year, mortgage debt outstanding will continue to contract over the next several years because of high credit losses, according to analysts at financial services firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. “Given the high delinquency rates, large discounts in private label securities prices and large provisions already taken by banks, in our view it is clear that a meaningful percentage of loans will default and not be replaced by new loans as the homeownership rate continues to contract,” the analysts say. “This trend is […]

I am a native of Baton Rouge, LA. However, I have lived in NYC and Boston for most of my adult life. I attended graduate school in Boston and worked as a Medical Software Consultant focused on managing client expectations through sophisticated software implementation projects for many years. My experience managing large scale projects in the corporate world suited my transition to real estate over 9 years ago. In real estate, I have worked in the luxury markets of Boston, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and most recently, I have […]

Bank of America (BAC: 5.45 -4.72%) is looking at a new program to rent a home back to the borrower after foreclosure. “There are programs that we are quite interested in,” said Ron Sturzenegger, who leads the bank’s legacy asset servicing division, in an interview with HousingWire. “We are talking with investors that would come in and buy these houses and would lease them back to who would now be the now tenant.” In February, BofA formed the division to handle the servicing for delinquent mortgages, loans no longer being […]

In many recent cases, new homes are being appraised for less than the cost of construction, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Builders are blaming flawed appraisals for holding back the housing market’s recovery. Builders say that new homes should not be compared to foreclosed homes that have sat vacant and are in disrepair. “The inappropriate use of distressed and foreclosed sales as comparables in determining new home values is needlessly driving down home prices, killing home sales, causing more workers to lose their jobs and delaying a […]

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage hovered above its record low for a sixth straight week. But the super-low rates aren’t providing a lift to the struggling housing market. Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on the 30-year home loan ticked down to 3.99 percent from 4 percent the previous week. It dropped to a record low of 3.94 nine weeks ago, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage was edged down to 3.27 percent from 3.30 percent. Nine […]

More cities were added to this month’s Improving Markets Index, which was created earlier this year by the National Association of Home Builders and First American. The index identifies cities that are showing improvement in housing permits, employment, and home prices for at least six consecutive months. The latest index results is “very much in keeping with the latest government housing data and our own builder surveys, which have shown modest signs of improvement in certain individual markets where employment is gaining and distressed properties are not as numerous,” NAHB […]

If walls could talk, the ones in this 50s-era home would probably be slurring from all the highballs. Frank Sinatra rented it in his Rat Pack heyday and sublet the guest house to Marilyn Monroe. It was the site of her last photo shoot and allegedly where she met the 35th president for an affair. If it looks familiar, it may be because you watch TV or movies. It’s been a set in “Dreamgirls,” Usher’s “Burn” video and “Mad Men,” among many others. The latter makes perfect sense since  the […]